Dr. Rangimarie Turuki Rose Pere, C.B.E CM

It is now just over a year since Rose Pere left us. An extraordinary human being, a true treasure for all. No one in her presence would of doubted their value. Her passion and belief in humankind had no bounds. Rose Pere is deeply missed, however her spiritual presence remains with us for all time. E hoa, haere, haere, haere atu rā. Kia au tō moe Rose.

   “Children are our greatest legacy.

     Nature is our greatest teacher”

    Dr. Rangimarie Turuki Rose Pere

Dr Rangimarie  Turuki Arikirangi Rose Pere was an International Educationalist who travelled globally, and knows about education from early childhood through to the Tertiary Level and beyond. She came from both a traditional Māori perspective and that of the Western world.

Her monograph on the traditional modes of learning of the Māori, “Te Wheke-The Celebration Of Infinite Wisdom”, is used in the USA, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Europe, Japan, and has been translated into Japanese and German.

Her monograph is used as a training model of education by all Government agencies in Aotearoa New Zealand. Rose has been strongly influenced by teachings that go back over 12,000 years. Her book Te Wheke – A Celebration Of Infinite Wisdom, is an introduction to these teachings.

When she died Te Aorewa Rolleston, a reporter for Radio NZ wrote about her.

Dr Rangimarie Turuki Arikirangi Rose Pere, of Tūhoe, Ngāti Ruapani and Ngāti Kahungunu, passed away on Sunday night surrounded by whānau at the age of 83.Dr Rose Pere, also known by many as Whaea Rose, was renowned for her spiritual teachings and ancient wisdom within academia.

The outpour of comments online and from those who knew her best, said her work inspired generations and she leaves behind an everlasting legacy.

Associate Professor Dr Leonie Pihama, who worked closely with her, said the publications Ako and Te Wheke, written by Dr Rose Pere were significant.

"Her work has always resonated, it's deeply informed much of the work I've done."

"There are lots of layers in terms of connection to the work that Whaea Rose has always done and that she has generously and openly shared with our people."

Dr Pihama said Whaea Rose left behind a multi-layered legacy.

"I was very honoured to have Whaea Rose do a huge amount of mahi with us in terms of the kaupapa that we have been following around healing, around well-being, around mana wahine, kaupapa Māori - all of those areas that she embodied."

Dr Rose Pere was born in Ruatahuna and grew up in Waikaremoana.

Since birth, she was a leader and was thought to have carried the knowledge of a tohuna or wisdom keeper and during her life, she was a renowned teacher to all.

She worked within education across all age groups from pre-school to tertiary level, focusing on building the strength and identity of indigenous learners.

She strived to make sure the next generations were not overcome by a colonial education system, and instead honored their culture.

In a statement, her whānau said she was loved across Aotearoa and the globe.

"Her life was distinguished by extraordinary service to many people in both Aotearoa, New Zealand and the many corners of the world. She touched many lives and hearts."

Dr Rose Pere will be taken to Whakirangi marae and Iwitea marae over the coming days before being taken to her final resting place at Rongopai Marae, just outside of Gisborne.

Winners of the Prime Ministers Education Excellence Awards Announced

These are the six categories that the Finalists were named in.

Congratulations to all the finalists and the winners of the Prime Minister's Education Excellence Awards.
The winning finalists were as follows:

 

 

 

  

 

 

For futher information on the finalists and to see all the videos, go to the official website:
https://www.pmawards.education.govt.nz/

Children need changes now – says commissioner

Time to act: "National Superannuation is an extremely good tool for reducing poverty", says Russell Wills. "Our poverty rate in the elderly is one-sixth of our child poverty rate."  Photo: KEVIN STENT/FAIRFAX NZ

This is an article published in the Dominion Post on Saturday, January 12, 2013.

Last year saw a flurry of reports, public discussion and political rhetoric about how the lives of New Zealand's vulnerable children could be improved. The man charged with ensuring Kiwi kids have a voice says it's time for the Government to act. Kate Chapman reports.

Children's Commissioner Russell Wills recalls delivering prescriptions for his pharmacist dad in impoverished Napier suburbs as a young lad.

He drove through the same area with his own children recently and said it had become poorer - and worse than that, people had lost hope.

"There's car wrecks and beer bottles and the houses had deteriorated ... you just wouldn't send a kid to deliver scripts around those streets now, which I think is really sad."

But rather than dissuade him, it is such sights that motivate Dr Wills.  The Hawke's Bay-based paediatrician knows first hand how bad things have become.  British health professionals he works with have never seen some of the Third World diseases which have become an everyday occurrence here.

"A year in acute paediatrics in New Zealand is like their whole training."

New Zealand's child poverty rate began to spiral out of control after government budget cuts in 1991 and within three or four years had tripled, he said. 

