Annual ECE Summary Report 2007

Summary

It includes statistics indicating the number of licensed services and licence-exempt ECE groups, number of children enrolled by ethnicity and age, and language of communication used by teaching staff. Statistics on the number of staff who are qualified and registered and/or studying towards an ECE qualification are also noted.

Please note that these results are from the week immediately prior to the introduction of the Free ECE policy.

To obtain data tables around licensed enrolments, teachers, number of services or average hours, please refer to the main ECE (Early Childhood Education) Statistics page.

1. Number of services

As at 1 July 2007:

• there were 4,479 early childhood education services, a decrease of 0.4% (17) from 1 July 2006
• there were 3,750 licensed and/or chartered services, an increase of 2.3% (85) from 1 July 2006
• there were 729 licence-exempt ECE groups, a decrease of 12.3% (102) from 1 July 2006
• the number of early childhood education services has increased by 4.6% (199) since 2003 (see Table 1).

Table 1 - Number of early childhood education services by service type as at 1 July (2003 to 2007)

Service Type	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	Difference   2003 - 07
						Number	%
Licensed Services
Kindergarten	609	614	618	619	618	9	1.5
Playcentre	482	481	482	474	466	-16	-3.3
Education and care	1,673	1,730	1,754	1,842	1,932	259	15.5
Homebased network	190	192	201	202	227	37	19.5
Kōhanga reo	526	513	501	486	470	-56	-10.6
Correspondence School	1	1	1	1	1	N/C	N/C
Casual-education and care	42	43	41	41	36	-6	-14.3
Sub-total	3,523	3,574	3,598	3,665	3,750	227	6.4
Licence-exempt ECE groups
Playgroups	562	599	641	667	608	46	8.2
Pacific Island Early Childhood Groups	121	113	106	93	62	-59	-48.8
Nga Puna Kohungahunga	32	43	49	41	30	-2	-6.3
Playcentres	30	32	31	22	22	-8	-26.7
Licence-exempt Kōhanga Reo	12	13	11	8	7	-5	-41.7
Sub-total	757	800	838	831	729	-28	-3.7
Total	4,280	4,374	4,436	4,496	4,479	199	4.6

• Of the 3,749 (excludes Correspondence School) licensed and/or chartered early childhood education services, 65.6% (2,460) are community based. The remaining 34.4% (1,289) are privately owned services.
• Of the 1,968 education and care services (including casual-education and care), which account for 52.5% of all licensed services as at 1 July 2007, 41.7% (820) are community based and 58.3% (1,148) are privately owned.
• Of the 227 homebased networks, 37.9% (86) are community based and 62.1% (141) are privately owned.

2. Enrolments in early childhood education

Table 1 above presents a complete count of all services that were open and operating during the census period. Four licensed services were newly opened at the time of census week and therefore had no enrolments. Note that we did not have data for 9 licensed services and 34 licence-exempt groups in the 2007 collection.

These statistics provide a headcount of enrolments. If a child is enrolled at more than one early childhood service, he or she will be counted more than once.As at 1 July 2007:

• there were 190,907 children enrolled in early childhood education, an increase of 6.1% (10,907) since 2003 (see Table 2)
• there were 171,138 children enrolled in licensed early childhood education services, an increase of 6.8% (10,965) since 2003
• there were 19,769 children enrolled in licence-exempt ECE groups, a decrease of 0.3% (58) since 2003.

Table 2 - Enrolments in early childhood education by service type as at 1 July (2003 to 2007)

Service Type	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	Difference   2003 - 07
						Number	%
Licensed Services
Kindergarten	45,109	45,287	44,920	44,435	43,695	-1,414	-3.1
Playcentre	15,200	15,440	15,059	14,888	14,664	-536	-3.5
Education and care	78,967	81,096	83,889	86,059	91,733	12,766	16.2
Homebased network	9,857	9,922	9,770	9,802	11,073	1,486	15.5
Kōhanga reo	10,319	10,418	10,070	9,493	9,236	-1,083	-10.5
Correspondence School	991	922	813	577	737	-254	-25.6
Casual-education and care	…	…	…	…	…	…	…
Sub-total	160,173	163,085	164,521	165,254	171,138	10,965	6.8
Licence-exempt ECE groups
Playgroups	16,250	17,744	18,042	17,476	18,058	1,808	11.1
Pacific Island Early Childhood Groups	2,573	2,392	1,864	1,179	964	-1,609	-62.5
Nga Puna Kohungahunga	408	571	519	289	343	-65	-15.9
Playcentres	466	530	436	167	335	-131	-28.1
Licence-exempt Kōhanga Reo	130	191	146	89	69	-61	-46.9
Sub-total	19,827	21,428	21,007	19,200	19,769	-58	-0.3
Total	180,000	184,513	185,528	184,454	190,907	10,907	6.1

… Not Applicable as casual-education and care services do not have regular enrolments.
Note: Due to methodological changes in 2006, recent figures from licence-exempt groups are not directly comparable with earlier years.

