Educational Leadership Project

A Christmas Play.

2012-01-26T09:17:00.006+13:00

I said I would be in charge of the games on Christmas day when we joined a couple of friends. A trip to the 2 dollar shop saw me armed with handfuls of possibilities. For about $20 we had an afternoon filled with madness and laughter. The most popular were the plastic racing cars powered by balloons. It was quite a skill to blow the balloon via the exhaust, and not let the air out until the start of the race.

So there we were; adults squashed in together at the start line on the lounge floor. Countdown; and they were off- or rather everyone elses were off. My car did premature victory laps. It just went round and round in circles whilst my friends cars zoomed past, crashing each other off the course and toward the

cushion finish line.
I lodged a protest. Having an engineer and a mechanic present proved a godsend. My car was then modified. How can a plastic car with only 2 moving parts can be modified? Believe me it is possible.
At the start line I positioned myself in the middle, lined up for the cushion. My car raced in straight and fast and won! My victory speech acknowledge the

racing crew and the pit boys. Chocolates were dished out as prizes and it was on to the next game.

Frog tiddly winks. A game of skill and co-ordination. Both of which were lacking slightly by this time in the day. For awhile we played according to the rules, and then innovation and creativity stepped in. How many frogs can jump at once. How high can they jump? The wine glass proved possible, as did the water jug. We drew the line at open mouths as targets.

So as a final wind down to our games, I introduced the balloon helicopter and we sat and watched the dog as it leapt excitedly around the garden and crashed through the flower beds as it followed the erratic flight of the helicopter. Who would be the one to retrieve it from the trees? As the games organiser I was exempt! We learnt some valuable lessons about flight paths, and obstacles.

I was reminded how we need to play and the excuse of Christmas should not be the only time when we retrace our childhood, get down on all fours and allow our playfulness to come to the fore.
I am thinking marbles and knucklebones will be next on our list and I won’t be waiting until next Christmas.

The Christmas Break!

2012-01-25T10:28:00.006+13:00

I have been reflecting on the Christmas break and am thinking about the learning this brings.

There were the usual highlights. There was the pleasure and joy in a growing family that now includes new additions with each year and in-law members. There was the sharing of good food, great company and having fun together.

There were gifts and presents of wide variety and the delight and joy of giving, receiving and opening to share. There was the annual decoration of the whole lounge room floor beautifully strewn in the discards of hasty present un-wrapping.

Santa brought some water guns and yes we had a water pistol or two already here. For a great water fight and in the name of fairness we added in some loaded lemonade drink bottles. Water fights have been a family tradition in our family for a while.

Then there were the Christmas sales. Well in the Sale there were water guns with the equivalent of nuclear war heads. So again in the name of fair fighting I bought three of them. They have a 7 metre spray range with a 500ml tank capacity. I headed home from the shop and had lunch. The fight was on. Daughters, mother, father, son-in-law and two grand children fully armed. The fight started on the drive way (concrete). Running shooting squealing and water eschewed. Husband ran for cover beside the house. I crouched and waited to ambush and inflict the full force of my new super squirter. To cut a long story and water fight short – I stepped into the drain and fell backwards onto my right hand and Whew yep knew it straight away broke my wrist. Everyone saw it and calmly, not wanting to scare the small ones around me with big eyes, I held my arm tight and asked for a clean shirt, a brush of my hair and a ride to the medical centre. I returned with a bright and shining sling and cast to a fanfare of interest and care.

I have learnt a lot about being the ‘cared for’ rather than being the ‘carer’. I have learnt how to ask for and accept help. I have learnt that making mistakes is easy for me - forgiving myself and being kind to myself for those mistakes is a “work in progress”.

I have learnt about pain and how it made me grouchy at times with those who were caring. I have learnt about patience and taking a little longer to do things. I have always thought that I am left-handed - in fact, I am two handed!!! and so my brain has had to work hard at me being one-handed and I am proud to say I can do most things one-handed!!!

As Hawaiki, 4 years old, left to go home from what we now call Christmas Break 2011 he said

“Nana you won’t be having water fights anymore now eh?”

I said “Oh yes I will. Next time – we will just be on the grass”.

So I learnt about taking risks and rose to Hawaiki’s challenge. I will not be hanging up my water gun yet. And Hawaiki learnt that nana’s have fun and can pick herself up and keep going - ready with her water gun another day.

As I write this the car is packed for my trip to Hawaiki and Pipiana’s house and yes the cast is waterproof and the gun is loaded... And we look forward to another fabulous learning year.

Kathryn

Information and Communication Technology - an invitation to participate

2012-01-12T14:22:00.002+13:00

We live in exponential times, when I worked in an early childhood setting digital technology was a relatively new thing and we had computers and cameras, as well as a fax machine, laminator and cordless phone! Now there is a plethora of digital devices, both desktop and handheld and I am really interested to know what has changed in the last few years as far as using Information Communication Technology (ICT) goes,within Early Childhood settings. To this end, over the first half of 2012 I am undertaking a small research project investigating how teams are currently using ICT in Early Childhood. In late August I will be presenting this research at a conference and it will also form the basis for my lecture later in 2012.

In particular I would like to find out:
What digital devices (Computers, Cameras, tablets, MP3 players etc) you have in your centre and how you are using these.
What programmes do you find most useful and what are you using them for?
Do you blog or are you part of any online community? Do you use Wiki’s or Google Documents?
What has helped or hindered your use of ICT?
How are children using the ICT you have within your setting?
Has ICT made a difference for children's learning? If so how?
Do Parents and Whanau have access to ICT within your setting?
Do you have iPads, iPods or other handheld devices that children are able to use and if so what are they using them for?
I am keen to support Centres that currently have an iPad but maybe not using it to its full potential, so let me know if you are interested in this.

If you could answer the above questions and anything else you would like to add, email me at jo.colbert@elp.co.nz
This is a great opportunity to showcase some of the fabulous work happening in your centre and I look forward to reading your responses.
Ka Kite

A small selection of ICT in my house!

A Curious Christmas Tree

2011-12-19T08:51:00.007+13:00

Our Christmas tree is a source of delight for all of us. It is a new one, quite posh and 7 feet tall.

You may remember last year I wrote in a blog about the joy I have each year in greeting all of the decorations as 'friends'. The decorations are prompts and reminders of special times in my life. Decorating the Christmas tree is a time of re-visiting my life for me. I love decorating the Christmas Tree.

This year its life as an 'adult' Christmas Tree was only a day long. In that day it looked fabulous. Stunning in all of it’s balance and symmetry. Now it is decorated in two halves - the top half is the ‘adult’ half - it drips with the breakable baubles. The bottom half my grandchildren get to touch and play with. My grandchildren check out the decorations. They take them off, move them around and now happily all three of my mobile grandchildren can put them back on. I have the most undecorated and re-decorated Christmas tree in the world.

Zane, (21months) categorised the Christmas tree decorations! He likes to remove the decorations and carry them around. He has a transporting schema. The other day he walked straight in to our house and searched the tree. He found 3 matching embroidered NZ birds and placed them carefully on the coffee table. He said “Birds". Went back to the tree found 3 matching glitter gold stars and placed them carefully on the coffee table. He said “Stars". Then went back again and searched (read rustled with both hands in the branches now) and pulled out three matching branches of berries. Placed them on the coffee table carefully and said "Strawberries". He then went off to play only once glancing back to the coffee table totally satisfied.

I am so curious about him and his learning.

Pipiana is especially curious about the lights and sparkly things. As she fondled and re-arranged some decorations the other day she looked over at her mummy kindly reassuring her and said “Mummy! just looking!!?” They both smiled at each other, mummy raised her eyebrows and Pipiana carried on re-decorating the Tree.

I am curious about the kind ‘looking’ we love in our house that looks like enquiring with one’s own hands.

Hawaiki’s curiosity lies in the vehicles on the tree and the magnificence of the Tree’s height. And... of course! the magnificence of his own 4 year old growth and height, and his own place in our family - being the oldest and tallest grandchild. He stood beside his cousin, sister and the Tree, he pulled himself up to his tallest self, and raised his hand above his head and said “Whoa this is a BIG Christmas tree Nana - and I am up to here”. “Whoa you have grown such a lot Hawaiki. You are getting as tall as the Christmas tree”. I am curious about how tall he may grow and who he may be.

I love my Christmas Tree, I love the decorations and the prompts they provide for my remembering, and most of all I love the kind of curious learning and love the Christmas Tree invites and provokes.

It is indeed a Curious Christmas Tree.

A Christmas Wish of Curiosity to you all.

Kathryn

Lens and long grass

2011-11-25T13:54:00.003+13:00

I was walking up the hill to my house and thinking about how long the grass was, how I hadn't transplanted the roses, how the grapes needed tying up, etc etc. It can get a little overwhelming at times. So much to do. As I paused I took in this view in front of me. I saw the roses very happily sharing their space with the lovely grass. Many of the grasses have different heads and subtly differing shades of green. Some of them almost sparkle in the light. The overgrown grapes were waving at me in the wind and I loved that they were taking over the place- like Sleeping Beautie's castle! I often say I live in a castle, so it is fitting that it is being overtaken by the greenery around me!
Looking with a different lens allowed me to see; really see and a calmness and a humble sense of wonder took over from the feelings of being overwhelmed.
I just need to do this more often, pause and really see, and appreciate the subtle beauty amongst the business and sometimes chaos that seems to surround me.
So the roses have been left alone, the grass still grows and the grapes are winning their takeover bid. Maybe visitors will need a pair of clippers to get to my front door but I promise it will be worth it!!!
So do stop to smell the roses, they are beautiful at the moment and the way the long grass dances in the wind can bring joy to the heart. A new lens can be so helpful, or maybe just dust off the lenses that we haven't used for awhile.

Is Respect Part of Your Environment?

2011-11-24T10:29:00.004+13:00

"Make the most of the small things in life because as time goes on, you realise these are the big things."

I read this in a shop recently and thought about these words this morning. My grand daughter Devon had stayed for the weekend. She is 8 and is lovely company. Devon likes to write on any paper she can find, this time on the small pad I keep in the car. I discovered a message on this pad today. It read "Hi,my name is Devon, whoever is reading this, I will tell you what cool is. Cool is an old Grandma! It made my day. I am not sure about the old part, in her eyes I must be ancient but I like the cool bit. Devon and I share lots of small things and this is what has built our relationship, through caring and sharing.

Children can give us well qualified reflections and descriptions, not just in our homes but in our centres. It just depends on how we do it and what relationships we have established with them. Sometimes we need to respect children's rights not to speak or to express themselves on unpleasant subjects or be challenged. Making time and space for children to express themselves and to be listened to is an example of how "in order to honour children's participation rights we must establish the conditions in which they can be honoured". (Mayall, 2000)

OKATAINA RETREAT FOR LITERACY LEAD SETTINGS

2011-11-10T23:06:00.000+13:00

We have just held our Literacy Leaderhip Retreat at the Lakes Lodge Okataina. Suffice to say that we were located right on the edge of the very beautiful Lake Okataina. We were in fact staying in what are the only dwellings on this lake, the Lakes Lodge. The lake and surrounding bush were gifted to the Crown by Ngati Tarawhai in 1921. Okataina is “place of laughter” this relates back to one of the important stories about this lake. We certainly experienced lots of laughter over the weekend. This lake is without outlets and is the only lake in the district that is surrounded completely by bush. The forest includes fine examples of rimu, totara, rata and pohutukawa. Some of us explored the bush at night and were totally delighted to hear the sound of both kiwi and morepork. We also saw the glow worms throughout the bush. It was quite magical.

Throughout this blog are comments from teachers attending the Okataina Retreat.

“This weekend has great!! It has been cool to hear the stories from everyone else and to see how different everyone’s journey with their other centre has been. The honesty and support shown to each other made me feel more relaxed and comfortable to talk. “

“Having discussions both personal and professional is always interesting with other early childhood professionals. It’s a great opportunity to discuss and share ideas and experiences.. Today has been again insightful! Hearing and seeing others learning stories is fantastic. It is always a reflection of practice when you see other teachers practice. The different structure and content of the stories help to challenge and extend my own practice in assessment and learning for children in our kindergarten. Thank you ELp for providing the opportunity to share and learn from our colleagues.”

“I was very excited to be attending this weekend... I understand that it would be able sharing, but also talking and collaborative learning with others, which I really enjoy. Discussions not only about our ELP journeys, challenges and for us it is not over yet” .

“I was really looking forward to this weekend! For two reasons. First of all a relaxing weekend away, relaxation, the thought of ‘yummy food’, PEACE, and lots of good company. Secondly, again it was another opportunity for ‘team building’ as we were here as a complete team. I’ve noticed that these opportunities are enabling us to become a strong, resilient team, to get to know each other and to share a little more of ‘myself’.”

“This weekend has been a real treat for me, time away from home responsibilities, surrounded by great company, along with being taken care of by our awesome hosts. I have enjoyed our professional discussions, I am taking away many ideas to implement, to improve my practices.”

An opportunity to explore the possibilities of ephemeral art!

“I have never heard of Ephemeral Art. To actually create a piece of art using what you have around you to tell a story was a challenge but one that I enjoyed ...”

“ It was a cool experience to try and create ephemeral art to symbolise our journey as mentors and learners on this ELP journey”.

“The fishing trip was a highlight for me. Fish are not on my list of favourite things and I am quite amazed with myself that I spent nearly all the time out the back with a rod in my hand, would have dropped it like a hot potato if something came on it!.”

“Yesterday was the first time I had been fishing, so now I have gained some skill and knowledge”

“It was so relaxing to be fishing on this lovely boat, a real opportunity to quietly reflect and to be in the moment”.

There were challenges with the fishing as well! We did manage a fairly major tangle!!!

We travelled across the lake and spent time in different parts of the lake. The peace the tranquility....

“The lake was so quiet, apart from two kayakers we saw no one else on the lake over the four hours we were exploring and fishing on the lake, wow, such peace. It was so beautiful”.

Some took opportunities to get up on top and enjoy the view!

Inside the boat more opportunities to share and chat

“It was cool to be able to just sit around on the boat, in such a beautiful environment, just enjoying the peace and tranquility and the company of others.”

Saturday night dinner was a celebration! Fish philosophy in action. A time to play and be a little creative!
“The props at dinner added fun to the night and shows that as adults we find dressups fun too!”
“ Fabulous food and a wonderful celebration, such a treat!”

“ All in all this retreat has been an amazing weekend filled with laughter, talking and friendship. As a practitioner I have been provided with an opportunity to engage in numerous professional discussions, be creative and reflect on ‘wise practice’. Thank you”

“Being near water this weekend has been healing. I have enjoyed being part of a group of like minded people who have this common bond and purpose. Listening to the korero lead me to think about my journey - kia ora. Having time on the lake gave me time to ‘be’. I don’t get much opportunity for that, so it has been a weekend of reflection, rest and connecting. Thank you for making it possible.”

“I have discussed this weekend, the things that make me who I am. I have enjoyed the fellowship of my colleagues and felt accepted as part of the group. I have felt supported on my teaching journey in a way that I some times miss in my professional life. I have felt my ideas and feelings have been valued. I have learnt from listening and talking with others.
I will take away with me further knowledge and an increased confidence in my ability to find further learning from a variety of areas around me, people, reading etc. I aim to read about learnt optimism.”

“It has been a very relaxing weekend, with a variety of activities. I thoroughly enjoyed my morning walks with my friends. Can’t remember when I have laughed so much and for so long. The venue was superb, fantastic choice, Okataina has certainly lived up to it’s name (place of laughter).”

