Child abuse reduced by access to education

Child abuse reduced by access to early childhood education

The largest kindergarten association in New Zealand has called for a new approach to early childhood education to help solve the problem of child abuse in New Zealand.

Auckland Kindergarten Association General Manager Tanya Harvey said traditional childcare was working for 95% of families.

But it was not working for the most at-risk of children. And as a result most of New Zealand's most needy preschoolers received no childcare at all.

Childcare that targeted these children and their families could 'reduce substantially' the incidence of child abuse, Ms Harvey said.

'I am talking about childcare as a "one-stop shop" for at-risk families.

'It would include not only traditional early childhood education, but also parent education that began almost at birth.

'It would include nursing services that both delivered medical care and educated parents about child health needs.

'It would include anger management classes, on-site facilities for parents to study and acquire work skills while their children were in care, dental care, budgeting, and other services.'

Such centres would be located in the most at-risk communities, Ms Harvey said.

They would begin their work when children were age zero. They would prepare the whole family for 'a positive interaction with the education process'. And ideally they would be located on or near school grounds so that transition to school was 'seamless'.

Each kindergarten (or other childcare centre) of this sort would have a character that reflected the community in which it operated. Centres would identify at-risk families and invite them into care. And outside of formal childcare hours, some onsite buildings could be used for a wide range of community activities.

Ms Harvey said the approach was based on 'Pen Green', a centre located in one of the most disadvantaged parts of Britain.

There the majority of parents were involved in a programme to teach them how to assist their children's learning. And many had obtained further education at the centre and become centre workers themselves, or gone on to other careers.

Too many at-risk families were lost in a wasteland of drunkenness, drug abuse, violence and poverty, Ms Harvey said.

Love of their children was a potential way out. But the intervention had to be early, almost from birth. And it had to be rooted in community.

The Auckland Kindergarten Association is the largest kindergarten association in New Zealand with 107 public kindergartens and three all-day learning centres. It teaches 9000 children every year, with kindergartens in the wealthiest and poorest parts of Auckland.

ENDS

© Scoop Media