Abstract:
In New Zealand, community groups and private organisations have been providing early childhood education and care services (ECES) for over 125 years. The government does not directly provided ECES. Instead, it pays subsidies to selected community-run ECES and private-enterprise childcare centres.
In 1990, however, there was a radical change in the ECES education policy when the Government replaced all former forms of subsidy and assistance for ECES with a mixed funding model. Two principles guided the changes: (1) the decentralisation of control; and (2) families' universal entitlement to access subsidised services. These changes in policy were intended to increase equity of access to ECES.
During 1991 to 1996, supported by the new funding policies, enrolment in ECES increased at a rate that was higher for Maori children than for non-Maori and for children from Pacific nations. This Policy Brief discusses this change in ECES policy for New Zealand, its implications for the equity aspects of ECES and affects on families' access to quality services.