PAUA Early Childhood - Taihape - 13/03/2013

• On this page:

• 1 The Education Review Office (ERO) Evaluation
• 2 The Focus of the Review
• 3 Management Assurance on Compliance Areas
• 4 Future Action
• About the Service

1 The Education Review Office (ERO) Evaluation

PAUA (preschoolers at home uniquely achieving) provides home-based education and care for young children within communities throughout New Zealand. PAUA’s Christian philosophy is strongly reflected in the way the service advocates for all children, acknowledging their rights to high quality and inclusive early childhood education.

PAUA educators receive positive support from visiting teachers who guide their practice and build reciprocal relationships with children and their families. The team leader inducts and supports visiting teachers. The founding director is the overall manager, providing vision and inspiration to the team of visiting teachers, educators and administration staff. Parents are assisted to choose the educator’s home that best suits them and their child. Care and education is flexible to meet the different requirements of families and whānau.

Children experience warm and responsive interactions with adults and each other. Professional leaders and educators work cooperatively to create appropriate environments and activities that promote children’s development and exploration. Visiting teachers provide high quality resources for educators to use in responding to children’s interests. Leaders promote a culture of critical reflection. The early childhood curriculum Te Whāriki underpins teacher and educator practice.

Visiting teachers actively promote te ao Māori within the curriculum. They acknowledge children in the context of whānau and the wider community. Māori children’s identity is recognised.

Management takes all reasonable steps to provide safe physical and emotional home environments.

Future Action

ERO is likely to carry out the next review in three years.

2 The Focus of the Review

All ERO education reviews in early childhood focus on the quality of education. For ERO this includes the quality of:

• the programme provided for children
• the learning environment
• the interactions between children and adults.

The Quality of Education

Background

This is the first ERO review for the Taihape Network. PAUA philosophy underpins practice. A team of visiting teachers inducted and supported by the team leader, guide and assist educators.

Review Findings

Governance and management personnel have a good understanding of, and capacity, to carry out their roles and responsibilities. Ongoing reflective practice for themselves, visiting teachers and educators is valued and supported. Planned strategies to build leadership capability enhance positive outcomes for children. Visiting teachers have a clear understanding of review for improvement and pass this on to educators through conversations and written feedback. Rigorous processes guide and monitor health and safety practice in educators' homes.

Leaders model the importance of relationships, based on mutual respect and trust. Teachers and educators seek and value parent and whānau aspirations and expectations, working collaboratively and responsively to achieve them.

Visiting teachers identify possible learning pathways for children and educators. They effectively model assessing and documenting children’s learning. Information and communication technologies are used successfully to capture and communicate children’s learning.

Educators have opportunities to become leaders through organising events and contributing to documentation of children’s development. PAUA management supports educators financially to gain higher early childhood education qualifications.

Leaders have identified and ERO agrees that visiting teachers and educators should:

• continue to investigate ways to include a stronger parent and whānau contribution to children’s learning and assessment
• continue to strengthen communication between visiting teachers and families.

Children engage in a wide range of child-initiated, play-based experiences. Many educators access community playgroups and events to provide children and adults with additional activities and regular social interaction in a larger group. Educators, who spoke with ERO, acknowledge these opportunities as a useful way of networking with other adults and sharing ideas.

Educators, whose homes were part of the sample visited by ERO, demonstrate respectful and affirming relationships with children. They promote and model positive values and behaviours. Children’s interactions with each other are amicable and enjoyable. Educators nurture and respond sensitively to children’s physical and emotional needs. Children with diverse needs are accepted and supported to fully participate in and contribute to a programme based on their interests.

Leaders display a strong commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and developing a bicultural curriculum through partnerships, policies and practices. They recognise and ERO agrees that:

• visiting teachers should further develop cultural practice and continue to share and model this with educators.

PAUA leaders successfully establish a culture in which children are first and foremost valued, celebrated and affirmed for who they are and what they bring to their learning.

3 Management Assurance on Compliance Areas

Overview

Before the review, the management and staff of PAUA Early Childhood - Taihape completed an ERO Home-Based Education and Care Assurance Statement and Self-Audit Checklist. In these documents they attested that they had taken all reasonable steps to meet their legal obligations related to:

• curriculum standard
• premises and facilities standard
• health and safety practices standard
• governance management and administration standard.

During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on outcomes for children:

• emotional safety (including behaviour management, prevention of bullying and abuse)
• physical safety (including behaviour management, sleeping and supervision practices; accidents and medication; hygiene and routines; travel and excursion policies and procedures)
• staff qualifications and organisation
• evacuation procedures and practices for fire and earthquake.

4 Future Action

ERO is likely to carry out the next review in three years.

Joyce Gebbie

National Manager Review Services

Central Region (Acting)

13 March 2013

About the Service