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ECE Sector Survey, October 2011

Early Childhood Education has been something of a hot potato for political parties in recent years with the introduction and subsequent tweaking of the 20 hours scheme, the introduction of the 100% qualified teacher target which was then reduced to 80% and the recent ECE Taskforce Report. Successive Governments have intervened, some would say interfered, in the ECE sector and it now appears that Government is playing a greater role than it ever has in determining the financial sustainability of services, setting standards, closing differences and also creating differences between ECE service groups.

It is little wonder then that our latest survey on the state of early childhood education shows an increasing concern that the Government is intervening too much in the sector and that it is creating instability and fears for the future of ECE As one respondent said “the sector is in a constant state of flux”.

The over-riding concern among respondents to the survey was what was happening to the sectors funding and what further policy changes might occur and what their impact might be. Many respondents reported that this was in turn causing an increase in stress levels and having an impact on the care and education of children. These concerns featured much more frequently in responses than things such as teaching and curriculum.

The nationwide survey had 241 respondents including ECE service owners and managers, ECE workers and parents who are involved in ECE either through their child being enrolled in a teacher led service or through association with a parent-led service. The survey asked two key questions. Firstly it asked respondents whether things were currently going well or badly at their service and secondly it asked whether they felt things would improve or worsen in the next 12 months. 

Overall slightly more respondents (59%) said things were going well but worryingly more than two fifths (41%) thought things were going badly. Teacher-led services were more likely to report that things were going badly compared to parent-led and home-based services with 61% of respondents from teacher-led services saying things were not going well.

Optimism for the future was also very low with only just under 4% of respondents saying they thought their service’s situation would improve in the next 12 months and that nothing would get worse. Thirty per cent thought some things would improve while others would get worse, but 40% felt things were only going to get worse. The remaining respondents either expressed uncertainty (e.g. “who knows in this current climate?”) or did not state what would likely worsen and improve. Pessimism was seen across all home and centre based, parent-led and teacher-led services.

The following sections of the report explore in more detail what is currently going well and badly in the ECE sector and what might happen in the future, including comments from respondents.

The Good

Community-based services were more likely to report that things were going well in their service with 61% of respondents from community-based services saying things were good. Why these services are more inclined to feel they are doing better needs more research but may be because they tend to operate more on a collective basis and this social and collaborative context for problem solving may provide some buffer against stress.

Some of the services which reported things were going well had actually benefited from government changes to funding structures or had managed to successfully adjust to them, while others reported increasing rolls and settled children. Some services had increased the number of hours or days they were open for or had opened new premises.  In these services staff morale or that of the parents running the service was high leading to high quality care and education which was reflected in the happiness of the children attending the service. 

In the words of respondents

Funding, rolls and management 

Staff morale and well-being of the children 

The Bad

Most of the concerns reported by the survey respondents were centred on funding, policy and government changes. The reduction of the qualified teacher target to 80% and the related funding losses were highlighted by many respondents. This may explain why more teacher-led services reported things were going badly as these services would have borne the brunt of this funding cut. Several respondents said their services had to re-budget and cut costs as a result of which other things such as provided lunches and excursions were being cut. Some were struggling due to increased competition and were suffering from falling rolls. The knock-on effect of this was increasing anxiety and stress among staff which some respondents felt was in turn impacting on the quality of care and education for the children. Other problems included lack of funding for children with additional needs, lack of professional development and affordability for families. Unsurprisingly respondents from Canterbury were also struggling to deal with the impact of the recent earthquakes.

In the words of respondents

Funding, rolls and management 

Competition 

Staff morale and well-being of the children 

The Canterbury earthquakes 

The Future

Optimism in the sector was very low with the majority of respondents saying they thought nothing was going to improve in the next 12 months and things would only get worse. While community based services were more likely to report that things were currently going well there was little difference in the amount of optimism shown between community-based and private services with many respondents from community-based services also believing things were likely to get worse. 

Interestingly the comments from respondents who said they thought things would improve showed that many of those improvements were likely to be internally generated by the services themselves.  

