scholarly journals Analysing the Early Childhood Qualification Implementation: The Experience of Montessori Centres

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sola Freeman
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Support Intervention ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
The Impact

In 2002, the Ministry of Education in New Zealand released Pathways to the Future: Nga Huarahi Arataki. This 10-year strategic plan for early childhood education was the culmination of years of advocacy, research and consultation within the early childhood sector. A key component of the plan was a staged requirement for teachers in positions of “person responsible” in early childhood centres to have a Diploma of Teaching ECE or equivalent qualification. This article analyses the impact of the first stage of the qualification requirement, using the results of a small qualitative study of six Montessori early childhood centres in Wellington, and reviews the context, literature and policy issues that inspired and drove the policy requirement. It concludes that practical difficulties for centres and their teachers to upgrade means there is a need to supervise the support, intervention and creative strategies used to ensure no one is left behind, and diversity within early childhood education in New Zealand is maintained.

scholarly journals Unintended Consequences: the Montessori Story of the Early Childhood Education Qualification  Requirement - 2000-2007

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Sola Freeman
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Need For Support ◽  
Key Policy ◽  
The Impact

<p>In 2002, the Ministry of Education in New Zealand released Pathways to the Future: Nga Huarahi Arataki. This 10year strategic plan for early childhood education was the culmination of years of advocacy, research and consultation within the early childhood sector. A key component of the plan is a staged requirement for teachers in early childhood centres to have a Diploma of Teaching ECE or equivalent qualification. The study analyses the impact on the Montessori early childhood sector of the requirement that teachers in a centre be qualified with a Diploma or equivalent. This thesis draws on the results of a qualitative study involving interviews with key policy informants and focus groups of teachers and the story that emerges describes the complexities, frustrations and positive outcomes for centres and their teachers. The story points to a need for support, intervention and creative strategies to ensure no part of the early childhood sector is left behind, and diversity within early childhood education in New Zealand is maintained. The final outcome of the study raises the dilemma faced by the Montessori community; how can the approach accommodate the current ideas of early childhood education brought to centres through the policy requirement and remain identifiably Montessori?</p>

scholarly journals Unintended Consequences: the Montessori Story of the Early Childhood Education Qualification  Requirement - 2000-2007

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Sola Freeman
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Need For Support ◽  
Key Policy ◽  
The Impact

<p>In 2002, the Ministry of Education in New Zealand released Pathways to the Future: Nga Huarahi Arataki. This 10year strategic plan for early childhood education was the culmination of years of advocacy, research and consultation within the early childhood sector. A key component of the plan is a staged requirement for teachers in early childhood centres to have a Diploma of Teaching ECE or equivalent qualification. The study analyses the impact on the Montessori early childhood sector of the requirement that teachers in a centre be qualified with a Diploma or equivalent. This thesis draws on the results of a qualitative study involving interviews with key policy informants and focus groups of teachers and the story that emerges describes the complexities, frustrations and positive outcomes for centres and their teachers. The story points to a need for support, intervention and creative strategies to ensure no part of the early childhood sector is left behind, and diversity within early childhood education in New Zealand is maintained. The final outcome of the study raises the dilemma faced by the Montessori community; how can the approach accommodate the current ideas of early childhood education brought to centres through the policy requirement and remain identifiably Montessori?</p>

Superdiversity and critical multicultural pedagogies: Working with migrant families

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 560-573 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angel Chan
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Large Population ◽  
Migrant Children ◽  
Population Projections ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Critical Multiculturalism ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Demographic Shifts

International social unrest in recent years has resulted in many people choosing or being forced to leave their home countries to seek better lives elsewhere, causing drastic demographic shifts. Yet, it has been pointed out that institutional policies and practices in many countries have not caught up with such changing demographics, which have contributed to concerns highlighted via the notion of ‘superdiversity’ ( Vertovec, 2007 ). Due to the large influx of migrants over the past few decades, New Zealand and its early childhood education settings have become increasingly ethnically and linguistically diverse. The country is now being described as a ‘superdiverse New Zealand’ and is facing challenges emerging from ‘a level of cultural complexity surpassing anything previously experienced’ ( Royal Society of New Zealand, 2013 : 1). Furthermore, population projections ( Statistics New Zealand, 2015 ) indicate that superdiversity will be a long-term phenomenon in New Zealand. Te Whāriki, the New Zealand early childhood curriculum, embraces diversity, recognising that the country ‘is increasingly multicultural’ ( Ministry of Education, 2017 : 1). In light of these concerns, this article considers the frameworks of superdiversity and critical multiculturalism with regard to transforming and developing policies and pedagogies that support working with superdiverse migrant children and their families by responding to migration-related equity and inclusion issues. This discussion has implications and relevance for both present and future early childhood education settings in New Zealand and in other countries with a large population of migrants.

