New Zealand Kindergarten Inc - News Release

Wendy writes:
As many of you who are currently working in New Zealand Kindergartens will know, the latest budget cuts around trained teacher funding are going to have enormous implications for the kindergarten service. Below is the latest response from the NZ Kindergarten Inc.

News Release

CHILDREN LOSE OUT IN BUDGET CUTBACKS

New Zealand Kindergartens Inc, the national group representing 29 of the 33 Kindergarten associations across New Zealand, says that children could be the big losers in the budget announcement made today.

Funding at the top rate will be reduced by 12.6% in February 2011. NZ Kindergartens Chief Executive Clare Wells said: “We are deeply shocked at the Government’s decision to cut funding to Early Childhood Education services. As community-based, not-for-profit organisations, kindergartens rely on the funding from government to meet most of our costs.

“The budget will strip over $12 million per year from kindergarten budgets. We will have to make up the short-fall by cutting back spending which could jeopardise the quality of our service, or be forced to pass some costs onto parents. That means children could miss out.”

Currently, Early Childhood Education centres receive government funding at different rates, depending on their proportion of qualified teachers. Those employing 100% fully registered and qualified teachers, like Kindergarten, receive the highest funding rate. The budget cuts will see funds taken away from Kindergartens and other centres where more than 80% of teachers are fully qualified.
“The decision to take funding away from centres with between 80 - 100% qualified teaching staff is really short sighted. Employing qualified teachers is a mark of quality and we know children attending high quality services are likely to be more successful at school. The Government has increased funding over the years to improve quality so New Zealand can reap the rewards in the long term. These cuts undermine the investment made to date.

“There is little doubt that the cost cutting by the Government will have negative results, potentially reducing quality and participation. Either way, it is the children and the families that lose out. The benefits of quality Early Childhood Education are proven. This shortsighted decision could actually end up costing the Government more in the long run,” said Clare Wells.


For more information, please contact:
Clare Wells Tel: 04 495 3744
Chief Executive Mob: 0272 955 044
New Zealand Kindergarten Inc www.nzkindergarten.org.nz

THE NZ HERALD Monday, May 24, 2010

Wendy writes:
It was very disturbing to read the Herald on Monday and to discover how little is understood about the critical importance of trained teachers in early childhood settings. This atrocious act is attacking those providers of early childhood education in NZ who have worked the hardest to achieve the highest quality of provision for our youngest and most vunerable members of our society. While we would applaud the Government for addressing the issues of participation, we are gobsmacked at the lack of vision that has now been revealed. It is not just participation that is critical, but QUALITY PARTICIPATION. There is significant evidence in a number of robust research studies that for every $1 spent in early childhood education the Government saves at least $8. We hope that the wider community will continue these important conversations with their Members of Parliament.

