Early Childhood Education

Quality early childhood education is a vital first step to achieving equality and reducing disparity in our society.

As an early childhood teacher you will be at the cutting edge of education, and play a critical role in helping young children along a pathway of lifelong learning.

ECE Strategy

In 2002 the early childhood sector and Government developed a 10-year Strategic Plan called Pathways to the Future: Ngā Huarahi Arataki. The plan is focused on achieving three main goals by 2012:

• increasing participation in quality early childhood education services
• improving the quality of early childhood education services
• promoting collaborative relationships

In 2009 the percentage of year one students who had attended early childhood education immediately before starting school was 93.9% (up from 93.6% in June 2008). The data is showing slight increases in participation each year since 2000.

For Māori children, the rate of prior participation increased to 89.3% in 2009 and for Pasifika children, the rate is 84%. The data also shows that rates of prior participation for these groups are trending upwards.

So while there have been increases in overall participation and for each of the population groups, Māori children and Pasifika children are still less likely to attend early childhood education before starting school.