Working Parents and Early Childhood Education - An NZEI viewpoint

Helen Clark suggested government policies would provide better support for women in work in her speech at the opening of parliament this year.

She may have expected a warm response from women around the country looking for more help to find affordable quality care for their children. Instead, the speech led to an outpouring from women who want their work at home to be valued.

But the speech also gave rise to misgivings within the early childhood education community, as much for its emphasis as its content. Ever since responsibility for early childhood education was shifted from the former Social Welfare Department to the Education Department (now the Ministry) the focus has been on providing a quality education for children. The government's strategic plan for early childhood education, Pathways to the Future - Nga Huarahi Arataki and the curriculum Te Whariki are part of that. The Prime Minister did not mention either of these ground-breaking documents that are supported across the sector.

Helen Clark's approach came from an economic standpoint - with a labour market shortage, and fewer women working than in other similar countries, women at home are an obvious place to turn. Of course, early childhood education has always focused on the dual needs of families and children. It would be a sad day if education and care were again to be separated. The preamble to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child states that, ". the child, for the full and harmonious development of his or her personality, should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding," Because of this, it makes sense that the government funding for centres - a grant in aid as the Ministry calls it - is based on a maximum of 30 hours per child per week. However, the subsidies available to parents through Work and Income are available for 50 hours.

While recognising the reality of the working week, the message these subsidies send may not be good for all children. And it's not just the children who can miss out by spending long days in early childhood education. The pressure on families, and often on mothers, from working long hours with young babies means any move to increase the length of parental leave - and increase the rate at which it is paid - would be a tremendous boost for families.

Let's remember, the strategic plan has four goals - quality, access, participation and collaborative relationships. There are many in the sector who question whether, by increased participation, the government means the same numbers of children participating in more services and for longer hours. The impact on quality has to be considered. The variety of services has always been part of the strength of the sector, including sessional services. Many such as kindergartens for example, are looking for ways to respond to community need by extending hours of operation and offering flexible attendance options. Before and after school care options seem set to expand to meet labour market imperatives. Extra subsidies have already been announced in this area, meaning new commercial opportunities are available to those who see an opportunity to exploit extra government money available for capture.

But here too there are questions about work-life/ school- life balance for school-aged children. Helen Clark's speech also mentioned an expansion in home-based care. No reason was given for this option to be favoured, but some assumptions can be made. Certainly with the shortage of qualified registered teachers, there is limited scope for rapid expansion in the centre-based part of the sector without compromising on the strategic plan. It may be that, for those reasons, the government has decided home-based early childhood education is the way to go.

And, with the under-two funding providing higher subsidies, the group sizes for the under-twos have risen to levels that some families find unattractive. However, it would be unfortunate if home-based care expanded as a way around the strategic plan, or if, for many parents, home-based care was the only option. Quality home-based early childhood education providers such as Barnardos report continual problems recruiting enough quality educators, so government plans to expand this sector may also need a reality check.

A recent government report on home-based care of the elderly provided chilling reading, with accounts of the elderly being abused and neglected in their own homes by those charged with looking after them. The home-based carers were all poorly paid, many were badly educated or illiterate, and in some cases, they were found to be uncaring, unmotivated and unreliable. Without wanting to cast aspersions on the many dedicated and caring and highly competent home-based educators, the report highlights the problems that can occur when a commercial opportunity is coupled with insufficient checks on quality.

Although most home-based educators are parents and therefore have relevant skills and experience, and many undergo training, there are other parallels which the government would do well to take heed of. Families and children deserve quality affordable accessible early childhood education regardless of the state of the labour market.

What's really needed is a co-ordinated approach across government departments; Education, Labour and Social Policy, that is firmly centred on the early childhood education Strategic Plan, which the sector developed collaboratively and the government adopted and has been doing a fine job of implementing to date. Network planning and provision of early childhood education and out of school care and recreation (OSCAR) are vital to ensure government funding is targeted at areas of high need and well-spent. These services are too important to be left up to market forces.

Rather than talking of dawn-to-dusk childcare, the Prime Minister should perhaps look at rewarding workplaces that can offer suitable flexible work options to parents - or others for that matter - without sacrificing status or career progression. More paid parental leave would assist families. Women, and men too, need rewarding jobs that are well paid with decent hours of work and leave provisions such as those available in Sweden.

The labour market shortage provides an ideal opportunity for employers to change to make themselves attractive to parents through 'family-friendly' policies, rather than the government making provision for more mothers to meet the unfriendly demands of the workplace.

ENDS