What funding cuts can mean to the ECE sector:

Funding cuts to the sector means teacher lead services have had to cut the ratio of qualified teachers to stay financially secure. Furthermore there has been an increase in the amount of fundraises an ECE centre or ECE lead service are pressured to undertake. Kindergartens maintain they will continue to aim for 100 percent qualified staff but they have been forced to increase their hourly rate and have less contact hour time which is important to effectively plan to ensure quality experiences are promoted with children, extending their learning and understanding. Early childhood experiences are the foundations for children’s future learning. ECE centres have already got long hours of opening times and have been pressured to make some fully qualified staff redundant and employ unqualified individuals in order to be financially stable. A qualified ECE teacher trains a minimum of three years, during this time they gain both theoretical and ethical understanding; awareness of children’s potential learning and development and how this can be supported and extended working alongside the New Zealand curriculum: Te Whāriki. Furthermore teachers learn to provide an inclusive education bi-culturally that promotes inclusive practices which respect diversity and promote an anti-bias environment.

Ø  Do we just want anyone working in ECE without this potential understanding to extend and support children’s learning?

ü  We need to promote quality experiences for children with funding that supports and values our teachers in ECE or teacher lead services.

References:
 

Dau, E. (2001). (Ed.). The anti-bias approach in early childhood (2nd ed.). Frenchs Forest, Australia: Pearson.

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whᾱriki: He Whᾱriki Mᾱtauranga mō ngᾱ mokopuna o Aotearoa/Early childhood curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media. 

Wellington Kindergarten (2010). Brutal budget cutbacks for kindergarten. Retrieved April 25, 2011, from  http://www.wn-kindergarten.org.nz/_literature_56938/Brutal_Budget_Cutbacks_Press_Release_20_May_2010.