“Beautiful setting, beautiful people - ka pai .... Whakawhanaungatanga is very present at Okataina.”

“Food, company and new learning has been wonderful and as I sit here looking at the photo’s of this weekend moving across the screen in front of me, I feel lucky to have had this opportunity to have fun, share ideas and just come together. To Wendy and Alison, it was a privilege to listen to your wise words and to be treated to such a special time..thank you.”

Eden Creative Recycling

2011-11-08T08:06:00.000+13:00

Eden Creative Recycling

Last week I finally had time to visit Eden Creative Recycling, a charitable trust set up to collect pre-consumer waste from businesses so that members can reuse these.

I spoke to Yvonne who showed me around and we talked about sustainability through art, in particular thinking about composite art through recycled materials which are able to be used again and again.

"Our intention is to provide alternative resources for children that may encourage creativity, and a new way of reusing ‘waste‘ which may cultivate a more sustainable approach to learning. Children and adults are able to explore and engage with these resources, reinventing uses for these items and giving them new identities." Eden Creative Recycling Website

As part of your membership you will have access to the centre during opening hours, as well as workshops where you can explore the materials yourself. There is more information on their website http://www.edencreativerecycling.org.nz/ or you can access their Facebook site through this link http://tinyurl.com/6sjny2h

Yvonne said they are keen to source more reusable materials so if you know of a good source and are willing to share, drop Eden Creative Recycling an email - the address is on the website. There is also details of membership costs as well as opening hours.

Eden Creative Recycling

‘Through the Looking Glass … a Lens on Quality Preschools’

2011-11-04T12:01:00.000+13:00

It was lovely to be invited by the Early Childhood Unit for the NSW Department of Education and Communities to present a keynote and also facilitate a workshop at the conference. This conference was titled ‘Through the Looking Glass … a Lens on Quality Preschools’.

The second day saw a range of workshops facilitated by the following people and a few others.....

My keynote was entitled Sustainable Leadership: A time to reflect, re-imagine and to reconstruct’ and the workshop was titled ‘Pedagogical Leadership: A powerful opportunity to build learner identity via ‘learning story philosophy’.

The work was enthusiastically received, some of the comments sent from the organizers following the conference included the following:

“Participants all agreed that your presentations met the highest possible rating and their comments supported these ratings. I have added a small sample of these for you as follows:

It is so good to be reminded of the importance of positive interactions.

Find the magic... I loved that. I am making it my new philosophy/goal.

This presentation was so thought provoking and powerful making me think about how/why I work with

young children.

I love Wendy’s stories that she uses to build relationships.

I love the slow schooling theory...a real inspiration.

This was first class...a real joy. Fantastic content and presentation.

Thought provoking!

What a wonderful keynote speaker..

Thank you for helping early childhood teachers have a voice- promoting the child’s strengths and interests, not a K-6 curriculum push.”

After the two day conference. We (Dave and I) went on to have a lovely weekend in Sydney. See photos of this on my personal blog http://wendyelp.blogspot.com

The Pleasure of Play and Puppies

2011-11-01T13:36:00.006+13:00

During the weekend I visited my son and his family. They were out but their 3 puppies were romping on the back lawn. I sat on the deck and watched them with delight as they played together and thought about the learning that was happening for them. Sometimes all three would wrestle together, then one would detach and hide behind the tree and watch and when he thought it was the right time, would bound out with obvious glee and join in. Watching, smelling the ground, times for action and time for quiet and thinking and able to explore the environment is valuable learning for these puppies. I come from a farming background and have witnessed this learning with many young animals, through play and fun. My own childhood was filled with fun and play with my siblings and I have grown up with memories of making huts in the native bush, playing ‘birds’in the long grass, dressing puppies in baby clothes to take them for rides in the pram and feelings of peace and serenity in a natural play setting for children and having parents who realised the value of this play for us.

I reflected on how this puppy play is how our young children learn but sometimes we lose sight of this in our busy world where so much emphasis is on academic achievement. Are we losing sight of these precious years where the importance of learning is through play, to wonder, to be curious and to find out about our friends and develop social competence through being able to make mistakes and try again.

Through play and exploration, these young children will develop dispositions to help them deal with an uncertain world as they grow older.

Margaret Carr and Guy Claxton remind us that dispositions to learn are verbs i.e. contributing,exploring, collaborating, persisting,questioning etc, we do not acquire dispositions. We become more or less disposed to learning in certain ways - or not!

Are teachers through lack of knowledge, but believing they are doing the right thing by insisting on group times or kindy sessions (interestingly, I have never seen a kindy session in kindergartens!) limiting the learning of these children by denying them play over a long period. Surely short play times are just filling in time, good for teachers maybe but of little value for children.

As we nurture the disposition of ‘loving to learn’ through play, we need to feel confident that we are doing the right thing for these young children and strive for an environment where provocations widen and deepen learning and teachers are engaged in their own ongoing learning so that skills, knowledge and dispositions are strengthened for everyone in the learning community and literacy and mathematical skills sit alongside effort, teamwork, friendship, courage and curiosity to make assessment so much more meaningful and brings TeWhāriki to life in ways that show our children as capable and confident.

This learning environment needs effort to make it an environment where ‘deep listening’ is part of the pedagogy. Langsted (1994) argues that structures and procedures are important but;.... more important is the cultural climate which shapes the ideas that the adults in a particular society hold about children. The wish to listen to and involve children originates in this cultural climate. This wish will then lead to structures and procedures that can guarantee the involvement of the children. (pp41-2)

Children’s play reflects their social and cultural context and we need to understand the importance of the social and cultural context in which children live and avoid making generalisations that assume that some forms of play are typical or essential. I thought about this as I watched some boys playing ‘pig hunting’ at their centre after an excursion where they went pig hunting through native bush, carrying their toy guns and knives. This is what their whanau do each weekend and their play reflected an in depth knowledge of catching pigs with dogs, the singeing and preparing the meat for hangi, meaningful learning for these young children within the contexts of their family life. This play is upholding the mana of these boys, they are supported, respected and given choices so that their potential can be reached, an example of whakamana or empowerment.

Play has many different theories and there is so much that can be written about it.

Maybe we should leave the definition of play from those involved - the players; see ‘Play is having fun’ and ‘it has to be work if you tell us to do something’.

She is worth pursuing, the fabulous Alison Gopnik

2011-10-20T09:37:00.004+13:00

Hope you are all taking time to listen to this TED talk by Alison Gopnik suggested in the last blog. Here are some more reasons to listen to her if you are not yet convinced!

This video also has an ‘Interactive transcript’,this means you can click on any part of this transcript and the video will start playing at that point! Here is a little of the transcript below. Go on to the TED.com site and try this out!

What is going on in this baby's mind? If you'd asked people this 30 years ago, most people, including psychologists, would have said that this baby was irrational, illogical, egocentric -- that he couldn't take the perspective of another person or understand cause and effect. In the last 20 years, developmental science has completely overturned that picture. So in some ways, we think that this baby's thinking is like the thinking of the most brilliant scientists.

Let me give you just one example of this. One thing that this baby could be thinking about, that could be going on in his mind, is trying to figure out what's going on in the mind of that other baby. After all, one of the things that's hardest for all of us to do is to figure out what other people are thinking and feeling.

And maybe the hardest thing of all is to figure out that what other people think and feel isn't actually exactly like what we think and feel. Anyone who's followed politics can testify to how hard that is for some people to get. We wanted to know if babies and young children could understand this really profound thing about other people. Now the question is: How could we ask them? Babies, after all, can't talk, and if you ask a three year-old to tell you what he thinks, what you'll get is a beautiful stream of consciousness monologue about ponies and birthdays and things like that. So how do we actually ask them the question?

You will also find fabulous comments from others about the blog, here is one from Robert Johnson

The idea that we should teach more (and babysit less) in very early childhood is, IMHO, totally correct. I have observed and believe that nearly all children are born "geniuses" and we teach them to be "dumb". Dumb in the manner of parroting and repeating, often by rote, what is taught. We grade children on what they regurgitate rather then their ability to observe and think. I totally agree that teachers of early age should have more training and more money. Children are brilliant individuals and it is a shame to waste (for the most part) that potential."

Also have a look at Alison Gopnik's website http://www.alisongopnik.com/

On this website are a number of interesting links to her books, papers, research and a range of other videos to listen to.

Alison Gopnik: What do babies think? | Video on TED.com

2011-10-11T13:48:00.000+13:00

Have a look at this great and very entertaining talk of Alison Gopnik on "What do babies think?"

"Babies and young children are like the R&D division of the human species," says psychologist Alison Gopnik. Her research explores the sophisticated intelligence-gathering and decision-making that babies are really doing when they play.

Alison Gopnik: What do babies think? | Video on TED.com

If you want to learn more about Alison Gopnik's reasearch, you might want to read her article: Your Baby Is Smarter Than You Think or her book The Philosophical Baby: What Children's Minds Tell Us about Truth, Love and the Meaning of Life.

Go, the Rugby, Go

2011-10-03T09:06:00.007+13:00

We got up close and personal with the Namibian and Fijian players at their game at Rotorua International Stadium a few weeks ago. I was struck with the players ability to get up and face another tackle again and again. And... to run fast into another tackle just after having the magic water applied.

Hawaiki, 3 1/2, and Pipiana, nearly 2, play rugby. They have balls and some black tshirts and ALL BLACKS socks!! Hawaiki said, "I am going to be an ALL BLACK." I replied, "Oh yes and I will come and watch every game you play - it is such a lot of hard work to be an All Black and you have to do lots of practice." He nodded. I said, "Pipiana could be an All Black too". Hawaiki looked at me, the disdain and disbelief apparent on his face. "No," he said "she can be a ballerina." I gave the lecture on the women's rugby team, the Black Ferns, who have won four world cups. I know, I know, I have some work to do there! and on me too - I am not sure the lecture was the best teaching tool with a 3 1/2 year old.

Hawaiki and Pipiana play rugby with Nana. I chase them and tackle them, push and lean on them, and try very hard! to get the ball off them. They wrestle and roll, pick themselves up and run again. Pipiana sometimes falls to the ground and feigns a tackle just before I make contact and lies there "injured". I know, I know, I have some work to do there too! We play this until Nana is tired!

Last week I visited an early childhood centre and went on the 'Farm Trip' with them. We had a lovely time and lots of learning happened there for us all. They enjoyed the experience of the farm and the animals. Lambs and chickens to hold and feed are opportunities for lots of dipositional learning. We shared a birthday party with a three year old and her family. After lunch some balls appeared and it was all on. Well an expansive learning environment just appeared. The invitations and provocations were all there. Space, grass and balls.

We played rugby. Teachers and children -18months to five - were on the field. The teachers chased and tackled, and ran and refereed. I, a strange adult, tackled one little girl- yes I know a teaching intention risk that I thought I may have got very wrong as she lay on the ground and was unhappy. Another teacher came over and we supported her recovery - no magic water - just magic kindness and care - teaching about how to recover and be resilient.

And so... I have been thinking about the learning that happens with 'rugby' play. Or any play like it really. I take liberty with Margaret Carr's statement now and say 'It is not about the rugby, the running or the popular culture, it is about that activity of the child's own choice being the vehicle for the learning, and for the dispositional learning we value most'.

Learning I value such as;

trying something new or practicing something familiar - being involved and courageousness - some children watched for quite sometime before they were ready to join in - but join in they did.
being brave and persistent, picking yourself up even after a hard emotional or physical knock, asking for help or having another go and keeping going.
helping a friend or care for the toddler who has joined the four year olds in the ruck, or giving the ball to the chaser who now wants to be the runner.
being delighted and happy at the chase.
being satisfied and reflective about the outcomes.
being resilient. Playing the game another day or choosing another kind of game and learning something new.
knowing that these are learning strategies that will work with other new learning.

This learning will take children far beyond knowledge and skills, it will take children in to a 'possible self' and a future we know nothing of.

A future that involves winning or losing or getting badly injured and maintaining your strength of character.

Go the All Blacks Go! and Go our passion and pleasure in joining in with children and following their learning leads.

Kathryn

Caring Spaces, Learning Places

2011-09-27T15:09:00.000+13:00

I have been reading...Caring Spaces, Learning Places: Children’s Environments THAT WORK by Jim Greenman

Over the last two months I have had many wonder-filled opportunities to visit airports, railway stations, churches, abbeys, museums, art galleries and early childhood settings. So often these have been interesting, awe inspiring and jaw droppingly beautiful. All places and spaces evoked a response in me. Sometimes I felt over-joyed, amazed or overwhelmed. Sometimes I felt like staying a long time and other times I felt like screaming “get me out of here fast”. At all times I had the power and resilience to go or stay.

All of these spaces gave cues to what is valued here and the purpose of the place. The purposes included: serving food, providing curation for precious items, displaying fantastic art, praise and worship, corralling and facilitating the movement of people, caring for and educating small children. All of these places are work spaces for people and colleagues. Some of these places are living, learning and loving spaces for our most precious and most vulnerable human beings. These travel and learning opportunities gave me cause to think about the places and spaces we provide for children in our early childhood care and education settings in New Zealand.

For ideas and reflective prompts I reached for Jim Greenman’s book ‘Caring Spaces, Learning Places’. In the foreword to Jim’s book, Lella Gandini says, “We have all experienced how even a small improvement in a learning space can reverberate in positive ways, but we have also learned that one cannot stop there. It is the value that we attribute to the potentials of children and our respect for their learning as individuals and as groups that can truly create a shift in our teaching, transforming us from being “only” teachers to being true listeners and learners.” (p. vii)

Experiences and time spent in our settings in New Zealand is as diverse as the children and families who use the service. Jim Greenman tells us that if fifteen-week-old Hannah continues in Childcare until elementary school, (NZ 6 year old) she will have spent around 12,000 hours at the centre, more time than she will spend in all of elementary and high school. Her brother Michael attends pre-school a few hours a day, he may spend up to 1,000 hours at the service. (p.54).

In this book Jim Greenman inspires by sharing the stories, insights and poetry of many people as he kindly challenges and supports us in reviewing and re-thinking the lives of children and teachers in our early childhood settings. He provides many good ideas and tools for changing and improving early childhood education environments in early childhood settings. The review, changes and improvements to our early childhood care and education settings can and will transform us teachers into “true listeners and learners”.

I particularly liked the discussion on institutionalized childhoods (p.64) which concludes with a list of reflective questions that would be a very useful review tool to work through as a team of teachers. I recommend this book to those teachers who are “... carrying out one of the most delicate missions in life, namely sustaining the growth and learning of children as individuals and in groups.” (Lella Gandini p.vii)

Kathryn Delany

Trying Something new for 30 Days

2011-08-28T14:27:00.000+12:00

I have been inspired by Matt Cutts http://www.ted.com after watching his TED talk on trying something new for 30 days, he says, “30 days is about the right time to add or subtract something from your life.” I have heard that if you are going to try something new then 30 days is long enough for it to become a habit. Matt describes some of the things he did, which included; biking to work and hiking up Mt Kilimanjaro, with these challenges his confidence grew. He said, ‘the days became more memorable’ and in one of his self set challenges which required him taking a photo every day he remembered exactly what he was doing on each of those days.
With this inspiring short talk (it is only 3.5 minutes long) I had heard enough to try something new, the first of which was to cut out sugar from my diet, this was relatively easy for me, except the odd craving for chocolate, so one down on to the next. After a borderline cholesterol result I decided to give up as much saturated fat as I could. This was harder than sweet food for me as one of my instant gratifications is potato crisps! After a bit of label reading in the supermarket I have found bagel crisps are okay if I really need a snack.
My next thing for 30 days was a complete disaster, I decided to buy an Exercycle (luckily, cheaply on Trade me) as I have used it 3 times and I suspect shortly it will be on the road with a ‘free’ sticker on it!
My latest is to buy a bike and go out to ride, this is a very new interest for me and I am only up to day 3, so far I am really enjoying it. I have found the Western Cycle trail to be a great place to ride, and today I managed 14 km! There is a certain agelessness about biking and I feel like a teenager again as I cycle along, I could say I am in my Element on the bike, but it is a bit early for that on day 3, but watch this space!
We talk about children being curious learners, trying something new, be brave and giving something a go, taking a risk, practicing and like a challenge, have you thought about how these apply in your own life? Are you prepared to give something new a go? Matt finishes his talk by saying, ‘the next 30 days are going to pass whether you like it or not so why not put into action something you have always wanted to try for the next 30 days.’

ecARTnz Special Issue

2011-08-22T11:57:00.001+12:00

We have just added the latest issue (a special issue) of ecARTnz to the resource section of our website.

