The Early Childhood Education Taskforce and Playcentre parent cooperatives: A mismatch of policy discourses in Aotearoa New Zealand

Authors

  • Suzanne Manning University of Auckland/Whitireia NZ

Keywords:

Playcentre, Parent involvement, Early childhood policy, Human capital, New Zealand

Abstract

 Playcentre is a parent cooperative early childhood education and care (ECEC) service that originated in Aotearoa New Zealand. Government policy, initially supportive of Playcentre’s philosophy of parents being the educators in the service, has progressively marginalised and excluded Playcentre. I argue this marginalisation and exclusion was linked to the rise of debates concerning economic rationales for ECEC and teacher professionalisation. To evidence and problematise this trend, I make visible underlying policy discourses around ECEC provision, using public videos produced in 2011 by the ECE Taskforce and by Playcentre as exemplars. The videos show that Playcentre constructed the role of parenting as central to ECEC operations, with parents supported in both parenting and teaching roles through active involvement in a community of learners. In contrast the Taskforce constructed distinctly separate roles for parents and for teachers. Support was to be provided for parents to enable them to engage with ECEC services and in paid employment. These mismatching discourses created conditions for the marginalisation of Playcentre through policy.

Author Biography

Suzanne Manning, University of Auckland/Whitireia NZ

Suzanne Manning has recently completed a PhD with the University of Auckland, exploring the impact of ECEC policy on Playcentre over the last thirty years. She has been involved with the Playcentre movement for almost 25 years, since her oldest child was one year old, and is passionate about the value of parenting to society. Suzanne’s research interests focus on historical and policy analysis as a tool for conceptualising education as a site for social change.

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Published

2019-10-25

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 1 (2019): (New) Critical Readings of Aotearoa New Zealand Early Childhood Policy and Practice

Section

Articles (Peer Reviewed Research)

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