New Zealand

In July 1998, of children attending early childhood education, 40 percent were in licensed childcare centers, 9.5 percent in playcenters, 6.9 percent in Te Köhanga, 9.9 percent in ECDU funded playgroups, 5 percent in home-based childcare, 1.7 percent in ECDU funded Pacific Islands Language Nests, and 26.9 percent in kindergartens. Descriptions of these preprimary and primary education programs follow:

Early Childhood, Primary, & Secondary Education: Early childhood education is not compulsory. It is available to children under 6 years of age through a wide range of services. Many services are administered by voluntary agencies with government assistance. The Education Act of 1989 provides for free education in state schools between the ages of 5 and 19, and attendance is compulsory between 6 and 16 years. The majority of children start formal schooling at the age of five.

The main providers of early childhood education are kindergartens, playcenters, Pacific Islands language groups, education and care services, home-based care services, and köhanga reo. Early childhood education programs are, on the whole, developmental and based in learning through play. All early childhood services wishing to receive government funding must be licensed and chartered. Licensing ensures that basic standards of quality are maintained. A charter sets out both mandatory and optional objectives and practices. Chartered groups receive funding direct from government in the form of a bulk grant.

Kindergartens predominantly operate early childhood education for children between the ages of 3 and 5. In general, younger children attend afternoon sessions for three afternoons a week, while the older age group attend five mornings a week. Play centers are parent cooperatives where parents take responsibility for the management and supervision of sessions. Children attending play center range in age from birth to school age.

Te Köhanga Reo: Köhanga reo are sessional or all-day Maori language immersion early childhood institutions. Their prime aim is the maintenance of the language of the indigenous people of New Zealand, the Maori. The centers are community based and are administered by local management groups affiliated with the Te Köhanga Reo National Trust.

Pacific Islands Language Groups: Pacific Islands language centers offer programs based on the values and languages of Pacific Islands cultures. They range from license-exempt family playgroups, meeting once or twice a week, to licensed and chartered centers. These programs emphasize language development, both in Pacific Islands languages and English, and increasing parental knowledge in early childhood care and education.

Anau Ako Pasifika: Early Childhood Development is the grant holder on behalf of the Bernard Van Leer Foundation for the Anau Ako Pasifika Project, a home-based program in early childhood care and education for Pacific Islands communities. It is based in Auckland, Tokoroa, and Wellington.

Education & Care Centers: Education and care centers provide sessional, all-day, or flexible-hours early childhood education services other than play centers, kindergartens, or köhanga reo. Each center is autonomous and many are privately owned. Another type of early care is home-based care (family day care), an organized system whereby parents of young children or babies are linked to caregivers, who are often themselves parents of young children. Playgroups are license-exempt, communitybased, nonprofit-making groups of parents who meet to provide early childhood education for their children. Finally, there is the Parents as First Teachers program, which is based on programs developed in the United States by the Missouri State Department of Education. In the program, there is a series of regular home visits by early childhood educators to parents with children; visits occur from birth to three years of age.