Media Releases

Funding That Better Reflects Today’s Realities Will Get Best Results For Pre-schoolers 31/7/05

More targeted funding to at-risk families, subsidies that reflect the reality of working parent’s lives and subsidies based on centres’ performance, not their ownership, will get the best results for pre-schoolers, a major new report has found. The report finds that: • The targeting of additional funding to pre-schoolers from families with low-incomes and other risk factors should be improved. • The six-hour daily limit on subsidies should be removed (and the 30-hour per week limit reviewed). • Public subsidies and other assistance should be made available to all early childhood providers who meet objective performance standards. Putting Children First has been written by independent economic research firm the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research and was sponsored by the Early Childhood Council that represents over 800 community and private ECE centres. Council chief executive Sue Thorne said many working parents needed all-day care for their children and the current subsidy limits had long been a source of stress and concern for families. “We are pleased to see quality, independent research confirming what our member centres’ parents have been saying for some time – that with the pressures on them to support their families, they need a subsidy structure reflecting the reality of their all-day working lives. “It is also pleasing to see a recommendation that New Zealand’s at-risk families are better taken care of. Quality early childhood education and care can be a vital part of any youngster’s development and we need better paths for families – no matter what their situation – to access it.” Mrs Thorne said the recommendation to subsidise the performance of centres, not their ownership, was very important, as along with subsidies effectively getting families decent access, controls on centres’ quality were also necessary to ensure that the access was not wasted. Putting Children First is available from ECC Reports

30/07/05 - Sue Thorne