A meeting to discuss the effects of the 2010 Budget on early childcare education on Waiheke next Monday has attracted the attention of Labour list MP Jacinda Ardern.  Senior teacher at Waiheke Community Childcare Ute Hoffmann is very pleased that Ms Ardern will be listening to her centre’s concerns about losing funding in person.

“The thing that will impact on our centre quite dramatically will be the change in funding for registered teachers,” she says. “Providing quality care means qualified and professional early childhood teachers and the government funding is apportioned in funding bands according to what percentage of the teaching staff is qualified. In our case we have more than 80 percent qualified staff. This very band however will be affected by a decrease in funding of 6 percent.”

Ms Hoffmann says the centre is committed to the principle of ‘being a good employer’ and is also proud to be a not-for-profit community service.
“We haven’t raised our fees for over a year as we felt it would be wrong to do so in the current climate of recession,” she says.  “However, now we will have to do some serious thinking and fundraising to make sure we can cover our wages and continue to provide the quality early childhood education we are committed to. And of course, we don’t want to make anyone redundant nor do we want to affect our child/teacher ratios.”

She says it seems ironic that the government have pushed for 100 percent registered and qualified teachers (their stated target for 2012) and yet “punishes” those services that have actively supported their teaching staff to enroll in study to gain a qualification in early childhood education.
“I guess it is a matter of priorities and they have clearly shifted off the island towards lower socio economic parts of the country. And while I’m all for supporting these children and families, the new budget will hurt our pockets, but we won’t let it hurt our children,” she says.
Ms Hoffmann said the centre awaited the 2010 Budget with “quite a bit of nervous tension” after rumours that the 20 free hours (for three and four-year-olds) might be taken away and that the funding may drop dramatically. However the response from the early childhood sector has been mixed.

Some changes are being viewed positively like the fact that Kohanga Reo and Playcentre are now eligible for the 20 free hours of government funding. Ms Hoffmann also believes the targeting of lower socio economic areas with more funding to encourage a greater uptake of early childhood education is a good move.
The funding cuts meeting will be on Monday 21 June at Waiheke Community Childcare in Donald Bruce Road, Surfdale. It is open to parents, prospective parents and anyone who has an interest in the issue of early childhood education. • Julianne Evans