NZHECEA Welcomes Recommendations to Improve Quality
NZHECEA Welcomes Recommendations to Improve
Quality
The New Zealand Home-Based Early
Childhood Education Association welcomes the recommendations
from Government about ways to improve the quality of ECE and
in particular the recommended review of the home-based ECE
sector. The Home-based Association does not see this
review as urgent rather that it has been delayed as they had
requested the Ministry of Education to undertake this for
the past 10 years.
Ms Stovold, President of the
New Zealand Homebased ECE Association says “The
Association welcomes the opportunity of a review of
home-based ECE to be able to look at what is working
exceedingly well for our learners, our babies and young
children, our tamariki and mokopuna. We are also eager to
participate in this review and are looking forward to the
opportunity to work alongside the Ministry of Education in
Wellington, with how they can support the sector to do
better and improve outcomes for children where it may not be
working quite as well, just as they have done for the rest
of the ECE sector over the past 10 years”
“We
believe that there are many misconceptions about how ECE is
provided in a home-based setting” says Ms Stovold. “We
agree that a review is needed as home based ECE was largely
omitted from the Early Childhood Strategic Plan in 2002.
There has been very little policy planning, development and
support, training or professional development from providers
who understand the complexity of delivery of training to the
home-based sector and the complexity of the relationships of
the various roles of teachers and educators who engage with
families and our young children.”
There is no
recognition of teaching qualifications of educators beyond
the minimum regulatory requirement or a depth of research
into what quality ECE looks like in the Homebased sector.
There has been no research on whether training and
qualifications of the educators actually makes any
difference on the outcomes for children in a home-based ECE
setting in New Zealand.
Ms Stovold who was
appointed to the Quality in ECE advisory group says “this
was a worthwhile opportunity to be able to provide sector
wide advice to support the work of the Ministry of
Education”. Ms Stovold has also been nominated to the ECE
Funding Advisory group and is awaiting the outcome of this
process.
Ms Stovold took part, earlier in the year
,in a reference group as part of a research project
conducted by Judy Layland, from the University of Otago,
looking at ‘quality for under two’s in a home-based
setting’. Ms Stovold says “We are looking forward to
hearing the initial findings at our annual conference in
Rotorua on September 28th – 30th. Judy’s work will be
very exciting as little is known about under twos in New
Zealand in home-based settings.”
Home-based ECE
in New Zealand supports families and children with not only
an ECE childcare service, but also engaging parents in
improving their parenting skills and providing, mainly
women, the opportunity to return to the work force by
becoming educators from their own homes, able to earn income
by caring for children and learn by training for a teaching
qualification. Ms Stovold says that “that over 20% of the
intake for the Diploma – now the Degree for the Bachelor
of Teaching ECE at the NZ Open Polytechnic actually comes
from the Home-based ECE sector”. In a pod-cast last week
with radio New Zealand the Wellington Kindergarten
Association, who have recently supported a new Pasifika
Home-based Network to set up, described this as
“Kindergarten in the 21st Century”.
The New
Zealand Home-Based Early Childhood Education Association has
membership from educators, nannies, teachers, managers and
services throughout New Zealand. Further information can be
found on their website www.nzhomebasedece.org.nz
ENDS