This issue provides an overview of some of the presentations and activities offered at the 4th International Art in Early Childhood conference Art...Play...Children...Wonderment, which was held in Toledo, Ohio, U.S.A, in July 2011.

You can also download the previous 4 issues from the same section.

ecARTnz is an e-magazine of professional practice that show-cases examples of excellent visual art education for infants, toddlers and young children. Articles are written by early childhood teachers and students working in early childhood centres, academics and researchers. Articles are illustrated with colour photographs showing both teachers and children engaged in visual art learning experiences. Web-links to relevant internet sites are also included. The magazine provides information about relevant conferences for teachers. Books, websites and literature on visual art education for early childhood are reviewed.

PM signals changes to preschool funding

2011-08-12T15:21:00.002+12:00

By Elizabeth Binning
5:30 AM Friday Aug 12, 2011

Early Childhood Centres ar subsidised so they can provide children over 3 with 20 hours of free education. Photo/Thinkstock

Prime Minister John Key has dropped the strongest hint yet there could be changes to early childhood education funding - prompting fears thousands of parents will end up paying more.
During questioning this week Mr Key said he was not committed to keeping fee controls in place for the 20 hours scheme, something that would effectively allow centres to charge additional fees on free hours of care for more than 100,000 children.

Early Childhood Centres are subsidised so they can provide children over the age of 3 with 20 hours of free care. They are also subject to controls which prevent them from charging any additional fees for those 20 hours, although some teacher-led services can ask parents for "optional charges" if they have more than 80 per cent registered teachers.

Labour's education spokeswoman Sue Moroney has been questioning National about its plans for the popular scheme after speculation there are changes coming. The party has repeatedly said it is committed to 20 hours.

However, under questioning this week Mr Key gave the first indication that might not be the case.
He initially said the Government's position was that it would be maintaining the 20 free hours policy. But under further questioning he changed his stance saying he was committed to keeping the same subsidies for 20 hours' early childhood education but was not committed to keeping the fee controls for the scheme.

Ms Moroney said the implication was that the Government planned to allow centres to start charging extra fees for 20 hours which basically meant the end to the scheme.
"The only reason you would do that is if you are going to drop the subsidy."
When the Herald tried to seek clarification on what the Prime Minister meant, his office said ECE policy was still being formulated.

"The Government continues to stand by the commitments it made before the last election in relation to 20 Hours ECE, and we understand how popular it is with parents. ECE policy is still being formulated to take into the election campaign, and the public will get a good chance to assess it when it is released."

Educational sector union NZEI said it sounded like the Government was doing a "flipflop" on its election promise not to touch 20 hours.

Mr Key's comments follow a recommendation from the ECE Taskforce to remove fee controls for 20 hours and move to a funding model where working parents pay more for care.

PAYING FOR ECE
From Parliament's question time, Labour education spokeswoman Sue Moroney to the PM:
"Does he stand by the answer that he gave to the last question, that he is committing to keeping the same subsidies for 20 free hours' early childhood education and the same fee controls in place for 20 free hours' early childhood education?
John Key: No to the last bit.
What National's Anne Tolley (now Education Minister) promised in the last election campaign:
"While we will keep the scheme, it will be renamed '20 Hours ECE', instead of '20 Hours Free', which was patently misleading. We will retain all the existing subsidies and fee controls. But we will also make the scheme much more flexible for parents."

Fears 20 Hours policy under threat

2011-08-10T09:45:00.002+12:00

New Zealand Herald

Tuesday 9th August 2011

By Elizabeth Binning

Education Minister Anne Tolley is being urged to a take "an honest look" at Taskforce Report submissions before making any decisions that could affect the future of early childhood education (ECE). Public submissions closed yesterday on the recently released Taskforce Report which made a number of recommendations - including a major overhaul of the way early childhood education is funded.

The recommendation prompted fears from several groups, including Kohanga Reo and Playcentre, that funding cuts would lead to their demise.
The NZEI education sector union said yesterday the biggest concern was a proposal to water down the universal 20 Hours policy, which subsidises ECE for working parents.
"That would jeopardise the accessibility and quality of early childhood education to thousands of families," national executive member Hayley Whitaker.
"We know that the 20 Hours ECE policy has made it more affordable and has pushed up participation rates. Any move to dilute it would be a big step backwards and provoke an angry response from the community."
NZEI was also concerned about possible moves to introduce a market-driven model of pay for teachers saying that would erode professional salaries and employment conditions and ultimately reduce the quality of ECE for children and families.
Ms Whitaker said the Taskforce Report also recommended investment be a priority even in times of fiscal constraint and supported a return to 100 per cent qualified teachers, low adult-child ratios and small group sizes.
"But the Government has cut funding and actually moved to halt improvement on those issues, arguing early childhood education is an unaffordable cost. We hope it can... take the submissions to the Taskforce on board. To do anything else would make a mockery of the consultation process."
Ms Tolley said the Taskforce was independent and didn't necessarily reflect Government views. More than 3500 submissions had been received and the ministry would now prepare a report for her to consider. Any major changes would be taken into the election campaign.
"Funding almost trebled under the previous Government, yet participation increased by only about 1 per cent. [So] we comm-issioned an independent Taskforce to see how the system can work better for all children."
Meanwhile, more than 1200 Playcentre mums and toddlers gathered at Aotea Centre yesterday for what was planned as a protest over potential funding cuts. However, Ms Tolley stepped in last week to reassure funding would not be cut to any parent-led services so the protest became a celebration.
The group now urged the minister to consider pay parity with other early childhood education.
* * *
Taskforce recommendations:
* An overhaul of the funding system which includes a subsidy for 20 hours of care but strongly differentiated payments for special-needs children and those from Maori, Pasifika and low-income families.
* Working parents should pay more and fee controls should be removed - meaning costs could go up for parents, especially those on higher incomes.
* Public consultation has closed. Education Minister Anne Tolley will now consider submissions before making a decision about the future of early childhood education.

Consultation on the ECE Taskforce … Has your voice been heard?

2011-08-03T13:37:00.007+12:00

Consultation on the recommendations made
in the ECE Taskforce ends on 8^th August 2011!

Make sure your voice is heard!

The Early Childhood Education (ECE) Taskforce, established by Education Minister Anne Tolley in October last year, released its report An Agenda for Amazing Children on 1 June 2011. The report outlines the ECE Taskforce’s recommendations to Government on the future direction of ECE in New Zealand.

Parents, whānau, employers and the ECE sector are being encouraged to take part in the consultation process so that Government can consider public feedback before working through the recommendations.

TAKING PART ...

You can find more information on how to take part in the consultation process by visiting http://www.lead.ece.govt.nz/LeadHome and then clicking on the Recent ECE Announcements section of this website.

You can take part either by completing the questionnaire online, or by downloading the questionnaire and sending it to: ECE Taskforce Consultation Response , Ministry of Education , PO Box 1666 , Wellington 6140.

Reforming Funding Mechanisms - Emeritus Professor Anne Smith

2011-08-01T12:06:00.000+12:00

Anne Smith, Emeritus Professor, Ph.D., FRSNZ, CNZM

Summary

I support the majority of the Early Childhood Taskforce Report’s recommendations for improving the quality of Early Childhood Education and increasing access to quality services for children from all SES and cultural backgrounds. I am concerned, however, that the proposed new funding system could have a negative influence on affordability and participation rates in ECE for some groups, particularly middle-income families with 3 to 5-year-old children. I therefore recommend that introducing such a system should wait until the fiscal situation improves, so that all families and children can benefit.

My Background in Early Childhood Education

I am proud to have played a part in making New Zealand a world leader in early childhood policies. I have been involved in research, advocacy, and policy-making in early childhood for almost 40 years, and was delighted by the invitation to join the current Early Childhood Taskforce. This appointment is part of an ongoing process during which various governments, departments and ministries have called on my advice. For many years, I have had personal contacts with ministers and government officials, and participated in a variety of advisory groups, working parties and committees. My career has been devoted to making New Zealand a better place for families and their children, and to advancing children’s well-being, rights and education. It has been rewarding to participate in improving the quality, status and affordability of early childhood education for families, as well as the qualifications, status and working conditions of Early Childhood teachers. My personal investment over the years proves my total commitment to a continuously improving early childhood sector.

Support for Main Body of Report

My goals are to continue to advance New Zealand’s ECE policies, building on the wonderful progress achieved in the last 10 years towards the provision of universal, accessible and affordable high quality early childhood services (ECS) for all young children and their families. Most of the recommendations of the Taskforce Report are compatible with ongoing progress for ECS, because they are based on arguments for investing in quality ECS, and introducing policies for advancing them. The bottom line is that children, families and the country all benefit when children participate in quality EC services. The Taskforce was convinced that there was strong evidence base to show that investing in high
quality ECS is cost-effective, and results in positive long-term outcomes for children and families, and I am completely in agreement with them.

Principle of Universal Accessibility

I am concerned though that the proposed new funding system may have a
negative influence on participation rates in ECE for some groups, most particularly middle-income families. It is clear from research cited in the report that affordability is a key issue affecting participation in ECE, so if affordability declines for some families, then their children are less likely to participate. According to a recent European Commission Report:

There is clear evidence that universal access to quality ECEC is more
beneficial than interventions targeted exclusively at vulnerable groups.
Targeting ECEC poses problems because it is difficult in practice to
identify the target group reliably, it tends to stigmatise its beneficiaries
and can even lead to segregation at later stages of education. Targeted
services are also at more risk of cancellation than universal ones.(1)

US researcher, Steve Barnett, shows large economic gains when all SES groups
participate in quality preschool.(2) Swedish sociologist and economist Gosta Esping-Anderson found evidence that provision of universal quality early childhood education has greatly diminished the gap in income and educational achievement between high and low socioeconomic status children in some European countries, such as Sweden and Denmark. He is opposed to targeting, because of “the high transaction costs and difficulty of identifying need”,(3) recommending instead universal levels of coverage with graduated subsidies, consistent with New Zealand’s current Twenty Hours policy and Work and Income subsidies.

Concerns about Losers in New Funding Scheme

During the deliberations of the Early Childhood Taskforce modelling of some possible funding scenarios was carried out, based on retaining fiscal neutrality.
This modelling showed that whereas some families would benefit (notably families with 2 year-olds), others, mainly middle-income families with 3 to 5 year-olds, were likely to lose funding and be unable to make up the shortfall. Essay 3 suggests that the system will be fairer and simpler than the old system, but this is arguable. Although the essay states that it will “retain universal subsidy for at least 20 hours of subsidy per week” (p. 76), it is likely that the level of that subsidy would decline markedly for parents currently receiving the 20 hours subsidy for their 3 and 4 year-olds in Early Childhood centres. While there are problems with the current funding system, it is not clear that the proposed system is simpler or fairer. It is inevitable that a fiscally neutral scenario will mean the end of the current 20 hours policy. The Taskforce proposal does not indicate that ECS for 3 to 5 year-olds will be substantially subsidised, and it certainly moves right away from free or very affordable. There is clear evidence from recent research (4) that the 20 hours policy increased affordability of ECS, with 80% of parents saying that EC was affordable in 2009, compared to 66% in 2004. As one parent said:

It makes it worthwhile for me to work, which in turn makes me a FAR better mother. BEST thing that has ever happened to our family. The 20 free hours also helped us to decide to have a second child. (5)

The submissions to the ECT show widespread concern over the effects of the
funding cuts that took place in 2009/2010. Further funding cuts are likely to produce significant hardship for families, and decrease the viability of services.
I cannot support recommendations that are likely to further exacerbate an already difficult situation.

Since the ECT was constrained to produce outcomes that were fiscally neutral,
it was impossible to design a new funding system that retained current levels of
funding for 3 to 5 year-olds. If the funding policy included increased investment and ‘no losers’, then it could have benefits for all. Given that New Zealand spends less than half of the OECD average on early childhood and is 25th out of the 29 OECD countries in investment in the early years (6), increased investment is highly desirable. Should that increased investment become possible in an improved fiscal situation, the new funding system would become, in my opinion, much more advantageous and viable. Since it is unlikely that this improvement will take place in the near future, I suggest that the current funding regime should remain in place in the meantime.

Concerns about Identifying Children for Targeted Funding

The argument is that the new funding system will be better for low SES and
Māori and Pasifika families, but there is little information about how the new
scheme will be able to accurately seek out and identify targeted groups. It is
already possible for children from disadvantaged groups to attend ECS free (or
at very low costs) with the current subsidies. The Taskforce was informed that a
substantial number of eligible families do not access these subsidies. The solution surely is to assist families from low-income groups to access the Work and Income subsidy, because it guarantees that families will be the recipients, and that funding will not be absorbed by administrative costs (such as the costs of screening). Other recommendations in our report (in Essay 4: Achieving Access for All Children) suggesting the development of ECS as hubs that reach out into local communities, are much more likely to be successful in increasing the participation of those groups, in my opinion.

The mechanics and compliance costs of centres screening potential enrolments
to establish their ethnicity, disability and income, are quite unclear. The new funding approach will mean that centres will have to determine whether parents fit into ‘priority’ categories, a bureaucratic function previously fulfilled (and funded) by Work and Income. Work and Income involvement minimises any risk of the family relationship with the ECS being soured. ECS asking for private family information and possibly having to decline a reduction in fees could create new barriers for families wishing to enrol. ECS should have a different relationship with parents – warm and trusting - and if they have to become gatekeepers by screening parents, that trust could be undermined.

Conclusion

The current system actually works. In my view, its problems could be fixed with incremental changes. It is both risky and expensive to introduce an entirely new funding scheme, without any obvious widespread advantage to parents and children. Also, and just as clearly, it seriously disadvantages some families, which is unjust and inequitable. The proposed funding system may have advantages for the government and possibly for employers, but I do not see any evidence that it has of benefits for the majority of parents and children.

(1) European Commission (2011). Early childhood education and care: providing all our children with the best start

(2) Barnett, S. cited by Calman, C. & Tarr-Whelan, L. (2005). Early childhood education for all: A Wise Investment. New York: MIT Legal Momentum Conference, www.familyinitiative.org, p.19.

(3) Esping-Andersen, G. (2008). Childhood investments and skill formation. International tax public finance,15, 19-44, p. 41.

(4) Mitchell, L, Meagher-Lundberg, P., Mara, D., Cubey, P. & Whitford, M. (2011). Education and Care Parent, Totara, Locality-based evaluation of pathways to the future. Nga Huarahi Arataki, Integrated Report 2004,2006 and 2009. Report prepared for Ministry of Education.

(5) Mitchell, L, et al., (2011). p. 50

(6) OECD (2009). Doing Better for Children. Paris: OECD.

