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There is now a wide range of early childhood education services available in New Zealand. Children are able to attend kohanga reo (total immersion in Māori language, culture and values) kindergartens, playcentres, childcare centres, ECDU (Early Childhood Development Unit) groups, home-based services and community groups. Māori children made up 18.9 percent of all enrolments in early childhood education in 1996, up from 17.2 percent in 1991.
The figure below illustrates the growth in the number of Māori enrolments in early childhood education between 1986 and 1996. The largest change between 1991 and 1996 was due to kohanga reo enrolments, accounting for 51.3 percent of the growth in early childhood enrolments. Since their initiation in 1982, kohanga reo have played a major role in the education of Māori children. In 1996, kohanga reo was the single largest provider for Māori with 46.3 percent of Māori children enrolled in early childhood education attending one of 767 kohanga. This compared to 21.6 percent enrolled at kindergartens and 19.3 percent at childcare centres..
The rate of growth in Māori enrolments in early childhood education over the 1991-1996 period exceeded that of non-Māori, 39.7 percent and 24.5 percent respectively. Despite this, in 1996 participation rates for Māori children remained lower than those for non-Māori. Ethnic differences in participation varied with age, the smallest gap in 1996 was for those aged less than 2 years (3.9 percentage points). For the 2-4 year age group the gap widened to 29.3 percentage points.
For more information you can order NZ Now Māori or Te Kanohi Hou o Aotearoa: Māori.
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