The NZ Herald Editorial: Preschool Budget cuts right move

One of the more contentious decisions hidden in the Budget last Thursday was in the financing of early childhood education. The previous Government gave childcare centres an incentive to employ trained teachers, increasing their grants as they hired a greater proportion of qualified staff.
The Budget has done away with two of the highest bands of subsidy, effectively cutting funds to centres with more than 80 per cent of their staff trained.
It expects to save $280 million over four years out of an annual allocation for childcare that has risen from $428 million to $1.3 billion since Labour introduced its policy of 20 hours a week free for 3- and 4-year-olds and imposed staff training obligations.
Fewer than half the country's 4300 centres have more than 80 per cent of their teachers registered yet. The cost blowout over the past five years would have escalated further without the decision National has taken.
While the cut-off will save $295 million, Education Minister Anne Tolley plans to put $107 million back into other early education programmes, $91.8 million of it earmarked for Maori, Pacific and low-income areas.
Plainly, National does not regard specialist teaching of pre-school children to be quite as important as Labour did. It is probably right. When the previous Government imposed training requirements, there were loud objections from childcare companies that some capable and dedicated staff would be unable to meet these. National does not want to drum them out of the industry.
From next February, no centre will be funded for 100 per cent trained staff. Those that have more than 80 per cent will have to charge higher fees if they will not reduce their staffing costs. Fees may have to rise next year by $25-$42 a week. They will release public funds for those who would otherwise miss out.
The Childcare Association calls this a "brutal blow" which could affect more than 2000 teachers and 93,000 children. The primary teachers union, which includes early childhood teachers, said the Budget threatened to "dumb down" early education and punish those most committed to improving its quality.
But did childcare centres ever need to be fully staffed by trained teachers? Or was this a classic case of "qualification inflation". There are powerful interests at stake when training requirements are decided. Training institutions can expand, unions can enlist more members and base their pay claims on the qualifications required. Arguing against them can be difficult when the subject is children.
It is easy to insist little children deserve nothing but the best. And working parents who place their infants in childcare want to be assured on that score. But "the best" at this level might not require professional training. The best could include people with an aptitude for caring but not for academic study and tests. Checks on their performance can be reliably left to a competitive industry that must constantly satisfy observant parents.
The Government is right to direct more of its early education support to areas where children are missing out. It has chosen five community projects based on successful programmes in Counties-Manukau and Tamaki.
Pre-school attendance is of proven benefit to a child's later education and no child should miss out. But once kindergartens and playschool gave way to fulltime childcare, the teaching profession took control and the cost to the taxpayer rocketed. Something needed to be done. It seems reasonable to suggest that eight trained teachers out of 10 staff is a perfectly adequate ratio. It has the side benefit of keeping some unqualified but dedicated carers in the job.
Contentious the decision may be but it seems educationally harmless, socially equitable and financially necessary.

Wendy writes:
What follows is a very thoughtful response from Annemarie Quill of Tauranga which was published in The New Zealand Herald on Tuesday, May 25, 2010

BABIES NEED PROFESSIONALS, NOT NANAS

Annemarie Quill explains why the Budget is bad news for parents who want the best for their children.

Love babies? Become an early-childhood teacher. When applying for the job, leave out your degree.
A qualification will no longer be of value to centre owners if they already have their quota of 80 per cent of qualified staff. Last week's Budget cancelled the financial incentive to centres to employ 100 per cent qualified teachers.
The Government argues that 80 per cent is enough. There are unqualified childcare workers who have extensive experience. Many are mothers or grandmothers.
I am mum to a 6-year-old. I can't teach her primary school class to read. Sometimes I cut my daughter's fringe. It doesn't make me a hairdresser.
A piece of paper alone does not make a great teacher. But it should be a minimum benchmark for someone to whom we entrust our babies.
In other professional arenas we do not tolerate half-measures. We demand rigorous standards, which include both qualifications and experience.
We would decline an operation from a surgeon who learned his trade from Shortland Street.
We wouldn't choose a lawyer's practice where one in five doesn't have a law degree.
So why accept this dumbing down of standards for our youngest children?
With the number of New Zealand children in childcare mushrooming, particularly babies as young as 3 months, these children deserve care that is richly resourced.
The most valuable resources are professional staff. All the wooden blocks in the world cannot replicate teacher interactions.
The first five years of life are crucial for brain development. Poor early relationships cause devastation later in life.
While New Zealand's older children terrorise each other on the playground, drink themselves to death or stab their teachers, this Government is now committed to spending more on prisons than on quality care for babies.
The childcare sector has fought hard to be recognised as part of the education curve. Labour's funding policy was based on extensive research that children in care outside the home thrive with qualified teachers. The benefits last throughout school and beyond.
True, the Budget needed to address the spiralling cost to the taxpayer of childcare funding. But last week's cuts hurt the kids, not the industry.
The huge financial investment in the sector has not always filtered down to those it was meant for - the children.
Childcare is big business. Government funding, plus high parental fees, has made childcare the cash cow of the noughties-like retirement villages and rental property of previous years.
Witness the number of investors-many from overseas-who piled into the sector for financial motives. Their love of the alphabet is limited to the logos on shiny new Hiluxes.
These business owners will not take the Budget's hit on their bottom line. Instead, they will pass on the cost to parents in fees or "donations".
Centres may opt to focus on 3- or 4-year olds to benefit from the continuing 20 "free" hours subsidies.
This potentially leaves the growing number of under-2s in childcare with the least qualified staff. Yes, some loving and attentive. Others just cheap labour on minimum wage.
Centres who retain 100 per cent qualified teachers are likely to be unaffordable for many families. Most of our kids will be left 20 per cent of the time with the "love babies" brigade.
For those who doubt the dire human and economic consequences of poor quality childcare, a reminder of another booming industry sector which a previous National Government deregulated in the 90s.
Similiar funding cuts, a downgrade of the apprenticeship system, and relaxed regulations for 100 per cent qualified and registered professionals.
Love building anyone?