Windows of Opportunity

2011-07-19T14:54:00.002+12:00

Child Australia held the 2011 Western Australian Early Childhood Education and Care Conference “Windows of Opportunity” in June 2011.

Recently I had the privilege of speaking at this conference. Not only did I have the opportunity to provide a keynote but also to facilitate a workshop on learning stories. There was a high level of interest in Learning Stories, many people had already begun this journey. Teachers in Australia were very passionate about learning stories and the power of this documentation to make a difference for not only children but parents as well.

The early childhood environment in Australia is very different when it comes to looking at the structural issues. Childcare Centres and Kindergartens operate under very different structures. The 2011 Western Australian Early Childhood Education and Care Conference “Windows of Opportunity” brought together early childhood leaders, educators (in childcare, kindergarten and school settings), academics, researchers and policy makers so they could work collaboratively to ensure our children have the best start in life.

The Conference provided participants a wide range of international and national keynote speakers who presented on current research findings and provided a variety of workshops based on Leadership, Learning Environments and Relationships. The areas of Advocacy, Curriculum and Assessment, Reflective Practice, Play, Early Childhood Education for Aboriginal Children and Inclusion were also in focus. Keynote speakers at the conference are below.

Dr Stuart Shanker (Canada); Dr Margy Whalley (England); Dr Louise Hard (Australia) and Wendy Lee (New Zealand)

The conference organisers gave opportunities for participants to use ipads and ipods during the conference, they set up a Wiki and invited everyone to participate. For many this was the first time that they had an opportunity to use an ipad or infact and ipod. There were 300 ipads and 300 ipods distributed to conference participants.

Some of the comments on the Wiki relating to my participation are listed below…..

Dr Alec O'Connell

"Bravery has many resting places." What a great phrase! Wendy's call to arms is very timely. Commitment and passion are great drivers of sustainable success.

Dawson

What fantastic practice principles to guide our work with children and families by. Just imagine the outcomes that could be achieved if these principles were embedded in our thinking in every centre and classroom.

Dr Alec O'Connell

Wendy's decision to go and find her favorite teacher is a great idea. There is a lovely book which my wife bought for my birthday called "My Favourite Teacher" by Robert Macklin. A simple compilation of how teachers made a difference to those interviewed for the book.

Hans

What great encouragement for thorough reflection in learning stories. The personal stories of educators is an idea I will be taking away. How can we expect our families to be integrated and vulnerable to share life if we can't offer our own ... Great stuff

Leanne

Thank you Wendy for challenging educators thoughts and allowing us to take a moment to put ourselves in the children's shoes and to believe we can support children to be capable competent learners

Dawson

Wendy has a great solution focused approach to her work. Build on their strengths, that’s the foundation to good education.

Marg

Powerful message about the importance of developing quality friendships in the workplace and about displaying kindness... Specifically adult to adult.

Dianne

You have inspired me to try this in my class.

Kae

Very inspiring presentation. Absolutely loved the whakatauaki that helped to reinforce that we can change the world one child at a time!

Ana

I really enjoyed learning and taking in more knowledge, I felt like a child in wonder and awe. I would love for all of our children to have the same opportunities that your children have experienced and can't wait to implement the type of learning story letters that our children can treasure now and when they grow older.

Anita

What an inspiration! I can only hope to take it back to my classroom and involve the children more. My only real dilemma is to inspire my colleagues as you have inspired me. I want to change right now!

Sylvia

Thankful for encouraging us to be brave going forward, and I feel free to be me to interpret and implement my child focused programme.

Debbie

What a fantastic motivational speaker and finally someone agrees its ok to play outside in the elements.
Can you please write in my next newsletter to let the parents know this! Thank you for reigniting the flame.

Jessica Bradbury

Hi Wendy,
I loved your talk about leading by heart and soul, I found it so inspiring and learnt so much from it.
I write learning stories where I work on the children and I learn so much from children each day
Thank you, Jess

Sonya

Thank you Wendy on an inspirational talk. Our staff have been working on learning stories for twelve months. We have seen much progress and embracing of this concept. It will be wonderful to pass on information to our staff and to see them further embrace this area.

Evelyn Houghton

An inspiration as always Wendy, food for thought and motivation to achieve more and more every day.

Hundreds march over early childhood cuts

2011-07-11T20:54:00.000+12:00

The following was published in the Sunday News

Hundreds marched up Auckland's Queen St yesterday to protest against government cuts to early childhood education.

The election year protest dubbed the "Big Push" by organisers was to have gone the full length of Queen Street from Queen Elizabeth Square in downtown to Aotea Square, but instead diverted to the Pioneer Women's Hall in Freyberg Square to avoid stormy weather. There, a few hundred-strong crowd of teachers and parents with pushchairs, buggies, and children in tow, saw a petition with more than 60,000 signatures presented.

Hayley Whitaker, an executive member of teacher's union NZEI Te Riu Roa, said funding had been cut to more than 2000 services as part of government plans to cut costs by abandoning the target of having early childhood centres staffed fully by qualified teachers. The petition calls for the government to commit to a plan to invest 1% of GDP on early childhood education as recommended by Unicef.

Primary teacher and vice-president of NZEI Frances Guy said the march yesterday helped raise the profile of early childhood education. "The government needs to reinstate funding that is so vital to children coming into primary school."

Clayton Park Primary school teacher Jackson Voot agreed on the importance of early childhood education. "I see kids who have had no early childhood education and it makes a huge difference. Those who don't get it are at a massive disadvantage. We know who the kids are who have not had the benefit of their right to early education."

The importance of having fully qualified early childhood educators was obvious, according to Voot. "You wouldn't put 80% qualified nurses in hospitals." Voot says "the government disincentivising early childhood education is disgusting".

Guy also said if both parents worked, it increased the importance of ensuring parents could leave their children with fully qualified professional educators. Parents at the march agreed changes were needed to early childhood education funding. Matt, who wished only to be known as a parent from Mt Albert, said funding cuts affected access to services for parents.

Critics hit out at 'child farms'

2011-07-11T20:42:00.001+12:00

By Rachel Grunwell

Article in the New Zealand Herald, published at 5:30 AM Sunday Jun 26, 2011

A centre in Petone run by Paradise Childcare Centres hopes to lift capacity to 100 children

Childcare centre operators are rushing to open so-called "megacentres" containing up to 150 children. A regulation coming into force this week allows childcare centres to triple in size. Even before the July 1 change, three companies have signalled to the Education Ministry they're keen to boost their centre sizes three-fold.

But critics are dubbing the big centres "child farms", as a survey finds 9 out of 10 parents and teachers oppose them.

The Education Ministry will allow centres to increase their rolls from 50 to 150, including 75 children aged under 2 years.

It says this will reduce red tape, by acknowledging big child centres are already disguising their existence by operating under multiple licences.

Education Minister Anne Tolley has said parents will not allow centres to get too big. The Education Ministry's acting early childhood education head, Karin Dalgleish, said she had received three "expressions of interest" from centres that intended to increase their size.She promised nothing would change for the children: their quality of care and education would remain unchanged.There were about 460 services that catered for more than 50 children under multiple licences, Dalgleish said.

Auckland developer Mac Manson said he had been approached by three childcare companies about renting his Newmarket building, which has been a gym and a church. He said the roof of one area could be removed to get past regulations that there must be an "outdoor area" for children.

And Paradise Childcare Centres general manager Brian Hogg said the chain had revamped an old Valentines Restaurant in Petone, reopening this week with a licence to care for 50 children. From next week, he hoped to increase capacity to 100. The children would be split into four groups, in separate areas. He would never go to the full legal capacity of 150 kids.

"It's just inappropriate to pack too many children into that space," he said. Parents would never leave their kids in a "warehouse environment", he said.

But Dr Sarah-Eve Farquhar, from the ChildForum website, said an online survey of 450 people had revealed that 91 per cent opposed the change, voicing concerns about "crowd control" and children being "just a number". "There was a general disbelief at the claim on the Ministry of Education website that the quality of early childhood care and education would not be affected by an increase in the permissible number of children," Farquhar said. The regulation change would probably result in more commercial and large-scale services dominating the sector, she warned. Lower socio-economic families would be forced into the big centres, while those on higher incomes would seek out smaller "boutique operations".

"People who responded to the survey used terms like battery-farming kids, cattle-herding children, Kentucky Fried daycares, child farms and child warehouses," she said. "There's a lot of people in the field that fear what these potentially dangerous changes could mean for children." She urged the ministry to stop the change in guidelines until it had fully investigated the potential effect on children.

THE NUMBERS

* 50: Number of children allowed now at early childhood centres

* 150: Number of children allowed from July 1

* 460: Existing number of big childcare centres

By Rachel Grunwell

Caring Spaces, Learning Places by Jim Greenman (A Book Review)

2011-06-29T11:42:00.002+12:00

I have been reading...Caring Spaces, Learning Places: Childrenʼs Environments THAT WORK by Jim Greenman, and wholeheartedly recommend this book to teachers who are keen to continually reflect on and review the caring Space and learning Places they create and build for young children.

Over the past few years I have had many wonder-filled opportunities to visit airports, railway stations, churches, abbeys, museums, art galleries and early childhood settings. So often these have been interesting, awe inspiring and jaw droppingly beautiful. All places and spaces evoked a response in me. Sometimes I felt over-joyed, amazed or overwhelmed. Sometimes I felt like staying a long time and other times I felt like screaming “get me out of here fast”. At all times I had the power and resilience to go or stay.

All of these spaces gave cues to what is valued here and the purpose of the place. The purposes included: serving food, providing curation for precious items, displaying fantastic art, praise and worship, corralling and facilitating the movement of people, caring for and educating small children. All of these places are work spaces for people and colleagues. Some of these places are living, learning and loving spaces for our most precious and most vulnerable human beings. These travel and learning opportunities gives me cause to think about the places and spaces we provide for children in our early childhood care and education settings in New Zealand.

For ideas and reflective prompts I reached for Jim Greenmanʼs book ʻCaring Spaces, Learning Placesʼ. In the foreword to Jimʼs book, Lella Gandini says, “We have all experienced how even a small improvement in a learning space can reverberate in positive ways, but we have also learned that one cannot stop there. It is the value that we attribute to the potentials of children and our respect for their learning as individuals and as groups that can truly create a shift in our teaching, transforming us from being “only” teachers to being true listeners and learners.” (p. vii)

Experiences and time spent in our settings in New Zealand is as diverse as the children and families who use the service. Jim Greenman tells us that if fifteen-week-old Hannah continues in Childcare until elementary school, (NZ 6 year old) she will have spent around 12,000 hours at the centre, more time than she will spend in all of elementary and high school. Her brother Michael attends pre-school a few hours a day, he may spend up to 1,000 hours at the service. (p.54).

In this book Jim Greenman inspires by sharing the stories, insights and poetry of many people as he kindly challenges and supports us in reviewing and re-thinking the lives of children and teachers in our early childhood settings. He provides many good ideas and tools for changing and improving early childhood education environments in early childhood settings. The review, changes and improvements to our early childhood care and education settings can and will transform us teachers into “true listeners and learners”.

I particularly liked the discussion on institutionalized childhoods (p.64) which concludes with a list of reflective questions that would be a very useful review tool to work through as a team of teachers. I recommend this book to those teachers who are “... carrying out one of the most delicate missions in life, namely sustaining the growth and learning of children as individuals and in groups.” (Lella Gandini p.vii)

ISBN 0-942702-33-6

Kathryn Delany

Taskforce funding proposal will undermine 20 hours ECE

2011-06-02T09:27:00.007+12:00

This is now a time for leadership in the early childhood community. The Government will be listening to the wider communities response to the recommendations made in the Taskforce Report. Take time to study this report, you will find a link on the home page of our website. At the heart of this report is the importance of doing what is right, for every child and family in this country. As Margaret Mead so eloquently has said " Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has".

Taskforce funding proposal will undermine 20 hours ECE

Media release: 1 June 2011

Five academicsfrom the Universities of Waikato, Victoria, Canterbury and Otago have said theywelcome the strong message of the ECE taskforce about the importance ofprioritising early childhood education.

“At the level of principle there is a focuson system quality and many of the recommendations indicate a commitment tocontinuing along the path of quality improvement which the sector wants”. Incentives for centres to employ 100%qualified teachers, addressing quality issues in the home-based sector, andprovisions to promote innovation are excellent directions to follow.

“We also welcome the focus on encouragingleadership development within the sector- this is a new and long-overdueinitiative”.

However, the academics are united in theiropposition to the proposed new funding system. This provides for targetedfunding for low income groups, Māori and Pasifika children while retainingfiscal neutrality. This proposal will inevitably undermine the 20 hours ECE policythat provides free or very affordable early childhood education for 3 to 5year-old children. It will undermine a widely supported principle that allchildren should be entitled to early childhood education, no matter theircircumstances. Another academic,who was a member of the Taskforce, Professor Anne Smith, has already expressedconcerns that if the principle of fiscal neutrality is retained, that it isinevitable that middle-income families will have to pay more for earlychildhood education, which is likely to lead to lower levels of participation.

TheTaskforce states that it will “provide strongly differentiated payments forpriority groups – Māori, Pasifika, children from lower socio-economic backgrounds andchildren with special education needs”. In this system, a universal approach isreplaced by one that is much more targeted, with families outside the“priority” groups paying more. A targeted approach would not serve the bestinterests of “priority” children, and does not address the needs of childrenwho are not deemed to be “priority”. There are issues about how to set criteriafor “priority” and assess these, and problems about children outside thedesignated groups or at the margins who do not meet criteria missing out. Thereis a danger of ghettoizing “priority” children, when research is clear thatchildren from disadvantaged homes do better in early childhood centres thathave more advantaged children in the same group. Universal high qualityeducation helps to diminish gaps in achievement between high and lowsocioeconomic families.

Targeted approaches rely on costly andtime-consuming administrative processes that can stigmatise eligible families,deterring applications for assistance. The Taskforce recommends that the earlychildhood service staff would assess whether families fit into “priority”categories. Any such assessment would constitute an intrusion into privatefamily matters and risk spoiling the respectful and positive relationships thatneed to exist between staff and parents.

Middle income families with 3 to 5 year olds would lose funding underthe Taskforce proposal. Recent New Zealand research by one of the academics(Mitchell) shows the very positive impact on affordability of 20 hours ECE. 20hours ECE eased family budgets, benefiting family life and children’slearning and socialisation. There are indications that 20 hours ECE hasenabled some children to attend who would otherwise have missed out.

A policy of free early childhood education is in keeping with trendsin OECD countries to provide at least two years free provision before childrenstart school. Internationally, there is advocacy todevelop policy framed around the participatory rights of children. Provision offree early childhood education for all children whose parents see they wouldbenefit from the opportunity is consistent with such rights.

ENDS

Forfurther information contact

AssociateProfessor Linda Mitchell, University of Waikato, phone 021 0239 1724

ProfessorHelen May, University of Otago, phone 021 2793780

ProfessorCarmen Dalli, Victoria University of Wellington, phone 021 140 9038

AssociateProfessor Judith Duncan, University of Canterbury, phone 027-330 4595

ProfessorMargaret Carr, University of Waikato, phone 021 480 984

Raft of recommendations from early childhood report

2011-06-01T17:29:00.003+12:00

This is information posted on stuff.co.nz and written by Amanda Fisher today 1 June 2011

Taskforce chair Michael Mintrom

An eight-month report into early childhood education by a Government-appointed taskforce has suggested 65 recommendations "for leading change" - one of which would reinstate funding scrapped by National.

Taskforce chair Michael Mintrom said the steps added up to something which was "quite drastically different".

