Analysis: The way forward?

High-quality childcare needs highly-qualified staff, but the cost often puts it out of parents' reach. The New Zealand government is making a concerted effort to tackle this conundrum with its Ten Year Strategic Plan for Early Childhood Education, 'Pathways to the Future', launched in 2002.

Karl Le Quesne, senior manager of the New Zealand Ministry of Education, came to address the Daycare Trust conference, 'Childcare 2007', last week. 'The primary goal of the plan is an education one, to strengthen children's learning foundations,' he said. 'Early childhood education and care can contribute to other goals, particularly parent's choices in working and studying, and giving children a better start more generally by helping to increase family earnings.'

His government is giving direct funding to early childhood centres, as well as to parents; giving financial incentives for centres with higher proportions of registered teachers; and adjusting funding annually to reflect changing costs, therefore not passing on higher costs to parents. Public spending on early childhood education has more than doubled in the past five years.

By boosting the numbers of qualified staff, with an aim for all staff to be registered by 2012, the Government hopes to raise quality. The cost of employing more qualified teachers is met by the state. All kindergarten teachers and school teachers now have pay parity to encourage more to work in the early years.

Targets for teacher-led services are:

- 50 per cent of regulated staff in every teacher-led service are required to be registered teachers by end of 2007;

- 80 per cent registered (count 10 per cent in training) by 2010;

- 100 per cent registered (count 30 per cent in training) by 2012.

Since the plan's introduction, qualification levels have made steady progress. In 2002, 39 per cent of the country's teachers in education and care services were qualified. By 2006, this had risen to 50 per cent. But there is concern that the targets will not be met for 2010, which would put some centres' continued operation into jeopardy.

The vision is for all children to participate in quality early education, regardless of circumstances. On average, parents pay around 200 NZ dollars a week for childcare, which is the equivalent of around £70. Since July, free early childhood education has been available for all three- and four-year-olds for up to six hours per child per day, up to a maximum of 20 hours a week.

Sixty two per cent of eligible services opted into the scheme when it was launched. But a poll conducted by the New Zealand Childcare Association found some centres were anxious about whether the funding rates would fully compensate for the loss in parents' fees. The policy does allow for centres to ask for 'voluntary contributions where there is no obligation to contribute and no enforcement of payment'.

Schooling is not compulsory in New Zealand until a child is six, but areas where children are not accessing early education are being identified.

Mr Le Quesne said, 'Evaluation of our strategic plan has shown improvements in the quality of the teachers, associated with a growth of qualified and registered teachers. We are confident that we are seeing improvements in the quality of teachers but what we don't know yet is if we are actually strengthening children's learning. That's one of our next big challenges.'

Further information
New Zealand Ministry of Education, www.ecd.govt.nz
New Zealand Childcare Association, www.nzchildcare.ac.nz
New Zealand Ministry of Education, www.ecd.govt.nz
New Zealand Childcare Association, www.nzchildcare.ac.nz.