FULL REFERENCE: Gibbon, A., & Farquhar S. (2014). Mapping policies and pathways in early childhood education: A note from Aotearoa New Zealand. NZ Research in Early Childhood Education Journal. Special Issue: Early Childhood Policy, 17, 1 – 10.
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ABSTRACT: In 1988 the future of early childhood education in Aotearoa New Zealand was mapped out by two documents: Education to be More (Meade, 1988) and Before Five (Department of Education, 1988). The former, a ground-breaking report to government, and the latter, the responding government agenda, have significantly shaped policy strategies for the purpose, nature and provision of education of children ‘before five’ years of age. This country note traces some of the policy directions that were made possible by a coherent national vision and a strong sense of direction. In surveying the current terrain of early childhood policy in Aotearoa we reflect on the historical policy events that continue to influence early childhood education today, and outline a few of the continuing and persistent challenges that are likely to lead, and at times threaten, future development. Our discussion of these challenges reflects a need for policy makers to engage more strongly in understanding the challenges and supporting the early childhood education community – a community which, we believe, is critical to the welfare of the nation.
Key words: Government policy; politics; funding; teacher qualification; teaching; teacher education; Māori participation.
The pathway years, 2000 to almost 2012
In the first section of this article, we go back to the dawn of the millennium – a busy period in early childhood policy development. A Labour-led government had reconnected to its pre-1991 commitments in Education to be More, with the updated 21st century language of strategic ‘pathways’, assessment and professionalisation (Ministry of Education, 2002, 2004a/b). This government reconnection rather than continuation was in part a reflection of the 1991 ‘mother of all budgets’ that slashed funding to early childhood education (and to most other areas of education and social policy). The effects of Budget 1991 were devastating for early childhood education – effectively crippling any thorough-going implementation of the Before Five policies. By the beginning of the 21st century, though, social infrastructure and spending were on the government agenda again, albeit for a short time. The Labour-led government’s policy directions for early childhood, guided by a research-informed strategic plan (Ministry of Education, 2002), was held with strong positive regard by the early childhood sector.
The Early Childhood Education Strategic Plan Working Group set up in 2000 involved a nationwide consultation process reflecting Aotearoa’s “long tradition of community involvement and provision” (Meade & Podmore, 2002, p. 29). Out of this process, the Ministry of Education published the strategic plan for early childhood, Pathways to the Future: Ngā Huarahi Arataki (Ministry of Education, 2002) which articulated a ten-year plan for the sector. The plan expressed the Government’s view that the early years were critical to later academic and vocational success and would contribute to the future economic health of the nation through the availability of ‘dawn to dusk’ care (Clark, 2005). Strategies for implementing the plan involved a complex mix of approaches: funding, regulating, informing and supporting. Effectively, this led to increased funding rates to all teacher-led services, the implementation of study grants for student teachers, the introduction of qualified staffing incentives for centres, equity funding grants, a review of existing regulations, a review of the role of the early childhood curriculum Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 1996), increased professional development funding, and the establishment of teacher-researcher partnerships through the creation of the ‘Centres of Innovation’ scheme. The Ministry of Education also rationalised and regulated support providers and integrated the Early Childhood Development Department responsible for parenting programmes into the Ministry of Education, as well as developing a series of on-going evaluations of policy.
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