Factory Farming Children
"A quarter of early childhood teachers would not enrol their own children at their centres due to concerns about quality, a survey reveals.
A ChildForum survey of more than 600 teachers, given exclusively to Stuff but due for official release on Wednesday, has some saying their centres are like "factory farming for children" or "mostly crowd management".
Centres and teachers were under pressure to provide safe and quality care, but indicated a lack of support, the research network's survey report said.
Abacus Montessori in Woolston has one teacher for every four children because the official ratio "just doesn't work".
The Ministry of Education was pushing for 98 per cent of Kiwi children to participate in quality early childhood education, but its focus was on "increasing participation and not on quality", it said.
"It would seem that the policy push for increased participation is very likely putting children's attachment and development of secure relationships, brain development, learning, and life-long outcomes at risk."
With 153 out of 601 teachers indicating they would not be happy for their child to attend their centre "we should be seriously worried", it says. Reasons given related to quality and personal beliefs about young children's needs.
"Teachers are in a unique position of knowing what goes on in centres when parents are not there."
One teacher said the one to five babies ratio requirement is "ridiculous".
"When one goes to change nappies the other teacher is left with nine babies. One day I was feeding a baby and the other teacher was changing a nappy. Another child started crying while two babies were hitting each other with toys. How can you handle this kind of situation?"
Twelve per cent of teachers admitted their centre consistently did not meet the legal ratio of one adult to 10 children, or one to five under two-year-olds.
A fifth of teachers said they do not have time to develop relationships with the children, and suggested some staff, while included in ratios, were actually in offices doing paperwork.
The owner of Christchurch's Abacus Montessori, Doc Dougherty, said all centres were "after quality", but the Woolston centre chose to operate at a ratio of one teacher to four children because the official ratio "just doesn't work".
Labour costs were the top fixed expense for the privately-owned centre, he said.
"You've got to have the staff to teach the kids. If you're under-staffed the kids are going to be the ones who miss out."
Nursery teacher Renee Christie said the legal one adult to five babies ratio would be difficult. The main stresses as an early childhood teacher were juggling everyday duties with increasing paperwork required by the ministry.
The report recommended the ministry focus more on quality, and said there should be education, enforcement and penalties for breaches of adult-child ratios.
The survey included 49 teachers in Canterbury, 177 in Auckland, 83 in Wellington, and the rest in other regions and cities throughout the country.
ChildForum chief executive Warwick Marshall said: "It reveals the underground of concern and it shows that teachers are feeling stretched to try and meet the needs of children."
Ministry spokeswoman Katrina Casey said while it could not respond specifically on a report it had not seen, its early childhood education (ECE) standards were "in the world's top three for teacher qualifications and for the number of staff to children".
Ninety-eight per cent of the 4400 services met or exceeded licensing standards in curriculum, health and safety, premises and facilities, and governance, management and administration.
Centres were regularly monitored to ensure they maintained high standards, and since mid-2013 it had worked to improve more than 1700 ECE centres, she said.
"Participation in ECE is now at more than 96 per cent, and a recent State Services Commission survey showed parents gave ECE services an 85 per cent satisfaction rating."
In the past two years it had upheld 16 complaints regarding ratios."
Link found here: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/72694017/Childcare-workers-say-some-centres-are-like-factory-farming-children?cid=app-iPad
- Stuff