ECE expert calls for more regulations after issues raised in coronial reports – The Front Page

A review of the early childhood sector will look into funding, after the Ministry of Regulation chose early childhood centres as the first sector it would review. Photo / 123RF

A stark warning has been sounded that New Zealand’s early education centre regulation is severely lacking and has already led to deaths.

In the last week, two coroner’s reports have been released highlighting two tragic deaths of young children.

In one, a 20-month-old suffered a fatal but “invisible” head injury after a short fall at preschool. While the report explained there was no reason for childcare staff to have realised he’d suffered such a serious injury, if his parents had been informed, they might have been able to seek more timely treatment for him.

Dr Sarah Alexander, chief adviser to the Office of Early Childhood Education, told The Front Page she thinks there is a huge gap in regulations in the sector.

“I’m of the belief that if a child’s feet can’t touch the floor when they’re seated, then that seat is too big for them. Firstly, there was inappropriate furniture there, and I think that’s a lesson for all early childhood services and for parents when they’re going around to look for an early childhood service for their child,” she said.

Alexander said the toddler was also cared for by multiple staff members, which is something she would like to see changed.

“We want there to be a requirement that for under 2-year-olds, they have someone who is responsible for them and who will look out for them at all times. Someone who’s keeping an eye on them,” she said.

The second incident reported by the coroner was the death of a baby at an Auckland daycare centre who was found unresponsive about an hour after being put down for a nap.

The report said staff checked on the baby boy at 10-minute intervals.

Alexander said this case, which was recorded as an “unexplained death”, was one that her organisation spotted and grew concerned about.

“He was put into a room with up to eight other infants and left to sleep, only being checked every 10 minutes or so. Early childhood centres can be busy places, noisy places, so a lot of centres have doors on the sleep room. It’s not mentioned if those doors were closed, or if there was a baby monitor.

“Those nine babies who were sleeping in the room at the time were left without an adult watching over them and yet the Ministry of Education says that’s perfectly fine because that meets current regulation standards. We believe that, particularly infants, should have someone watching over them when they’re sleeping,” she said.

Regulations around early childhood education have been in the spotlight this year. The Ministry of Regulation chose early childhood centres as the first sector it would review, and a report earlier this year announced several recommendations that the Government plans to pass into law.

Those include “more flexible” requirements around qualifications for staff and reducing licensing criteria by about 75%.

“There’s nothing in the changes that are going to quell the fears [of parents]. We’ve got a bad situation already, and it could potentially get worse,” Alexander said.

Listen to the full episode to hear more about what’s happening with rules, regulations and funding in the ECE sector.

The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.

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