National's ECE Policy

Here's National's ECE policy: 

Supporting early childhood education
Early childhood education (ECE) plays a valuable role in a child’s development. It is one of the greatest investments we can make in the future of New Zealand children.
That’s why National has increased spending on early childhood education by 40 per cent since 2008. Today, we spend $1.4 billion on early childhood education, the most ever. That’s almost as much as we spend on the entire Police force.
We have made changes so ECE funding can be spread more equitably and we can get more children participating, while working to raise the quality of provision where necessary. We also needed to ensure ECE costs were sustainable for the future.
Boosting participation
To ensure children are getting the best possible start, National has focused on increasing participation in early childhood education.
We will have a special focus on improving participation among at-risk communities where attendance is low.
Encouraging diversity and choice
We also believe in a diverse early childhood education sector. National extended 20 hours ECE to playcentres and kohanga reo. We will continue to support a diverse ECE sector that gives parents choice over the type of service they would like to send their children to.
“National will set a target of 98 per cent of new entrants in school having participated in early childhood education, to be met by 2015.”
We want to see as many three- and four-year-olds as possible regularly attending early childhood education. However, we have areas of low participation, especially among Maori and Pasifika children. To ensure children get the best start in school we will actively work to lift participation rates.
In Budget 2011, National announced we would set up an early learning information system, allowing us to track how many children are attending ECE and for how long. This data will allow us to focus our efforts on areas where it is needed most.
2. Bring back mobile ECE services
Bring back mobile ECE services by changing the regulations so rural areas can more easily access ECE.
Mobile services are valuable for pre-school children in rural areas where there are often no other options available to parents.
The current regulations have forced many mobile ECE providers out of business. Cumbersome bureaucracy is preventing children in remote rural areas from accessing any ECE.
We will change the regulations so rural areas can more easily access ECE services and allow mobile ECE services back into remote rural areas.
3. Retain 20 hours ECE and fee controls
Thousands of New Zealand families rely on 20 hours ECE for their children. We’ll maintain 20 hours ECE funding and the current fee controls for 20 hours ECE.
4. Help parents make informed choices
Make available interactive web tools, providing good information about local ECE services.
Parents deserve straight-forward information about the ECE services in their area.
The Early Childhood Education Taskforce identified parents have little ability to make quality decisions about which local ECE service is best for them and tend to rely on social networks rather than making informed choices.
We will help parents by providing more information about services, allowing parents to compare ECE services in their area.
5. Ensure ECE funding is fair and sustainable
Work to develop a funding model that is flexible and reduces bureaucracy, while retaining the universal 20 hours early childhood education programme.
The current system is too complex and costly to administer, both for ECE service providers and the Government.
Maintain a diverse range of ECE services.
National is ensuring that New Zealand families have a choice of ECE services.
Maintain funding for playcentres and kohanga reo.
www.national.org.nz