Tonight on TV3 news, John Key said fees aren’t going up at ECE centres.
What planet is he on? More to the point, why is he being so badly briefed by his Minister of Education?
His claim flies in the face of reality as One News reported tonight, where they visited a centre where the fees are going up $50 per child per week because of Keys cuts to ECE.
Parents all over NZ know their fees are increasing and some are having to make tough decisions because they cant afford the increases
Maybe John Key thinks he is so bullet proof that he can tell outright fibs on TV – never mind those thousands of families who are having to stump up more money because of his cuts.
For the record, the funding cuts affect around 2300 ECE centres throughout NZ where more than 100,000 children are enrolled. Ninety percent of those centres report they are increasing fees, as well as cutting staff, field trips for the kids, reducing building maintenance and a whole range of other measures.
Its not a good look for the PM to misrepresent the reality. They are in trouble on this one.
Oops! That should have been George, not Geirge.
Now I bet I’ll have some loony claiming I’m engaged in some devious scheme by posting under two different names.
Fair cop!
(For years my Windows/98 profile was Geroge, and I didn’t even notice until my father in law pointed it out…)
“ECE is basically a babysitting sitting service for solo mums so they can supplement their DPB”
Its great to know that your sense of humor is alive and well! Really though, its all I can do not to post something scathing and rude in response to the above comment. I think its one of the most insulting comments we have had lately. I am a little ashamed at myself for even biting.
It beggars belief that we would have so many tories come flying out to trash ECE – It defies logic that they are unable to understand both common sense and what good research – from a number of sectors – shows. Pretty sad indictment really.
You’re posting like a fool, really.
How can children in chilcare centers learn more from their parents when mum and dad are both at work all day, trying to earn enough money to live on?
You fail to see a lot of things, clearly. I’m not suprised you don’t recognise the value of quality childhood educators.
And “perpetuated by unionised Labour supporting teachers, it’s more transparent than the pay protests”
The only thing that’s crystal clear here, is how ignorant your argument is.
Absolutely!
No-one’s trashing it, at least I’m not. But it happens to be the least important/most unnecessary part of the education cycle. Parents can do everything they do.
Kindy is a good supplement to good parenting, most of what I remeber from being at kindy was playing, sleeping, getting read a story, etc., but as an essential part of the learning process it is not a big deal. My parents taught me to read, my parents taught me to count and add and tell the time, and my parents were no geniuses.
For busy parents in the modern world, yes, I suppose kindergarten is more of a priority considering they don’t have the time to be with their kids…but to be completely heartless tory, they should have thought about it before they had kids.
ECE funding is not being abolished, it’s being increased in some areas and cut in others (unless the figures lie about the increase, and I trust Labour – well trust is the wrong word – I know them well enough to believe they wouldn’t simply make something up about the cuts) to reflect it’s importance in the grand scale of things.
This is not, at all, a big deal.
Aside from the extra cash some families will be forced to find for early learning, and the broken promises of the nat party and prime minister.
No, no big deal at all. :roll eyes:
yes, because everyone has the opportunity to select when they have kids, and who they have kids with, in a carefully considered exercise which excludes chance and the randomness of mother nature.
Quite correct, any family with an earner in the top 5% ($90K p.a.) will be able to shrug off any ECE fee increase as inconsequential. Their income tax cuts will cover it – convenient eh. So since National rule on behalf of this top 5% group, I understand exactly where you are coming from.
Not a big deal in the slightest.
Not important? Please, you were a little person – the value you got out of it when you were 4 you would never have been aware of. You may not realize, but much of the foundation of who you are were laid when you were attending ECE.
ECE has a massive impact on the social, emotional and ultimately, the academic competencies of children. It sets the ground work on more levels than you can possibly imagine, and while you are correct re good parenting – good quality ECE is different from parenting. Let me be clear – ECE teachers are just that – teachers. THey are not parents, the do not parent – they teach.
