Tauranga Regional Kindergarten Association

1 ERO’s Judgements

A Governing Organisation Evaluation evaluates the extent to which organisational conditions support equitable and excellent outcomes for all learners in the organisation’s services. Te Ara Poutama- indicators of quality for early childhood education: what matters most is the basis for making judgements about its effectiveness. The Governing Organisation Quality Evaluation Judgement Rubric derived from the indicators, is used to inform the ERO’s judgements about this organisation’s performance.

ERO’s judgement for Tauranga Regional Kindergarten Association is as follows:

ERO’s judgement Organisational Conditions

The organisation conditions encompass Ngā Akatoro | Domains of:

• Ngā Aronga Whai Hua | Evaluation for improvement
• Kaihautū | Leadership fosters collaboration and improvement
• Te Whakaruruhau | Stewardship through effective governance and management

2 Context of the Governing Organisation

Tauranga Regional Kindergarten Association Incorporated (trading as Inspired Kindergartens) is a community based non-profit early childhood organisation comprised of 25 kindergartens from Whangamatā to Murupara. Home-based education and care services are also provided. At the time of this evaluation all Tauranga Regional Free Kindergarten Association Incorporated services were on a full licence.

Governance is provided by an elected board. A Principal, along with Senior Teachers are responsible for the management and operations of the organisation's services. ‘Making the early years count’ is the association’s vision for all children.

Findings from ERO’s evaluation at the governance and organisational level included evaluating the extent to which Tauranga Regional Kindergarten Association strategic intentions, quality improvement systems, processes and practices support the provision of a quality curriculum at individual service level.

3 Summary of findings

Conditions supporting the organisation to effectively enact aspects of its vision, values, goals, and strategic objectives include:

• creating a positive and responsive environment that values and respects all children, teaching teams, and whānau
• promoting a collective responsibility, and commitment to kindergarten communities to support the ongoing progress of children’s learning and development
• relational trust that fosters autonomy, collaboration, and reflective practice
• targeted resourcing that supports children with diverse learning and complex needs  
• access to relevant professional learning and development that champions teaching and learning for improvement
• strategic recruitment and placement of leaders and teachers in kindergartens to meet the needs of children and whānau.

Improvement strategies and initiatives that the organisation is implementing well include:

• the te reo Māori me ōna tikanga programme honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Building teacher capability, supporting ongoing relationships with whānau Māori and mana whenua that further enhances positive outcomes for children
• Enviroschools and Education for Sustainability programmes that effectively engage children, teachers, and kindergarten communities. This encourages participation from parents and whānau supporting the value of kaitiakitanga
• the Aspiring Leaders programme that identifies and fosters future leaders to better support continuity and succession planning
• collaboration with relevant education providers, agencies, and community organisations to support the achievement of broader educational outcomes.

There is a process to undertake regular policy reviews for the association to be assured that the licensing criteria is maintained. Some refinement and regular monitoring of these systems, processes and practices is necessary.

Conditions to do and use internal evaluation are established. Senior teachers continue to build their shared understanding and practice of evaluation to support head teacher capability. The organisation’s strategic initiatives have yet to be evaluated to clearly illustrate:

• how well initiatives are being implemented
• how effective these initiatives are for teacher practice and positive outcomes for children
• the extent to which the strategic objectives are being monitored and progressed.

Pacific mentors provide some guidance that supports teachers growing knowledge, understanding and engagement with children of Pacific heritage, their families, and communities. The organisation has an expectation that all teachers complete its Tapasā: Cultural competencies framework for teachers of Pacific learners’ workshop to build teacher capability. Over time leaders should evaluate how effectively kindergartens implement a curriculum that reflects Pacific values and knowledge.

4 Summary of findings from visits to services

ERO visited a sample of 11 services to verify what Tauranga Regional Kindergarten Association knows about the quality of each of the services’ learning conditions and to what extent the organisational conditions support service improvement. ERO selected the service sample in consultation with the governing organisation.

The sampled services visited were within the Tauranga region and the surrounding areas. The kindergartens are led by experienced head teachers. Teaching teams are a combination of qualified and certificated staff. Some teams include permanent teacher aides and long-term relievers. All three senior teachers were part of the onsite visits.

Teaching practices and conditions that promote positive outcomes for children include:

• nurturing aroha and care, affirming children’s individuality and uniqueness
• prioritising learning-focused partnerships within the localised curriculum
• teaching teams that are responsive and know their children well as capable and confident learners
• establishing and maintaining effective relationships with external agencies and community networks to support the wellbeing of all children
• utilising te reo and te ao Māori authentically to strengthen bicultural practices
• incorporating children’s voice and whānau aspirations well through assessment practices that further supports the interests and needs of all learners
• creating natural environments that encourage children’s exploration and critical thinking
• learning spaces that are thoughtfully designed and intentionally arranged to maximise children’s curiosity and creativity
• implementing sustainable practices that encourage children to be kaitiaki of papatūānuku (guardians of the land).

5 Improvement actions

Prior to the next ERO evaluation Tauranga Regional Kindergarten Association will progress the following actions through its Quality Improvement Planning. These include:

• improving the monitoring of health and safety requirements
• embedding internal evaluation for improvement within the organisation including analysing the information gathered for the te reo Māori me ōna tikanga programme to identify areas of strength and for improvement and use this information to determine future direction
• undertaking an evaluation focused on how effectively Pacific values and knowledge are implemented in each kindergarten.

6 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

As part of this review, a representative of Tauranga Regional Kindergarten Association completed an ERO Governing Organisation Assurance Statement and Self-Audit Checklist. In these documents they stated that the organisation has the systems, processes, and practices to be assured that service providers for licensed services within the organisation are meeting legal requirements related to:

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

The licensed service provider/s of the sampled services listed at the end of this report also completed an ERO Assurance Statement and Self-Audit Checklist for their service. In these documents they attested that they have taken all reasonable steps to meet legal requirements, including those detailed in Ministry of Education Circulars and other documents, related to these areas.

All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.

7 Actions for Compliance

 During its visits to sample services ERO identified the following non-compliances:

Non-compliances

8 Next ERO Review

The next ERO review is likely to be in 14-18 months.

ERO will visit a different sample of services at that time.

Pat Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)

24 October 2023 

9 About the Governing Organisation

10 List of sampled services

All sampled services are on a full licence.

Services sampled in this evaluation: