History of early childhood education in New Zealand

In 1889 the first Kindergarten was established in Dunedin, New Zealand to cater for children from financially poor families whose parents were unable to care for them whilst they went to work (McLachlan, 2011).  Other Kindergartens and Early Childhood Education centers were set up around the country in the early 1900’s as the need for them increased.   More informal arrangements were common as ‘stay at home mothers’ looked after children of friends who needed to work.  Kindergartens were owned by the government who took responsibility for the teachers’ salaries as well as providing subsidies to centers so that children could attend at no cost to their parents (New Zealand Kindergartens Inc, 2009).  In the 1940’s the first government subsidized nursery play centers were set up and run by parents and working class families (McLachlan, 2011).  After the war in the 1950’s a wide range of centers emerged, such as full day childcare and education facilities, Montessori and Steiner kindergartens, and Māori and Pasifika language nests.

Figure 1: First NZ Kindergarten in Dunedin 

In the 1980’s the labour party moved the governance of early childhood education from the welfare department to the education department to join the kindergarten associations (McLachlan, 2011).  This meant that early childhood education was now the responsibility of the Ministry of Education which was a positive step towards, not only kindergartens, but all early childhood facilities being of a higher standard.  There was a large shift in thinking around this time as more children were encouraged to attend some form of pre-school educational facility (May, 2002).    

In 1983 the labour party introduced neo-liberalism to New Zealand which encouraged a large shift in social thinking from left winged liberal thinking, valuing equal opportunities for all and education for the public good, to a right winged conservative view which valued conformity, standardization, and said that “having children was a personal choice and educating them was a private responsibility” (McLachlan, 2011, p. 37).  The 90’s saw the development of more private centers than ever before.  Early childhood education was seen as big business and therefore big money and as a result corporatization of the sector increased substantially in dominance  (Aitken & Kennedy, 2007).  According to Betts (2014), in 2008, 36% of children were enrolled in privately owned centers.  By 2009, the figure had risen to 60%.

In 2007 the labour party introduced ‘20 hours free’ for three to five year olds in order to assist mothers who wanted the option of going back to work part time.  Initially this was only offered to not-for-profit organisations however through intense pressure from for-profit organisations, they extended it to these organisations too (Blaikie, 2014).  In 2008 the national party took power and shifted focus to young children’s literacy and numeracy achievement.  This is classified as ‘performance based curriculum’ rather than a ‘competence based curriculum’ (McLachlan, 2011).  This ‘performance based curriculum’ is in line with a neo-liberal approach to education and focuses on formal testing and standardization where New Zealand has, in the past, had a more ‘competence based curriculum’ focused on child-led early childhood education with Te Whāriki guiding the way.  According to McLachlan (2008) studies have shown that children who are educated using a ‘competence based curriculum’ “have better long-term outcomes in terms of school achievement, behavior, social competence and employment” (p. 39).