PHOTO: radiolive.co.nz

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr Wills is incredulous as he explains that no other OECD country had the same rise in child poverty or inequality in the 1990s.  Babies born during that period are now 21 and don't know any different, he said.

"Is there child poverty in New Zealand? Absolutely there is. Talk to any teacher, talk to any paediatrician, talk to any social worker, you bet there is."

But there are also solutions. Last year he commissioned an expert group to come up with recommendations to combat child poverty. He is proud of their work and believes in their suggested solutions. One of the headline recommendations was the introduction of a universal child payment to parents with children aged under 5.

Prime minister John Key was quick to dismiss the idea, but Dr Wills said that meant he needed to sell the idea better.

"National superannuation is an extremely good tool for reducing poverty. Our poverty rate in the elderly is one-sixth of our child poverty rate, it's one of the lowest rates in the OECD, and we should be really proud of that."

Superannuation works because everyone gets it. That reduces access barriers and makes the programme easy and cheap to administer, Dr Wills says.

"We worry about giving benefits to people who don't need it; there are very few parents of young children who are wealthy." 

PHOTO: 3news.co.nz

In fact, 70 per cent of children living in poverty lived in rental housing, much of which was "woeful".

Introducing a warrant of fitness for rental properties would go a long way to mitigating poor health and education outcomes, Dr Wills says.

It will take time to retrofit thousands of homes, but there are other changes which could be implemented tomorrow and would have immediate impacts.

Automatically enrolling every newborn with a GP, Well Child provider and on the national immunisation register would improve primary healthcare access.

"If someone rings up at 30 weeks and says, 'I think I might be pregnant' then a response, 'look up M for midwife in the Yellow Pages' isn't good enough. It needs to be, 'what are you doing tomorrow? Come and see me, let's make sure you get a midwife'. That will cost nothing."

The public mood was supportive of making changes but they will have to come from the top, he says.

If 2012 was the year of expert advisory groups, reports and recommendations then 2013 is the year when the "ball will be in Government's court"

Raising quality in early childhood education

The recommendations from the ECE advisory groups; Improving quality of ECE services sector-wide and Improving quality of ECE services for children aged less than two years have been announced by the Minister of Education today.

Hekia Parata

25 May, 2012

Raising quality in early childhood education

Education Minister Hon Hekia Parata has today released a series of recommendations on how to improve the quality of early childhood education (ECE).

The recommendations are the findings of two advisory groups which were established in January of this year to focus on improving the quality of ECE services, particularly for those children under the age of two.

“I welcome the recommendations and thank the advisory groups for identifying many practical solutions that can be implemented quickly.”

“All of our children deserve high quality ECE. The pre-school years are too critical in terms of learning and development to allow anything else. Parents need to be assured that their children are attending a quality service,’’ says Ms Parata.

“I have asked the Ministry of Education to provide me with advice on the recommendations.

“This will include considering which of the recommendations can be implemented in a shorter timeframe and which will require further work.

“I plan to make a further announcement in August to outline the next steps for these recommendations.”

The full recommendations of the Sector Advisory Group on improving quality for under two year olds in ECE are available at the following link

Full recommendations for under two year olds in ECE

Use of childcare growing

This is an article in the Waikato Times by Louise Risk of Fairfax NZ News.

23.03.2012

Hamilton childcare experts say it is no surprise a third of Kiwi babies are regularly in non-parental care, but they warn these arrangements should be judged on a case-by-case basis.

The finding, released today, was from Now We Are Born, the second report from Auckland University's Growing Up in New Zealand study. 

Growing Up in New Zealand follows 7000 children, about 2000 of whom are from the greater Waikato, from before they were born until they turn 21. Now We Are Born reflected life when the children were nine months old. At that age, 35 per cent of the children were in regular, non-parental childcare for an average of 23 hours per week.

In 87 per cent of the cases the mothers said their study or work commitments were the main reason for the care arrangement. 

The researchers gathered extra information from the 1732 families where the child was in care for eight or more hours per week, and found the average duration of care for that group jumped to 28 hours per week. Daycare centres were the care provider of choice for 36 per cent of families, followed closely by grandparents at 32 per cent. New Zealand European mothers were more likely to use daycare centres than their Maori, Pacific Island and Asian counterparts, with the order reversed when grandparents were the main carer.

Hamilton-based associate director of the study Polly Atatoa Carr said that the findings would help shape national policies over time. Early childhood care was a "really important variable" as it would affect everything from the children's cultural identities to their health, she said. 

Cathy Holland, chief executive of Parentline, a Hamilton child advocacy agency that works with at-risk children, said the rate of non-parental care was not surprising, given the economic environment. Ms Holland said her grandson went to daycare to allow his parents to work, and the experience had been positive."I would have a different opinion if I saw [daycare was] not for his benefit." 

