Advisory Group on Early Learning report welcomed

Children will have better support to get the best possible start to their early learning, says Education Minister Hekia Parata.

Ms Parata today released the report of the Advisory Group on Early Learning, which recommends that early childhood education (ECE) services and schools have a more formal responsibility to work with children and their families as they make the critical transition from ECE to school.

“Many ECE providers do a great job of this already, but it needs to be the practice across the board for all children,” says Ms Parata.

“Through Communities of Learning, ECE services and schools will be working together more closely to strengthen the educational transitions at a time that’s critical for kids as they develop their foundations for learning.”

The advisory group addressed the majority of its terms of reference and found no major gaps in the current system.

They made a number of key recommendations that are being progressed to strengthen early learning: including updating and digitising the ECE curriculum framework, Te Whariki, and enhancing professional learning and development for ECE.

“The Ministry of Education will address the recommendations through the Education Work programme over the next three years, in particular through the increasing involvement of ECE services in Communities of Learning,” says Ms Parata.