Annemarie Quill is a Tauranga writer, early childhood teacher and mother of three.

Three Professors of Education have their say!

Wendy writes:

I urge all teachers to share this press release with their families and to share their thoughts and concerns about the shifts in policy that are currently taking place in ECE in NZ. We are world leaders, and are considered by the rest of the world to be at the forefront of educational change. Our provision is regarded as one of the most outstanding in the world, we have had an enormous influence of early childhood provision internationally. We need to be talking about these issues with our local MP's. Take time to consider what you might do make visible what is currently happening to early childhood education in NZ.

Families should beware of the erosion of quality in Early Childhood Education, according to three Professors of Education

Families should be concerned about the steps that the government is taking to erode the quality of early childhood education in New Zealand, according to three Professors of Education, Helen May, Margaret Carr and Anne Smith.  The latest indication that cuts will be made to the funding for the Twenty Free Hours in the forthcoming budget, is just a further downward step in a long series of policy changes which are threatening the quality of New Zealand’s highly respected early childhood services.

Currently the discussions in the media are mostly about the cost to families. The cost of services is an important consideration for parents when they decide whether to enrol their children in early childhood education. Professors May, Carr & Smith hope the government will honour its election promise to keep the 20 Hours policy unchanged. They urge families to keep a critical eye on the quality of children’s experiences in centres, as well as on the cost. Government concerns about the 'trebling' in costs for early childhood education is in fact about the cost of policies intended to redress a long tail of: underfunding, low qualification levels, poor quality and high costs to parents. These successes are now under threat.

“Although this government has been keen to raise standards, it runs a great risk of undermining the quality of education in New Zealand by eroding some key aspects of the work in the early childhood sector. Children in quality early childhood do well at school, and this erosion is an example of inconsistent and disconnected policies” said Professor Margaret Carr at the University of Waikato. She added: “I fear that there may be more reduction of quality to come, seriously threatening the ability of the early childhood sector to work with families to provide the foundations for resourceful caring and imaginative citizens who love learning and know how to learn. Early years teachers work with children at an important time for brain development, and their work is highly skilled”.

Since coming to power, the government has removed or lowered expectations in a number of areas which influence quality.  These include:- 

• the axing of professional development programmes for early childhood teachers to support implementing the early childhood curriculum;
• cancelling the Centres of Innovation scheme - a project which showcased innovative practice to inspire other centres;
• reducing to 80%, and extending the time frame, of the 100% goal of qualified  and registered early childhood teachers in all centres; 
• reducing to 50% the requirement for qualified and registered teachers in provision for under-twos;  rescinding previously agreed improvements in the ratios of teachers to children;
• reducing the training incentive grants

Centres which have 100% qualified staff, beyond requirements, are hugely concerned that the funding to pay teachers salaries linked to the number of qualified staff will be similarly cut back. Families will be concerned about this too.

“What happens to young children matters a lot, and if children don’t have access to top quality early childhood education during the early years, it is a missed opportunity to have a positive impact on their lifelong learning”, according to Emeritus Professor Anne Smith from the University of Otago. 

Professor Smith says that the evidence is overwhelming that in-depth teacher education is one of the most important elements of quality, which has long-term effects on young children’s learning, and she finds it inexplicable that the government is lowering expectations for early childhood training.  Under twos are particularly vulnerable to poor quality, so it’s just as important for people working with under two year-olds to be qualified as it is for older children.

Professor Helen May, Dean of the University of Otago College of Education reports that, “For some years New Zealand has been internationally regarded as a flagship in creating the necessary infrastructure of early childhood policy around issues of quality, qualifications, access and curriculum. There was still more to do, and the undermining of these policies is dispiriting, and even embarrassing, as there is continuing worldwide interest in our policy initiatives”.

