Building Blocks

1 Evaluation of Building Blocks

How well placed is Building Blocks to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.

Background

Building Blocks is a privately owned Homebased Care Service in the Manawatu, based in Palmerston North. Since the February 2014 ERO report, the service has grown to two networks. This ERO report is on Building Blocks Network One.

Day-to-day organisation and oversight are shared by the manager and two coordinators. The coordinators oversee the teaching and learning programmes and environments provided for children in educators' homes.

The service is licensed for 80 children up to five years of age, for five days a week. At the time of this review the roll is 63. Of these, 25 children identify as Māori and two as of Pacific heritage. The
in-home educators include Māori and Pacific people.

The philosophy of Building Blocks emphasises the importance of valuing and supporting families. Building partnerships and reciprocal, responsive relationships with parents and whānau are fostered as a firm foundation for children's learning.

There has been some progress across the areas for development and review identified in the previous ERO report.

The Review Findings

Children engage in positive relationships with each other and adults. Information from parents affirms educators' focus on children experiencing positive education and care. Infants and toddlers are well supported to engage with other children. Parents discuss and agree to their child's routines. A focus on child-led learning is encouraged. Children's interests are fostered.

Children benefit from a range of learning experiences in educators’ homes and in the local community. Many attend Building Blocks playgroups and planned outings that provide new challenges and opportunities to socialise. The service and coordinators provide a wide variety of materials to support educators to develop learning experiences for the children. 

Home visits by the manager and coordinators are used well to check that health and safety requirements are met and there are suitable experiences for children.

Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, guides educators in their understanding about assessment, planning and evaluation of children's learning. The coordinators model appropriate practice.

Children's learning is recorded and shared with families and whānau. Coordinators provide positive guidance, new ideas and prompts for educators to develop and extend learning. The educator manual provides expectations for teaching and learning.

Parents’ aspirations, input and feedback are valued. A focus has been to strengthen relationships between educators, families and whānau. An online platform has been introduced to further extend opportunities for educators, families and whānau to communicate about children's education and care.

Professional development is supporting the service to develop systems and processes. These are designed to more readily focus on coordinators and educators promoting children as competent capable learners.

Coordinators support best practice for educators who facilitate infants' learning and development. There is a focus on age appropriate environments and resources. Journals and daily books are used to record routines and learning. Child placement practices are well considered.

Literacy, mathematics, arts, science and physical play are richly woven through learning programmes. Coordinators feedback to educators and record children’s emerging interests and suggestions for development. Communication with parents about children's wellbeing and progress is shared regularly face-to-face, in photographs and through emails.

A well-considered curriculum design for planning of learning has been developed, but yet to be fully implemented. Assessment practice needs strengthening. Coordinators support educators to develop planning. A next step is to improve coordinators' visit notes so that they include ideas about educators’ next stages of development as learning facilitators. Continued focus on helping educators understand and describe children’s learning should be useful.

Te ao Māori knowledge and understanding are valued. A management strategy has been to source Māori expertise to develop and build educators' Te Tiriti o Waitangi-based practice. Māori coordinators also guide processes. Understanding of Pacific knowledge and cultures is shared by Pacific educators.

Children's transition to school is well-considered. Coordinators visit educators to assist with questionnaires and 'Journey to School' books to support children and families.

Children with additional learning needs are welcomed. Coordinators are aware of community support and resources to assist participation of these children in learning programmes.

Management and coordinators demonstrate commitment to their roles. Open communication and positive relations are evident. Professional learning and development opportunities are sought to lift capability. 

A new appraisal process is being implemented in 2017 and has the potential to enhance coordinators' professional growth and positive outcomes for children. Management agrees that a next step is to articulate clearly through the framework and policy requirements for:

• frequency of meetings and how they will be documented
• goals that are measurable
• formal observations by appraisers
• constructive feedback
• mentoring and coaching.

The service has developed but not yet implemented a new internal evaluation framework. This is supporting development of systems and processes focused more clearly on promoting children as competent capable learners. A next step is to build greater knowledge and understanding of the purpose and use of internal evaluation in improving learning outcomes for children.

Management and coordinator continuity supports sustainability. Strategic and annual planning, and regular review are in place at governance level to support continuous improvement. However, updated guidelines for curriculum and operation have yet to be fully implemented.

Key Next Steps

Management and leaders should:

• develop and implement an educator appraisal process and fully implement the new appraisal procedure for coordinators that includes teacher inquiry, observations and coaching
• build leaders' knowledge and understanding of internal evaluation
• extend the quality of the teaching and learning
• implement the curriculum design with a focus on children as learners
• continue to build knowledge of te reo me ngā tikanga Māori.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Building Blocks completed an ERO Home-based Education and Care Assurance Statement and Self-Audit Checklist. In these documents they attested that they have taken all reasonable steps to meet their legal obligations related to:

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

During the review, ERO looked at the service’s systems for managing the following areas that have a potentially high impact on children's wellbeing:

• emotional safety (including positive guidance and child protection)
• physical safety (including supervision; sleep procedures; accidents; medication; hygiene; excursion policies and procedures)
• suitable staffing (including qualification levels; police vetting; teacher registration; ratios)
• evacuation procedures and practices for fire and earthquake.

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

Next ERO Review

When is ERO likely to review the service again?

The next ERO review of Building Blocks will be in three years.

Patricia Davey
Deputy Chief Review Officer Central (Acting)

Te Tai Pokapū - Central Region

7 November 2017 

The Purpose of ERO Reports

The Education Review Office (ERO) is the government department that, as part of its work, reviews early childhood services throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. ERO’s reports provide information for parents and communities about each service’s strengths and next steps for development. ERO’s bicultural evaluation framework Ngā Pou Here is described in SECTION 3 of this report. Early childhood services are partners in the review process and are expected to make use of the review findings to enhance children's wellbeing and learning. 