For a starters, if you wish to be aware of what happens, have a look at the ECE curriculum (thats right -theres a curriculum), and bone up on the research. The benefits are massive. The pay offs for the countries that have invested in ECE (they are smarter than us and saw the light years ago) are huge. If you want to know the difference between a child that has attended ECE and one who has not – ask a NE primary teacher.
Quality ECE benefits all kids across the social spheres – most certainly the biggest gains are seen in kids who are most at risk, but the research clearly (and there is oddles of it from around the world) shows all kids from all backgrounds benefit.
The benefits include:
- it helps prepare young children to succeed in school and become better citizens – by doing so they earn more, pay more taxes, and commit fewer crimes.
- Investment in ECE saves us taxpayers many dollars later on – in health, justice and education – one of the most impt factors – one bit of research shows that $1 invested here saves spending $13 tax dollars in the future
- Economically, it provides jobs etc
- it helps working parents work – therefore allowing tax revenue (not the most impt benefit in my opinion but impt to some)
- an investment in ECE is an investment in our future
- It saves money in the ed budget re early intervention (not needing to spend so much on special ed etc) the early you rectify issues the cheaper it is and the easier it is to actually fix it
ETC
I understand some people struggle understanding how the education system works – people think because little kids are little, that its not important – but the reality is that this is the most critical periods of human development.
All of our foundations for who we are occur from birth to about 6 (give or take depending on the area of brain development). It is critical we get it right. Esp for at risk kids. It can be too late from about the age of 8ish. The older the child, the harder it is to rectify any issues that are uncovered, or to deal with truama that occurs or to ensure the social and emotional competencies are in place – without them the will be no academic learning. This in turn spells disaster in terms of health, justice and alt ed.
The most important message that anyone who knows nothing about education should understand is this – the younger the child the more important the investment. Unfortunately, everyone thinks they are an expert in the ed system because we have all been a part of it because we have all been to school. The second most impt message is that actually, that does not make us an expert – it gives us an opinion, but does not make people an expert.
But Paul, 4 year olds dont vote.
Paul – you need to beware what the ‘experts’ tell you as well. Most of them will be working within whatever paradigm is current.
A thousand years ago most nautical experts would have told you the world was flat.
A couple of hundred years ago many medical experts would have told you the cure for most things was to bleed the bad humors out of you.
Within the last century many educational experts would have told you the way to maintain discipline in schools, and to keep kids’ noses to the grindstone, to was to be them early, hard and often.
Experts often just repackage and peddle current conventional wisdom, not absolute truths.
An assessment of the outputs of today’s educational system suggests that the present cohort of experts haven’t got it 100% right…
Oops – s/be beat them early, not be them.
George would you concede they might know a bit more than say a currency dealer or a career treasury bureacrat about educating pre school children?
You also concede that those advising said currency dealer and career treasury bureaucrat might be choosing to listen to those experts that fit THEIR current paradigm?
They have to listen to someone/s works both for your argument and against it I guess, as it does for Paul.
I was interested in Mrs Tolley’s background and thought maybe others didnt know her background either so here it is
Anne is a former Hawkes Bay Regional Councillor, a Napier City Councillor and was the Deputy Mayor of Napier City. Before entering parliament Anne was an active Rotarian, served on the Napier Girls’ High Board of Trustees and Hawkes Bay Polytechnic Council, and was a Trustee of the Hawkes Bay Community Law Centre.
They have to listen to someone/s works both for your argument and against it I guess, as it does for Paul.
Absolutely. It was an observation, really, rather than an argument in the combative sense.
There are many things that go to help make up “the experts’ view” in any context which is not truly scientific (in the hardest definition of the term). A significant one of those is the psychological, sociological and political make up of those who comprise each expert community.
The current majority educational paradigm is miles from where it was, say fifty years ago. To what extent is that down to the leanings of the individuals who are currently tempted into that industry, and can therefore class themselves as experts, compared to the equivalent preferences / prejudices etc of their predecessors?
I know of a number of very suitable people who rejected teaching as a profession, for example, because they didn’t agree with the “the way things seemed to be going”. You may argue that that sort of person is better off outside of the profession, but it certainly leads to a degree of self selection amongst those who go on to be quoted as “experts”.