English's credibility further undermined - Mallard

A claim by National MP Bill English that parents with children in early childhood education will be told by this government to drop their children off at early childhood education services on the hour is "utter nonsense", Education Minister Trevor Mallard said today.

"If people can't trust Mr English with the facts, how could they trust him with their children and their education? His claim is utter nonsense and I told him as much last Thursday in Parliament. Yet he persists, and is now deliberately continuing to mislead parents.

“Under the new funding system, services must document whether teachers are registered or not for each hour worked with children, in order to receive higher funding for registered teachers,” Trevor Mallard said.

“This is a simple administrative task that would take a maximum of five to ten minutes each day, as all that is needed is to note any exceptions from regular staffing rosters.

"By doing this, services will ensure that they will receive more funding for employing qualified and registered teachers,” Trevor Mallard said.

Early childhood education services will receive significant funding boosts this year, as part of the $307 million four-year package aimed at delivering on the Labour-led government's goal of getting more children into affordable and top quality early childhood education.

"Depending on their size and the number of qualified teachers they have, most services will receive funding boosts of between 12 and 26 percent. Some services could get as much as a 24 per cent increase in funding for under twos, and a 42 per cent increase in funding for over-two-year-olds. The first payments, backdated to April 1, will be made on 1 July," Trevor Mallard said.

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