Infants and toddlers need more qualified teachers, not less

An Education Review Office (ERO) report critical of the quality of some education for infants and toddlers in EC centres adds ammunition to the call for 100 per cent qualified teachers for very young children, says NZEI.

The government’s policy to remove the plan for 100 per cent qualified teachers is a retrograde step, says NZEI, the union representing EC teachers and support staff.

National’s policy reduces the original target of 100 per cent qualified teachers by 2012 to 50 per cent.

The ERO report says there is a wide variation in the quality of education provided in EC centres, and that quality services focus on relationships with children and meeting their individual needs.

NZEI says the ERO report findings reinforce the need for qualified teachers for this age group, because research shows a strong correlation between qualified staff and quality services.

“Our very youngest children deserve the highest quality learning and care,” NZEI National EC Caucus convenor and ECE teacher Marion Dekker says.

NZ was also to have had improved ratios introduced from 1st July this year for two to two-and-a-half-year-olds (from 1:15 or 1:10 down to 1:5), but that planned improvement was axed by the National Government.

Ms Dekker says the current ratio of one teacher to five children under two is simply not adequate to allow enough high quality interactions to flourish.

“Any parent knows that it is not possible to care for and interact closely with five babies simultaneously. Internationally, a ratio of one to three is recognised as the quality ratio for children under two.”

NZEI says an increase to paid parental leave would also give parents greater choice about how they cared for young babies and toddlers.