Basic Information

What did the Government promise for three and four year olds?

During the run-up to the last election, the Government promised that, if elected, all three and four year olds in teacher led services (including public and private kindergarten, daycare centres, home based services and most community-run centres) would be eligible to receive 20 free hours of early childhood education. Helen Clark recently described this policy as “one of the most significant extensions to the education system since the introduction of free secondary education in the 1930s”.

Where can my eligible child receive their 20 hours free early childhood education?

In theory, if your child is three or four years of age by 1st July 2007 and attends a teacher led Early Childhood Education service be it a public or private kindergarten, a daycare centre, a community centre, kohanga reo or a home-based education centre, then your child is eligible to receive 6 hours a day, up to a maximum of 20 hours a week. There is however a big catch that the electorate did not foresee when the Government initially announced this policy, in that it is up to individual centres to accept whether to opt into the scheme.

Although many early childhood providers were initially positive and enthusiastic about the introduction of this policy, the reality is that at present, it is estimated only a quarter of independently run centres surveyed by the Early Childhood Council will be participating from July. The Government has said that many centres are putting profits ahead of pre-schoolers education in choosing not to opt in. However it is already clear that it is not only the larger profit-making daycare franchises who are choosing to opt out, but many smaller community-run, not-for-profit centres (including all public kindergartens in Auckland) have also said they are not likely to be opting in.

The good news is that most public kindergartens outside Auckland will be offering the 20 free hours from July, although sadly, these public kindergartens will in no way be able to cater for all children in their region who are eligible to participate, so it is still crucial that we find a way to ensure that independently run centres are also able to participate.

What is clear is that for most families it will not be simply a question of stating “I want to enrol my child for 20 free hours free early childhood education here”.

Can the Ministry of Education help me find a service in my area offering the scheme?

The Government simply does not know at present which services will be offering the scheme. Centres and home based services have only just been given the registration forms and word is from centres that nobody official has asked them to date whether they intend to offer the 20 free hours. The TeamUp (Ministry of Education) website simply acts as a yellow pages to tell you which eligible services exist in your area. It is up to you to call local providers to find out whether they will be able to offer the scheme to your child. We anticipate that many services will not be able to offer the 20 free hours and those that are willing to participate are likely to have huge waiting lists, so it may be hard to find a place for your child.

Why are so many Early Childhood Education providers unwilling to opt into the scheme?

According to the Early Childhood Council (ECC), the Government is only offering between $1.02 and $4.60 an hour for services that are currently charged to parents at rates between $2 to $15 an hour. Early childhood providers say that they refuse to compromise standards, for example by dropping staffing levels, something which they say they would be forced to do if they agreed to the funding levels. The Government has also refused to allow the Early Childhood Education providers to charge top-up fees (because this would mean that the hours are no longer ‘free’). The result is that services either opt in and accept less money (which they say would lead to a reduction in services and standards of care) or opt out and ask parents to continue to pay for the quality of services that they have chosen for their child.

What are we (20freehours.please) distributing to Early Childhood education providers to inform them of the parents perspective and what we would like them to do to help us achieve the 20 free hours for our 3 and 4 year olds?


Dear Early Childhood Educator,

20 Hours Free. Please

We are a group of motivated parents who have started a petition regarding the Government’s 20 Hours Free policy. We have called our group “20 Hours Free. Please” and our aim is to raise awareness amongst other parents about what the Government promised for three and four year olds and why many children, like ours, are likely to miss out when the scheme becomes operational from 1 July 2007.

Our petition requests that sufficient funding is allocated to make this work for families and centres alike. We understand that many ECE providers would like to offer the scheme but are unable to due to the insufficient funding and the inability to charge top-ups to parents (and that this concern applies to both private and not-for-profit centres).

We do however recognise the great importance of the opportunity presented by this scheme for kiwi families and why it is important not to let this pass us by at this time. Not only does the scheme have the potential to encourage higher participation in ECE, but it also gives families the choice as to whether to work more or less hours.

In order to make a success of our petition we need as many signatures as we can to communicate to the Government that the electorate expects them to deliver on the promises they make. We hope that you can support us in achieving our aim of ensuring that as many families as possible are able to participate in the scheme, rather than just the lucky few. We need your help to make this happen.

Please print off the attached flyer (or write one that you prefer) together with our petition and collect the signatures of parents at your centre by 31 May to:

20 Hours Free. Please
Private Bag MBEMI07
Auckland 1142

20 Hours Free. Please

20hoursfree.please@gmail.com


Please help us by ensuring your Early Childhood Education provider knows about this petition, talk to them about it and get them to collect signatures from their staff and parents.

If my child receives 20 hours free ECE, how much will my family save each year?

We estimate that most families presently need to allocate between $5,000 -$10,000 per child of their pre-tax earnings to cover the costs of 20 hours a week of private or community-run daycare or kindergarten.

For a more detailed breakdown look under Comprehensive Review of Research

How can I help ensure that the Government fulfils its election promise?

Firstly help with our petition please. We need your signature to get action. With July 1 rapidly approaching, we need to put pressure on the Government to fulfil their pledge and either allocate more funding or allow top-up fees so that all Early Childhood Education providers are willing to participate from July this year. We are aiming to get 5,000 signatures by 1 June 2007 to petition the Government to honour their word. We need your help now because every signature counts and gets us closer to making the Government take notice that we are not going to let this slide and that as New Zealanders we are passionate about our children's education and we expect the Government to honour their election promise.

How 4 minutes can make years of difference to families.

Please email 20hoursfree.please@gmail.com and we will email you a copy of the petition.

Print it, sign it and post it back to
20 Hours Free.Please
Private Bag MBEM107,
Auckland 1142.

Please note: to create a valid petition, emailed or faxed forms are not accepted. If you'd like to help further, take the petition around people you know (people with or without children) - we need as many people as possible to create a loud voice.

It will only take 4 minutes, but it will create a better future for your family now and others in the future. New Zealand is a great country where we as kiwis can make a difference. Please don't let apathy win, speak up by signing up.

Other ways you can help:-

1) write to your local M.P to express your concerns about this issue and to explain how it affects your family

2) write to Steve Maharey, Minister of Education and Prime Minister Helen Clark, to express your concerns about this issue and to explain how it affects your family (email smaharey@ministers.govt.nz and pm@ministers.co.nz

3)make an appointment to visit your local M.P (better still go as a group) to discuss your concerns and to explain the implications for your family

4) write to your local and other national papers with your opinion.