Calder Cam: Estimates Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeCalder Cam: Estimates Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 30 July 2013. Volume:692;Page:12084. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Dr CAM CALDER (Chairperson of the Education and Science Committee):It is a great pleasure to take a call in the estimates debate. This Government has worked assiduously and relentlessly to improve education for all New Zealanders. We know that four out of five of our children do well but we are steadfastly concentrating on unlocking the potential of five out of five of our students. We realise that successful education is a tripod: it is the school it is the student and it is also the parent. The estimates funding that we have provided addresses all three of these areas.We are cognisant of the McKinsey report which looked at the reasons why countries like Japan Korea Finland Singapore and parts of China did extremely well with their education. It was clear. There were three common areas. They got the best teachers they got the best out of teachers and they intervened early when children fell behind. Our policies take into account these well-known and proven observations. In fact National is going to spend $12.4 billion in this 2013-14 financial year across the entire education sector—$12.4 billion. We are doing this because we understand that ensuring that a child gets a good education is the most important thing we can do to unlock the potential within that child and thereby raise the living standards of the whole country—so there is a little bit of self-interest in there—and create a more competitive and productive economy which is one of our priorities for this term in Government.For early childhood education and schooling Budget 2013 increases spending on education for the fifth Budget in a row—due to the excellent work of our Minister of Education and her predecessor it has to be said—to $9.7 billion for 2013-14. It should be noted that New Zealand’s education investment in early childhood education and schooling is 7.2 percent of our GDP. That is well above the OECD average which is around about 5.8 percent. It is a significant point to note. Not only that but our investment in early childhood education will be $1.5 billion. I will say that again—$1.5 billion—because I have had the displeasure of going to the Manurewa markets and seeing members of education unions getting folk to sign petitions against spending cuts in early childhood education when in fact no Government has ever spent more. It is disingenuous and absolutely outrageous.Our total investment in early childhood education is $1.5 billion up $660 million since 2007-08. Over 4 years the funding includes $41 million for equity funding and $39 million for universal subsidies to support participation for vulnerable children in our most needy communities which happen to be where I am working so I am very very happy with this initiative.Regarding participation in early childhood education we have set ourselves targets. This Government is not afraid to hold itself to account. In the 12 months ending 2013 the early childhood education participation rate increased from 94.7 percent to 95.5 percent. We are setting ourselves a target to improve that even further—up to 98 percent participation in early childhood education by 2016. We realise that this is not going to be easy. We realise that the Ministry of Education needs to secure participation of the kiddies who are the most difficult to access and the most hardest to reach—those who have proven the most hardest to reach including Māori and Pasifika and those in lower socio-economic groups. We—Paul Goldsmith: The most hardest? What do you mean?Dr CAM CALDER: Thank you very much. The hardest—the hardest to reach. Thank you. Thank you very much—the hardest to reach.On the select committee we heard of a number of initiatives to help reach these communities including engagement with the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs Pasifika churches and the New Zealand Rugby League. These are pretty innovative and this is helping to increase the participation from our most difficult to reach communities by thinking a little bit outside the square. They are also funding initiatives—