Report urges strong ECE push

A new report on early childhood education includes a call for more funding targeted at increasing below average participation among Maori, Pasifika and low income familes. File photo / Hawkes Bay Today

A major review has called for "strongly differentiated payments" to increase lagging participation in early childhood education among Maori, Pasifika and low income families.

Education Minister Anne Tolley set up the Early Childhood Education Taskforce in October to review the effectiveness of the Government's spending on early childhood education, set at $1.4 billion in the 2010-11 Budget.

Its final report today is billed an 'Agenda for Amazing Children'.

Among its recommendations is a call for more funding targeted at increasing below average participation among Maori, Pasifika and low income familes.

While the national average for children participating in early childhood education before starting school is 94.5 per cent, participation rates are at 89.4 per cent for Maori, 85.3 per cent for Pasifika and 89.1 percent for children entering low decile schools, the report states.

"There is a long-standing and persistent gap in uptake of early childhood education between children from European and higher socio-economic backgrounds and others."

Taskforce chairman Dr Michael Mintrom says the report is aimed at raising the quality and professionalism of the early childhood sector.

Mrs Tolley welcomed its findings, saying many recommendations line up with the Government's goals for the sector.

Its problems of poor access for many children, variability across services and a lack of accountability are concerning, she says.

"The Government was already concerned about the variability across services, the lack of accountability, poor access for many children, and the need for a more targeted funding system. It is heartening that these serious issues have been identified by the Taskforce, and that positive suggestions have been made to deal with these areas of concern.

Any major plans for changes in the early education sector will form part of National's election campaign, Mrs Tolley says.

Other taskforce recommendations call for a review to ensure spending in the sector is of high quality, along with strengthening of home-based services and increased accountability for kohanga reo - or total Maori immersion - centres.

Government regulations should be introduced increasing the minimum amount of trained and registered staff in teacher-led centres from 50 to 80 per cent, it says.

"Our vision is for an early childhood sector that delivers high-quality services to all children, supports parents, and has a strong sense of collective identity among those working in the sector."

The report also calls for mandatory performance reporting by centres and reports on how Government spending is used.

Parents should be given more information on the quality of early childhood services in their area, the report says.

Dr Mintrom, an associate professor of political studies at Auckland University, earlier said parents had made many submissions calling for help finding a service to suit their child.

"We took the view, very much echoed in submissions, that parents don't have adequate information for making good decisions about the kind of services they want to use.

"The Education Review Office does review services, but those reviews are done primarily with services themselves as the audience.

"It's often difficult for parents to decipher from those reports what would work for their child and which services are working better than others."

Mrs Tolley said any major plans for changes in the early education sector would form part of National's election campaign.

On Saturday, she outlined to the conference the Government's efforts to reach those missing out on early childhood education, including a quarter of Pasifika children and a fifth of Maori children.