Media statement
Funding slashes in early childhood education astounding – new research
24 March 2017
For immediate release.
Te Rito Maioha Early Childhood New Zealand (ECNZ) says that, if accurate, new research quantifying slashes to funding
for early childhood education (ECE) is astounding.
According to a report by Infometrics (commissioned by NZEI Te Riu Roa) the ECE sector is $260m worse off in 2017. This
is when cuts were made to funding for qualified staff in 2010, and funding failed to keep up with inflation.
‘The quantification of what we already knew, that the early childhood sector has been deprived of meaningful funding in
recent years, is astonishing,’ said Kathy Wolfe, Chief Executive of ECNZ. ‘According to NZEI, in real terms, ECE
services are around $58,000 worse off each per year, than they would have been if funding had not been slashed for
qualified staff and had kept up with inflation. This is significant for services that were already running on very tight
margins.’
Our children deserve the highest quality ECE possible, laying the foundations for life-long learning. They deserve fully
qualified and certificated teaching staff, whose employers can afford to provide them with ongoing professional
development. With what amounts to funding cuts in recent years, this has become an impossible aspiration for many early
childhood services around the country.
ECNZ is calling on all political parties to commit to restoring funding for a 100% qualified ECE workforce and for
funding to be adjusted for inflation, in this election year.
ENDS