4 August 2011
For Immediate Release
Poverty plan would help improve educational achievement
The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa welcomes the Green Party’s plan to bring 100,000 children out of poverty in
the next three years as poverty has a major impact on children’s learning.
One in five New Zealand children live in poverty and the links between poverty and educational underachievement are well
known.
NZEI says one proven way of reducing social inequity and improving educational outcomes for disadvantaged children is
quality early childhood education.
NZEI President Ian Leckie says what is needed is a specific focus on quality public services for young children to
address the issues associated with poverty and learning, early on.
“That means investment in high-quality publicly-funded universally-available early childhood education, particularly in
disadvantaged areas, staffed by fully-qualified early childhood teachers who can deliver the early childhood
curriculum,” he says.
Children who live in poverty also need extra support to succeed and schools and centres need extra resources so they can
give every child the opportunity to learn.
“We don’t want children missing out on opportunities through no fault of their own. The millions of dollars going into
National Standards would be better spent on providing more resources and meeting the basic needs of children. That is
what will make a meaningful contribution to lifting student achievement.
NZEI says it is refreshing to see a political party stepping up and putting the issue of child poverty firmly on the
agenda. It also believes a co-ordinated and audited cross-party/cross-agency approach should be developed that targets
child poverty and audits the impact of government policy on children.
ENDS