“Placing the well-being of children, families and whānau centre-stage of the government’s budget is to be applauded” said Clare Wells, Chief Executive NZ Kindergartens. “Shifting the focus to investing in families in long overdue. We need to do better by children and the government has made its intentions clear” said Clare Wells.
“The pressures on families and implications for young children of limited household income and poor housing are undeniable.” The budget provided $590.2 million to the early childhood education (ECE) sector. “One in five children in the education system today attends an ECE service – around 95% of children under five years old” Clare Wells said.”The government recognises that services have a critical role to play in the lives of young children.”
“It’s our time get early childhood education (ECE) back on track, focusing on what’s best for every child and their whānau engaged in an ECE service” said Clare Wells, Chief Executive NZ Kindergartens. “The government’s focus on ensuring the provision of high quality early childhood education is to be applauded.”
“It is heartening to see the government backing research on the importance of the first few years in a child’s life” Clare Wells said. “Cleary, the government wants to make sure where children are in ECE services independent of their caregivers and parents, they benefit from high quality teaching and learning.”
“The release of the latest Childcare Survey is timely” said Clare Wells, Chief Executive NZ Kindergartens. The survey shows just under 300,000 children have formal childcare arrangements, attending services each day. Half of those children attend because of parents’ work commitments.
“The survey shows 64% of children aged four or younger attend an early childhood education (ECE) service – that’s around 200,000 children” Clare Wells said.
