Child Forum

E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā hau e whā. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

Good morning everyone. Thank you Sarah [Farquhar]for your welcome, and thank you for inviting me to speak with you today.

Firstly, I want to acknowledge all those affected by the earthquake in Christchurch last month.

I have been impressed by how incredibly hard early childhood education services have worked to re-open – bringing some certainty and normality to children and their families.

All of you here today have a wealth of experience and expertise in early childhood education. It’s great to see you coming together to discuss the future for our children.

We all know that getting things right in the early years is absolutely critical, and the evidence is very clear – ensuring our youngest New Zealanders have the opportunities to learn and to develop in quality, responsive environments, will give them the best start in life.

Taxpayer investment in early childhood services has trebled over the last five years to an expected $1.4 billion, while participation has increased by about one per cent. The only real measure we have of those numbers is the children who turn up at school and identify that they have attended an ECE service

In total, we subsidise every child who attends an ECE centre by an average of $7600 each year. This compares to $6700 for an average secondary student and $5500 for primary students.

Despite this growth in funding, too many of the children that the evidence tells us would benefit most from ECE are still missing out. They are at a disadvantage before they even start school.

The economic reality is that money will be tight for the foreseeable future, so more than ever we must invest in the areas that will make the biggest difference to children and their families.

And our top priority is to ensure the greatest number of children gain access to ECE and fully benefit from it.

So, making ECE more accessible in areas where children are missing out is the goal of the Government’s $91.8 million participation programme, which will create places for an extra 3500 children in high need areas.

As many as one in four Pasifika children and one in five Maori children in some parts of New Zealand are not getting any kind of formal ECE before they start school.

The reasons for this are varied and complex. To address this we are working closely with families, whānau and communities to establish the reasons for low participation and then work out the best ways to reach out to families and get these children the support they need before they start school.

It might be building new centres to fill obvious gaps in services, supporting communities to establish their own more culturally-focussed services, or looking at projects to engage with families in their homes – in some areas it’s almost working street by street.

And that’s also what our intensive community participation projects are all about. Three are underway in Waitakere, Northland and Tamaki, with two more to start this year.

The programme is about helping communities to develop their own solutions, and offering flexible options to ensure families can easily access early childhood services that meet their needs.

These projects build on lessons from the successful Counties Manukau participation project, which has used innovative approaches to get hundreds of extra children participating in early childhood education.

As well as increasing participation, we must maintain a high standard of services. Whatever type of provision families choose, it must be effective for children.

And it is important that local people drive the solutions – what works in Whangarei or Henderson, does not necessarily work in Mangere.

The Government recognises the need to take a look at the long-term direction of early childhood policy. I set up a Task Force to explore the effectiveness of spending in the sector. The membership included practitioners, academics and child development experts.

The group’s report is due with me soon, and I will be discussing widely the recommendations before making any policy and funding decisions.

One of the areas I asked the Task Force to consider was the transition from ECE to school. It is a period of significant adjustment for children and their families, and research shows successful transitions depend on the relationships between all involved.

In ECE, children develop their speaking skills and their enthusiasm for reading and writing. Good teachers take the child and prepare them for the next step in their learning.
Today, I am releasing the Education Review Office report – Literacy in Early Childhood Services: Teaching and Learning - which discusses this very issue.

The report highlights the importance of literacy teaching in ECE, as well as poor practice.

As we know, good leadership is crucial, as is a good understanding among ECE educators of literacy and how children learn and make good progress.

There are obvious links between the ECE curriculum, Te Whāriki, and the New Zealand Curriculum in schools. Teachers in ECE services and in schools need to explore the common themes and use them so children can easily build on their early literacy learning when they get to school.

ERO found that good practice in teaching literacy in schools is the same as good practice in early childhood services. Good teachers use questioning to help children’s oral language development, encourage them to share ideas, increase their understanding of what they are reading or listening to, and explore the meaning of new words.

Many had transition-to-school programmes where the focus of literacy activities was on writing their names, increasing alphabet knowledge, developing letter formation, drawing and teaching phonics within the context of play.

In a minority of services, ERO found poor teaching practices and programmes that were likely to demotivate children or limit them.

Educators in these services lacked an understanding of how children learn and make progress, and how their literacy learning in ECE contributes to their success at school.

The range of quality and practice found by ERO highlights the need for better articulated guidance and expectations for literacy teaching and practices in ECE settings. In this regard, the report recommends that work be done to provide the ECE sector with guidance on what constitutes high quality literacy teaching and learning, and the factors that determine successful transitions.

It is important that ECE services review the results of their literacy teaching because good self-review was seen to be an important factor in services with successful literacy programmes.

The report has some really useful questions that ECE services can use as the basis of their own self-review, and I encourage you to use them.

In finishing, I want to touch on the recent licensing changes for ECE services, which were a National Party election promise in response to number of requests from the sector.

Some centres already have 150 children, but up until now have been forced to erect fences and walls between different areas, apply for multiple licences and have multiple ERO reviews.

The new regulations are simply about reducing unnecessary paperwork and red tape for centres, and in terms of space, health and safety, and quality of care and education nothing will change for the children in ECE services.

The current ratios remain in place, and to qualify for the increased centre size, services have to be on one single site. The 2008 regulations remain in place, and services will have to ensure that they have environments appropriate to the number of children for which they seek a licence.

The changes provide appropriate regulation that assures safe and caring learning environments without placing unnecessary burdens on services.

As Education Minister I am absolutely committed to ensuring all of our young New Zealanders reach their full potential. I am committed to quality early childhood education and ensuring our youngest New Zealanders get the foundation they need to realise their potential.

I thank you for the valuable work you do to ensure our youngest New Zealanders have the best possible start.

Thank you again for inviting me to be here today, and I wish you the best for the rest of your day.