Swings + Roundabouts Summer 2017

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E CC UPDATE
THE ECC WELCOMES
THE FOLLOWING EARLY
CHILDHOOD CENTRES
WHO RECENTLY
JOINED THE EARLY
CHILDHOOD COUNCIL:
● Sandcastles Early Childhood
Centre, Auckland
● Central Hastings Early
Learning Centre, Hastings
● Lollipops Educare Glen Eden,
Auckland
● Whiz Kids, Whangarei
● Cromwell Early Learning
Centre, Cromwell
● Lollipops Educare Half Moon
Bay, Auckland
● Creators Educational Trust,
Hamilton
● Pasifika Early Learning (PEL),
Papakura & Taita
● Elmwood and Halswell
Preschool, Christchurch
● Unitec Early Learning Centre,
Auckland
● Woodlands Education,
Auckland
● Akoteu Sia-'ae-toutaiola,
Auckland
● Piccolo Park Early Learning
Centre, Auckland
● Country Village Preschool,
Auckland
● Our Family Early Learning,
Auckland
● Kiddie Garden Learning
Centre, Auckland
(provisional)
● Dominion Childcare Centre
Ltd, Auckland (provisional)
● Omaru Preschool Ltd,
Tauranga (provisional)
● Littles Explorers Early
Learning Centre, Whatawhata
(provisional)
THE ECC ADVOCATES FOR A LEVEL
PLAYING FIELD
The ECC advocates for quality ECE and a level
playing field for all teachers, early childhood
services, and for the whānau our ECE service
providers work alongside with.
The early childhood education (ECE) sector in
New Zealand is complex. Not because of the
different options available to parents, whānau
and caregivers, but because of complexity in
funding, rules and regulations, and the fact
these things are not applied uniformly across
the sector. Even ECE teachers aren’t allotted
the same pay increases across the board by
government.
How we value our early childhood teachers, and
ECE services, directly feeds into the quality
learning outcomes for our country’s pre-school-
aged children.
The Early Childhood Council (ECC), which is a
voluntary membership-based body representing
the interests of over 1,000 independent licensed
early childhood centres, is a strong supporter
of the existing ECE policy framework that offers
parental, whānau and caregiver choice. Our
membership base represents childcare centres
across the whole country, and is made up of
around 30% community-owned centres and
70% privately-owned.
The ECC listens strongly to their membership to
ensure a level playing field for all involved in the
sector. Recent examples include:
FOOD ACT
The ECC has been doing a lot of work around
the Food Act and asking questions about the
variable costs and charges associated with
registration and verification for early childhood
centres that provide food. The ECC met with the
Minister of Food Safety, and officials from the
Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI), last month.
Following that meeting we have asked members
to tell us, and also tell MPI, if you are quoted or
charged high or higher than expected costs for
registration and verification under the National
Programme Level 2. This is important to show
the variation, and the high costs across our
sector.
Keep telling the ECC about any issues or
concerns you have with the Food Act and
its implementation and cost impacts on
your centres, email, . And
remember to send examples of high verification
or registration costs to MPI too, at
.
REPRESENTING YOUR INTERESTS TO THE NEW
GOVERNMENT
We are expecting to start seeing changes to the
education portfolio with the new Labour-New
Zealand First Government now at the helm. The
Early Childhood Council has written to Minister
Chris Hipkins and to one of the Associate
Minister’s of Education, Tracey Martin.
The ECC signalled it would be good to see the
work that commenced on the funding review
picked back up and completed. The best
outcome being a far less complicated funding
system. Also signalled that making upward
adjustments to the per child rate is the best way
to encourage ECE services to explore increasing
teacher numbers toward the 100% qualified
goal.
The ECC will keep you updated as the direction
of the education policy emerges.
INTERPRETING THE ECE COLLECTIVE
The ECC recently sought to clarify an issue
around how staff are paid under the collective
after some Centres on the ECE Collective told
the ECC they would prefer to pay salaried
teachers by the hour because they work shifts
of varying lengths. The ECE Collective requires
teachers to be paid on salaries.
The ECC sought legal advice around possible
implications of paying teachers based on an
hourly rate, in terms of the current ECECA
provisions. To read where potential issues could
arise go to .
If you are in doubt contact your employment
advisor or the ECC’s Employer’s Help Line on
0800 742 742 option 4 (ECC members).
December 2017 { 9 }