"The Taskforce proposes a bold vision for the future of ECE [early childhood education]. New Zealand's children hold enormous promise and potential but, at the same time, they are incredibly vulnerable. We must all step up to ensure our children receive the best start in life."

The terms of the Taskforce required recommendations to be fiscally neutral; even so, it recommended the Government consider funding ECE more in the future as "high-quality ECE is one of the strongest investments that can be made in New Zealand's future," Mintrom said.

Recommendations included:

- Reintroducing incentives for services with 100 per cent qualified staff which were scrapped by National

- Regulating a minimum 80 per cent of qualified staff in teacher-led ECE services

- Extra funding for priority groups including Maori, Pasifika, children with special education needs and from low socio-economic backgrounds

- A revamped funding system - based on individual children's needs, not licensed numbers - described as a "per-child-hour-subsidy"

- An evaluation of curriculum implementation

- Mandatory ECE service performance reviews with funding tied to performance

- A review of funding for home-based services, and

- A review of all ECE teacher qualifications.

The review also recommends the new funding mechanism be implemented within four years, while proposing a "cross-government investment strategy" to shift existing Government funds towards high-value investments, such as ECE.

Education Minister Anne Tolley, who established the Taskforce in October, welcomed the report and said it was "heartening" many serious issues had been identified and positive suggestions made.

"The Government was already concerned about the variability across services, the lack of accountability, poor access for many children, and the need for a more targeted funding system."

Some of the recommendations were already being addressed, she said, such as money for increased participation and the Government target of 80 per cent qualified teachers in services by 2012.

Labour Education spokeswoman Sue Moroney said while the taskforce report set out ECE as a top priority, it was compromised by the parameters set by Tolley.

The report recommended wealthy parents contribute more to their services, which would lead to lower quality education for poorer families as the recommended targeted subsidies would not make up the difference.

"From the time that the Minister ordered the Taskforce to stay within current funding but increase the number of children using the service, the Taskforce was in a no-win situation."

- The Dominion Post

20 hours free ECE faces the chop

2011-06-01T16:59:00.000+12:00

Sue Moroney has this to say. (Media Release 1 June)

The benefits of 20 hours free ECE will go and parents will face higher fees if the ECE Taskforce’s funding recommendations are implemented, says Labour’s Education spokesperson Sue Moroney.

Sue Moroney says the report recommends taking the fee controls off 20 hours ECE and argues that parents and employers should pay more of the funding for early childhood education.

“From the time that the Minister ordered the taskforce to stay within current funding but increase the number of children using the service, the taskforce was in a no-win situation,” Sue Moroney said.

“It’s a great shame, because the taskforce report clearly sets out why early childhood education should be a top priority for Government funding and has many excellent features to it.

“However, the National Government’s insistence that they see it as a cost, not an investment, means that the taskforce has ended up recommending some backward measures,” Sue Moroney said.

“This has also been reflected in the taskforce’s desire to fund 100 per cent qualified teachers, although it has ended up recommending only a subsidy towards this.

“This will unfortunately lead to further inequality as the report says ‘wealthier parents’ should be prepared to meet some of the cost of early childhood education, which includes some of the cost of a higher-quality workforce,” Sue Moroney said.

“This means that low and middle-income will get lower-quality education and this won’t fix the problem created by National’s funding cuts to ECE.”

HELP PARENTS CHOOSE, URGE PRESCHOOL REVIEWERS

2011-05-31T10:26:00.003+12:00

The Task Force Report will be released tomorrow. Check out this news item from the New Zealand Herald, Tuesday 31 May 2011. Clearly some indications of what is coming in the Task Force Report tomorrow.

Help parents choose, urge preschool reviewers

By Martin Johnston

Spending on high-quality early childhood education has been shown to help children at school and in their adult lives.

"A major review of early childhood education will urge the Government to overhaul performance reporting to make it easier for parents to compare centres.

Education Minister Anne Tolley set up the taskforce in October to review the effectiveness of the Government's spending on early childhood education, set at $1.4 billion in the 2010-11 Budget. Families of the 188,924 children enrolled in licensed services pay the rest, estimated to be at least $350 million. The taskforce will release its report tomorrow.

Its chairman, Dr Michael Mintrom, associate professor of political studies at Auckland University, told the Herald its recommendations would include providing performance reports for parents. "We took the view, very much echoed in submissions, that parents don't have adequate information for making good decisions about the kind of services they want to use. "The Education Review Office does review services, but those reviews are done primarily with services themselves as the audience.

"It's often difficult for parents to decipher from those reports what would work for their child and which services are working better than others." On Saturday, Professor Mintrom told the Early Childhood Council conference in Wellington that his group would recommend steps be taken to raise the overall quality in the sector and to reduce the variance in quality between centres. The next day, he said there was good evidence that spending on high-quality early childhood education helped children at school and in their adult lives. The effects were greatest among children from low-income backgrounds.

Early childhood education enrolment rates were generally high, but investment was needed to increase participation from lower-income families. More funding was needed to achieve many of the recommended improvements, Professor Mintrom said, but the group recognised the financial constraints on the Government. "We are suggesting this is something we move towards, particularly when the country is in a better fiscal position," said the former Treasury economist. "Maybe there's room for reprioritisation ... We've suggested areas where you might look."

He wouldn't reveal those areas.

The Childcare Association's chief executive, Nancy Bell, said it was concerned that reprioritisation would mean more children were enrolled, but the amount of state funding stayed the same.

"We're all wondering where that money might come from. I suppose it might come from the end of 20 hours ECE, which is something we think has been very good because it enables every 3- and 4-year-old to have 20 hours free, or relatively free."

Mrs Tolley wouldn't comment on the report before its release, but did say she would consult on its recommendations.

"Any major plans for change will form part of our election campaign."

On Saturday, she outlined to the conference the Government's efforts to reach those missing out on early childhood education, including a quarter of Pasifika children and a fifth of Maori children."

Tomorrow this Task Force Report will be released. The Minister will no doubt be listening very carefully to the recommendations of this group. It is vital the the early childhood sector responds to the Task Force and makes its voice heard.

For your information the members of this Task Force are:

Professor Richie Poulton is the Chairperson of this Task Force. Ritchie is the Director of the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit at the University of Otago. The other members of the Taskforce are-

Associate Professor Michael Mintrom. Michael is an Associate professor of Political Studies at the University of Auckland
Emeritus Professor Anne Smith. Anne is the former Director of the Children's Issues Centre at the University of Otago.
Aroaro Tamati. Aroaro is the Director of a Maori Immersion EC Centre Te Kōpae Piripono.
Tanya Harvey. Tanya is the General Manager of the Auckland Kindergarten Association.
Claire Johnstone. Claire is the General Manager of Business Services for the Hutt City Council.
Laurayne Tafa. Laurayne is the Principal of Homai School in Manurewa
Peter Reynolds. Peter is the Chief Executive of the ECC.
Ron Viviani is the Sole Director of a Pasifika ECE Management Consultancy company in Auckland.

The Power of Portfolios

2011-05-27T11:10:00.001+12:00

This week I have been reminded of the power of portfolios! I was in one of the centres I support and in the last three months the portfolios have come out of an inaccessible area to an area where children and families are now able to revisit these with relative ease. I had gathered a number to look through and sat down on a comfy chair and had no sooner opened the first one than a child came up and sat with me to look at the photos and stories. As luck may have it, the portfolio I was looking at happened to be his sisters and we spent quite some time looking at friends and family that were familiar to him and having a conversation about what we saw. There were a number of favourite stories that he kept going back to and I could see the connections he was making to people, places and things that were of significance to him. Our new friendship firmly established, when we had finished looking at the portfolio we moved on the dough table to spend more time together.
This could be an every day occurrence, we all spend time working alongside children, sharing their stories as well as their daily experiences. What is unusual here is I was a relative stranger to this centre and to this very young child, the portfolio became the vehicle for this interaction and I got to know him through his sisters portfolio (we did read through his as well). The other thing that amazed the teachers at the centre was this boy hardly ever speaks to them, they hear him speak with his family so they knew he could, often they will get gestures instead of words for an answer. The teachers said to me later that this was the most they had ever heard him speak! How fabulous that the portfolio revisiting gave him the confidence and desire to begin to have conversations.
It is so important to engage children with their portfolios, to share the new learning stories that have been added and spend time revisiting them alongside them. I remember when I was teaching being so excited about the story I had written the night before that I would have the portfolio in hand to share with the child when they arrived in the morning! How ever you encourage children to revisit their portfolios, what is important, is to find ways for children to not only take ownership of their portfolios, but also to revisit them regularly. From this interaction we can see the power portfolios have to build relationships, become literacy artifacts and support children to have a view of themselves as competent capable learners.
Cheers
Jo

Norway, a powerful place to learn in the outdoors, including magical snowflakes!!

2011-05-19T21:18:00.002+12:00


Magical snowflakes, each one unique!

What an amazing experience, and opportunity to join a ‘MindStretchers’ Study Tour. I felt very privileged to be invited by Claire Warden to join their tour of Nature Kindergartens and various outdoor settings in Norway. We visited kindergartens for children aged from 1 to 6 years as well as a preschool. Children in Norway go to preschool the year they turn 6. We also visited a school setting in the district as well.

I have visited a number of outdoor settings/forest kindergartens in Europe but never before had the opportunity to visit these settings in the winter. I met Claire Warden and Niki Buchan at Heathrow and we set off to Norway together.

Niki Buchan, Claire Warden and me leaving Heathrow.

Imagine my excitement when I realised that I was arriving in Norway in temperatures of minus 25!!! On arrival the landscape was covered in deep snow and had been for some months. I was well rugged up in my NZ possum merino, along with my blue puffy jacket, in fact it looked quite a lot like the ‘Michelin Man’ marching into the snowy landscape! It was such a joyful experience, there were opportunities to walk across a frozen fiord, to witness a frozen waterfall and to join in a variety of outdoor experiences, for example sledging and skiing in the snow.

Niki, number one photographer capturing magical moments!

The week was filled with opportunities to visit a variety of settings. I was particularly excited to be in settings where children spend the entire year in the outdoors. No weather was a deterent. Rain, hail, sleet, wind and snow. All were viewed as further opportunities to learn. Opportunities to build strong and resilient learners ready to take on the world. As I joined in the activities,

I too experienced the joy of being at one with nature. To fully play and to be deeply involved in the environment. The week was filled with both joy and magic. The joy of being in a playful environment, the wonder of seeing beautiful snowflakes in their beautiful forms for the first time. I think the following images will tell you more than my words. Interesting to note as well, that at no time did I feel cold in this environment. In the words of so many Europeans, there is no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing!!

Niki was the number one photographer and a number of the photos I am sharing with you were taken by her! She captured many very lovely moments on this fabulous trip.

I will also add a few more photos of this trip to my personal blog - http://wendyelp.blogspot.com

The depth of snow across the country was extraordinary

Nature Kindergarten buildings

Shelter for the full time nature kindergarteners

A space with fire, could provide protection from a blizzard


Lunch is well underway


These blocks of snow and ice create amazing learning spaces


Children head off on an adventure through the forest

This space is a warm retreat

A place to be

These snow shoes provide some advantages in the snow

I have a deep interest in ensuring that children of all ages are exposed to risk and challenge. Our country has, I believe, an outdoor environment that is second to none. I am very interested in how we prepare children to take full advantage of such a fabulous environment not only today but also in the years ahead. In recent years, we have, as a society, become risk averse. This has in many early childhood settings undermined the provision of challenging and interesting programmes for children. We do have an important role in advocacy to protect our children’s futures by advocating for risky and challenging environments for all children from birth.

So ponder the thought. Do you ensure that children have access to indoors and outdoors at all times? Or have you institutionalised your setting and the children within it and created and indoor prison! If this is so, is this the childhood that you experienced? How can you justify this position? It cannot be because of the weather. Children can wear appropriate clothing!

School bullying reveals gap in natural justice

2011-04-25T13:40:00.002+12:00

Written by Rosslyn Noonan and published in the Herald on 14^th April 2011

Rosslyn Noonan is the Chief Commissioner, Human Rights Commission

Prime Minister John Key has called for a "national conversation" on how to reduce bullying in our schools. Political leadership is welcome on an issue that is complex and too often dismissed as unimportant and, at any rate, insoluble. A generation of students who live online as much as in real life have not hesitated to post scratchy recordings of vicious assaults. Each clip becomes a reminder that something has gone terribly wrong in the lives of both victim and bully.

Many parents of children who have been bullied feel powerless, often begged by their children not to raise it with the school because of their fear that it will just make things worse for them. But bullying, harassment and assaults cannot be ignored - they are human rights abuses.

"Any failure to treat bullying, abuse and violence seriously because it occurs between students, within schools, is a violation of a child's human rights." The statement comes from the Human Rights Commission's report School Violence, Bullying and Abuse: a human rights analysis. It was published in response to persistent complaints received from parents whose children were the victims of bullies. The analysis was completed in conjunction with the Office of the Children's Commissioner's inquiry into bullying: School Safety: An inquiry into the safety of students at school.
Everyone, but particularly children, as vulnerable members of society, has a right to personal security. They have the right to be safe and to feel safe. Bullying and harassment, assault and abuse, deny a child that right.
Children have a right to education.
If a child no longer feels safe at school, their education has been compromised as much as that of the bully who faces a stand-down or suspension. Some of the saddest complaints the Human Rights Commission has received come from the parents of children who have been the victims of serious bullying at school. Parents have said they felt let down by their schools and the Ministry of Education. In some cases the parents said the school never told them what had been happening, even when the bullying had been going on for some time and the school was aware of it. They felt excluded from the process, particularly any discussion about how to protect their child's safety when the bully returned to school.
The commission's analysis of school bullying revealed a fundamental gap in natural justice. Schools are required to inform the parents of a student who is suspended or stood down, but there is no equivalent guidance to say the victim's parents should be notified or even heard when a board of trustees is considering how to discipline a student who has been a bully. Without the right to be heard, the students who have faced harassment, violence and abuse are victimized again, this time by the process.
In March 2009 the commission made a series of recommendations, including asking the Ministry of Education to provide specific guidance to schools on how they should treat the victims of bullying. We offered to help with advice on these guidelines and had an initial meeting with two government agencies. The guidance must be founded on the principle that a young person's personal safety is the paramount concern and the starting point for the school's response to bullying. It is critical that boards of trustees be informed that the principles of natural justice apply to all those affected by their decisions - and not just to those subject to disciplinary action.
The commission specifically identified the timely opportunity to expressly include the rights of victims and their parents within the Ministry of Education's revised guidelines for principals and boards of trustees on stand-downs, suspensions, exclusions and expulsions.
None of the commission's suggested revisions were incorporated in that review process which was completed in February 2010.
Once again parents of children who have been bullied are claiming exclusion from the school decision-making. Even with the most incisive guidelines and policies, responding fairly to bullying comes down to how we treat each other. Along with genuine ownership of the problem there has to be a whole-of-school approach.
The commission is one of the supporters of the Human Rights in Education initiative, adopted successfully by many schools. We do so because the evidence says the surest foundation on which to build a safe and successful school community is clearly expressed and understood rights, responsibilities and respect for everyone.
The Human Rights in Education model has significantly reduced bullying, harassment and truancy in other communities. When students and teachers face less stress and disruption, everyone can get on with learning. It comes as no surprise that when this happens academic results improve.
Bullying is a complex issue with no easy solution and is not limited to schools. But the best place to start is to acknowledge we all share in the responsibility to ensure the safety and wellbeing of every child and young person wherever they are throughout our communities.

