Labour's Compulsory Pre-School Plan An Orwellian Con Job

United Future leader, Hon Peter Dunne, says Labour's plan for compulsory pre-school education for 4 year olds is a massive con job.

"Apart from sounding like something straight out of George Orwell, the plan simply will not work."

"Of course early childhood education is the most critical aspect of education, and it is vital that as many children as possible have the opportunity of access to it, " he says.

Mr Dunne says a better and more inclusive approach would be to follow United Future's policy of ensuring that every child had the opportunity of access to a minimum of 15 hours a week well-resourced preschool education from the age of 3.

"Under this approach we would ensure flexibility; protect parental choice; and, provide educational opportunity to young children from an earlier age."

"While making it compulsory for all 4 year olds to go to preschool might initially sound good, in reality it is an extremely limiting option, saying more about Labour's wider agenda for social control and the promotion of conformity."

"The early childhood education sector is presently badly under-resourced and struggles to meet existing demands, so that the most likely immediate impact of making preschool education compulsory for 4 year olds will be a massive shift of resources away from existing services for under 4 year olds, which is extremely short-sighted."

"Such a move is a backward step that will actually narrow opportunities, and limit parents' choices, rather than broaden them," Mr Dunne says.

Ends

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>