Early Childhood Education Update 2009

Welcome to this issue of the early childhood education Update.

Te Whatu Pōkeka Kaupapa Māori Assessment for Learning Early Childhood Exemplars

The Ministry of Education has released Te Whatu Pōkeka; Kaupapa Māori Assessment for Learning: Early Childhood Exemplars.

It is a practical document that provides examples to facilitate the assessment of children’s learning based on a kaupapa Māori perspective and context. It is being distributed to Māori immersion and bilingual early childhood services as well as to services with a high percentage of Māori children on the role.

Te Whatu Pōkeka has been developed to strengthen learning outcomes for Māori tamariki in licensed early childhood education services through the promotion of te reo Māori, tikanga Māori, and Māori history. These are the key elements of its overarching philosophy, theories and processes.

Te Whatu Pōkeka complements Kei Tua o te Pae; Assessment for Learning Early Childhood Exemplars. Together they support Te Whāriki: the Early Childhood Curriculum. The intent is to protect te reo Māori, tikanga Māori, Māori pedagogy and the transition of Māori knowledge, skills and attitudes.

Te Whatu Pōkeka discusses broad Māori concepts and perspectives of learning, providing an understanding of the insights and ideas that inform these. These Māori perspectives are drawn out through the exemplars.

On 30 September 2009, Te Whatu Pōkeka was blessed at Te Kohinga Mārama Marae at Waikato University. Key writers of the document were present at the blessing.

Te Whatu Pōkeka is available at www.educate.ece.govt.nz. Copies are also available from Wickliffe for purchase. For orders call Wickliffe 0800 660 662, fax 0800 660 663 or email
orders@thechair.minedu.govt.nz

Establishment Funding

Establishment Funding of $291,000 has been approved to assist fifteen early childhood education services that applied in the round that closed on 31 July 2009.

Establishment Funding is available to community-based groups that are in the process of establishing a licensed early childhood education centre. Existing centres that are undergoing a building extension to increase their licensed child places can also apply.

The funding provides a contribution to assist services with the operational costs associated with meeting licensing requirements, including:

equipment and resources
staffing and recruitment costs for qualified and registered staff.

Applications for the second 2009/10 round close on 31 October 2009.

Eligible services should apply in a funding round that closes three to six months before their intended date of licensing to ensure they can make best use of the funding.

For more information about Establishment Funding go to the Ministry of Education’s Lead website www.lead.ece.govt.nz

Playgroup Ratios

Regulation 19 (Ratios standard) of the Education (Playgroups) Regulations 2008 has been revoked. This has been replaced by the following Regulation 19 (Ratios standard), which came into effect on 28 September 2009.

The ratios standard requires the service provider for every certificated playgroup to ensure that:

(a) more than half of the children attending on any occasion have a parent or caregiver present in the same play area at the same time; and

(b) the total number of children attending on any occasion is not greater than four times the number of parents and caregivers present in the same play area at the same time.

This amendment means that, in addition to the requirement that more than half the children attending have a parent or caregiver present, at the very least, there must be one adult for every four children present in the same play area at the same time. These adults must be parents or nominated caregivers of the children attending the playgroup.

More information about the new playgroup ratios can be found on the Ministry of Education’s Lead website www.lead.ece.govt.nz/generalinformation/infocus/2008regulations

Additional funding rule for home-based services

The Ministry of Education has introduced an additional funding rule for home-based services where an educator is a family member living with the child. This is an addition to the existing funding rules and is effective from 16 October 2009.

Home-based services will need to keep a record of where there is a family relationship between the educator and a child. The Ministry of Education enrolment form exemplar will be updated to include wording that will allow the rule to be audited.

For more information, including frequently asked questions, about the additional funding rule for home-based services go to the Ministry of Education’s Lead website www.lead.ece.govt.nz

Using information and communication technology in ECE

The Spotlight section on the ECE Educate website has new articles about how early childhood education services are using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) with their children.

Fiordland Kindergarten is using blogging as a way of keeping in touch with families and children who move out of the area during the quieter months of the year.

Onehunga-Cuthbert Kindergarten in Auckland is using the Internet and specific websites with their children to research topics of interest. This enables information to be accessed quickly so that meaningful interactions can take place.

Greenhithe Kindergarten in Auckland has made their ICT environment ergonomically sound.

If you would like to read the new articles go to the Ministry of Education’s Educate website www.educate.ece.govt.nz/learning/spotlight

Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008

The Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 came into force on 25 September 2009.

Fact Sheets that provide background on the 2008 regulations, changes from the 1998 regulations for each early childhood education service type and re-licensing and certification processes can be found on the Ministry of Education’s Lead website www.lead.ece.govt.nz

Frequently asked questions about changes to the 2008 regulations, full licensing criteria, information on the review and amendments that were made to licensing criteria in July 2009 are also available on the Ministry of Education’s Lead website www.lead.ece.govt.nz

For copies of the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 go to

www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/2008/0204/latest/DLM1412501.html

For copies of the Education (Playgroups) Regulations 2008 go to www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/2008/0205/latest/DLM1396401.html

Hard copies of the current regulations are available from Bennetts’ or Whitcoulls’ bookstores.

Changes to First Aid training requirements

The First Aid requirement for early childhood education services has changed.

The 2008 First Aid Licensing Criteria, which are applicable to all early childhood education services (with exception to playgroups), require that there is an adult present at all times while children are attending who either:

holds a current First Aid qualification meeting the training requirements outlined by the Department of Labour; or
is a registered medical practitioner or nurse with a current practising certificate; or is a qualified ambulance officer or paramedic.