• Of the 91,733 enrolments in education and care services, 41.6% (38,172) were in community-based services and 58.4% (53,561) were in privately owned services.
• Of the 11,073 enrolments in homebased networks, 33.7% (3,737) were in community-based services and 66.3% (7,336) were in privately owned services.

Enrolments by age

• As at 1 July 2007, 5.5% (10,580) of children enrolled were under one, 13.8% (26,401) were age one, 20.3% (38,829) were age two, 29.4% (56,171) were age three, 30% (57,180) were age four and 0.9% (1,746) were age five (see Table 3).
• Enrolments for three- and four-year-olds combined have increased by 1.8% (1,983) since 2003.
• From 1 July 2006 to 2007, enrolments for three- and four-year-olds combined have increased by 2.7% (2,979).

Table 3 - Enrolments in Licensed and/or Chartered Early Childhood Services and Licence-exempt ECE Groups by age as at 1 July (2003 to 2007)

Age	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	Difference   2003-07
						Number	%
Under 1	8,976	9,388	9,533	9,304	10,580	1,604	17.9
1 Year	22,611	23,627	25,049	24,993	26,401	3,790	16.8
2 Years	35,213	35,850	36,695	37,743	38,829	3,617	10.3
3 Years	54,280	54,056	53,594	53,870	56,171	1,891	3.5
4 Years	57,088	59,684	58,550	56,502	57,180	92	0.2
5 Years	1,832	1,908	2,106	2,042	1,746	-86	-4.7
Total	180,000	184,513	185,528	184,454	190,907	10,907	6.1
Sub-total 0-4 years	178,168	182,605	183,421	182,412	189,161	10,933	6.2

Note: Due to methodological changes in 2006, recent figures from licence-exempt groups are not directly comparable with earlier years.

2.1 Apparent participation rates

Apparent participation rates are calculated using the total number of children enrolled in early childhood education divided by the total population for each age group. Note that because children can enrol at more than one early childhood service double counting will occur, causing the apparent participation rate for some age groups to be greater than 100%(see Figure 1).

Apparent participation rates have continued to show an increase over the years (see Figure 1)

Figure 1 - Early Childhood Education: Apparent participation rates by age group (1990 to 2007)

2.2 Enrolments by ethnicity

• Of the 190,907 children enrolled as at 1 July 2007, 66% (125,968) identified as European/Pākehā, 18.7% (35,618) identified as Māori, 6.1% (11,634) identified as Pasifika, 6.2% (11,744) identified as Asian and 3.1% (5,943) identified as Other (see Table 4).
• In licensed and/or chartered services, European/Pākehā enrolments have increased by 3.4% (3,642), Maori enrolments have increased by 4.9% (1,550), Pasifika enrolments have increased by 13.1%(1,157), Asian enrolments have increased by 14.2%(1,274) and Other enrolments have increased by 150.2% (3,342) since 2003.

Table 4 - Enrolments in early childhood education by ethnic group as at 1 July (2003 to 2007)

Ethnicity	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Licensed services
European/ Pākehā	108,340	109,255	109,809	110,366	111,982
Māori	31,816	32,866	33,297	33,019	33,366
Pasifika	8,836	9,166	9,431	9,697	9,993
Asian	8,956	9,405	9,389	9,481	10,230
Other	2,225	2,393	2,595	2,691	5,567
Sub-total	160,173	163,085	164,521	165,254	171,138
Licence-exempt ECE groups
European/ Pākehā	13,495	14,788	14,552	13,788	13,986
Māori	2,076	2,366	2,459	1,981	2,252
Pasifika	3,002	2,896	2,496	1,795	1,641
Asian	930	1,059	1,241	1,301	1,514
Other	324	319	261	335	376
Sub-total	19,827	21,428	21,009	19,200	19,769
Total	180,000	184,513	185,528	184,454	190,907

Note: Due to methodological changes in 2006, recent figures from licence-exempt groups are not directly comparable with earlier years.

2.3 Enrolments by region

• Auckland region had the largest increase (4,203) in the number of enrolments between 2003 and 2007 (see Table 5).
• Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne, Taranaki, and West Coast regions have had a decline in enrolments since 2003. Hawke’s Bay and Taranaki have had the largest decrease in enrolments, of 580 and 227 respectively (see Table 5).
  

