Budget Investment For ENRICH Education Programme

The Hon. Erica Stanford has today announced an investment in the ENRICH oral language programme – which will see the programme reach 525 early learning services over four years.

ENRICH is an evidence-based programme created by Professor Elaine Reese (University of Otago) in partnership with Methodist Mission Southern (MMS). Over the last four years, the programme has been extensively researched through the world-leading Kia Tīmata Pai study – involving 140 ECEs from BestStart.

ENRICH focuses on strengthening oral language skills, communication skills and early maths competencies – all critical foundations for future learning and long-term life success. The programme has demonstrated significant improvements for tamariki in these areas in research trials, and has been successfully implemented in ECE classrooms since 2021.

The implementation of ENRCH is led by Jimmy McLauchlan, Chief Development Officer at Methodist Mission Southern, who has spent ten years working in partnership with researchers, policymakers, and education providers – to translate child development science into practical programmes that can benefit children on a national scale.

“Some of the world’s best child development science has come out of this country – and programmes like ENRICH are turning that science into learning for hundreds of thousands of New Zealand children,” said McLauchlan.

“ENRICH works because it shares the science of language development through practical techniques that have been co-designed with teachers to work in busy classrooms. The programme embraces our cultures and curriculum, and has been tested by hundreds of teachers around the country over the last four years.”

ENRICH will initially be rolled out to 525 ECEs over the next four years, alongside ongoing research and evidence-gathering work, which is aimed at making the programme even more effective and sustainable across the entire ECE sector in coming years.

“This investment today means we can reach even more tamariki with tools that build language, communication and early literacy skills when it matters most.”

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