Previously, home-based educators have only had to have knowledge of first aid – they are now required to hold a current first aid certificate that meets New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) unit standards.

The Department of Labour has also recently reviewed and updated their guidelines (First Aid for Workplaces – a Good Practice Guide) to align first aid training requirements with NZQA registered unit standards.

The Department of Labour recommends that:

training of workplace first aiders is carried out by an organisation accredited by NZQA
first aid certificates are issued by training providers and are evidence that the person has completed the requirements for the certificate. They are valid for two years
a refresher course is completed every two years to keep the first aid certificate current and to update the first aider’s knowledge
if a certificate has lapsed for more than three calendar months from the certificate’s expiry date, the certificate holder should complete a full first aid course.

The Department of Labour has removed the recommendation that refresher first aid courses be eight hours long. Employers are required to provide first aid that takes into account the individual circumstances of the workplace. This can be achieved by completing a workplace first aid needs assessment and informing the first aid course provider of specialist training needs. For example, first aid for children.

The current training requirement for first aid is to complete a course that meets the Unit Standard 6400 (prescribed by NZQA).

Changes to TEACHNZ scholarships for 2010

TeachNZ has made some significant changes to its scholarships. These changes will come into effect for study starting in semester one, 2010. The scholarships continue to target areas where there is the highest need, including early childhood education.

For 2010, there will be 600 early childhood education scholarships available and additional early childhood education eligibility criteria for those living in the Counties Manukau area. The early childhood education scholarship round opens on 1 February 2010 and closes on 1 March 2010.

A comprehensive Guideline Booklet has been created to provide applicants with all the information they will need to apply. The Guideline Booklets and Application forms will be available as a downloadable PDF as each scholarship category opens. All scholarship applicants will need to meet the 2010 eligibility criteria as outlined in the Guideline Booklet.

For more information visit the TeachNZ website www.teachnz.govt.nz

Notifiable disease reminder for ECE services

Early childhood education services must contact their regional public health officer as soon as one person has either a suspected or diagnosed case of a notifiable disease. The following table provides early childhood education services with a comprehensive list of notifiable diseases in New Zealand.

Diseases Notifiable in New Zealand (includes suspected cases)*

Notifiable Infectious Diseases Under the
Health Act 1956

Section A – Infectious Diseases Notifiable to a Medical Officer of Health and Local Authority

Acute gastroenteritis **

Campylobacteriosis

Cholera

Cryptosporidiosis

Giardiasis

Hepatitis A

Legionellosis

Listeriosis

Meningoencephalitis – primary amoebic

Salmonellosis

Shigellosis

Typhoid and paratyphoid fever

Yersiniosis

Section B – Infectious Diseases Notifiable to
Medical Officer of Health

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

Anthrax

Arboviral diseases

Brucellosis

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and other spongiform encephalopathies

Diphtheria

Enterobacter sakazakii invasive disease

Hepatitis C

Hepatitis B

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI)

Hepatitis (viral) – not otherwise specified

Hydatid disease

Invasive Pneumococcal Disease

Leprosy

Leptospirosis

Malaria

Measles

Mumps

Neisseria meningitidis invasive disease

Pertussis

Poliomyelitis

Non-seasonal influenza (capable of being transmitted between human beings)

Plague

Rabies

Rheumatic fever

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

Rickettsial diseases

Rubella

Tetanus

Viral haemorrhagic fevers

Yellow fever

Diseases Notifiable to Medical Officer of Health
(Other than Notifiable Infectious Diseases)

Cysticercosis

Taeniasis

Trichinosis

Decompression sickness

Lead absorption equal to
or in excess of 10µg/dl
(0.48µ mol/l) ***

Poisoning arising from chemical contamination of the environment

Notifiable Diseases Under Tuberculosis Act 1948 - Notifiable to the Medical Officer of Health

Tuberculosis (all forms)

* During times of increased incidence practitioners may be requested to report, with informed consent, to their local Medical Officer of Health cases of communicable diseases not on this list.

** Not every case of acute gastroenteritis is necessarily notifiable – only those where there is a suspected common source or from a person in a high risk category (eg, food handler, early childhood service worker, etc) or single cases of chemical, bacterial, or toxic food poisoning such as botulism, toxic shellfish poisoning (any type) and disease caused by verocytotoxic E. coli.

*** Blood lead levels to be reported to the Medical Officer of Health (10µg/dl or 0.48µ mol/l) are for environmental exposure. Where occupational exposure is suspected, please notify OSH through the NODS network.

NEXT ISSUE OF UPDATE

The next early childhood education Update will appear in Volume 88 Issue 21, which is available from Monday 23 November 2009.

If your service does not currently receive the Education Gazette you can subscribe by going to www.edgazette.govt.nz

PAST ISSUES OF UPDATE

Have you missed an issue of Update?

Past issues of the early childhood education Update can be found at www.minedu.govt.nz/educationSectors/EarlyChildhood/PublicationsAndResources/EarlyChildhoodEducationUpdate

ORDERING RESOURCES AND PUBLICATIONS

To order early childhood education resources and publications contact Wickliffe.

Wickliffe provides customer services for the Ministry of Education publications.

If you need to order anything phone

0800 660 662, fax 0800 660 663 or email orders@thechair.minedu.govt.nz

USEFUL LINKS