11th February 2011

The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says the latest social progress report shows skewed government priorities are taking their toll on our most vulnerable children, and it predicts the outlook will only get bleaker.

The Salvation Army’s latest state of the nation report says an obsession with economics and closing the gap with Australia means the government has neglected social policy. The report is highly critical of early childhood education policy, saying it is failing miserably for Maori children and those in low socio-economic communities.

NZEI says wholesale funding cuts to early childhood education funding is only going to make the situation worse and the report rightly questions the government’s drive for cost saving in early childhood education in the name of efficiency.

“The government can talk about targeting early childhood funding all it likes, but the fact is that that thousands of families across all communities will be affected by the cuts and will be put under even more financial pressure through increased fees,” says NZEI President Ian Leckie.

“The consequence will be that many children in low socio economic areas who are already participating in early childhood education may have to be removed or have their hours cut because their parents can no longer afford it.”

It is also disturbing that child poverty rates are trending back up and have risen to where they were five years ago. Issues around poverty play a large part in children’s underachievement, particularly in the outcomes for the children who make up New Zealand’s so-called long tail of underachievement.

Mr Leckie says once again it exposes the government’s miguided set of priorities.

“We have $36 million dollars being thrown into a system of untried and untested National Standards which will have no effect on student achievement and will do nothing meaningful for those children who are already struggling.”

“This report is cause for concern on many levels but the biggest concern is that if the government doesn’t change course, the gaps for our children will only get wider,” says Mr Leckie.

ENDS

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