Child Care News
Early learning centres 'reluctant to charge any more of a fee to parents than is necessary'
RNZ - September 19, 2020Many early learning centres are looking to draw on their own cash-strapped resources to survive Covid-19, rather than increasing fees for parents. A survey by the Early Childhood Council showed while a quarter would consider raising fees, just under half wouldn't. Early learning...
Labour Promise To Extend Sick Leave Will Have Huge Impact In Early Childhood Education
Scoop - Press Release: NZEI Te Riu Roa - September 19, 2020NZEI Te Riu Roa is welcoming Labour's announcement today that it would double minimum sick leave entitlements to 10 days per year if returned to Government. President Liam Rutherford says inadequate sick leave is an issue across the education sector, particularly in early childhood ...
'Alarming' increase in early childhood care complaints
Otago Daily Times - John Lewis - September 18, 2020Complaints about Otago and Southland early childhood education centres (ECEs) have more than doubled in the past year, Ministry of Education data shows. The New Zealand Educational Institute says the "alarming rise" highlights under-resourcing of the sector, but the Ministry ...
Inquest into childcare death of Aldrich Viju: Heartbreaking details revealed
NZ Herald - Joey Dwyer - September 17, 2020Childcare teacher Jiae Kwon had just finished playing with a group of children when a little girl came over and said one of the boys "was sleeping and won't wake up". That boy was 4-year-old Aldrich Viju who died at Angels Childcare Centre after being strangled by a cord...
Kiwi kids who go to childcare tend to make friends easier: new study
NZ Herald - Ben Leahy - September 17, 2020Kiwi kids who go to early childhood education centres tend to make friends easier but are also likely to get sick more often, new research has found. Exactly what effects early childhood learning has on a child's emotional development and wellbeing have long been debated by academics...
Te Rito Maioha Welcomes Commitment To ECE Pay Parity In Labour Party Policy
Scoop - Press Release: Te Rito Maioha Early Childhood NZ - September 15, 2020Te Rito Maioha (ECNZ) welcomes the commitment to early childhood education (ECE) in the Labour Party’s Education Policy released today. We are delighted to see that Labour are committing $600m for early childhood education and care teachers’ pay parity. This will close...
Early Childhood Teachers Celebrate Labour’s Pay Parity Commitment
Scoop - Press Release: NZEI - September 15, 2020Early childhood education (ECE) teachers across the country are celebrating this morning following a $600m commitment by the Labour Party to move towards pay parity for qualified teachers if re-elected. NZEI Te Riu Roa says the policy commitment will have a significant...
Kindergarten, schools, businesses $25,000 out-of-pocket after burglary spree
Stuff - Alice Angeloni - September 15, 2020A Marlborough man who stole from businesses, schools and a kindergarten in a meth-fuelled “burglary spree” has been jailed. Charles Wiremu Maru, 39, justified committing these burglaries on the basis that they were commercial buildings, and were likely to have insurance ...
Inquest: Mother wants cameras in childcare playgrounds after death of 4-year-old Aldrich Viju
NZ Herald - September 15, 2020A mother is calling for cameras in childcare playgrounds - after the death of her four-year-old son in Auckland four years ago. A coroner's inquest has begun into how Aldrich Viju died on a toy slide on plastic stilts at Angels Childcare Centre in Takapuna, in November 2016...
Election 2020: Labour's education policy - extra $600m for childcare teachers, replace decile system
NZ Herald - Simon Collins - September 15, 2020The Labour Party has promised to spend an extra $600 million over the next four years on boosting childcare teachers' pay if it is re-elected next month. The promise to "work towards pay parity" between kindergarten teachers and teachers in the rest of the ECE sector...
NZ Election 2020: Māori Party proposes new independent child agency, says Oranga Tamariki staff 'do not care' about Māori babies
Newshub - Dan Satherley - September 12, 2020The Māori Party wants to take Māori children out of Oranga Tamariki's care, saying staff "either do not understand or do not care" about Māori. Instead it's proposing a Mokopuna Māori Entity, "which will be responsible for the care of all mokopuna Māori in Aotearoa". Oranga Tamariki ...
Election 2020: Solo mums welcome $1b govt support for uni studies and work
NZ Herald - Ben Leahy - September 12, 2020'Ana Pahulu was a 28-year-old single mum looking down the barrel of a life of poverty for her young daughter when she made a fateful decision to go back to university to study. Pahulu had earlier spent two years on a government benefit for single parents but could barely...
Early learning center sustainably embraces rural New Zealand
InHabitat - September 11, 2020In the rural New Zealand haven of Dairy Flat, U.K.-based architecture firm Collingridge and Smith Architects has recently completed the Fantails Estate, an early learning center for 154 babies and preschoolers. Designed to sit sensitively within its rural context, the modern building...
We're not babysitters say early childhood teachers seeking pay parity
Stuff - Katy Jones - September 10, 2020Early childhood teacher Gabriel Hoeksema loves her job, but has had enough of being seen as a “glorified babysitter”. “We just feel disrespected ...that people see teachers who work in a child care centre as less important than those that work in a kindergarten.” Early childhood education (ECE) teachers are paid up to 49 per cent less than their kindergarten counterparts, according to the union representing ECE teachers, NZEI Te Riu Roa.
Te Rito Maioha ECNZ Welcomes Release Of The 2019 Early Learning Complaints And Incident Report.
Scoop - Press Release: Te Rito Maioha Early Childhood NZ - September 10, 2020‘While it is pleasing to see that the number of complaints about early learning services has decreased in 2019, it remains a concern that there are a small number of services receiving multiple complaints’, says Te Rito Maioha ECNZ Chief Executive Kathy Wolfe. ‘It is encouraging ...
