Education - Early Childhood
Not set out on their website.
Encourage the physical placement of schools and early childhood services in close proximity to each other or on the same site Encourage parent, whanau, and community participation Encourage early childhood services to participate in environmental awareness projects with communities and councils Implement early childhood services ratios of teachers to children of: 1:3 for under twos with a group size of no more than 6 children; 1:5 for two to threes with a group size of no more than 12 children; and 1:8 for over threes with a group size of no more than 24 children
Labour will support more Kohanga Reo to offer 20 Free Hours by encouraging the professional development of Te Kohanga Reo teachers
Enhancing “20 Hours ECE”: keep existing subsidies and fee controls; remove the 6-hours-a-day limit; include playcentres and kohanga reo Allow qualified English-speaking foreign teachers to qualify after an intensive six-week programme Allow Montessori, Steiner, and Playcentre qualifications to count towards the degree Increase the adult/child ratio for children under two from 1:5 to 1:4
Implement policies which will increase participation rates and quality provision of early childhood education, ensuring that kindergarten, Playcentre and Kohanga Reo requirements are given full recognition Support genuine New Zealand models of governance that exist in Maori-run early childhood centres within the context of kaupapa Maori based whānau involvement Increase the discretionary grants available to communities for building or upgrading early childhood facilities Explore the possibilities of enabling early childhood centres to be funded more than six hours per day and for weekend sessions
Endorse the role of parent-led early childhood education centres Support the idea that 3 and 4 year olds should have 20 hours (or part thereof) early childhood education per week heavily subsidised Prioritise staff-to-child ratios for each age group as a condition of funding for early childhood education centres where applicable