Table 5 - Enrolments in licensed and/or chartered early childhood services and licence-exempt Groups by local body region as at 1 July (2003 and 2007)

Local Body Region	2003	2007	Difference 2003 - 07
			Number	%
Northland	6,338	6,769	431	6.8
Auckland	52,714	56,917	4,203	8.0
Waikato	17,136	18,404	1,268	7.4
Bay of Plenty	12,264	13,429	1,165	9.5
Gisborne	2,383	2,328	-55	-2.3
Hawke’s Bay	8,882	8,302	-580	-6.5
Taranaki	4,832	4,605	-227	-4.7
Manawatu-Wanganui	10,110	10,468	358	3.5
Wellington	22,128	23,805	1,677	7.6
West Coast	1,399	1,380	-19	-1.4
Canterbury	22,766	24,562	1,796	7.9
Otago	8,369	8,587	218	2.6
Southland	3,992	4,689	697	17.5
Tasman	1,924	2,115	191	9.9
Nelson	1,970	1,977	7	0.4
Marlborough	1,779	1,791	12	0.7
Chatham Is. County	23	42	19	82.6
Correspondence School	991	737	-254	-25.6

Note: Due to methodological changes in 2006, recent figures from licence-exempt groups are not directly comparable with earlier years.

3. Hours of attendance (licensed and/or chartered)

• For licensed and/or chartered services, excluding kōhanga reo¹ and the Correspondence School, the overall average number of enrolled hours per child per week as at July 2007 was 17.6 hours, a 4.1% (0.7 hours) increase from July 2006.
• The average number of enrolled hours at Playcentres remained steady from July 2003 to 2007. All other service types show an increase in the average number of enrolled hours over this period (see Table 6).

Table 6 – Average Hours of Attendance in licensed and/or chartered early childhood education services by service type as at 1 July (2003 to 2007)

Service Type	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	% Change   (03-07)
Free Kindergarten	12	12.5	12.6	12.6	12.6	5.0%
Playcentre	4.3	4.4	4.3	4.4	4.3	0.0%
Education & Care Service	18.6	19.5	20.3	20.8	21.5	15.6%
Homebased Network	19.7	21.3	22.4	22.0	22.5	14.2%
Total	15.2	16.0	16.6	16.9	17.6	15.8

• Full-time enrolments (more than 27 hours per week) have increased in education and care services by 43.2% since 2003 (see Table 7).
• Full-time enrolments have increased by over a third in homebased networks since 2003 (see Table 7).

Table 7 - Enrolments in licensed and/or chartered early childhood education services by nature of duration as at 1 July (2003 to 2007)

Service Type		2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	% Change   (03-07)
Kindergarten	Part-time	45,109	45,287	44,920	44,435	43,684	-3.2
	Full-time	-	-	-	-	11	N/A
Playcentre	Part-time	15,200	15,440	15,059	14,888	14,644	-3.5
Education and care	Part-time	60,764	60,976	61,678	62,292	65,659	8.1
	Full-time	18,203	20,120	22,211	23,767	26,074	43.2
Homebased network	Part-time	7,362	7,362	7,065	7,204	8,025	9.0
	Full-time	2,225	2,560	2,705	2,598	3,048	37.0
Total	Part-time	128,435	129,065	128,722	128,819	132,032	2.8
	Full-time	20,428	22,680	24,916	26,365	29,133	42.6

Notes:

1. Full-time refers to a child enrolling more than 27 hours per week
2. The 11 full-time enrolments for 2007 at Kindergartens belong to one service which allow children to enrol full-time.
3. Excludes enrolments at Te Kōhanga reo and The Correspondence School as duration of attendance is not collected.

4. Māori language (licensed and/or chartered)

• Māori language was used as the medium of instruction for at least 12% of teaching contact time in 997 licensed and/or chartered services.
  
• Māori was used as the medium of instruction for 81-100% of teaching contact time in 480 licensed and/or chartered services. Of these, 470 were kōhanga reo² and 10 were Māori immersion services. This is a net decrease of 17 services (3.4%) from July 2006, due to the drop in kōhanga reo services.
• In addition, 517 services provided Māori as the medium of instruction for 12-80% of teaching contact time. Of these services, one was casual-education and care, 74 were kindergartens, 51 were playcentres and 391 were education and care. This is an increase of 34 services (seven percent) from July 2006.
  

5. Pasifika languages and Pasifika services (licensed and/or chartered)

• Pasifika languages were used as the medium of instruction for at least 12% of teaching contact time in 114 licensed and/or chartered services. Over half of these services were located in the Auckland Region.
• Of the 114 services, 51 were immersion (81-100% of teaching contact time) involving 1,546 children. Thirty-one immersion services used Samoan as the language of communication, 14 Tongan, two Cook Island Māori, three Niuean and one Tokelauan.
• The remaining 63 services were identified as bilingual (12-80% of teaching contact time) involving 2,451 children. Forty bilingual services used Samoan as the language of communication, 13 Cook Island Māori, four Tongan, two Niuean, and four Tokelauan.
• The majority of Pasifika services (bilingual and immersion) were education and care with 109 services. Of the remaining five services, four were kindergartens and one was a playcentre.
• Between 2006 and 2007 the number of Pasifika services decreased by 0.9% (1 service), however the number of children involved in these services increased by 1.6% (64) over the same period.

