Stop Early Childhood Education Going The Same Way As School Lunches, NZEI Te Riu Roa Says

Teachers and tamariki are heading to Parliament tomorrow to try to stop early childhood education (ECE) going the same way as school lunches.

David Seymour’s Ministry for Regulation has proposed cuts to the quality of children’s education – a move kaiako say is from the Government’s school lunches playbook.

ECE centre manager Megan White, a representative on the NZEI Te Riu Roa National Executive, says she is worried this is the next school lunches-type disaster, which doesn’t make children’s wellbeing a priority.

“The school lunches changes have cut costs while torpedoing quality and even introducing safety risks. Now we’re facing quality cuts to young children’s education – even saying teachers don’t need to be qualified to teach in the classroom – and I’m very worried about what it will mean for tamariki.”

More than 10,000 people have signed a petition against the Ministry’s recommendations, which propose scrapping, amending or undermining regulations that ensure quality education, including requirements for qualified teachers, children’s safety and a nationally consistent curriculum that honours Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

“These aren't recommendations that improve the quality of early childhood education or put children’s best interests at heart. Instead, they prioritise the interests of corporations providing ECE services, that already receive millions of dollars in tax-payer funding, while potentially putting children in danger. We don’t want our profession reduced to a glorified babysitting service," she says.

White says there is a chronic shortage of early childhood and kindergarten teachers, and they have voiced their solutions to the issues in the ECE sector many times.

“Improving learning conditions for tamariki and working conditions and pay for kaiako means having a 100% qualified teaching workforce, quality teacher-to-child ratios, learning support for tamariki in need, and proper pay parity with our colleagues who teach in primary schools.”

Teachers and children will be handing over the petition on Thursday 27 March at 10am to Labour and the Greens spokespeople on the steps of Parliament. Members will be available for interviews and photographs.

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