Abstract
Abstract This paper provides an historical and policy overview of early childhood education in New Zealand. The analysis is framed around the introduction, in July 2007, of the government’s policy of 20 hours-a-week free early childhood education for three and four year old children in teacher-led early childhood programmes. This initiative extended a raft of policies intended to improve quality participation in early childhood as part of the Government’s ten year Strategic Plan Pathways to the Future: Ngã Huarahi Arataki 2002–2012. A key plank of this policy is that by 2012 all adults working in teacher-led services will have teaching qualifications. Realising this has been challenging and the implementation of the ‘20 hours free’ policy became a controversial media story. From age five, all New Zealand children have long had a ‘right as a citizen’ to free schooling. There was a level of expectation from parents that this ‘right’ had been extended to early childhood education. The policy was not so bold. This paper outlines the journey towards matching the rights of the school aged and preschool aged child for free education. The ‘20 hours free’ policy is an important step in the process. The paper concludes with an early commentary on the issues that this policy raises in relation to: the rights of children and parents, the costs of quality, and the conflicting roles of government, community, and private enterprise in the provision of early childhood services.
Highlights
In July 2007, 1the New Zealand government introduced a policy enabling 20 hours a week free, early childhood education for three and four year olds in teacher-led centres
Parents interpreted the policy as a right for their child to a free place, and were indignant if their local centre was not opting into the scheme; if there was no place for their child in the centre of their choice, or there was no convenient early childhood service in their area
There was a level of expectation that this was extended to early childhood education
Summary
This paper provides an historical and policy overview of early childhood education in New Zealand. The analysis is framed around the introduction, in July 2007, of the government’s policy of 20 hours-a-week free early childhood education for three and four year old children in teacher-led early childhood programmes. The paper concludes with an early commentary on the issues that this policy raises in relation to: the rights of children and parents, the costs of quality, and the conflicting roles of government, community, and private enterprise in the provision of early childhood services. 30 hours-a-week that every licensed centre or homebased scheme receives for children, from birth to school age, attending either parent-led or teacher-led early childhood services. This paper provides an historical overview of early childhood provision and policy in New Zealand outlining a journey towards matching the rights of the school and preschool child. Too, was the impetus for the principles and goals of Te Whãriki in the 1990s (Carr & May, 1999; Nuttall, 2003), that became both the ‘mat’ and the metaphor for teachers, parents and children from many cultures and communities to weave the diverse yet distinctive curriculum patterns of the early childhood experience in New Zealand
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