Wendy adds:
There are some very worthwhile resources available. Check out the Human Rights Commission for support in this area. Also I have a great deal of respect for the work of Barbara Coloroso.

She has contributed significantly in this area. Her books 'Kids are Worth it' (available through our website) and 'Parenting Through Crisis' are very useful books. She has also made a DVD titled 'The Bully, the Bullied and the Bystander: Breaking the Cycles of Violence, Creating Circles of Caring'. She outlines the deadliest combination "Bullies who get what they want from their target, bullied kids who are afraid to tell, bystanders who either watch, participate or look away, and adults who see the incidents as simply 'teasing' and a normal part of childhood.
I think her work gives us plenty to think about and reflect upon, our role as teachers and or bystanders and how we aid and abet the bully and how you can become peacemakers. This DVD is available through Amazon.com

Darwin Calling

2011-04-11T23:11:00.000+12:00

The Darwin Convention Centre

Last week I had the opportunity to present at the ‘Quality Does Matter’ conference in Darwin. organised by the Department of Education and Training. The topic was the environment as the third teacher, and woven through were to be elements of risk and challenge. Talk about risk and challenge! Here I was away from my comfort areas of ICT and Literacy talking to a group of teachers, with a growth mindset, I was up for the challenge. I thought I was presenting a workshop but as it transpired, it was the Keynote I had agreed to and I found out on arrival that there would be 300 people at it! I was to be on straight after the Northern Territory’s Minister of Education and Training, Minister Burns.
The day before the conference I met the team from Child Australia who have a similar role to the ELP team, working with teachers across Western Australia and the Northern Territory. The next day at the keynote I encouraged them all to sit in the front row and be my Whanau support. I was a long way from home and did not have my usual network of friends (my ELP team) supporting me with their encouraging faces in the front row. So the Team from Child Australia became my Whanau for the day and they told me they would be clapping and cheering loudly from the front row. Now there was clapping and there was some cheering at times when particular things I shared resonated with the group of 300, I am not sure if it was my new Whanau in the front row or from the wider audience. It was very much appreciated. I was reminded yet again of the importance of Whanau and how the early childhood community in Aotearoa New Zealand as well as further afield are just like a family.
Carol Dweck says "What children learn best from are slightly difficult takes which they have to struggle through. Knowing they can cope with difficulties is what makes children seek challenges and overcome further problems” Of course we can replace ‘child’ with ‘adult’ as learning never stops and we keep learning through the difficult and challenging tasks we set ourselves. Yes it was a risk but I am so pleased I took up the challenge
Thank you Louise and your team, Dawson and your team for making me feel so very welcome, for giving me the opportunity to share some of the work that is happening in our country.

Ka Kite
Jo

Thrilled to see positive action having an impact on the politicians - still clearly more work ahead.

2011-03-31T00:34:00.001+13:00

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THIS ONGOING CAMPAIGN TO DATE. THE COMMUNITY OF CORBY IS AN INSPIRATION TO EVERYONE!

PLEASE FIND BELOW MARGY WHALLEY DIRECTOR OF PEN GREEN RESEARCH AND FOUNDING HEAD OF THE PEN GREEN CHILDREN'S CENTRES RADIO PRESS RELEASE ON BBC NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.

THIS IS IN RESPONSE TO THE NCC PRESS RELEASE STATING THE DECISION HAS BEEN DEFERRED!!!!!

Fairly shocked to receive a press release before we had a formal letter from county officers and there does seem to be a huge amount of county council confusion around when the decision to defer was made. Our MP was informed deferral was imminent before they even received our written submissions and this is not the worst news nor the best news.
All we have ever wanted to do was to be able to continue our work to provide the best possible service to children and families in Corby. Our governors and parents campaigned to save Pen Green from these cuts because they have personal experience of what we do and why it makes such a difference to their lives and their children’s success. We are not like other children’s centres/nursery schools; it has taken 27 years to grow this centre. It appears to be the case that the decision is deferred until July and that whatever decision is taken then it would not be implemented until 2012, which still leaves us very concerned.
Parents, governors, county councillors and staff are still committed to going to Schools Forum.
We keep being told that Schools Forum have a crucial role but they are highly dependent on information from county council officers. We need to be there and tell them how it really is. Our hope is that if the Schools Forum really has the decision making power, as set our in their constitution, they will hear us and make the right decision. County council officers have repeatedly told us that the decision rests with Schools Forum.

We know that the services we run are outstanding, Ofsted and HMI have repeatedly, over 27 years awarded the centre an excellent/outstanding rating. In 2009 they stated that “staff and governors managed the nursery resources well and provided outstanding value for money”. Few schools get these kinds of accolades and we’re proud of them, its a major achievement. We’ve provided a mass of information to NCC and are always willing to provide more although I am concerned that the decision was made before senior officers by their own admission had actually read the data!
In 2006 our services were thoroughly dissected and minutely disaggregated through county council committee and we were promised then that when we became a school and when our budget was put into the DSG that we would be allowed to get on with our job. Lets hope that in July they make the right decision.
I want to thank all our local families, our governors, particularly our chair of governors Mark Pengelly Deputy Leader of Borough Council, and Corby labour and liberal councillors for the cross party support we have received.
Now we have to plan for the future. Pen Green Research Base gained a significant grant last week from the DfE to lead a project around developing outstanding children’s centres as teaching and learning centres supporting the training and development of early years staff in their region. Pen Green children’s centre will be the first children’s centre in England to join this programme as it is the one children’s centre in England that already has extremely well embedded training roots from Diploma, to Foundation Degree to MA to PhD and we hope by next year to be able to offer EYP and teacher training.
At the children’s centre we plan to expand our provision for children under 5 this year. There is an enormous demand from parents for us to open our second baby nest for children under 3. We have a huge waiting list and this government and this local authority believe that parental preference should drive services.
Nursery schools no longer have catchments areas so we can service the whole of Corby and beyond. And this year we hope to be working with lots more Corby parents and children.
During the campaign we’ve offered some new services to say thank you to families, because at Pen Green we are committed to working with families as well as their children. We’ve had tea time play sessions called ‘Thank God Its Friday’, we’ve had Saturday cinema sessions and Sunday ‘Bring Your Family’ an intergeneration and drop-in and play sessions and dad’s group continues to run Saturdays and Sundays, so come and see our services and judge them for yourself.
I want to just finish by thanking Louise Bagshawe for what she’s contributed to the campaign. I’ve got one important message for her – we really do need to arrange that Pen Green governors meet with Michael Gove in Corby. At times over the last 27 years it just feels like Pen Green is a political pawn being manoeuvred buy county councillors who on the whole don’t have many votes in Corby. It’s time we got ourselves into a position where we could use the amazing energy and capacity of this organisation for the purpose it was intended which is to raise standard for children and offer really supportive services and their families.

Wendy's blog: This month I was given an opportunity to speak at ...

2011-03-30T23:37:00.001+13:00

Wendy's blog: This month I was given an opportunity to speak at ...: "This month I was given an opportunity to speak at the C & K Conference on the Sunshine Coast in Australia. It was a wonderful opportunit..."

Finding the magic in London

2011-03-03T21:37:00.002+13:00

Recently I presented at two conferences in London. These were both held in the Borough of Brent

You will find more information about these two conferences on Wendy's Blog click here

Our love reaches out to all our friends and family in Christchurch

2011-02-28T16:14:00.004+13:00

Ka ngāueue, ka whakaruerue te rohe o Otautahi. I tae ngā tangata o Aotearoa me ngā tangata o te Ao ki ō mātou mutunga. Ka matakitaki, ka whakarongo mātou ki ngā kōrero o ngā mōrehu, o ngā Whanau Mamae me o ngā Whanau Pani. Aue taukiri e! Kua pā ēnei kōrero ki o matou ngakau.

Ki nga mate o tēnei wā haere ra kei tua o te arai ki te noho i waenga i ngā ringa o o koutou tupuna. Moe mai ra, moe mai ra, moe mai ra.

Ki nga mōrehu, kei te whakarongo matou ki to koutou kōrero o to koutou puta mai o te wharenui pākaru. Ka titiro matou i to koutou maia, to koutou kaha. Ko koutou i ngā tangata ranga wairua ki a matou katoa. Kā mihi aroha ki a koutou katoa.

Ki ngā tangata mamae, ngā tangata pouri, ratou ko ngā Whanau pani o Otautahi, kā mihi arohanui ki a koutou katoa.

Ko o matou hoa o ELP me to koutou whanau, ka whakaaro matou i a koutou i tēnei wā uaua. Ka mihi aroha ki a koutou katoa.

Christchurch shook and trembled. The people of New Zealand and the world stood still. We watched and listened to the stories of the survivors and the stories of the bereaved. It was heart-breaking.

To those who have passed away, you are leaving now to be with your loved ones who have already passed.

To the survivors, we have listened to your stories of escape from the damaged buildings. We have seen your strength and your bravery. You are an inspiration to us all. We send our love to you all.

To the injured, the sad and the bereaved families of Christchurch, we send our deepest sympathy to you all.

To the friends of ELP in Christchurch and your families we are thinking of you in this difficult time. We send our love to you all.

Many of us have bonds with Christchurch through family, family, education and business. We all have memories of the cathedral and other focal points which are now damaged beyond recognition. Our thoughts are with the people of Christchurch as they struggle to recover from this devastating earthquake.

There have been many offers of help from within New Zealand and overseas. We all want to do something to help but for most of us it is not possible or practical to physically go there. The biggest need in the next weeks and months will be for money. We at ELP support the Christchurch Mayoral Earthquake Appeal which is administered by the Red Cross. You can make a contribution to this fund by clicking on this link click here

We wish all the people caught up in this disaster and for all of you with the friends and family in the affected area all the best for the coming months.

Arohanui

Marie, Annika, Wendy, Lorraine, Jo, Robyn, Alison and Kathryn

I have been reading...The LAST LECTURE by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow

2011-02-21T13:21:00.000+13:00

Many of you will be familiar with Randy’s The Last Lecture which featured on YouTube and television since late 2007. University Professors at Carnegie Mellon University have the chance to give their Last Lecture. It is a time for them to consider and share with others what matters most to them knowing they possibly have the time to live it all out. Randy knew his Last Lecture was his last, he now had terminal pancreatic cancer. As I watched I thought about his courage and bravery with which he faced the end of his life as he talked about cancer, death and dying. His “engineering problem...and now doing the best you can with limited resources.” All the while focussing on life and living, and sharing his wisdom with us. However, the lecture is a ruse. He reminds us that “it was for my kids,” He was “trying to put myself in a bottle that would one day wash up on the beach for my children” (p.x).

The Last Lecture is now a delightful little book in which Randy tells us many humorous and inspirational stories. He offers “thanks to my parents who allowed me to dream, and with hopes for the dreams my children will have”.

The stories all provide beautiful prompts for reflection about my own life. One in particular, called A Skill Set Called Leadership (p.43, 44), tells us how his role model James T Kirk of Star Trek helped him be a better husband, teacher and colleague. He reports that Kirk was “the distilled essence of the dynamic manager, a guy who knew how to delegate, had the passion to inspire, and looked good in what he wore to work. He never professed to have skills greater than his subordinates. He acknowledged that they knew what they were doing in their domains. But he established the vision, the tone.” Randy’s story and wisdom spoke to me of the skills we all bring to our work, but more so, the skills necessary to sharing leadership and how none of us have skills greater than the other just that what we contribute to our teams is complimentary and necessary to the function of the team or group.

I enjoyed this book and continue to ‘dip’ into it for pleasure and the reflective prompts and inspiration Randy provides. I recommend taking time to read it aloud and share it with teachers, parents amd your family. Our stories have the power to transform lives. Sharing them is important. Randy’s story will continue to transform.

Randy also had a website which you might be interested in.

Kathryn Delany

Serendipitous; a chance meeting to remember, 13th January 2011

2011-02-09T14:16:00.000+13:00

We recently received this an email from Julie Peal, an early childhood teacher at Wellington's Victoria University Law School.

Just had to share with you all an amazing bit of serendipity, as you may know I work in the old government building which is now the Victoria University Law School, it is open to anyone to walk through, with many tourists passing through the halls each day. As I walked out of my centre with some children (heading outside to our play ground) we met an elderly gentleman in the hall and sparked up a conversation with him.

His gentle and respectful conversations with the children led me to ask him if he was or had been a teacher, to which he replied “not really” I only work with masters students now. He said during his early working life he had taught in so called third world countries in Africa and the Philippines and now worked at the University of Sussex.

He said he was visiting from Britain but was born in NZ, he asked about the centre and was most impressed to know that we were located in such close proximity to the children’s families. He spoke at length on how important it was for woman to be supported to be educated and in work, while knowing their children were close by. This led to the story of his mothers struggle to be educated at a time when women were not expected to work outside the home.

Not knowing who he was I innocently ask what it was like when he was a child to which he replied that his mother had been active in supporting early childhood education and had set up an early childhood centre in the 50s. Long story short the interesting and interested elderly gentleman was Anthony Somerset son of Gwen Somerset, who was a pioneer of Early childhood Education in New Zealand and wrote vital play amongst other thinks.

We then had an amazing kororo about Piaget whom he thought underestimated young children’s ability to understand because he tested their knowledge out of the context of their lives. Basically he said Piaget didn’t see things through the child’s eyes.

Vygotsky was our next topic, which led to how culture impacts children’s learning. Tony (as he asked me to call him) then proceeded to tell me a story of recently looking after a young boy of just 3 years, they had gone for a walk and came across a tractor, climbing onto the tractor the young boy noticed a box attached to it and asked if they could open it. Tony’s reply was that the farmer may not like them to do that. The child noticing the box had writing on the lid pointed to it and said that says we are allowed to open the box.

On hearing this creative problem solving Tony agreed to the boy opening the box. Inside the box was a rope which the child use to fish with off the tractor. As this imaginary play came to an end, on his own initiative the boy packed the rope into the box and shut the lid, saying “now the farmer will be happy”.

Tony then unpacked for me all the learning this little story held, as if he were writing a learning story. It included allowing the child’s curiosity to lead their learning, understanding that written script could communicate meaning (although it was in Russian Cyrillic script) but most importantly the empathy for Tony’s feelings that the farmer would not like them to open the box. Tony felt by ensuring that the rope was safely returned to its place and saying the farmer would be happy, the child seemed to have shown an understanding of the ethical issues involved. He wondered what Piaget would make of this child’s ability to see this problem from so many different perspectives, his own, Tony’s and the farmers.

What an inspiration to hear this man (now well into his 80s) speak so knowledgeably and passionately on the role of woman and young children’s learning As a person who has an interest in history and the way it shapes our learning and teaching this was a truly fortunate meeting with a person who is so closely connected with two people ( Gwen Somerset and her brother Riwi Ally ) who have played such significant and cutting edge roles in education. In sharing a little of his own Whakapapa it was treasured insight into just how far early childhood education has come and how important it is in this time of uncertainty to hold tight to what we have achieved.

It was serendipitous that I happened to have Sunshine and Shadow , Gwen Somerset’s autobiography sitting on my desk at home waiting to be read, meeting Tony who is from this family of (and is himself) a great educationist provided a great incentive to make time to do it.

Just thought this was a story worth sharing with colleagues who make such a difference in the field of education for young children, such as yourselves.
All the very best
Julie

Goodbye Jean

2011-01-27T23:16:00.002+13:00

Today just after 1pm today Jean slipped away peacefully from us all. Her family was with her. Jean has been an inspiration to all those who knew her, not just in the courageous way she dealt with her cancer over more than a decade, but through her lifelong actions in the interests of children and families. A passionate advocate for all who surrounded her and beyond.

