Chester Borrows: Early childhood education precious

During the past few weeks, I have received a lot of correspondence regarding Early Childhood Education or ECE.
There has been concern regarding the ECE taskforce report, An Agenda for Amazing Children, which was released on June 1. The independent ECE task force was established to review the effectiveness of ECE spending and to make recommendations on proposed improvements. Public consultation on the task force report closed early this week and submissions will now be carefully considered.
Many people have told me their stories about caring for their young children and the arrangements their families have made to deal with the day-to-day living in modern society. The personal nature of this policy issue has made it a big one for many people in Wanganui. A
ll children deserve the best possible start to their education and to be engaged in learning, and we want to see that happen for the 2500 or so under-5-year-olds enrolled in ECE centres in Wanganui. We owe it to our children to make ECE available to as many young ones as possible.
More funding has gone into ECE this budget than into police resources, and I don't disagree with that. Engaging children of any decile in education at pre-school is the single best thing we can do for them to prevent failure in the other areas of social policy such as welfare, health, law and order, justice as well as education.
As a government, we support giving parents choice in Early Childhood Education, as it is the parents who know their children the best. We are investing a record $1.4 billion in this sector in the year ahead, and we want to make sure it works for all children and families in New Zealand. This year, the kohanga reo trust is receiving $76 million in taxpayer funding, while more than $14 million is going to playcentres.
It's disappointing that there has been scaremongering regarding the future of playcentres and kohanga reo. As a National Government, we extended 20 Hours ECE to include playcentres, kohanga reo, and 5-year-olds for the first time. The task force report gives recommendations for changes to funding and policy settings - but the Education Minister has been absolutely clear that this will not result in any funding cuts to playcentres or parent-led ECE services.
Having said this, government is always accountable for the money we spend. The flow of public resources cannot be one-directional without some evidence of return. There has to be standards set and met. If kohanga reo centres think their raison d'�e is simply protecting the language and they don't have to live up to any standards, they are wrong. If private enterprises based in the home caring for young children think they ought to receive government funding without any obligation whatsoever, they are also wrong.
The ECE sector is a diverse one, and so it needs to be, as no two children are the same. Kindergartens, playcentres, kohanga reo and home-based services all play an important role in providing for our children. They won't be disadvantaged as the Government strives for high quality ECE.