Professor Margaret Carr of Waikato University's Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research said many studies were being carried out on the impact of non-parental childcare.

She said it was increasingly common for babies to be in non-parental care and child/carer ratios and space were important when choosing a carer. 

Craig Merritt and Laurene Williams, whose son Cadell is part of the Leading Light pilot  group, said Cadell's Steiner daycare was like "a second home" for him. Ms Williams said they chose the Steiner daycare for Cadell because her good friend was running it.

"We wanted him to socialise with a larger group of children than you get with in-home care," she said. "He spends a day a week with my mum as well." 

For more of the key findings from the Now We Are Born see page B1 in tomorrow's Waikato Times or go to growingup.co.nz. 

louise.risk@waikatotimes.co.nz

- © Fairfax NZ News

Taking action to raise quality in early childhood education

 

Hon Hekia Parata - Press Release -  10 February, 2012

 Education Minister Hekia Parata has announced the establishment of two working groups to improve quality early childhood education for young children.

“We are taking action to make sure all early childhood education services are of the highest possible quality,” says Ms Parata.

“The early years of children’s lives are crucial for learning and development, and every single one of our children deserves the best education they can get.

“Some services are of very good quality but to make sure quality is improved throughout all services in New Zealand, we need the experience of experts within the sector to help us get this right.”
Ms Parata says the independent ECE Taskforce report An Agenda for Amazing Children, released in June 2011, emphasised the absolute need for all early childhood education to be of a consistent high quality.

“Children need this and parents and whanau need this. Parents told us during consultation that they want to know their children are being educated and cared for in the best possible environment. They want stronger action where services are poor quality, and they want more information and service accountability,” says Ms Parata.

The ECE advisory groups will provide advice on improving quality of ECE services sector-wide and improving quality of ECE services for under two year–olds.
“To achieve the changes we need experts from within the sector to help us find solutions,” says Ms Parata.

“The advisory groups are made up of people who understand the issues and challenges of early childhood education due to their experience and expertise.

“I look forward to the practical and workable solutions the advisory groups propose.''

Members were selected based on a number of factors, including experience knowledge and understanding of the sector. The first meetings will take place in late February, and the advisory groups will report back to the Government in April.

Any consequent change in respect of kōhanga reo will be the subject of consultation with Te Kōhanga Reo National Trust Board, including what results from the Trust Board’s claim before the Tribunal.

Improving quality of ECE services sector-wide advisory group members:

Nancy Bell
Clare Wells
Carol Stovold
Alex Gunn
Fiona Hughes
Maureen Woodhams
Janice Taouma
Karla Tardieu

Improving quality of ECE services for children aged less than two years advisory group members:

Jayne White
Dr Janis Carroll-Lind
Jean Rockel
Karen Shields
Natasha Kibble
Lorraine Sands
Carmen Dalli
Nadine Wishnowsky

 

Report claims day care causes stress for children

Many of you will have seen this report in various forms around the country. Not only is it being published widely in newspapers but many of the local radio stations are making comment and getting comment from community members. It is important to discuss these issues with families and to challenge some of the questionable research findings. Advocacy for high quality ECE for all young children is critical. Keeping some of the real concerns visible e.g. the appalling legal ratio levels for babies in our country. No infant should be cared for by someone who is also caring for another 4 babies. A ratio of 1 teacher to 5 babies must be challenged! 

Conservative lobby group Family First is using a report from a controversial academic to claim day care is detrimental to children.

The group issued today the report that claims spending long periods of time in day care, and away from parents, is detrimental to a child's long-term development.

However, the study, by Dr Aric Sigman, hit the headlines last year in Britain, where it was questioned by experts. Dr Sigman is also behind a 2009 claim that Facebook and other social networking sites cause cancer. He was accused of "cherry-picking" evidence and ignoring that which did not support this theory. 

Writing in The Guardian last year, Dorothy Bishop, professor of developmental neuropsychology at Oxford, disputed his claims and questioned his credentials.

"Sigman ignores or selectively reports evidence for this more nuanced position," she wrote. "He justifies his one-sided approach to the evidence on the basis that "while open-mindedness has its place in academia, it is a luxury children can't afford".

Family First commissioned its report, Who Cares, to look at the increasing number of children and infants spending time in early childhood education while their parents are at work. 

Advocates say staying at home with their children is a luxury that many parents can no longer afford. 

Hayley Whitaker, early childhood spokeswoman for the NZEI union, said parental policies in New Zealand were "abhorrent" compared to other countries.

"We should be able to give people the choice to be at home with their children. They shouldn't have to feel that they're forced back into the workforce." 

However, there was a lot of evidence to show high-quality early childhood education benefited children, she said. 

