Protest at 'dumbing down' of education | Bay of Plenty News | Local News in Bay of Plenty

More than 3500 Tauranga children and their families will be affected by Government cuts to early childhood education funding next year, which could see them paying an extra $20-$44 a week in fees.

Two Bay kindergartens have joined forces to organise a protest rally tomorrow - the first of its kind in New Zealand.

Papamoa Coast Kindergarten in conjunction with Matua Plunket Kindergarten will run the first regional rally, with the hope of inspiring other centres throughout New Zealand to follow suite.

Teacher and parent at Papamoa Coast Kindergarten Nadine Hansen said National needed to ask if they wanted to be known as "the government that's going to be dumbing down the nation.

"They are not supporting the sector," she said.

Official figures show that the funding cuts will affect 65 services in Tauranga where there are 3252 children enrolled.

The Budget has done away with two of the highest bands of subsidy for childcare centres, effectively cutting funds to centres with more than 80 per cent of their staff trained. That's all kindergartens.

As a result, centres will have to do away with qualified staff or hike their fees to make ends meet.

Ms Hansen said it was "really frightening times" for the sector.

"As a parent, I feel the National government aren't putting an emphasised need on qualified staff for our smallest people. We [as teachers] have three to four-year degrees and diplomas. We're trained to recognise speech difficulty, behaviour problems . . . If the average person is not qualified, are they expected to do that?"

Matua Plunket Kindergarten Tracy Giacon manager said centres were trying to be "hopeful and optimistic" but had to be realistic too.

According to early childhood education spokesperson for the Labour Party, Sue Moroney, the sector was expected to deal with cuts ranging between $1000- $2040 per child, per year.

"If those costs are passed on to families, it will mean increased costs of $20-$44 per week per child on top of GST increases on everything else those families buy," she said.

Ms Moroney said the Tauranga Kindergarten Association had told her 135 families had said they would have to withdraw their children from kindy if they faced increased costs.

Tauranga MP Simon Bridges said funding was being cut to to create savings for other priorities, including increasing participation in early childhood education by target groups. He said Maori and Pasifika participation rates were at 91 per cent and 85 per cent respectively, compared with the national average of 95 per cent.

Mr Bridges said from February next year, the government would align the ECE funding system with the 80 per cent teacher registration target. The funding change would continue to maintain high standards, he said.

"We are giving ECE centres time to react and adjust ... If they wish they can still operate with over 80 per cent registrations, it's just that there will not be government funding over and above this target."

THE RESULTS: NZEI EARLY CHILDHOOD SURVEY

- Bay of Plenty results*

1) Do you believe your child should have qualified early childhood education teachers? ANSWER: Yes: 144. No: 1.

2) Do you agree that all children should have qualified early childhood education teachers? ANSWER: Yes: 139. No: 6.

3) Do you agree that parents should pay more for early childhood education than they do at present? ANSWER: Yes: 2. No: 140. No indication: 3.

4) Do you agree that quality early childhood education is an investment in New Zealand's future? ANSWER: Yes: 143. No: 2.

* 145 surveys received.

WHAT A PARENT SAYS

Papamoa's Bronwyn Hudson is a mother of three and trained primary school teacher. Mrs Hudson said there was "no way" she would want her children attending primary school when only 80 per cent of teachers were qualified, and the same applied to early childhood education.

"It is a fundamental stage of their education and how it's set up now, will feed them through. There's a knock on effect," she said. "If they haven't had good grounding it will cost the government a lot more later on, so it's better to get it right now."

Mrs Hudson said she believed parents would pay more in fees to have qualified teachers, but the reality was, few could afford it.

"Too many can't find the coin in their pocket at the moment and everyone is entitled to high quality education," she said.

Early childhood centres could close, qualified staff be lost and parents face a hike in fees - in crippling funding costs that are "dumbing down the nation".