One reason for this could have been a change in economic circumstances due to Covid, the ministry’s chief economist Andrew Webber wrote in a report released with the data. “Job loss could cause a reduction in ECE participation of children for two reasons: firstly, the loss of income may make some forms of ECE more difficult to afford; and secondly, it may free up the time of parents to enable them to care for their own children during the day.”
STACY SQUIRES/Stuff
Low participation rates disproportionately affected Auckland and ECEs drawing from low socio-economic areas. Pasifika children appear to have experienced the largest barriers to ECE participation due to Covid-19, mirroring the trend in schools, where attendance rates in Pasifika students took longer to recover after lockdown compared to their Asian, Pākehā and Māori counterparts.