Cuts To ECE Required Practices: Paving The Way For Baby Farming

“A leap towards transforming early childhood education into being little more than a system for baby farming” – this is how the Office of Early Childhood Education (OECE) has described the government’s plan to water down and eliminate many basic standards for ECE and lessen compliance for service operators.

Chief advisor to the OECE, Dr Sarah Alexander said that a market approach does not work when goals are to improve outcomes for children because ECE is a public good like schools.

“This shift in government policy aims to weaken and eliminate essential practices for care and education that our children deserve and that families who rely on ECE need. It is heartbreaking to see such a deep neglect of what truly matters.

“The Government is steering early childhood education in a direction that raises concerns akin to the historical practice of baby farming. Children will be the casualties.

“Cutting requirements so less compliance is needed and reducing use of the tools to downgrade or cancel a centre’s licence might be winning Minister Seymour friends who are investors in ECE but there will be long term costs to children and to our country’s economic and social wellbeing.

“The changes as proposed will not lead to lower prices and better-quality provision. The focus of the regulatory changes is to support the market to expand.

“We see lower quality when services are competing. And, competition does not necessarily affect prices. When there are spaces for children left vacant, the service has less revenue from funding and fees, but still has the same overheads which leads to cutting corners and sub-par practices,” said Dr Alexander.

The OECE’s position is that changes in the regulatory system are needed but not in the direction wanted by Minister Seymour and approved by Cabinet members.

“Access to high-quality early childhood education and care benefits children’s social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development. Our political leaders shouldn’t support anything less than what’s good for children because what’s good for children is good for society.”

About the Office of Early Childhood Education:

The Office of Early Childhood Education – Te Tari Mātauranga Kōhungahunga is the national body for early childhood education in Aotearoa and public advisor on early childhood education and care.

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