Jean lived life to the full on so many levels; those of you who were kindergarten teachers in the 80’s will remember her as the NZFKTA President. At the end of her term as President a group of teachers wrote this song as a tribute, titled - “I wanna be like Jean”

Chorus: I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be like Jean!

I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be like Jean.

I want to have her style, I want her million dollar style, I want to be the president

I wanna be like Jean.

I remember the first time I saw her at Orongamai marae. The spot light it was on her, there was not an eye that was dry. I remember the adulation, the songs and the food and the wine.

I remember the frock she was wearing. It was dinky and pink with a tie.

There are so many ways to describe Jean, a remarkable woman in our time: A few words that I would use to describe her are:

Courageous

Spirited

Persistent

Joyful

Forthright

Dedicated

Humorous

Committed

Tenacious

Determined

Loving

Kind

Unique

We will all miss her so much. I feel very privileged to have known her. My thoughts and love are with Kerry, Katherine, Emma, Tom and baby William at this time of great sadness.

I just feel the tears sliding down my face, but at the same time, a life so well lived, so courageously - she was an inspiration. Much love Wendy

Fontastic

2011-01-14T14:30:00.003+13:00

Believe it or not fonts are a hotly debated topic in our household. Living with two designers who always have an opinion on what font to use I asked them both which is their favourite which turned out to be a difficult question for them to answer. It became clear that unlike me who tends to use the same font for everything, they had many favourite fonts for different purposes.
Look at any list online of the worst fonts and top of the list is Comic Sans.

In Early Childhood teachers often choose Comic Sans because of its closeness to the written letter, its formation of the letter ‘a’ is shaped in the same way
it is written. Critics of Comic Sans say it is an uneven font, the spacing is not
the same for every letter, it is a casual font often used with the wrong
purpose in mind - it was designed to mimic comic strip script and was

released by Microsoft in 1995.
Gill Sans and Helvetica on the other hand are two of the most popular fonts. Gil Sans was designed by Eric Gill in the 1920’s, it has been used widely in
the London Underground. Helvetica was created in 1957 and
when you look around at packaging it is every where. Energizer, Post-it, evian,

Microsoft. I like it because it is clean and crisp without any fussy-ness.

So, there are a few golden rules when it comes to choosing a font, the first of which is to think about the purpose of the font. Is it for a learning story or other documentation that you want children to revisit? If it is then it needs to be easily ‘read’ by children, some fonts like brushed script
are really difficult for children to identify individual letters. This is a common mistake
I see when I read through children’s learning story, the font used is distracting from the
content, and is often hard to read for me as an adult. What must this be like for children
when they are revisiting documentation? Comic Life’s default font is capitals and I often
see this in learning stories (see my Comic Life sheet on our website on tips to avoid this).
Is your piece of work going to be enlarged? Some fonts work better than others at larger sizes, and if your document is going to be printed some smaller fonts do not print well.
Different fonts take up different amounts of space, even at the same point size, Papyrus for example takes up more space than Arial.
Think about the impact you want to make, don’t be afraid to mix fonts if you are making a poster, the impact of these can be very eye catching.
Check out the font family, Helvetica has the following options in it’s family.

Helvetica font family

This is great when you are making a document with a variety of font sizes and you want to stick with the same font.
Check that the font you are using ‘set’ is complete. Particularly if you are typing Maori words, you want the macron to be straight over the vowel.
For more information about fonts and selecting best fonts and avoiding the worst check out the following link:
http://absolutegraphix.co.uk/bestworstfonts.asp?strID=Guest

Merry Christmas from the ELP team

2010-12-21T12:51:00.000+13:00

Merry Christmas

Ki a tatou iwi whanui mātauranga

To our community of learners

Kua tae ākuanei ki te wā Kirihimete

Christmas is here.

Nō reira, ka mihi o te Kirihimete me te tau hou ki a koutou katoa

Therefore, Christmas and New Year greetings to you all.

Kia harikoa, kia marino, kia rangimarie i roto i tō whare i roto i tēnei wā

Let there be happiness, calm and peace in your house at this time.

Ka mihi, ka mihi, ka mihi ki a koutou katoa.

Greetings to you all.

Robyn, Wendy, Jo

Alison, Lorraine, Kathryn

Annika and Marie

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

2010-12-06T13:42:00.004+13:00

My Christmas tree does not have a ‘theme’ as such. Not one that might be advocated in the house and garden type women’s magazines. Though, when I think about it the theme for my Tree is unique and could be referred to as the - “Brownie, Playcentre, School children, Russia, Germany, Aunty Anna with Red, Gold, Green and Blue Theme”. Because it is just that. As I put up the Christmas Tree and decorated it yesterday I had many opportunities to revisit times and people past. It is pure joy to me as I greet each and everyone of my old friends, the decorations.

There are the lights - new lights admittedly - but to mind sprang our very first Christmas tree lights (1962) bought by my Nan and Pop. A gift to us children for our tree. Coloured lights that brought magic and love with them. A chance now to meet up with Nan and Pop again, reflect on their lives and the hardships they endured for their love. Their sense of right and justice. Their resilience. The love they always showed in the ways they cared for me. The things I learnt from them.

There is the now tatty yellow gnome, a gift from my Aunty Anna. A wonderful serene women who loved me just because I am me. She was always welcoming. She was never fazed by all seven of us unkempt and unruly children walking up the path to her front door unannounced. Warm scones were on the table very soon after our arrival.

There are the hand sewn hearts made by my Brownie daughters and the dried white painted pinecone, made by my Playcentre son. Memories and remembering flood in of my own small children and me as a young woman, always trying to do what I knew to be best for them. My life of learning to mother through our many ages and stages.

There are the baubles purchased while traveling. The nesting dolls from Russia a reminder of my resilient self, and my ability to pick myself up, and to recover and discover joy and excitement in the unknown. Memories of the Russian man who smiled at us and said “Welcome to Russia” when I needed it most.

The angels from Germany who give back to me memories of travel with wonderful, kind and loving friends. My angels. Remembering great places and great people. Reminding of times where bravery, courage and resourcefulness were paramount. Memories of times when trying new things brought challenge, excitement and pleasure.

And now... new this year there are some dough ceramic decorations made at Playcentre by my grandchildren and daughter. Promise of Christmases to come and more possible learner selves to be found.

And so... I reflect on Children’s Portfolios and the learning stories we write. I am reminded of the power of the photos and the stories we tell, and how revisiting these builds identity as ‘learner’ and human being. They are just like my Christmas Tree decorations. They are the prompts for remembering and reflecting on me and the people, places, things and times in my life.

The Christmas decorations offer me opportunities to visit with my super-learning heroes and to continue to form the super-learning hero inside of me.

I have this wonder-filled time for revisiting every year and then I get to put the decorations safely in their boxes only to look forward to our meeting again in twelve months time. The children you work with can re-visit their Portfolios any-time and will more than likely do so during the rest of their lives. If not in the tangible form then inside of themselves.

I hope there is a special little something under your tree this year!! Better still... I hope there is something special on your tree this year. A special little something that provokes in you the memories of people, places things and time.

Maybe there is even a little someone around who wants to be in-charge of lighting!!! I guess that’s another story.

Best wishes to you all for a safe and memory filled Christmas Season,

Kathryn

Christmas

2010-12-03T09:15:00.000+13:00

Hard to believe that so many families on the West Coast will be without their loved ones this Christmas.

Whilst advertisers compel us to spend up large and buy carpet, lounge suits, kettles and playstations; there are many who will be having a very different Christmas.

Nothing can possibly be more precious than having time with those you love. Perhaps if we hold our loved ones close to our hearts during this time before Christmas; then some of the frenzy that can be overwhelming might wash over us and we may indeed find peace and joy. My heart goes out to families who will no longer have those they love come home for Christmas. It is definitely time to slow down, enjoy the moments and enjoy the spirit of Christmas.

From Alison

ECE Taskforce

2010-11-30T10:24:00.002+13:00

Everyone will be well aware that the ECE Taskforce is now underway. It is vital that everyone in ECE in this country (ECE sector, parents and whanau) get involved. Please read the Update, print it off and share with others. The link to this Update is on our website in the ELP news section.

Register to receive regular updates from the ECE Taskforce by emailing ece.taskforce@minedu.govt.nz
You can also get further support and information from the NZEI website on issues surrounding the Taskforce at www.nzei.org.nz

The Taskforce report is due to Government in March 2011. It is a very short timeframe. All submissions will close on the 31st January 2011. Take action now.

New blog and great books

2010-11-22T13:57:00.003+13:00

Kia Ora,

Some news from the ELP team:

Wendy Lee has just started a new blog which you can read here.
Wendy has decided to build a personal blog to share a little of her family and beyond. I can already see lots of dress-up pictures coming up and maybe also an explanation for Wendy's passion for mermaids...

We have also been busy working on our website and added a list of books we highly recommend reading to our resource section which you can access here. We have sorted them into 9 categories ('Art/Creativity', ' Education and Care of Children under 2 Years', 'Environments', 'Leadership and Organisational Culture', 'Learning and Teaching', 'Literacy', 'Māori', 'Literacy' and 'Social Competence') to help you find the books and topics you are looking for.

The list is by no means complete and reflects our personal preferences. Yet, much of our work is based on or influenced by these books and they will serve as a great source of inspiration if you would like to learn more about some of these topics.

You can purchase these books by clicking on the image of the book on this site and will then be re-directed to Fishpond.co.nz or amazon.com.

All profits gained from books purchased via the ELP website will be donated to the ECE Leadership Trust. This Trust is set up specifically to support teachers attending conferences and any other professional development.

Thoughts from Lorraine Sands

2010-11-10T10:28:00.000+13:00

Teachers looking ‘outside in’ to infant and toddler settings sometimes wonder why the teachers looking ‘inside out’ talk about these very young children in such passionate, emotional ways. To outsiders it is somewhat incomprehensible that adults could be so totally engaged with children who seemingly have limited communication. Yet infant and toddler teachers know at a ‘bone marrow level’ just how capable our very youngest children are at gently squeezing hearts as they so powerfully connect to the adults who work with and alongside them. It is certainly true that infants and toddlers are growing their abilities with oral language and this is often the stumbling block for those teachers who love verbal engagements with older children. What captures the hearts and minds of early years teachers is the incomprehensibly connected ‘thousand languages’ that infants and toddlers use to fill the hearts of adults around them. They are wired this way and adults who take the time to get to know them, begin to realise the amazing learning that happens in those first years. This is not in an abstract theoretical way but deeply tuned in, enabling teachers to relationally engage, so those brain neurons build the thousands of pathways that are the hallmark of growing our intelligence.

I have been fortunate in the last few weeks to meet a number of these passionately involved teachers at our infant and toddler cluster days. We are on a journey together to research wise practice. Each team of teachers are considering a narrative research question that will require introspection. We want to figure out what wise practice looks like in a variety of settings, gathering documentation along the way that will offer others a window into the intricate strategies involved. As teachers move from Te Whāriki Principles to moment by moment relational decisions, these build to comprise a concept of what it takes to be learners and teachers in a wise learning community. While these journeys primarily connect to the particular setting, strategies that denote wise practice will emerge as thoughtful teachers reflect to make their engagements visible for other teams to consider. It seems to me that it is never useful to talk about good practice. That is so judgmental, for what is ‘good’? It’s a shifting notion depending on where you’re standing. Wise practice however sends messages about thoughtful, experiential engagements that generate an intensity around the notion that each time teachers act in particular ways they are building complexity into children’s learning experiences. This is what we all want to find out more about because we all know that these first years are the critical ones that set children up to be successful learners. So, our hope is that we have an opportunity to grow leaderful communities with teachers who generously and diligently reflect on what it means to be a teacher working with and alongside our youngest children. We invite you to watch this space as we progressively provide vignettes from teachers that will offer insights into what wise practice looks like.

He aha te mea nui o te ao?

2010-10-11T01:31:00.003+13:00

He aha te mea nui o te ao?

He tangata! He tangata! He tangata!

What is the most important thing in the world?

It is people! It is people! It is people!

The ELP official line - No one ever leaves ELP and ELP never leaves you - we are like the Soprano family - you can never get out alive. This being so we have agreed to lend Julie Killick to the North Auckland Kindergarten Association. Julie is now the Head Teacher at Stanmore Bay Kindergarten.

Julie you have given us many gifts. You brought your wonderful sense of joy, love, and fun to our family. You inspired us to play and try out many ‘possible selves’.

Julie, Petal

The ‘possible selves’

With fun and love

Expose

Leader, teacher, traveller,

warrior and wise woman

The who to be...

Dressage Queen, Ken

Miss Bunny, Secret Angel

Rita/Frida Kahlo and Storyteller

Your scarf wrapped presence

and JOY

a gift to us

Our lesson learnt

to PLAY

Experience life’s full richness

with FUN

The what to be

who to do...

Doing others

Being human

FRIENDS

our friend

And so never a farewell, it is the sharing of a wonderful friend and family member. Julie you will always be present in our fun, hearts, minds and practice.

A Night at the Opera

2010-09-24T00:07:00.000+12:00

Last night I had the pleasure of going to the Opera with my youngest son Tommy. He had made it known earlier in the year that he would like to go to an Opera and as it was not something I had ever contemplated doing, I said I would look into it.
Macbeth was the chosen Opera (a marvelous production from the New Zealand Operatic Society), listening and watching this got me thinking about how good stories stand the test of time.
I have read Macbeth at school, seen it as a play at the Silo Theatre in Auckland, watched it on T.V as a part of the fabulous ‘Shakespeare Retold’ series and now I have had the pleasure of seeing it as an Opera.
Good stories stand the test of time!
What is it that sets these stories apart from other stories and what does this mean for the stories we write for the children in our early childhood centres? Will the stories you write today be as enduring for these children as Shakespeare?
I had an email a couple of weeks ago from a child I used to have at kindergarten (he is now ten) and he started by saying, ‘Hello Jo, I was looking through my portfolio last night.’ We know children will keep revisiting their portfolios long after they have left early childhood, so the stories we write will have to be robust enough to stand the test of time.
Some things in life are never ending, revisiting good stories is one of them.
Ka Kite
Jo

Message from Berlin

2010-09-15T10:22:00.001+12:00

As many of you know, the ELP team spent some time in the UK and Germany this year to deliver workshops and lectures about the NZ approach to early childhood education. In Berlin we stayed with our friend Sibylle who not only organised 2 conferences in Berlin and Teltow, but who also took us on a fabulous sightseeing programme and even challenged us to go on a bike ride around Potsdam.

Sibylle wrote the following post for our blog:

The wonderful ELP Team has been in Berlin and Brandenburg in

Germany

! Many teachers had the chance to take part in the ELP conference 'Do you let me fly? Stories about learning from Aotearoa New Zealand'. It was amazing for me and a great gift to see and to feel the enthusiasm which inspired so many people. I would like to send some of the participant's statements round the globe.
Thank you! Sibylle Haas in Berlin,

Germany

.

"Now we trust the power of writing assessments in the narrative way, we are confident that we are able to write learning stories…"
"'Personal attitude' is the magic word..."
"One day - that is too short [for this kind of event]."
"The guests from

New Zealand

brought the spirit of learning stories to Berlin, they confirmed that we're on the right track and we learned a lot more."
"It was awesome, inspiring, funny and very hot! Passion makes everything possible. The conference was very helpful and empowering."
"The examplars and films were very interesting."
"Most important for me was the comparison of our assessment approach (the yellow book) with the New Zealand Curriculum and the roots of assessment. As a school teacher I learned a lot today."
"To hear the New Zealanders live was a great opportunity – very impressive and enthusiastic women!!"

