NZHECEA Welcomes Recommendations to Improve Quality

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

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