Professors May, Carr and Smith are early childhood researchers who have had a major part in the development of early childhood policies in New Zealand for the last 30 years.

Professor Helen May
Dean University of Otago College of Education.

Emeritus Professor Anne Smith

University of Otago College of Education

Professor Margaret Carr

University of Waikato

Hawaiki’s Poppas’ Shirt

Louise was helping my grandson, Hawaiki, now 2 years and 5 months old, get dressed for a funeral. She showed him the shirt his uncle had given him. It was a lovely, checked shirt, with long sleeves and button-down pockets. He slid his arms in the sleeves and looked at it intently and helped the buttons get done up. He jumped off the couch, stood himself up as tall as a grandfather, smoothed his shirt and proudly said, “this a Poppas shirt, eh”. We all agreed that it did look like the checked shirts his Poppa so often likes to wear.

This episode set me to thinking. How do you know at two years old what a 'Poppa’s' shirt looks like? And also, does wearing a Poppa’s shirt mean that he has a new ‘possible learner self’? This man, his Poppa, whom he observes closely, has dispositions, habits, and clothes worthy of imitation. A Poppa - learning hero - who reads stories, plays trains, roars and chases him through the house, throws him high in the air and takes him driving on the farm motorbike. The learning hero who, when the farm bike's motor doesn’t start the first, fourth, or fifth time keeps trying calmly, solves the problem, and is justly rewarded with a bike ride around the farm. We know that Hawaiki and all children, observes closely and has a brain that is wired to imitate the people around him. The people he loves and those that love him, become his learning heroes.

Guy Claxton, in his foreword to Learning Power Heroes, reminds us “So we must be careful to be at our learning best around young children, especially if they like or admire us, for their ‘heroes’ are the people whose habits they will find most contagious. Capitalising on this rubbing-off of learning habits gives us a powerful way of influencing children’s development – for good or ill.” (p.1)

As life-long learners, children, and indeed our-selves too, deserve to engage with and relate to many positive learning heroes and, ‘try on’ a whole variety of shirts while exploring possible learner selves.

Who are your super learner heroes?

What of their habits, attributes or dispositions might be most contagious?

References:

Carr, M. (20 April 2010) Lecture; Learning Pathways and Learning Journeys: possible learner selves.

Delaney, R. Day, L. and Chambers, M. (2009) Learning Power Heroes. TLO Limited. Henleaze House, Harbury Road, Bristol BS9 4PN. ISBN 978 901219 53 1

We were having lunch at a cafe after taking the long route on our bicycle to get groceries. The gentleman sitting next to us had watched us park the tandem outside and nodded hello and we began a conversation. My husband commented that it had been a hard ride and we were very hungry. He patted him on the leg and said- “at least you are still able to cycle”. He told us he was ‘more than 90’ and still rode his bike. He said the pleasure was in still being able to make the pedals go round. He also told us he didn’t mind the hills, it was worth the effort because the joy was in the downhills. I made up my mind that I wanted to have that attitude when I was ‘more than 90’.

It reminded me of how I do actually love the struggle of cycling up hills because there are no words to describe the feeling of getting to the top, often pausing to relish the view (and catch my breath) then experiencing the absolute joy of going down hill.
I’m wondering if I would feel the same if I didn’t have to make the effort to get to the top-probably not. It is the whole not the part that is what makes it for me.

Similarly with other experiences, when we can look back on the effort, the joy in getting to the end is more intense. How does this fit with the concepts of learning goals and performance goals? Yes the goal is the top of the hill, but the joy is the getting there. If I were to take a bus in the forest to only go down the mountain bike paths then I would be orienting to performance goals. But I will never take that bus-unless perhaps I am more than 90!