On the Mat - Wrestling with the BIG ONE!

2010-09-08T09:46:00.000+12:00

“Mat times”, “Group times”, “Circle times”, “Meeting times” and “Whānau times” feature largely in our early learning centre programmes and fill the curriculum.

In her upcoming lecture, Kathryn will wrestle with ideas on teachers’ learning intentions and possible learning outcomes for children. - A lecture not to be missed!

Auckland: 14th September, 7pm-9pm, Kohia Education Centre, Epsom Campus, Auckland University
Hamilton: 21st September, 7pm-9pm, PWC (MSB1.04), Management School, University of Waikato

Costs: $40 for ELP Members, $45 for non-members, $30 for full-time students

For more information (maps, upcoming lectures etc.) please visit out website: www.elp.co.nz

Where is your vegetable garden?

2010-08-26T09:46:00.000+12:00

Arriving home after 3 months away to be met by knee-length grass, muddy slopes, a disappearing gravel driveway and a vegetable garden that any cow wanting sweet green grass would be delighted by - was enough to stop me in my tracks. Well where do you start? Every time I pulled a weed out the hole filled up with water. Still the gardener in me persisted and I planted my seeds in my conservatory and my mini garden is thriving, waiting for dry days to be planted out. This got me thinking…..

Where is your vegetable garden, do you have one? Hopefully yes. And hopefully it's not stuck around in some pokey, uninteresting corner that nobody visits, but takes up plenty of space, is accessible and more importantly alive! Why oh why are we constraining ourselves with small square modular boxes for a few dying vegetables? What are we telling our children about the joy of growing our own food, and learning about the wonders of the growing seasons. Plants can grow anywhere and in almost anything. I have seen small gardens hanging on containers off fences, in tyres, in old wheelbarrows, in fact anything that can hold some soil can hold a plant. It doesn’t have to be purpose built and cost a small fortune. Soil is readily available in the ground, with a bit of additions it can quickly be ready to grow something. Children are quite able to dig, and very willing. Seeds are the cheapest way to get started. So what are you waiting for?

Let's fill our spaces with plants and start a year-round growing cycle in centres. Plants can be grown indoors, and if we make excuses that our children won’t look after them, we are setting the scene for expectations of failure. Children do respect the environment when they are surrounded by fabulous role models who have a genuine interest in what they are doing.

I would love to see fruit trees planted wherever there is a space for one to grow. Natural shade is unbeatable. Our environments are becoming so plastic, so unnatural that sometimes it is hard to believe that centres are actually located in New Zealand. So what a joy it is to see places where there is grass -yes it will be muddy at this time of year - welcome to nature. To see food being grown and picked, prepared and eaten in centres is a wonderful thing. There are places where children wander through their gardens showing a sense of ownership and also respect. Scenes like this fill my heart with hope. I know around New Zealand there are centres that have a strong and established culture of gardening. If your centre is not yet one of these, why not find a centre in your area to visit for inspiration. Clean, green New Zealand is sadly a fast fading image. However we know that what happens in Early Childhood Education can change the world, so let's get started on a gardening revolution. Find a spade and a few willing helpers and away you go……. Don’t forget to take some photos.

Alison

Don't be careful, you'll hurt yourself!!

2010-08-16T12:30:00.001+12:00

In recent months risk has been a focus of some of the work of ELP, Wendy reveals a little insight into this work she has been sharing with teachers around NZ.

In a climate of increasing regulation and media hype it is vital that teachers stand back and reflect on the current notions of risk management. These risk averse views can, in the words of Michael Unger, create some very serious longer term problems, “Odd as it may sound, there is a connection between all the security we offer children and why kids behave violently, do drugs, and take risks with their bodies, minds, and spirits.” Take time to read Michael Unger’s book Too Safe for Their Own Good: How Risk and Responsibility Help Teens Thrive, I am sure you will find this a most worthwhile read as both a teacher and a parent in dealing on the day to day level with issues of risk.

Yes, the world is full of risks. Some are good risks and some are bad. Some would say, as indeed Beck does, that the society we now live in is “no longer concerned with attaining something good, but rather than preventing the worse?”. As teachers we need to turn this around in our early childhood settings. Children need to learn from a very young age how to both recognise and respond to risks in their environment. Risks provide a fabulous opportunity to learn. The struggle is important, valuing the struggle is important. It is through struggle and endeavour that we build our skills and experience and strengthen our learning. As Carol Dweck says, “You can see how the belief that cherished qualities can be developed creates a passion for learning... The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even (or especially) when it’s not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset. This is the mindset that allows people to thrive during some of the most challenging times in their lives“. Carol Dweck’s book entitled Mindset: The New Psychology of Success is a must read for all teachers. In my opinion every educational setting in the country should purchase this book.

It has the potential to change lives and minds! We as teachers need to consider these ideas in relation to providing opportunities for risk and responsibility. In the words of Gever Tulley "...there are aspects of danger in virtually everything we do, the trick is to learn how mastery actually minimizes danger. Walking is dangerous when we start as babies, but we persevere and it becomes safe. Next we learn to negotiate stairs. Why stop there? Why not practice and become proficient at walking on the roof or walking on a tightrope?” Listen to Gever Tulley on TED.com, I think his lectures would provide a great starting point for a parent or staff discussion group. It is useful to consider the freedom that so many of us had as children as we explored the world beyond our homes. So many of us appear to have brought into the notion that our streets are dangerous. This is not the reality, the most dangerous places for our children are in fact their homes. The statistics show this very conclusively. Many children are no longer experiencing a world of challenge and risk. We are turning a generation of children into ‘bubble wrap children’, we need to work with families to provide environments that are rich in opportunities for children to fail and to go on to pick themselves up and have another go. Giving children opportunities to learn their limits and how to bounce back so that they build resilience and persistence. It is through these pathways that children will strengthen a growth mindset.

Haere atu rā e whaea Bobi

2010-07-02T12:04:00.001+12:00

From the ELP team our deepest sympathy to all those touched by the sudden passing of Whaea Bobi Dempsey of Aunty’s childcare centre. Ki a Cherie, ngā kaiako, ngā tamariki me o koutou whānau, a te whānau pani, ngā mihi arohanui ki a koutou katoa.

Physically we are unable to be with you today at Whaea Bobi’s funeral as our team is working in Sweden and Germany for this month, however our thoughts will most certainly be focused on you all today and beyond.

Haere atu rā e whaea Bobi, haere atu rā ki tua o te arai, ka mihia koe e Hine nui te Pō, ka mihia koe e to whānau. Moe mai rā, moe mai rā, moe mai rā.

Young thrive with skilled teachers - NZ Herald 25 June 2010

2010-06-25T12:28:00.002+12:00

Margaret Carr and Linda Mitchell on why early childhood centres need qualified staff

We found it startling that questions are being raised about whether teachers in early childhood services should be qualified.
Especially when we know know so much about the significance for lifelong learning of the early years and about the complexity of the education and care task.
Prime Minister John Key is wrong to say "It is a matter of personal belief as to whether a high proportion of centre staff should be trained [teachers]".
This is not so. It is a matter of an informed and evidence-based decision.
Questions about qualified versus non-qualified teachers would never be raised about the adults who teach 5 and 6 (or older) year-olds in school.

The lessening of targets for employing qualified teachers and the removal of the top two rates of funding for early childhood services employing 80 to 100 per cent registered teachers will undermine the high quality of early childhood education that New Zealand should be aiming for.
The services that will be hardest hit are those very services that have managed to achieve a highly qualified workforce and that offer an inspiration and exemplar to others.
Research evidence is clear that positive outcomes for children and families participating in early childhood education depend on the quality of staff; child interactions; the learning resources available; programmes that engage children, and a supportive environment for children to work together.
The outcomes for a child include things such as motivation, persistence, reciprocity, resilience and imagination that will set children on a life-long learning journey.

They include cognitive outcomes such as numeracy, reading and language progress - outcomes the Government is particularly interested in.
A key characteristic of a early childhood service supporting these child outcomes is that the adults working with children hold early childhood teacher qualifications.

This was the finding of the 2003 US National Institute of Child Health and Development study on the impact of childcare quality on children's cognitive development.
Across 10 countries, a 2006 International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement study of nearly 2000 children found that as levels of teacher education increased children's age-7 language performance improved.
The study found that teachers with more education use more words and more complex language in communicating with children.

Another US study of 800 4-year-olds, using data from the National Centre for Early Development and Learning, linked higher levels of teachers' education to gains on standardised measures of mathematics skills.

A myth has spread that early childhood education is over funded. Quite the reverse. New Zealand spends less on early childhood education than many countries.
A recent Unicef report (2008) suggested a benchmark and minimum level of 1 per cent of GDP should be spent by governments to ensure that childcare is managed in the best interests of children and societies.
New Zealand's level of funding is only 0.6 per cent of GDP. Its spending has increased three fold in the past five years, but it was woefully inadequate before.
And costs have increased because there are more services, more children participating, and more children attending longer hours than five years ago.
Money spent now on early childhood education saves money in the long run.

Together with Cathy Wylie at the NZ Council for Educational Research we recently completed a literature survey of outcomes of early childhood education, published by the Ministry of Education.
We found that investing in good quality early childhood education can bring actual cost benefits to government as well as to children and families.
One relevant study of quality provision with teaching staff qualified in special education and early childhood development followed the children to middle age.
It found that a dollar spent in early childhood saved $17 at age 40 in terms of the later cost of social services and criminal convictions, and the tax benefits from employment.

Key says that "There will be some [centre owners] that in the end say, "I want to be 100 per cent teacher-led", and I suspect that will be driven by the parents who send their children there and they may be prepared to pay a little bit more.
High income families whose children participate in early childhood centres will be able to afford the fees to maintain the high quality standard of 100 per cent qualified staff.
But low income families will not.
Economic inequality will now be associated from the early years with educational inequity.

The new education policy established by the May budget says that we cannot afford the financial cost of qualified teachers to provide care and education for all of New Zealand's youngest and most vulnerable of children.
We say that as a nation we cannot afford not to - the long-term social, economic and educational cost is too high.

Margaret Carr is Professor of Education and Dr Linda Mitchell is Senior Lecturer (Early Childhood Education) at the University of Waikato.

FREE PUBLIC LECTURE Do early childhood educational transitions matter in the longer term?

2010-06-16T11:40:00.000+12:00

Waikato Graduate Women Charitable Trust

FREE PUBLIC LECTURE

Visiting Scholar Aline-Wendy Dunlop

Do early childhood educational transitions matter in the longer term?

In this lecture I will focus on experience over time for a group of young people who have participated in a 14 year longitudinal transitions study which is now drawing to an end. The participating cohort are making decisions for life after school. Their experience of education in one Scottish Local Authority reveals different trajectories through education and through educational transitions. A cohort of 150 children was tracked through their education from pre-school to the last year of secondary education. Focal children were case studied at each major transition – starting school, transition to secondary, making subject choices and contemplating school leaving. I have remained loyal to the challenge of finding out whether early childhood transitions matter in the longer term. I plan to consider a theoretical framework for transitions, to pose some questions about educational transitions, and through some transitions stories based on children’s educational trajectories, to propose key features of transitions and ambiguities that merit attention in early childhood and beyond.

Aline-Wendy Dunlop is from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. She is visiting the Department of Human Development and Counselling at Waikato University. We are very grateful to the Waikato Graduate Women Charitable Trust for funding to support this visit.

Date: Tuesday 20 July 2010
Time: 5.30 - 6.30pm
Venue: TL2.26
Email: a.w.a.dunlop@strath.ac.uk

The New Zealand Herald 31.05.2010 Qualified Teachers

2010-06-02T09:09:00.000+12:00

The New Zealand Herald – Monday, May 31, 2010

Qualified teachers

It is incredible that in 2010 we are still debating whether all teachers of our youngest and most vulnerable children should be qualified.

New Zealand is world renowned for the ability of our qualified early childhood teachers to enable learning pathways in early childhood and into school. It is a complex journey that engages teachers in both sectors.

The foundations of literacy, curiosity, identity and imagination are established in early childhood: qualified teachers implement a broad and rich curriculum that introduces babies and young children to interesting people, places, resources, information and challenges. This is skilled work.

Research has described “sustained shared thinking” as a key to quality teaching and learning in early childhood.

This shared thinking included noticing and recognising opportunities for learning based on knowledge about early development and education principles.

Qualified teachers in early childhood engage families in the learning, too, developing partnerships with families from diverse backgrounds and cultures and using sophisticated assessment practices that are accessible and inviting.

In addition, qualified teachers are caring and concerned for the wellbeing of families.

The nation cannot afford to undervalue the professional nurturing of enthusiasm for lifelong learning in any of our children.

Margaret Carr, Professor of Education, Waikato University

Educational Leadership Project

A Christmas Play.

The Christmas Break!

Information and Communication Technology - an invitation to participate

A Curious Christmas Tree

Lens and long grass

Is Respect Part of Your Environment?

OKATAINA RETREAT FOR LITERACY LEAD SETTINGS

Eden Creative Recycling

‘Through the Looking Glass … a Lens on Quality Preschools’

The Pleasure of Play and Puppies

She is worth pursuing, the fabulous Alison Gopnik

Alison Gopnik: What do babies think? | Video on TED.com

Go, the Rugby, Go

Caring Spaces, Learning Places

Trying Something new for 30 Days

ecARTnz Special Issue

PM signals changes to preschool funding

Fears 20 Hours policy under threat

Consultation on the ECE Taskforce … Has your voice been heard?

Reforming Funding Mechanisms - Emeritus Professor Anne Smith

Windows of Opportunity

Dr Alec O'Connell

Dawson

Dr Alec O'Connell

Hans

Leanne

Dawson

Marg

Dianne

Kae

Ana

Anita

Sylvia

Debbie

Jessica Bradbury

Sonya

Evelyn Houghton

Hundreds march over early childhood cuts

Critics hit out at 'child farms'

A centre in Petone run by Paradise Childcare Centres hopes to lift capacity to 100 children

Caring Spaces, Learning Places by Jim Greenman (A Book Review)

Taskforce funding proposal will undermine 20 hours ECE

Raft of recommendations from early childhood report

20 hours free ECE faces the chop

HELP PARENTS CHOOSE, URGE PRESCHOOL REVIEWERS

The Power of Portfolios

Norway, a powerful place to learn in the outdoors, including magical snowflakes!!

School bullying reveals gap in natural justice

Written by Rosslyn Noonan and published in the Herald on 14th April 2011

Rosslyn Noonan is the Chief Commissioner, Human Rights Commission

Darwin Calling

Thrilled to see positive action having an impact on the politicians - still clearly more work ahead.

Wendy's blog: This month I was given an opportunity to speak at ...

Finding the magic in London

Our love reaches out to all our friends and family in Christchurch

I have been reading...The LAST LECTURE by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow

Serendipitous; a chance meeting to remember, 13th January 2011

Goodbye Jean

Fontastic

Merry Christmas from the ELP team

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Christmas

ECE Taskforce

New blog and great books

Thoughts from Lorraine Sands

He aha te mea nui o te ao?

A Night at the Opera

Message from Berlin

On the Mat - Wrestling with the BIG ONE!

Where is your vegetable garden?

Don't be careful, you'll hurt yourself!!

Haere atu rā e whaea Bobi

Young thrive with skilled teachers - NZ Herald 25 June 2010

FREE PUBLIC LECTURE Do early childhood educational transitions matter in the longer term?

The New Zealand Herald 31.05.2010 Qualified Teachers

Written by Rosslyn Noonan and published in the Herald on 14^th April 2011