Last night I hosted a public meeting in Upper Hutt on early childhood education. It was very well attended by parents, teachers and concerned members of the public. This is a bit of a sleeper issue that’s going to come back to bite the National government. Around the country early childhood centres are grapling with an impossible choice – do they cut quality or increase fees to parents, thus compromising access? The crunch is still a few months away. A lot of parents aren’t even aware it’s coming yet.
Kindergartens are being clobbered really hard. They’ve already decided they want to stick with having 100% qualified staff, and they don’t charge fees, so they’re going to find it really hard. Where will they find the money? Cuts to teacher professional development, property maintenance, and equipment budgets will be high on the list no doubt. Who loses out? The kids.
If we’re serious about catching up with Australia, if we’re serious about reducing the prison population, if we’re serious about providing security in retirement, we need to take a long-term view. That starts with giving kids the best possible start in life. Kids who attend quality early childhood education do better at school, better at work, better in life. These cuts are just so short-sighted and we’ll all pay in the long run.