When visiting centres there is such a difference when children are more focused on learning goals- where the purpose is to enjoy the struggle, collaborate, argue, problem solve and revisit ideas until satisfied. In places such as these there is always a buzz of conversation, engaged teachers and children who are ready to share their current working theories. The journey to the tops of the hill may be short or long, but seeing children relishing the challenge of the journey is a wonderful thing to see.
I think the discussions over Learning Goals versus Performance Goals will be increasingly important as teachers think about the purpose behind the ‘activity’; particularly as our colleagues in other sectors are confronted with the requirements of a Performance Goals approach to assessment.

Conversations with Pen Green

Recently I had the very good fortune of visiting early childhood settings across the northern part of New Zealand with Felicity Norton and Tracy Gallager from Pen Green in the UK. This was Trace and Fliss’s first visit to New Zealand and I was their very lucky companion, charged with the task of introducing them to the diversity that we celebrate here, as centres across the country respond to the children and families in their communities. It is that very real privilege that Te Whāriki affords us - a values driven curriculum that shuns prescriptive practice and calls on us to be the very best we can be, through Principles that teachers across the country have grown to cherish. We saw such diversity and yet the commonality was the passion and commitment of teachers to implement wise practice and build vibrant learning communities. There was also a burning interest to learn about the ways Pen Green has worked over many years to provide wrap around services for its community through growing everyone’s leadership potential. We had much in common and much to learn from each other. I suspect this is what happens when people have an open mind and a thirst to consider other perspectives. Yet one thing seemed clear to us all, what ever we take on board we must make it uniquely our own because there is no such thing as a recipe!

Fliss and Tracy were first time fishers and no manner of wild, teasing stories of sharks would deter them from trying this experience. Yet it seems fact is truly stranger than fiction, for we could not have orchestrated the experience better if we had paid that very inquisitive mako shark to circle around our boat. Stranger still, as we inadvertently hooked it, causing it to leap out of the water several times, our reputation for adventure was catapulted into the realm of legend. When I visited Pen Green several years ago I was entranced by the British countryside and the village houses with 1647 and the like inscribed above their doors. It seemed to me that the lanes where hedgerows almost touched each other and the churches that entombed knights of old were straight out of my childhood storybooks. This contrasted so drastically with the history of displacement, unemployment and poverty that has marked the community in Corby where Pen Green is located. Across New Zealand we also have our own challenges and yet as we discussed together what connects us, it seemed to us to be all around the way we endeavour to build communities that are resourceful and resilient. Teachers who have high expectations of children’s competency; teachers who work hard to make their settings vibrant sites for investigation; teachers who listen attentively to children’s interests and nurture their dispositions to be life long learners and work in partnership with families make a difference to children’s life chances.

During those two weeks many teachers had the opportunity to have conversations with Fliss and Tracy and I keep hearing and getting emails about how inspiring the workshops and visits were. It has been a chance for us to articulate what Te Whāriki means for us as we learn and teach in our own communities, reaffirm the things we love so much about our lives here in Aotearoa and the ways we build powerful learning communities. There has also been a drive to stretch our imaginations to think about how we might respond to some of the exciting initiatives we heard from Pen Green. Fliss and Tracy have said they go back with much to consider also and each of us will find ways that connect with our own settings. It is just as well they have a movie of the shark because that may just have been too improbable for their colleagues to believe - a wild fishing tale impossibly true!

Comic Life

So far this year some of the work I have been doing with my centres has involved supporting teachers as they learn about different aspects of the programme Comic Life. I have been reminded again, what a fabulous programme this is. It works on both Mac and PC platforms and can be as simple as inserting photos with small amounts of text, to using it for your Learning Stories, making books and other possibilities too many to list!
What a fabulous way to involve children in self assessment by using Comic Life and supporting children as they select and insert their photos. You might use the speech bubbles to write in the discussion the child has with you about. Recently I worked with some children as they selected photos from a trip and they shared with me what had interested them in the photo and then we got on to talking about other aspects of the trip they enjoyed. I had some fabulous discussions!
It is also an easy way of inserting learning stories into e-portfolios as you are not doubling up on the work as you can print of a copy for the child’s portfolio and insert one easily into a blog as an image.

If you work in an Early Childhood Centre you can buy this software for $4.00 per machine which is an absolute bargain - just do a New Zealand Google search for Comic Life and the Bulk License will be one of the first links to come up in the search.
Cheers
Jo