6. Staffing in teacher-led services (licensed and/or chartered)

Teacher-led services include education and care services, casual-education and care services, kindergartens, homebased networks and the Correspondence School.

6.1 Full-time and Part-time staff

• As at 1 July 2007, there were 15,192 usual teaching staff at teacher-led services. The number of full-time staff increased by 7.2% (787) to 11,790 from July 2006. The number of part-time staff increased by 1.6% (52) to 3,402 over the same period.

6.2 Staff Qualifications

Note ‘Qualified’ means the teacher holds a qualification that leads to registration with the NZ Teachers Council.

• As at 1 July 2007, 60% (9,108) of usual³ teaching staff at teacher-led services were qualified (see Table 8). This is an increase of 11.3% (922) from July 2006.
• As at 1 July 2007, 53.9% (6,976) of usual teaching staff at education and care services (excluding casual-education and care) were qualified (see Table 8). This is an increase of 14.6% (887) from July 2006.

Table 8 - Teaching staff (headcount) at teacher-led early childhood education services by service type and qualified status as at 1 July 2007

Service Type	Qualified		Not Qualified
	Staff	%	Staff	%
Kindergarten	1,732	96.6	61	3.4
Casual-education and care	67	54.9	55	45.1
Education and care	6,976	53.9	5965	46.1
Homebased network	315	99.1	3	0.9
Correspondence School	18	100.0	-	-
Total	9,108	60.0	6,084	40.0

6.3 NZ Teachers Council registration status

• At July 2007, 59.7% (9,074) of usual teaching staff at teacher-led services were registered (see Table 9). This is an increase of 12.1% (983) from July 2006.
• At July 2007, 53.7% (6,946) of usual teaching staff at education and care services were registered (see Table 9). This is an increase of 15.7% (940) from July 2006.

Table 9 – Teaching staff (headcount) at teacher-led early childhood education services by service type and registration status as at 1 July 2007

Service Type	Registered		Not Registered
	Staff	%	Staff	%
Kindergarten	1,734	96.7	59	3.3
Casual-education and care	62	50.8	60	49.2
Education and care	6,946	53.7	5,995	46.3
Homebased network	314	98.7	4	1.3
Correspondence School	18	100.0	-	-
Total	9,074	59.7	6,118	40.3

6.4 Staff in study

• At July 2007 23.7% (3,606) of teaching staff at teacher-led services were in study for an ECE qualification.
• Of the staff in study that do not currently hold a NZ Teachers Council-approved qualification (3,032), 97.5% were in study for a qualification that leads to NZ Teachers Council registration.
  
• At July 2007, 48.6% (2,955) of all staff that were not qualified were in study for a qualification that leads to NZ Teachers Council registration.
  

6.5 Staff ethnicity

• Of the 15,192 usual teaching staff at teacher led services, 74.2% (11,268) were European/Pākehā, 8.1% (1,238) were Pasifika, 8.3% (1,267) were Māori, 7.5% (1,134) were Asian and 1.9% (285) were of Other ethnicity.
  

7. Playcentre Educators and Parents

• Playcentres require a minimum number of adults who have playcentre or other qualifications in order to meet their licensing requirements.
• At 1 July 2007 there were 6,765 adults on duty at Playcentres. This is a decrease of 4.7% (332) since July 2006.
• Of the 6,765 adults on duty, 5,419 were recorded as holding a Playcentre qualification.
• Of the adults on duty, 346 were recorded as holding a non-playcentre ECE qualification.
• Of the adults on duty, 640 were paid adults (632 held a Playcentre qualification) and 6,125 were unpaid adults designated to be on duty.
• Of the paid adults, 89.8% (575) were European/Pākehā, 6.7% (43) were Māori, 1.9% (12) were Asian, 0.9% (6) were Pasifika and 0.6% (4) were of Other ethnicity.
• At July 2007 there were 3,521 adults currently in study for ECE or Playcentre qualifications.

8. Iwi Affiliation of Children (licensed and/or chartered)

Services have been asked to collect the Iwi affiliation since 2003. Note the following figures do not include children enrolled at kōhanga reo as Iwi data is not provided.

• At July 2007, the number of children for whom Iwi responses were provided increased to 23,125. The percentage providing a specific Iwi affiliation has increased to 71% (16,409), with the remaining 29% (6,716) not providing an Iwi⁴. This indicates further improvement in the response rate and quality of data.