Child Poverty Action Group is calling on the Government to nationalise early childhood education provision in response to the challenges presented by COVID-19 and reports of providers prioritising profits over quality of services.

Child Poverty Action Group welcomes Youth19 survey research results, and says the Government needs to do more to ensure students don’t miss out on school due to period poverty.

CPAG is concerned that the movement of students to schools outside of low-income neighbourhoods may result in the false belief among parents that decile ratings are the equivalent to educational quality.

The Minister of Education Hon. Chris Hipkins regarding the eventual dismantling of the decile system should be greeted with cautious optimism.

The barriers to child and youth wellbeing that have been identified will be only able to be comprehensively tackled if the Government has a strong, clear and committed focus on child poverty.

CPAG has long been concerned about the ‘hidden costs’ of Aotearoa-New Zealand’s so-called free education.

CPAG is in wholehearted agreement with the Taskforce’s analysis that the competitive environment established by Tomorrow’s School has driven educational inequality.

CPAG has been concerned that previous policy seriously undermined the value of parents providing care for their children in their early years.

The authors of the report should be congratulated for embracing the chance for generational change.

“These 600 new staff are essential, and the move shows that the Government is truly committed to improving outcomes for children with disability and disadvantage.”

Professor O’Neill’s research and advocacy work to build a more equitable and inclusive education system has been central to CPAG’s on-going campaign to end child poverty and improve education outcomes.

If passed, the Education Amendment Bill could put schools serving income poor and materially deprived communities at risk of losing funding they desperately need.

A genuinely free education will relieve financial pressures on low-income households, and improve the likelihood that children will attend school more regularly.

It is crucial that that the education system is resourced adequately so that children from all socioeconomic backgrounds can flourish.

CPAG says that unless the Government can actually improve on the decile system, they should leave it in place.

“Abandoning decile based resource allocation without a sufficiently precise and educationally valid replacement is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.”

A shortage in funding leads inevitably to increases in fees that add financial pressure to parents who are already on a tight budget.

Many families turn to short-term loan providers to ensure their children are as adequately equipped as their peers, resulting in ongoing, increased weekly costs.

Providing for educational needs means better financial planning and resourcing for schools, but also ensuring that children's needs are met in the home.