Pedagogical implications of corporatisation

Corporate centre's push for children to attend their centers as one of their main goals is to make profits for their shareholders. This results in a high number of children being taught in minimum ratios.

An article here suggests that in for-profit centers, teachers appear to be struggling to keep up their professional practice. The lack of qualifications and minimum amount of ratios makes it very difficult for teachers to be able to deliver quality care. Brice (as cited in Blaikie, 2013) states “Those teachers are as passionate as we are about providing quality, they’re just not able to”.

Blaikie (2013) states that NZEI members reported that minimum staff ratios aren’t met, despite the best efforts of educators. The poor quality delivered by overworked and stressed staff makes it harder for the government to reach its student achievement goals. Research shows that not-for-profit centers are much more likely to produce the high quality environments, as they are more focused on providing quality care for children then enticing children in to boost profits.

Chief executive of Kidicorp Wayne Wright (as cited in an article here) said: "Quality comes from the knowledge and attitude of the staff in the centers and that comes from being a good employer and providing professional development, training, and support". Therefore quality care relies on the quality management of early childhood centers. However, even if the staff of corporate childcare centers receive regular professional development, the ratios of the centers may not allow for this development to be implemented.

Siraj-Blathcford states that “the Te Whāriki model suggests that an appropriate curriculum and pedagogy for young children will be determined with the needs of the individual and specific groups of children in mind” (2004, p. 141). However, corporate childcare limits this from happening as the minimum amount of ratios means that teachers are less able to focus on the needs of individual children.