"Everything in moderation, really." 

That quality depended on having qualified teachers and better student teacher ratios.

In his report, Dr Sigman said the level of a stress hormone, cortisol, was increased in 70 to 80 per cent of children in centre-based care. The hormone is produced in response to fear and uncertainty and too much of it was linked to a lowered immune system, he said. 

"Attending daycare for an extended time, whether small-scale and home-based, or large-scale and centre-based, that routinely triggers stress in young children could have potential long-term consequences for their mental and physical health as adults."

High-quality care did not override the effects, the report said. 

"The degree of warmth and affection, particularly between mother and child, can curb a child's stress reactions and generally make a child more resilient to stressful and difficult situations later on."

Dr Sigman recommended fulltime parenting should be a child's right, that the status of fulltime mothers should be enhanced and the current 14 weeks' paid parental leave be extended considerably.

Child Poverty Action Group spokeswoman Susan St John said the problems in accessing day care were inflexibility and the high cost.

"It's like a contract and a commitment, which then gets parents trapped on to a treadmill, and at the end of the day they might be quite surprised when they do the sums to work out that actually they're not much further ahead."

None of that was concerned with what was best for the child, she said.

Labour social development spokeswoman Jacinda Ardern said financial constraints often forced parents back into work.

"Families need to be able to make the decisions around the care of these children that work best for them, but right now it's not a matter of choice for many of them."

Labour's policies of Working For Families tax credits and 20 hours' free early childhood education were not designed to push people into work but to allow families to make the best choice for them, she said.

"ECE is not about day care, it's about education at an appropriate length of time for our children."

Labour campaigned on extending paid parental leave to 26 weeks.

Plunket spokeswoman Nikki Hooper said people were increasingly aware of the importance of the early months in a child's life. The organisation advocates six months' parental leave. 

'KIDS SHOW NO SIGN OF STRESS'

 

For 4-year-old Archie Bills, day care is so much fun he never wants to leave.

His mother, Sarah, said he was usually reluctant to leave Childspace in Wilton when she went to pick him up at the end of the day. 

"He always tells me he loves his teachers," she said. 

The Karori boy had not shown any signs of stress and was settled and happy.

"If we saw anything like that he would be out of child care." 

Mrs Bills and her husband, Hamish, made sure they spent time together as a family in the weekends and took turns picking him up from the early learning centre.

Stay-at-home dad Tim Richards said the benefits of children in day care outweighed the negatives. He and his wife, Megan, chose to send their sons Jack, 9, and Sam, 3, to St Mary's Early Childhood Education Centre at a young age to help develop socialisation.

Jack, who started preschool at the age of 1, quickly adapted, while Sam, who went at 2, took a few months to adjust to the child care environment, he said.

Both boys flourished, with their speech skills improving quickly along with their social skills. 

"I've never heard any parents who sent their kids there say that they're stressed."

Former Wellingtonian Haydn Jones and wife Zanta moved to Taranaki with their children Marley, 2, and Archer, 5 months, a year ago because they wanted to raise their children themselves. "I think it's a luxury to be able to raise our kids ourselves, which in itself is sad."

Taskforce funding proposal will undermine 20 hours ECE

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 academics from the Universities of Waikato, Victoria, Canterbury and Otago have said they welcome the strong message of the ECE taskforce about the importance of prioritising early childhood education.

“At the level of principle there is a focus on system quality and many of the recommendations indicate a commitment to continuing 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, and provisions to promote innovation are excellent directions to follow.

“We also welcome the focus on encouraging leadership development within the sector- this is a new and long-overdue initiative”.   

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

The Taskforce states that it will “provide strongly differentiated payments for priority groups – Māori, Pasifika, children from lower socio-economic backgrounds and children with special education needs”. In this system, a universal approach is replaced by one that is much more targeted, with families outside the “priority” groups paying more. A targeted approach would not serve the best interests of “priority” children, and does not address the needs of children who are not deemed to be “priority”. There are issues about how to set criteria for “priority” and assess these, and problems about children outside the designated groups or at the margins who do not meet criteria missing out. There is a danger of ghettoizing “priority” children, when research is clear that children from disadvantaged homes do better in early childhood centres that have more advantaged children in the same group. Universal high quality education helps to diminish gaps in achievement between high and low socioeconomic families.   

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

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

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

ENDS   

For further information contact

Associate Professor Linda Mitchell, University of Waikato, phone 021 0239 1724

Professor Helen May, University of Otago, phone 021 279 3780 

Professor Carmen Dalli, Victoria University of Wellington, phone 021 140 9038

Associate Professor Judith Duncan, University of Canterbury, phone 027-330 4595

Professor Margaret Carr, University of Waikato, phone 021 480 984