Moroney Sue: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Moroney Sue: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 14 June 2012. Volume:680;Page:2992. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
10. 
SUE MORONEY (Labour) 
 to the  
Minister of Education 
: Do any of the thousands of reports she referred to in Oral Question No 8 yesterday support the Government’s decision to cut funding for 100 percent qualified staff in early childhood education as a means of lifting student achievement and if so what are the names of five of these reports she has read? 
Hon HEKIA PARATA (Minister of Education) 
: 
 The thousands of reports I referred to yesterday testify to the effect of quality teaching on raising student achievement. One commentator whom we have heard quoted a lot is Professor John Hattie— 
Visible Learning 
. This book summarises 800 meta-analyses and 52000 studies. Ben Levin talks about 5000 different ways to change schools. However within the international research literature I understand there is no evidence to support the premise of that member’s question that 100 percent of the staff in early childhood education services must hold a tertiary qualification in teaching as the single determinant in raising achievement. I have here eight reports by the New Zealand Education Review Office which indeed discuss what the range of contributions are to quality education and the diverse provision that New Zealand parents have come to expect. Moreover I am not sure that “student achievement” is an appropriate framing for early learners. Our Te Whariki curriculum which is itself a world-leading approach ushered in by a former Minister of Education sets out that what we want for our early learners is that they are confident competent communicators who are eager to learn and student achievement is more appropriate for the next parts of the education system. 
Sue Moroney 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The question was on notice and it specifically asked whether any of the reports she had referred to supported the Government’s decision to cut funding for 100 percent qualified staff in early childhood education. That question was not answered. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! [ 
Interruption 
] No I do not think I need any assistance on this at all. I looked into this question very carefully prior to question time today because I found the question quite difficult to understand. I went back to the transcript of question No. 8 yesterday to make sure I did understand the question. Given the transcript of the answers to oral question No. 8 yesterday and today’s question on the Order Paper it is my view the Minister answered this question. 
Sue Moroney 
: When she said on 16 May 2012: “our National-led Government is committed to improving the quality of teaching …” had she forgotten that it was the National-led Government that had cut funding for qualified staff in early childhood education in 2011? [ 
Interruption 
] 
Hon HEKIA PARATA 
: As I answered in the primary response in the case of early childhood education international research— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It probably should not be necessary for me to come to your defence but to have the Minister for Social Development saying that you are so far out of touch— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! The member should not be interjecting that “you” are anything. I fully accept the point made by the Hon Trevor Mallard. The Speaker may well be out of touch but that is not relevant to these proceedings. [ 
Interruption 
] No no. Order! I do not think we need to waste more time on this. I call Sue Moroney. I beg your pardon—the Minister was answering the question. 
Hon HEKIA PARATA 
: As I said in my answer to the primary question in the case of early childhood education international research literature does not support the premise of that question that 100 percent of the staff in early childhood education services have to hold a tertiary qualification in teaching in order for student achievement to be lifted. 
Sue Moroney 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The question—[ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! A point of order has been called. 
Sue Moroney 
: The question was very straightforward and it did not make any reference to 100 percent qualified staff. The Minister just answered a question that talked about 100 percent qualified staff. The question— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! Given the gap that occurred between the member asking the question and the answer given I cannot be clear in my own mind now exactly what the member asked. I invite her to ask her question again. 
Sue Moroney 
: When she said on 16 May 2012: “our National-led Government is committed to improving the quality of teaching …” had she forgotten that it was the National-led Government that had cut funding for qualified staff in early childhood education in 2011? 
Hon HEKIA PARATA 
: Yet again in the case of early childhood education there is no international research that supports the premise that 100 percent of staff in early childhood education services have to hold a tertiary qualification in teaching. 
Sue Moroney 
: Will she give parents an assurance that the $114 million hole created in the education budget from her proposal to increase class sizes will not be taken from early childhood education funding? 
Hon HEKIA PARATA 
: First of all can I clarify that actually our proposal was to change the funding formulas because class sizes are actually set by the schools. Second of all can I say—[ 
Interruption 
] It is a little technicality that may have passed you by. As I have answered before the $114 million as a last resort will be a pre-commitment against Budget 2013 but in the meantime we will look for savings within Vote Education from those things that are not giving us as much value as others. [ 
Interruption 
] Well I am answering the question. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! The member did ask whether or not the seeking of savings to cover a $114 million alleged hole in the Budget would come from early childhood education. The question was a fairly straight question asking that. I accept that from the Minister’s answer one could possibly derive an answer to the question but I may be wrong and I think the Minister should clarify for the Minister’s own safety.  
Hon HEKIA PARATA 
: The answer is no and that reflects—[ 
Interruption 
] So we will not be making cuts just in case the members did not understand that. It actually reflects this Government’s continual raising of the investment in early childhood education. It has risen threefold in the period that we have been in Government. That is a 32 percent increase and in fact if I had quickly to hand— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! I think the Minister has now answered the question quite clearly.  
Sue Moroney 
: In response to that last answer then does she see the continual raising of funding as being the funding freeze that was put on all subsidy rates in early childhood education in Budget 2012 which will mean increasing fees for parents? 
Hon HEKIA PARATA 
: Any decision that an early childhood education centre makes in response to the reprioritisation is essentially up to the centre itself. We have targeted equity funding at priority groups. This will encourage participation from groups less able to afford it. Early childhood education fees remain about 25 percent lower in real terms than they were in June 2007—and I am happy to show members that graph—and that is based on affordability calculated by comparing early childhood education fees with average earnings. Recent research has shown that the current 20 hours’ early childhood education rates more than meet the average cost of delivering high-quality early childhood education.