By JO MCKENZIE-MCLEAN – The Press
Parents are just as good as teachers when it comes to educating toddlers, an early-childhood educator says. Dr Sarah Farquhar, who presented her findings at the New Zealand Playcentre Federation’s Diamond Jubilee conference in Auckland at the weekend, said teacher-led early-education services had little added value to a child’s development compared with parent-led services. Farquhar said the impact of family was consistently greater on a child’s achievements than Early Childhood Education and government policies needed to recognise the value of involving parents in children’s early education. “If we want to make more of an effective difference for our young children, we should be valuing programmes that involve parents learning much more than they are currently being valued,” she said.