Child Care News
Early Learning Providers Hoping For Budget Lifeline
Scoop - Early Childhood Council - May 20, 2021Community and privately owned early learning providers are hoping for a funding boost, alongside the investment in teacher pay, in today’s budget. “Our teachers are at the heart of ECE, and the continued moves to Pay Parity have been welcomed throughout our sector. But after ...
11,000 fewer children enrolled in early childhood education than five years ago
Stuff NZ - Marine Lourens - May 19, 2021Teachers and service providers working in early childhood education (ECE) say the Government is taking the sector in the wrong direction, evidenced by fewer children being enrolled in ECE services and a decline in staff numbers. These are the findings of the latest ECE sector confidence...
'Absolutely broken' preschool sector needs more than just cash
Stuff - Lee Kenny - May 18, 2021A “broken” early childhood education (ECE) sector needs more than money in this week's Budget to lower class sizes and keep teachers in the profession, experts says. Early childhood teachers have long called for a pay increase, with data in March revealing they are paid ...
Kindergartens Want Pay Parity Delivered Through A Collective Agreement
Scoop - Kindergartens Aotearoa - May 13, 2021Kindergartens Aotearoa welcomes the government move to spend $170 million over four years to move towards pay parity for early childhood teachers. Kindergarten teachers are covered by a national collective employment agreement that means salaries relate closely to those ...
Parents delay rushing kids to hospital due to lack of care for siblings - study
Stuff NZ - Denise Piper - May 13, 2021Rural and Māori children are more likely to suffer from severe appendicitis than urban and non-Māori kids, research has found. The study, the first of its kind in New Zealand, found parents delay rushing their children to hospital due to the need to arrange childcare for siblings, as well as...
Pay parity: Government to fund early childhood centres to pay qualified teachers what they would earn in kindergartens
Stuff NZ - Laura Wiltshire and Henry Cooke - May 12, 2021Kaiako (teachers) working with New Zealand’s youngest children could soon be getting a pay boost. Teachers in early childhood centres are currently paid on average $16,000 less than kindergarten teachers, who have a collective agreement with the Government. In a pre-Budget announcement on Wednesday, Education MInister Chris Hipkins committed $170 million to deliver pay parity for early childhood teachers...
Early Learning Not Invited To MIQ Lolly Scramble
Scoop - Early Childhood Council - May 11, 2021The early learning sector has been excluded from MIQ spaces freed up for refugees, students, and construction and RSE workers. “In the middle of a severe teacher shortage that’s putting early learning centres out of business, we’ve been left in the cold once again,” said ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa Launches New Learning Support Campaign Ngā Aukaha All In For Tamariki
Scoop - NZEI - May 10, 2021NZEI Te Riu Roa has launched a new campaign that spans not only their membership but parents and advocates too, to fix Aotearoa’s learning support system. Ngā Aukaha All in for Tamariki will campaign on issues of funding and access to learning support for children...
The role of play in early childhood development
NZ Herald - RNZ - May 8, 2021The role play has in early childhood development and in particular, the prevention of behavioural and emotional difficulties is the focus of professor of play Paul Ramchandan. Ramchandani heads the Play in Education, Development and Learning Centre at Cambridge University...
Team leader weaves Māori culture into everyday learning
New Zealand Tertiary College - May 7, 2021A team leader in a bicultural preschool, New Zealand Tertiary College (NZTC) student Tangiwai Trueman’s goal is to lead and implement kaupapa Māori in centre life. “I absolutely love being able to incorporate this treasured language into our centre, especially as I speak it fluently ...
Early Learning Centres Asking For Small Slice Of $926m Budget Pie
Scoop - Press Release: Early Childhood Council - May 4, 2021Struggling Early Childhood Education providers say a modest part of the $926 million recovery budget would help them stay open and re-invest in the children they care for. Early learning centres were instrumental in allowing essential workers to do important mahi ...
Children’s Emotional & Behaviour Problems Linked To Mobile Screen Time
Scoop - STANZ - May 3, 2021Young children who spend large amounts of time on mobile screens are more likely to have problems sleeping and managing their emotions and behaviour, a new Australian study has confirmed. PhD researcher Sumudu Mallawaarachchi and Dr Sharon Horwood from...
Sector says one early childhood centre is closing a week
NewstalkZB - April 26, 2021There could be one early learning centre a week shutting its doors this year due to a perfect storm of economic factors. Ministry of Education data shows centre closures have been rising steadily from 17 in 2016 to 40 in 2020 - with no signs of slowing down. The Early Childhood Council ...
New Zealand body ECC is worried about centre closures in 2021 as parity pressures bite
The Sector - Freya Lucas - April 26, 2021Prominent early childhood education and care voices in New Zealand have expressed concern about “a perfect storm” of economic factors which are forcing approved providers to take “desperate measures”, with some predicting that 2021 “could be the year an early learning centre...
Stuff - Lee Kenny and Hanna McCallum - April 24, 2021
Stuff - Lee Kenny and Hanna McCallum - April 24, 2021Next time you ask your mum to watch the kids it might be because there are evolutionary reasons why maternal grandmothers make such good caregivers – especially divorced grannies. Gretchen Perry, a social worker and associate professor at University of Canterbury, says divorced grandmothers are the “ace in the hole” when it comes to providing care to their own children’s children ...
