{"id":24362,"date":"2023-12-06T04:41:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-05T16:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oece.nz\/?p=24362"},"modified":"2024-02-11T09:35:14","modified_gmt":"2024-02-10T21:35:14","slug":"survey-ece-quality-provided-to-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oece.nz\/public\/evidence\/reports\/survey-ece-quality-provided-to-children\/","title":{"rendered":"The Quality of Early Childhood Education Provided to Children \u2013 3-yearly Teacher Survey Results"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
This is the first set of results from the 2023 ECE Quality and Employment Survey of 3,000 teaching staff. The results presented here are on teachers\u2019 perspectives on the quality of early childhood education (ECE), which includes care, for children aged under 6 years in licensed and publicly funded ECE services.\u00a0 The Office of Early Childhood Education\u2019s (OECE) coalface survey has been carried out every three years since 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Did respondents endorse the quality of their ECE service? A quarter of the respondents (26%) had so little confidence in the ECE service they worked in that they would not send their own child to it, or to any other one like it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Did they think children were being effectively educated? More than one-third of the respondents (35%) held concerns for children\u2019s learning. An analysis of their comments revealed less than optimal conditions in services for educating children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Was there time in their workday to get to know the children in their care well? A third of the respondents (30%) felt they did not have time to develop individual relationships with the children in their care.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Were the regulated ratios for the number of adults to children always met by their service? Of the respondents who worked at teacher-led education and care centres, 45.5% reported that minimum requirements for ratios had been breached at their centre. Five percent of the respondents reported that this occurred all the time, and seven percent often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What do the results tell us? The results tell us that while ECE costs for parents in NZ are the most expensive out of all countries in the OECD and per capita funding is amongst the highest in the OECD, our ECE is not necessarily world-class for four reasons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is a danger of reaching a tipping point when participation in ECE is no longer regarded as a benefit and instead will become a recognised risk factor in the lives of children. It\u2019s not a good sign that the Ministry of Education annual census data<\/a> shows the number of children attending ECE is declining (in 2017, 202,772 children attended ECE – this has fallen to 181,473 children in 2022).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is therefore a need for an immediate look at how the sector is controlled and managed and why the Ministry of Education is not getting it right for children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ECE system must be about putting children first, their care, their well-being, and their learning, if all services are to be ones that teachers would be happy to enrol their child in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This report contains an outline of the survey, followed by presentation of the above-mentioned findings. In each results area, possible solutions that emerge from the findings are identified and discussed, and hopefully, taken seriously by stakeholders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A full description of the three-yearly ECE Quality and Employment Survey<\/a> is available from the website of the Office of Early Childhood Education (OECE). \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The survey captures the views of teaching staff in licensed early childhood services across NZ. It is an online survey and voluntary to participate in. The survey asks participants a range of questions concerning their employment, workplace issues, and the standard of care and education provided to children. The 2020 survey received more than 4,000 responses as no limit was placed on responses. For the 2023 survey the survey collector was pre-set to close when the first 3,000 completed responses were received.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the first report from the 2023 survey. This report is focused on what respondents said in relation to four questions concerning the quality of provision and children\u2019s care and education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The respondents<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The respondents comprised 3,000 staff working in licensed early childhood services from across NZ. Of these, 79% were employed full-time and 13% part-time. Some were casual workers or relief teachers (5%), and a small proportion were on leave or taking a break (3%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unsurprisingly, most of the respondents (92% in total) came from teacher-led centres. Smaller numbers of participants came from parent-led centres and home-based ECE. The high proportion of respondents from teacher-led centres reflects that these centres provide the largest source of employment for teaching staff and are also the largest form of ECE provision. Most workers in home-based ECE are independent contractors and not employees \u2013 the employees are mostly the visiting teachers and co-ordinators if they are not the service owners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many of the participants had been working in the sector for more than 10 years (67%). Most participants were ECE (83%) or primary or secondary (5%) qualified and certificated teachers. Participants came from the private (63%) and community-based parts of the sector (37%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Background information<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Government subsidises the delivery of ECE services for children aged under six years and provides related funds to services. The funding is meant to provide accessible, affordable, quality care and education for children. Per capita, NZ has one of the highest rates of ECE funding in the OECD<\/a>. \u00a0Appropriations in Vote Education<\/a> for the 2023\/24 financial year covering ECE total $2.6 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even with the funding that is paid to services, parent fees or costs are the most expensive in NZ out of all countries in the OECD<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\nAbout the survey<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Are ECEs good enough for the teacher\u2019s own children?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n