Early Childhood Education Update
This is the third time the early childhood education Update publication has appeared in the Education Gazette. We're really excited to be able to bring you Update through the Education Gazette and we've received fantastic feedback on the 22 September issue. The next early childhood Update will appear in Volume 87 Issue 21, which is available from Monday 24 November 2008.
Rs61 annual statistics forms overdue
Service-specific RS61 forms were posted out to early childhood education services in May. To date there are still a number of services who are yet to complete and return their RS61 form for the 2008 year.
The RS61 form gives the Ministry of Education a 'snapshot' of the number of enrolled children, as well as the number of staff for early childhood education services. This information contributes to a comprehensive information base on early childhood education in New Zealand and is used in the development of policy, monitoring and funding.
If you have any questions, or you need assistance to complete your form, contact Elena Koudrina on 04 463 8061 or at elena.koudrina@minedu.govt.nz
Additional copies of the RS61 form can be downloaded from www.educationcounts.govt.nz
Please return completed and signed forms to the ministry no later than Friday 14 November 2008.
Introducing the Education Amendment Bill (No 3)
The Education Amendment Bill (No 3), introduced to the House in early September 2008, seeks to amend the Education Act 1989.
The Education Amendment Bill (No 3) seeks to reduce the number of people police clearance is required for and also recommends removing current costs associated with completing the police clearance process by enabling services to go directly to New Zealand Police.
The Amendment Bill proposes that every person who may have unsupervised access to children at an early childhood education service has police clearance. A police clearance must be obtained before the person has access to children at the service.
There will be further opportunities for interested groups to provide comment on the proposed changes as the Education Amendment Bill (No 3) has been referred to the Education and Science Committee for review and public submissions.
More information can be found at www.parliament.nz
Teachers 50 percent qualification requirement
One of the goals of the early childhood education strategic plan Pathways to the Future: Nga Huarahi Arataki is to improve the quality of early childhood education services. Research shows that children benefit from quality early childhood education and, in some services, teacher qualifications contribute to the quality of early childhood education.
To support the quality of early childhood education services, teacher registration targets have been set for teacher-led services to encourage teaching staff to become qualified with an early childhood education qualification recognised by the New Zealand Teachers Council for the purposes of registration.
In December 2007, the 50 percent Teacher Qualification Requirement was introduced for centre-based teacher-led services. This means that 50 percent of staff employed in all of these services must hold a Diploma of Teaching in early childhood education or a comparable qualification.
When a service counts staff you can also count:
• one person in their final year of study for a recognised qualification;
• qualified part-time staff who work at no more than two services.
More information can be found at www.lead.ece.govt.nz/Staffing/QualificationRegistrationTargets/FAQs
ICT networks in early childhood education services
Information and communication technologies (ICT) in early childhood education is about children, educators, parents and families/whanau using technology to enhance children's learning, including communication and reflections on learning.
Creating an ICT network for an early childhood education service is a valuable way to share resources. The Ministry of Education has developed guidelines for New Zealand early childhood education services to support the setup of their ICT network. These guidelines can be used by engineers, builders and technicians. The guidelines are:
• ICT Infrastructure Networking Guidelines – these guidelines outline the minimum standards adopted by the ministry for active networking equipment, computer operating systems and applications for ICT infrastructure in New Zealand early childhood education services.
• ICT Infrastructure Cabling Guidelines – these guidelines outline the minimum cabling standards adopted by the ministry for the design and implementation of ICT infrastructures for New Zealand early childhood services it also covers ICT cabling in new buildings, planning a significant upgrade and extensions to existing infrastructures.
The ICT guidelines can be downloaded from www.lead.ece.govt.nz/ICTInfrastructure/ICTInfrastructureCabling/default
Vegetables for healthy kids
A popular 1980s early childhood education resource promoting vegetables to under-fives has been revised and reproduced by Mission-On, after requests from the sector.
Vegetables for Healthy Kids will be distributed free to all licensed early childhood education centres in November 2008 and is available to other centres on request.
For more information email the team at mission-on.team@minedu.govt.nz
If your service does not currently get the Education Gazette you can subscribe by going to www.edgazette.govt.nz
educate.ece.govt.nz is a new website created for the early childhood community where ideas, aspirations and successes can be shared between services, researchers and the Ministry of Education.
With this in mind, a page has been created called Characteristics of Effective Practices where we are seeking your experiences in the areas of:
• distributed leadership
• effective transitions
• fostering communication and participation.
Don't worry if your experiences don't fall under one of these headings; just as education practice has evolved over the years, so too will this site. educate.ece.govt.nz has been set up to be responsive to the sector – we want to know what has been happening in your early childhood service and how you have achieved it. Should we choose to progress the publication of your experience we will contact you for further details.
Please email the ministry at ece.info@minedu.govt.nz
2008 REGULATIONS
HOW DO I GET A COPY OF THE REGULATIONS?
Hard copies of the regulations are available from Bennetts or Whitcoulls for approximately $3.00-$5.00, and online at the following links:
• The Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008: www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/2008/0204/latest/DLM1412501.html
• The Education (Playgroups) Regulations 2008: www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/2008/0205/latest/DLM1396401.html
HOW DO I GET A COPY OF THE CRITERIA FOR MY SERVICE TYPE?
All existing early childhood education services should have received a copy of the new criteria that applies to their service type through the mail. If not, please contact your local Ministry of Education office.
Electronic copies of the criteria are available at www.lead.ece.govt.nz and can be downloaded free of charge. Additional hard copies are available for purchase from Wickliffe on 0800 660 662.
FACT SHEETS
Fact Sheets outlining the differences for each service type have been developed to provide quick and accurate information about the 2008 regulations and licensing criteria.
A new Fact Sheet has been developed to clarify issues about Sleep Rooms, also known as criterion Premises and facilities 37.
Sleep Room criteria only apply to all-day centre-based services licensed for children under the age of two.
Fact sheets and a set of frequently asked questions can be found at www.lead.ece.govt.nz
Things to note
ESTABLISHMENT FUNDING
Establishment Funding is a pool of funding available to community-based groups in the process of establishing a licensed service as well as existing services significantly increasing their licensed child places due to a building extension. It provides a contribution to assist services with the operational costs associated with meeting licensing requirements. The funding is available to meet two types of operational costs:
• equipment and resources (existing services can only apply for this)
• staffing and recruitment costs.
Funding is allocated in four rounds; applications for the second round close on Friday 31 October 2008 at 5.00pm.
More information can be found at www.lead.ece.govt.nz/Funding/EstablishmentFunding
ORDERING RESOURCES AND PUBLICATIONS
The way you order early childhood education resources and publications has changed.
Wickliffe now provides customer services for the Ministry of Education publications. If you need to order anything, phone 0800 660 662 or fax 0800 660663.
You will soon be able to order resources online or by email through a new ordering catalogue.
USEFUL LINKS
www.lead.ece.govt.nz
www.educate.ece.govt.nz
www.teamup.co.nz
www.educationcounts.govt.nz