David Farrar: Repealing Labour’s attempt to reduce choice in early childhood education

David Seymour announced:

The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says.

The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, and stopping the introduction of new person responsible requirements that were taking effect in August of this year.

“Providers and parents are best placed to decide where early learning services should be established. Where there’s demand from parents providers will follow,” says Mr Seymour.

“Current network approval provisions introduced by Labour give government the right to decide where services should be. They also make setting up new services complex and inhibit competition.

Labour seem to detest the early childhood sector because unlike the school sector, parents get lots of choice as to both the location and type of school they send their kids to.

When we were looking for an ECE for Ben, we researched 10 local centres. There is no zoning, so as parents you weigh up for yourself the attributes important to you. We visited four centres and then settled on a preferred one, which we waitlisted for before Ben was even born.

Labour wanted the Ministry of Education to decide if new centres would be allowed to be established and where. Basically they were seeking to turn a sector with choice and competition into a replica of the school sector.

Another reason to be happy for the change of Government.

David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders.