By 3 News online staff
The Early Childhood Council (ECC) has labelled a Family First study into the effects of daycare on children “misleading and irresponsibly alarmist”.
The study, which claimed long-term daycare could be detrimental to childrens’ development and health later in life, was published today by the conservative group.
ECC chief executive Peter Reynolds says the study’s author, controversial academic Dr Aric Sigman, has stated on his website that his method is to deliberately select ‘generally negative’ studies for his research.
“If you look only at the negative evidence you can reach only one conclusion,” Mr Reynolds says. “That may well be the wrong one”.
New Zealand parents and families are best qualified to decide what was best for their children, Mr Reynolds says.
“It’s all about… parents making the best decisions they can, given the specific circumstances of their own families,” he says.
“Sometimes that choice will be staying home to look after the kids. Sometimes it will be early childhood education.”
Mr Reynolds also highlights that while the Family First report refers to ‘daycare’, New Zealand has early childhood education “with a national curriculum, and dedicated tertiary-trained teachers”.
Mr Reynolds agrees that low quality daycare would be damaging to children, but says New Zealand’s early childhood education is among the best in the world.
3 News