John MacDonald: What do you think about most at pre-school drop-off?

If you’ve ever done a pre-school drop-off, what’s been the main thing going through your mind? Aside from ‘am I going to get to work on time?’.  

Have you been more concerned about the safety and wellbeing of your child, grandchild, niece or nephew? Or have you been more concerned about the qualifications of the people working there?  

For me, qualifications don’t even enter the equation.  

I’ve had three kids go through pre-school or early childhood education and I can honestly say that I was never concerned about the pieces of paper that the teachers might have had sitting in a drawer or up on the wall at home. I was never bothered about that.  

Which is why I am liking what the Government’s doing to loosen the qualification requirements and get rid of some of the complexities that the people who run these centres have to deal with.  

At the moment, there 98 different criteria for early childhood centres – which include things like keeping the temperature inside at 18 degrees.  

But I think one of the best changes the Government plans to make is to give the people who run these places more flexibility when it comes to hiring staff in terms of what qualifications they need to have.  

Generally, I think we have become over-obsessed with qualifications. I think qualifications are used to weed people out as a starting point.  

And the real downside of our over-obsession with qualifications is that, sometimes, the best person for the job —or the best people for the jobs— don’t get a look-in.

Example from the early childhood sector: someone who might have a truckload of practical experience or might have been out of the workforce for a few years having a family, do you think they could be the perfect person to have at an early childhood centre?

Of course. That kind of person would be a great catch. Someone who genuinely loves kids, who knows about all the practicalities of looking after little kids day-in, day-out.

Give me someone like that any day over someone who has done all the assignments and passed all the exams but doesn't necessarily have the temperament to deal with pre-schoolers.

And let’s not forget the anecdotal reports we keep hearing about kids turning up at pre-schools who need a lot more attention than kids might have needed a few years ago. Especially in relation to their behaviour.

Qualifications don’t prepare you for that.

And if these qualified early childhood teachers are so necessary, why is it that kids are turning 5 unprepared for school?

About three weeks ago, Dr Stuart Deerness —who’s a senior education lecturer at AUT— wrote a piece in the NZ Herald where he said that the blame for kids not being ready for school can’t all be put on parents.

He’s right. And I’m going to draw a link, you might say it's more like a long bow, but I’m going to draw a link between this obsession that early childhood teachers be formally qualified and the fact that some of the kids they’re responsible for not being school-ready.

Because for me, you don't need a qualification to have empathy. You don't need a qualification to solve problems. You don't need a qualification to deal with over-anxious parents.

And you don’t need a qualification to keep a little person safe and happy, and to get them ready to take on the world.

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