mong the 66 children at Wakatipu Kindergarten who put their
handprints on posters protesting proposed cuts to early
childhood education were pupils (from left) William Bary
(4), Millie Vaitkus (3), teacher Katrina Heyneman, Jack
Kennedy (4), Hazel van Asch (front, 4), and Libby McNee
(4). Photo by Tracey Roxburgh.
Pupils at Wakatipu Kindergarten let their hands do the
talking on Thursday, with green paint used to put their
handprints on pieces of paper, protesting proposed cuts to
early childhood funding.
Although Friday was the national day of action for
kindergartens, teacher Katrina Heyneman said the centre took
its action on Thursday to coincide with morning and afternoon
sessions.
The large hand-printed pieces of paper would be taken to
Clutha-Southland MP Bill English, Labour candidate Tat Loo
and a Maori Party representative at a public meeting probably
being held next month.
Ms Heyneman said it would be a chance for teachers to talk
about issues in education - the major concern was a
Government target of 80% trained teachers, meaning 20% of
early childhood teachers would be without formal training.
"Under New Zealand Kindergartens [Inc], they are all
committed to keeping 100% qualified teachers.
"We are keeping that target, but the Government are saying
'it's OK to have 80%'.
"Would you like only 80% of pilots qualified to fly a plane?
"Or would you want somebody untrained performing surgery on
you?
"If you think about it in other professions [it would be
unacceptable]."
Another major concern was budget cutting in the sector, Ms
Heyneman said.
"Basically, for our association it means an increase in fees
for parents.
"It's so expensive to live here for a lot of families and
both parents are needing to work, but they can't both work
because it costs more to send your child to a form of care
than working.
"It was $2.50 [per hour] and it's gone up to $4.50.
"We used to offer five extra free hours over and above the 20
free hours, but we now [charge] $3 per hour.
"We're trying to still help parents in that sense.
"For each of [the New Zealand kindergartens], it's around
$40,000 a year we've lost.
"That affects the children - you can't get the resources and
things you need for them."
While it was hard to explain to the children, they were told
it meant the kindergarten could not buy them any new toys -
upsetting news for the 3 and 4-year-olds.
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