Some ECE employers were also hopeful that the reduction of the qualified teacher target to 80% may in fact lead to an increase in the number of qualified teachers available on the job market as services re-structured, giving them more choice when looking for new staff.  

Less positive was that many felt that funding would continue to be tight and could actually worsen, leading to services having to cut back on teachers. The potential scrapping of the 20 hours scheme was of particular concern. An increasing amount of compliance, borne from talk of new curriculums and assessment, rising costs and a lack of affordability for families were also worrying respondents. Again, a perceived knock on effect of these concerns was increased stress for staff and service owners and in turn a decline in the quality of care and education they provide.  

Other hopes for the future included less compliance, funding increases and a greater recognition of different types of service. This last point was raised particularly by those in home-based care which many feel has been somewhat neglected up to this time.  

Several respondents raised the hope that the government may change after the up-coming election, or if National is re-elected that it will be forced to listen to what people are saying and re-consider some of its decisions.  

In the words of respondents 

What Might Get Better 

Service generated improvements 

Teacher availability 

Changes to the Government or to National’s thinking 

What Might Get Worse

Funding 

Rising costs and lack of affordability 

 Staff morale and the well-being of the children 

Conclusion

The results of the survey show that increasing government intervention in the early childhood education sector is having a largely negative effect at the level of individual services. The sector overall appears to feel that it has been hurt by recent changes to policy and funding and is worried about further changes such as those signalled by the government’s ECE Taskforce report.

One problem for the sector is that as the proportion of government funding has increased so too has service dependency on that funding. This means when the rules are changed or funding is cut; the impact on services is greater putting stress on owners, staff and families. This is particularly true for some funding areas such as the 20 hours subsidy without which it appears many services fear they will lose large numbers of enrolments.

Perhaps more worryingly the sector appears to be distracted by lack of funding and ever-changing government intervention and the instability this creates. The core functions of early childhood education services are the care and teaching of children, supporting parenting and assisting families, so it could be assumed that these would be the major focuses of any survey response. This survey suggests, however, that government interventions are getting in the way.

The questions in this report were asked as part of a wider survey which also included child and family, professionals, academics and community members as well as those working in and using the ECE sector. This wider survey asked another key question: what is the one thing government should do for early childhood education.

The responses to that question clearly reflect similar feelings to those shown in this survey. The top three wishes were: 

Interestingly if we look back at the issues for the sector prior to childcare services being defined as educational (they were bought under the Department of Education in 1986) and before the first major government reforms of early childhood education resulting from the Education to Be More report of 1988, it seems that many of the issues concerning the sector then, still remain. Issues from that time included: insufficient funding, unequal funding between service types, unqualified staff, affordability of services for families, a lack of Maori control over services for their children and ineffective policy development frameworks, and many of these issues have been raised again in this survey.

It seems that the setting up of advisory groups, tinkering with funding systems and making changes to the curriculum as has all been proposed by the current government may not help. Instead political parties should be looking to create the stability and clearer future that ECE services seem so much to want.

One answer might be for political parties to come together to agree on policy and funding and come to a broad national definition of core standards for quality from a public policy perspective. ECE services would no doubt benefit in the long-term from knowing broadly what is expected of them while still be able to retain their individuality. More clearly defined funding structures and policy would also mean the sector would not have to worry as much about what is round the corner.

Any government may also do well to base future policy development not on economic issues or the interest of competing lobby groups but on grounded and evidence-based research and expertise from its own departments.

Of course it is unlikely that cross party agreement would be possible, so perhaps each political party should bear in mind when they develop their own ECE policies that the results of this survey show clearly that the sector is fed up with a lack of clear funding and constant changes to policy. Instead, if the following two comments from respondents are anything to go by, it would welcome a more stable, clearly defined long-term plan which would allow them more autonomy to run their services in a sensible way and focus on what really matters – educating and caring for the youngest members of our society.

To provide the best service for all, we need to be able to focus on providing great programmes that inspire and give children the best opportunities to achieve and have fun! (ECE owner or manager)

Do we want an educated future? People who make informed choices?  People who are able to challenge themselves daily? If this is YES, then let early childhood educators do their job!  Support us, believe in us. (ECE worker) 

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