Early Childhood Education Update

2008 has seen many developments in the early childhood education sector and it has been wonderful to share these with you. The next early childhood Update will appear in Volume 88, Issue 3, which is available from 23 February 2009.

In the meantime, we wish you a safe and merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Review of the Regulations

The Minister of Education has announced a review the 2008 regulations, which came into effect on 1 December 2008.

The purpose of the review is to ensure that the 2008 regulations do not place unnecessary burdens on early childhood services without compromising the health, safety and quality of early childhood education provided to young children.

The Minister is discussing with the ministry what changes might be made to the early childhood education regulations.

The review process will take approximately six months.

The ministry will provide updates through www.lead.ece.govt.nz

What does this mean for licensed centre-based services already operating?

All early childhood education services that are already licensed and chartered will continue to comply with the Education (Early Childhood Centre) Regulations 1998.

What does this mean for home-based services already operating?

Home-based services will be deemed to be licensed on 1 December 2008. This means that:

• education and care can be provided in a home nominated by the child's parent, instead of only in the child's home, or the home of the educator. For instance, two families can decide to share a nanny with education and care provided in the home of one of the children.

• an educator's own five-year-old child who is enrolled in school will not be counted in the maximum number of children allowed in the home-based setting.

Home-based services will also continue to comply with the Education (Home Based Care) Order 1992.

Prior to the Minister's announcement I was in discussion with the ministry about re-licensing my service under the 2008 regulations, what should I do?

The Minister has announced a review of the regulations and, until that is complete, the ministry encourages services to continue to operate under the existing regulations.

My service is on a probationary licence under the 1998 regulations and I was expecting that it would move to a full licence under the 2008 regulations, what happens now?

All early childhood education services that are already licensed and chartered will continue to comply with the Education (Early Childhood Centre) Regulations 1998.

Your service will be assessed against 1998 regulations to move from a probationary licence to a full licence.

What does this mean for a new service expecting to be licensed for the first time from 1 December 2008?

All new services will be subject to the 2008 regulatory system and will be assessed against the regulations and criteria that apply. Any licence or certificate will be issued under the 2008 regulations.

If my service is licensed as a new service after 1 December under the 2008 regulations what will happen if there is a change to the early childhood education regulations as a result of the review?

Once your service is licensed to operate the regulations that apply are valid for the term of your licence.

Any changes from the review would also take into consideration services already licensed.

Why can the ministry not just stop the 2008 regulations coming into effect?

The 2008 regulations, criteria and curriculum framework were passed into law in July 2008 and will come into effect on 1 December 2008.

To stop the 2008 regulations coming into effect would require a further change to the Education Act 1989. There is no time left to be able to do this as the process would have to be completed before 1 December.

What will it cost to become licensed?

Government will consider what licensing fees will apply and advise as soon as possible.

Where can I get more information?

The ministry will provide updates through

www.lead.ece.govt.nz

First Years Preschool Incorporated – sucesful in round five of the Centres of Innovation programme

The Centres of Innovation programme, initiated in 2003, is part of governments early childhood education strategic plan, Pathways to the Future: Nga Huarahi Arataki, to improve the quality of early childhood education.

Centres of Innovation is about improving quality and strengthening effective teaching and learning practices through researching innovative teaching processes.

To be a part of the Centres of Innovation programme early childhood education services apply through a contestable process. Services applying are already undertaking an innovative approach to teaching and learning that supports the effective implementation of Te Whariki, the early childhood education curriculum.

Since the Centres of Innovation programme began the Ministry of Education has funded 19 Centres of Innovation. Selection for round five has recently been completed and a new Centre of Innovation has been selected for the period 2009-2012. The ministry's congratulations go to the successful applicant, First Years Preschool Incorporated, from Dannevirke.

The research focus for round five was "effective and innovative teaching that strengthens learning outcomes through responsive, respectful and reciprocal relationships with people, places and things".

During their three-year tenure as a Centre of Innovation the team at First Years Preschool will work in partnership with Barbara Jordan from Massey University to further develop and research the service's innovative approach to the fearless integration of science into all areas of the curriculum.

This approach is exciting and could be of great benefit to the early childhood education sector.

First Years Preschool has strong community support for their work and the ministry looks forward to working with them on this Centre of Innovation programme for the next three years. Updates on their progress will be available on www.lead.ece.govt.nz during this time.

ECE Update

Subject matter experts for educate.ece.govt.nz wanted

In Volume 87, Issue 21, of the Education Gazette the Ministry of Education indicated that it is planning to put more information for early childhood educators onto the educate.ece.govt.nz web site. The ministry wants to develop a pool of subject matter experts who may:

• write materials for the educate.ece.govt.nz web site

• critique and prepare early childhood education service materials for publication on the web site

• generate submissions of early childhood education service materials which illustrate effective / interesting or best practice

• moderate or facilitate blogs or e-forums that generate collegial discourse on early childhood education matters

• peer review material

• assist in the identification of content priorities.

Are you interested? The ministry is seeking interest through a tender process and the Request for Proposal document can be found on www.gets.govt.nz or by emailing pru. dryburgh@minedu.govt.nz

All applications must be received by 19 December 2008.

New Zealand Association for Research in Education Award

The New Zealand Association for Research in Education (NZARE) is an organisation focused on educational research.

The association aims to foster excellence in educational research in Aotearoa/New Zealand and it recognises and honours high achievements in education research. At the recent NZARE conference awards ceremony Dr Val Podmore and the A'oga Fa'a Samoa Research Focus Group (A'oga Fa'a Samoa) were presented the 2008 award for their Centres of Innovation research, funded by the Ministry of Education.

A'oga Fa'a Samoa is a Pasifika immersion early childhood education service which, in 2003, became one of six successful Centres of Innovation services selected to research and further develop existing innovative practice to improve learning and teaching in early childhood education.

To help improve the quality practices in Pasifika immersion services A'oga Fa'a Samoa's research focus was on transition from a Pasifika immersion service to primary school.

The award recognises a significant educational research project, undertaken in Aotearoa/ New Zealand, by a group of researchers. The award consists of a written citation, a taonga and cash of $1000. This is a great achievement and the ministry celebrates A'oga Fa'a Samoa's success.

The research team comprises of Dr Val Podmore, Jan Taouma, Ene Tapusoa and Tanya Wendt Samu.

THINGS TO NOTE

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 can now also order resources by email through orders@thechair.minedu.govt.nz