KEY POINTS:
The Government's free 20 hours preschool policy is under attack for encouraging middle class children into care when they could become brighter and smarter at home.
The children of educated, middle class parents are being targeted for early childhood education in a bid to get their parents back in work.
Yet early childhood researcher Dr Sarah Farquhar says these children may get little or no benefit from longer hours at school. "It's a vote buy," she said of the policy.
"The Government needs these parents back at work, but they're actually the ones who could make a big difference to their child's learning. International research has shown that the educational qualifications of parents make a big difference."
Both the 20 hours policy and the Working for Families package offer financial incentives for working parents, potentially saving them hundreds of dollars a week in childcare costs.
The Herald on Sunday understands some of the heaviest lobbying for the 20 hours policy came from Department of Labour officials.
Prime Minister Helen Clark caused an uproar in her 2005 State of the Nation speech when she called on young mums to get back to work in order to create a lift in gross domestic profit.
The Government has cited a New Zealand Council of Educational Research 16-year study, Competent Children, as "proof" that early childhood education (ECE) makes kids smarter. The study showed children who went to the best pre-schools at age 3 or 4 were averaging test scores 12 per cent higher than their contemporaries by age 12.
But Farquhar said while international research confirmed disadvantaged children benefited from early childhood education, it was less clear that children from intellectually stimulating homes did.
In their critique of Competent Children, Farquhar and fellow researcher Gillian Croad claimed its findings had been reconstructed to fit Government policies. It could not prove ECE was good for all because, for example, children from middle class homes tended to go to the best preschools and were brighter kids normally.
National's early childhood education spokeswoman Paula Bennett said the Government seemed not to consider a person productive unless in the paid workforce.
