20 Hours ECE: A Policy Built on Good Intentions, But What Will the Outcomes Be?
OPINION – 6 June 2007
Sarah Alexander
The 20 Hours ECE funding policy is about to begin. I think its well‑intentioned, but carrying consequences policy‑makers appear not to have fully considered.
On 1 July 2007, the Government introduces 20 hours of “free” early childhood education for three‑ and four‑year‑olds, aiming to boost participation in ECE.
Yet the policy also allows services to charge for “extras” that are ordinarily part of caring for children, such as food, and to require parents to agree to these charges. Once parents sign, they are obligated to pay and unpaid bills can even be sent to debt collectors.
Because enrolment decisions are left entirely to individual services, children whose parents refuse extra or top‑up charges can be kept on waiting lists indefinitely, or quietly replaced by families who can pay what the service demands.
Some providers argue that funding set at the average cost of meeting basic regulations will force standards to fall unless parents agree to top‑ups. In effect, they are telling parents their child will receive substandard care unless they pay whatever “optional” charges the service sets.
Is the 20‑Hour Free ECE policy in the best interests of children?
The interests of children are being pushed aside in a battle over money.
Teaching staff will be placed in the impossible position of telling parents they must pay for something the Government repeatedly describes as free. The impact will be felt most by low-income families who cannot afford additional charges and would benefit most from completely free access.
Education Minister Steve Maharey has said the goal is to make early childhood services more like the compulsory schooling sector.
But contrary to what has been claimed, the 20‑Hour policy will not automatically lead to higher quality or better learning. Being in ECE for 20 hours a week will not make children wiser than attending for 15. In fact, more hours of non‑parental care are associated with increased behavioural and emotional challenges for young children. If the goal is improved outcomes, why push attendance beyond the traditional three- to four‑hour kindergarten session?
There are several predictable consequences of implementing the 20-Hours Free ECE policy in its current form
1. Reduced flexibility for parents
Services will be able to require children to be enrolled for more than 20 hours just to access the 20 free hours. This means parents lose the ability to choose the hours that best suit their child and family.
2. Pressure on kindergartens to abandon sessional models
Kindergartens across the country are likely to shift from sessional licences to all‑day licences as a direct response to the 20‑Hour funding structure. The higher 20‑Hour funding rate creates a strong financial incentive to extend to at least 6-hour days, and many kindergartens will feel compelled to do so simply to remain sustainable as they compete against growth in the private childcare market (see below). The policy effectively penalises kindergartens that retain their traditional sessional model.
3. A boom in the private childcare market
With a lack of strong conditions to ensure parents can access up to 20 hours that is truly free, the policy creates a lucrative opening for profit‑driven operators.
- There will be a rapid growth in the number and size of private centres and home‑based services because the policy’s design makes investment in ECE attractive to people and companies wishing to make a profit and have guaranteed income from the tax-payer.
- Many services will raise their minimum hours so that parents must enrol for more than 20 hours to access the 20 funded hours.
- Parents will face ongoing pressure to pay for ‘extras’ that are, in practice, essential for the care, health, wellbeing and education of children.
- Parents will have no clear way to see that the fees they pay for hours above 20 actually exclude all costs of providing the first 20 hours. The “free” portion will become invisible and meaningless.
- Parents will see an initial reduction in their weekly bills. But with no controls on fees outside the 20 hours and no limits on minimum enrolment hours, the average costs of accessing ECE are likely to climb for families again within a few years.
- Pressure on government childcare subsidies will return once the 20‑Hours policy loses its shine as “free.” The Government will end up paying twice – first through 20‑Hour funding to services, and then again through higher childcare subsidies as parents struggle with rising fees.
As The Dominion Post editorial noted on 3 July 2007, “government funding must not become a subsidy for early childhood centres rather than for parents and children.”