Using ePortfolios in early childhood education: Recalling, reconnecting, restarting and learning

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 376-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracey Hooker
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Formative Assessment ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Doctoral Study ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Children’S Learning ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Children's Learning

Portfolios are widely used in New Zealand for documenting children’s learning; there is now an increasing move to online ePortfolios. This article presents findings from a doctoral study which investigated the impact of the introduction of ePortfolios in an early childhood education setting where traditional paper-based portfolios were previously used as the formative assessment tool for children’s learning. The findings demonstrate that a significant benefit of the ePortfolio system used in this study was the ways in which they could support children to revisit their learning and become involved in their own formative assessment. This is described as recalling, reconnecting and restarting. Through participating in these processes, children become active contributors to their own learning journeys which is a significant factor of formative assessment.

Early Childhood Programs in Latin America

1980 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 481-495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Halpern
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Latin American ◽  
The Political ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Early Childhood Programs ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Latin American Countries

Robert Halpern examines the role played by early childhood education programs in the development efforts of several Latin American countries. He presents a brief historical overview of these programs, and then describes and assesses the impact of several types of programs currently in operation. Outlining some of the political and policy issues that underlie early childhood education, he offers recommendations for improving its effectiveness as a vehicle for development.

Barriers to and facilitators of inclusion and equity in the workplace for diverse early childhood kaiako

2021 ◽  
pp. 25-30
Author(s):  
Veronica Griffiths ◽  
Erin Hall ◽  
Derek Hartley ◽  
Fleur Hohaia-Rollinson ◽  
Karen Illston ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Early Learning ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand

He Taonga te Tamaiti, Every Child a Taonga: Early Learning Action Plan 2019–2029 (Ministry of Education, 2019) presents goals directed towards strengthening quality provision in early childhood education (ECE) in Aotearoa New Zealand, including actions needed to attract and retain a diverse range of kaiako in the sector. Because “Kaiako are the key resource in any ECE service” (Ministry of Education, 2017, p. 59), they must feel safe, included, valued, and respected within early learning services and have good working conditions. We surveyed early childhood kaiako to find out more about the barriers to and facilitators of inclusion and equity in the workplace for diverse kaiako. The findings show that more can and should be done at all levels to support and protect the rights, wellbeing, belonging, mana, and needs of diverse kaiako in ECE.

scholarly journals Assessment in New Zealand Early Childhood Education:  A Foucauldian Analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Emma Buchanan
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Assessment For Learning ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Narrative Assessment ◽  
Regulatory Effects ◽  
The Government ◽  
Foucauldian Analysis

<p>This thesis aims to problematise and denaturalise the current dominant, empowerment infused early childhood education (ece) assessment discourse in Aoteaora New Zealand through a Foucauldian discourse analysis. It addresses a two-part question: How is contemporary ece assessment constructed in New Zealand, and, what is effected by this construction? Texts about contemporary ece assessment in New Zealand written by local ece scholars and practitioners as well as narrative assessment examples drawn from the Ministry of Education (2004) Kei Tua o te Pae, Assessment for Learning: Early Childhood Exemplars resource provide data for the analysis. The analysis is conducted in procedurally specified as well as open, associative, and playful modes. Contemporary ece assessment in New Zealand is found to be constructed as a new, post-developmental, morally desirable and secular salvation practice that is underpinned by principles of social justice, plurality and diversity. However, a consideration of key discursive truth-objects and their mobilisation within narrative assessments suggests that ece assessment may be implementing a boundless and normalising regime for the government of selves and others, and producing significant regulatory effects for children, teachers and whānau/ family. It is argued that ece assessment, as a technology of government, works to construct self responsible, self optimising, and permanently performing child-subjects. Such norms for self government map closely onto those that are promoted within neoliberal governmentalities. Ece assessment can therefore, at least in part, be understood as both a technique and effect of neoliberal rationalities of government. The ongoing status and dominant construction of ece assessment as an empowering, socially just practice is seen to be problematic. It stifles debate about early childhood spaces, and it is implicated in the constraint of multiple possibilities for the government of selves and others.</p>

