On Nationals return to government during the early 1990’s there was a shift to a minimal state approach

On Nationals return to government during the early 1990’s there was a shift to a minimal state approach. Although they had received a newly reformed educational administration system they also had to deal with the countries economy that was in recession and budget deficits. They moved to cut government spending and in 1990 the Prime Minister Jim Bolger announced the governments Economic and Social Initiative as a step to reduce the countries deficit. The policy set out direction for welfare, health, housing, employment and education (Mitchell, 2005). Although they promised to continue with the reforms with a shift in direction to focus of curriculum and assessment but The Before five staged funding plan was put on hold. Ideologies about the responsibility of who cares and supports children were raised and the government took a narrow view of early childhood and focused on ‘parent support’ (Mitchell, 2005). They moved to fully fund programmes such as Parents as first teachers, reduced staff requirements for early childhood centres, reduced funding levels and moved to sort out funding (Mitchell 2005).