ECE nonsense

My blood boiled as I read the usual nonsense in an oped in Stuff about early childhood education. Basically the authors all but call for private ECEs to be banned.

They are part of the tribe of educationalists who hate choice in education, and think we should just attend whichever school or centre we are told to.

As a parent, I love the fact that the early childhood sector has a massive diversity of ECEs. You can choose between kindergartens, playcentres, sole private ECEs, to nationwide chains.

We started researching ECEs before Benjamin was born. We evaluated close to a dozen that were within driving distance of our then home. We looked at their ERO reports, their available hours and days, their staff ratios, their philosophy, do they provide meals, their outdoor space etc.

We then shortlisted four of them, and visited them and finally chose one that we thought was best suited for Ben. And it was brilliant. And you know what, it happens to be privately owned.

And when we moved, we went through it again evaluating up to a dozen choices, and then deciding, and again we chose one which has also turned out great, Amazing teachers, amazing philosphy etc. And this one also happens to be privately owned.

Both ECEs we selected had the highest possible rating from the ERO of “Very Well Placed”, which is rare.

Do I give a f*** that the owners (who are dedicated educiontalists by the way) make a living out of owning and managing an ECE? No I don’t. What I care deeply about is the quality of the ECE and the fact we actually have a choice.

Wouldn’t it be amazing, if one had the same choices at school level!