Can we belong in a neo-liberal world? Neo-liberalism in early childhood education and care policy in Australia and New Zealand

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 328-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frances Press ◽  
Christine Woodrow ◽  
Helen Logan ◽  
Linda Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Social Solidarity ◽  
Care Policy ◽  
Social Good ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
A Site ◽  
The Impact

Since the 1990s, neo-liberal economics has profoundly altered the nature and delivery of early childhood education and care in both Australia and New Zealand through the creation of childcare markets. Accompanying the rise of the market has been a discourse of childcare as a commodity – a commodity marketed and sold to its consumers (read parents) as a private benefit. The stratifying impact of neo-liberalism in education policy has been argued by numerous scholars of education. Arguably, in both Australia and New Zealand, early childhood education and care is more commodified and subject to the market than any other area of education. Thus, the authors consider whether early childhood education and care has shifted away from being understood as a social good, a site for social cohesion and democratic practice – all of which the authors consider to be implicated in a conceptualisation of belonging appropriate to the project of early childhood education and care. This article considers the impact of neo-liberal policies on early childhood education and care in Australia and New Zealand, especially in relation to understandings and manifestations of ‘belonging’. The authors trace the impact of neo-liberalism in early childhood education and care policy and examine the ways in which the discourse of early childhood education and care provision has changed, both in policy and in how the market makes its appeal to parents as consumers. The authors argue that appeals to narrowly defined, individualised self-interest and advancement threaten understandings of belonging based on social solidarity and interdependence.

scholarly journals Early Childhood Education and Care: Learning from Finland

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Tarr
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Care Policy ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
Thematic Review ◽  
Comparative Information

In 2002 a long-term strategic plan for New Zealand early childhood education and care (ECEC) provision was announced with three goals, those of increased participation, improved quality and the promotion of collaboration. To realise these goals, New Zealand can learn much from Finland. Finland participated in the Thematic Review of Early Childhood Education and Care Policy project conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2000. The purpose of the project was to provide comparative information to help inform ECEC policy-making in OECD countries. This article reviews the OECD report on Finland. An outline of Finnish ECEC provision is briefly described and a brief critique of some Finnish ECEC issues is provided. The article concludes with some comparisons with New Zealand ECEC policy issues.

scholarly journals Assessment in New Zealand Early Childhood Education:  A Foucauldian Analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Emma Buchanan
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Assessment For Learning ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Narrative Assessment ◽  
Regulatory Effects ◽  
The Government ◽  
Foucauldian Analysis

<p>This thesis aims to problematise and denaturalise the current dominant, empowerment infused early childhood education (ece) assessment discourse in Aoteaora New Zealand through a Foucauldian discourse analysis. It addresses a two-part question: How is contemporary ece assessment constructed in New Zealand, and, what is effected by this construction? Texts about contemporary ece assessment in New Zealand written by local ece scholars and practitioners as well as narrative assessment examples drawn from the Ministry of Education (2004) Kei Tua o te Pae, Assessment for Learning: Early Childhood Exemplars resource provide data for the analysis. The analysis is conducted in procedurally specified as well as open, associative, and playful modes. Contemporary ece assessment in New Zealand is found to be constructed as a new, post-developmental, morally desirable and secular salvation practice that is underpinned by principles of social justice, plurality and diversity. However, a consideration of key discursive truth-objects and their mobilisation within narrative assessments suggests that ece assessment may be implementing a boundless and normalising regime for the government of selves and others, and producing significant regulatory effects for children, teachers and whānau/ family. It is argued that ece assessment, as a technology of government, works to construct self responsible, self optimising, and permanently performing child-subjects. Such norms for self government map closely onto those that are promoted within neoliberal governmentalities. Ece assessment can therefore, at least in part, be understood as both a technique and effect of neoliberal rationalities of government. The ongoing status and dominant construction of ece assessment as an empowering, socially just practice is seen to be problematic. It stifles debate about early childhood spaces, and it is implicated in the constraint of multiple possibilities for the government of selves and others.</p>

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