2 Information about the Home-based Education and Care Service 

3 General Information about Early Childhood Reviews

ERO’s Evaluation Framework

ERO’s overarching question for an early childhood education review is ‘How well placed is this service to promote positive learning outcomes for children?’ ERO focuses on the following factors as described in the bicultural framework Ngā Pou Here:

• Pou Whakahaere – how the service determines its vision, philosophy and direction to ensure positive outcomes for children
• Pou Ārahi – how leadership is enacted to enhance positive outcomes for children
• Mātauranga – whose knowledge is valued and how the curriculum is designed to achieve positive outcomes for children
• Tikanga whakaako – how approaches to teaching and learning respond to diversity and support positive outcomes for children.

Within these areas ERO considers the effectiveness of arotake – self review and of whanaungatanga – partnerships with parents and whānau. 

ERO evaluates how well placed a service is to sustain good practice and make ongoing improvements for the benefit of all children at the service.

A focus for the government is that all children, especially priority learners, have an opportunity to benefit from quality early childhood education. ERO will report on how well each service promotes positive outcomes for all children, with a focus on children who are Māori, Pacific, have diverse needs, and are up to the age of two.

For more information about the framework and Ngā Pou Here refer to the draft methodology for ERO reviews in Home-based Education and Care Services: July 2014

ERO’s Overall Judgement and Next Review

The overall judgement that ERO makes and the timing of the next review will depend on how well placed a service is to promote positive learning outcomes for children. The categories are:

• Very well placed – The next ERO review in four years
• Well placed – The next ERO review in three years
• Requires further development – The next ERO review within two years
• Not well placed - The next ERO review in consultation with the Ministry of Education

ERO has developed criteria for each category. These are available on ERO’s website.

Review Coverage

ERO reviews are tailored to each service’s context and performance, within the overarching review framework. The aim is to provide information on aspects that are central to positive outcomes for children and useful to the service. 

1 The Education Review Office (ERO) Evaluation

Building Blocks is a privately owned homebased care service (the service) operating in the Manawatu region and based in Palmerston North. It comprises one network with a manager and two visiting teachers. Twenty-eight educators provide care for 62 children aged up to five years. Responsibility for day to day management is shared between the manager and coordinators. This is the service's first ERO report.

Positive and caring relationships between educators and children are evident. Two visiting teachers support educators in their roles, as part of their home visits, through the use of positive advice and encouragement.

The programme of learning is based around children’s and educators’ interests and ideas. Educators provide topical activities, outings and a good range of play equipment to support learning.

The manager and coordinators are committed to implementing a bicultural perspective within the organisation. This is further supported by fortnightly sessions in te reo Māori at its playgroup.

The service’s improvement focus is evident through self review of what they do. This leads to positive outcomes for children. The service provider makes herself available to parents and educators. A range of documentation outlines expectations of the organisation and licensing requirements.

ERO and management agree that the key next steps for improvement include: supporting educators to deepen their understandings of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum; strengthening quality assurance processes; improving the staff appraisal system; and enhancing understanding of self review.

Future Action

ERO will review the service again within 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

The service’s philosophy acknowledges the importance of building positive relationships with people working together, in an inclusive family-based atmosphere, to care for children. A centrally based playroom is available for home educators and families to meet, network and seek support from a teacher or the manager.

Areas of good performance

Positive and caring relationships between educators and children are evident. The service personnel provide high levels of support for children’s and educators’ emotional wellbeing. Coordinators’ visits to home educators are flexible to best meet the needs of the children.

Children’s feelings of belonging are fostered by familiarity with the home environment. They are taken on excursions to local places of interest and to the service's playroom. Resources for children’s use in the home environments are provided primarily by the educators, with some additional ideas and resources provided through the service.

The programme of learning is based around children’s and educators’ interests and ideas. Educators provide topical activities and a good range of play equipment to support learning. Coordinators offer support and advice related to early childhood education, as part of their home visits. A coordinator plans a thematic programme for the playroom and community outings. Stories and photographs record children's participation at sessions and aspects of their learning linked to Te Whāriki. Journals document children’s day to day activities and participation in outings.

The manager and coordinators are committed to implementing a bicultural perspective within the organisation. This is further supported by fortnightly sessions in te reo Māori at the playroom sessions.

The service provider with the visiting teachers makes herself available to parents and educators. A range of documentation outlines expectations of the organisation and licensing requirements. Coordinators use home visits to check these requirements are met and provide assistance as necessary. A good range of policies supports the practice of coordinators and home educators.

The collaborative leadership team is improvement focused and reflective. A strategic plan supports development over time and is centred on quality outcomes for children.

The service’s improvement focus is evident through its self review of what they do. This leads to positive outcomes for children. Purposeful discussion ensures issues are addressed and priorities for advancement are identified.

The service provides some support for educators to plan for children about to transition to school. It has developed a booklet for educators’ use.

Areas for development and review

There is a need to continue to support educators’ understanding of biculturalism and what this means for their practice. While whānau are asked about aspirations for their tamariki, service personnel need to be more proactive in recording and responding to these wishes to promote success for Māori as Māori.

Actions are required to implement the strategic plan including timelines, monitoring progress and linking to self review to measure the impact of initiatives and identify development steps.

ERO and management agree that key next steps are:

• supporting educators to deepen their understandings of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum
• strengthening quality assurance processes so that the manager can be assured that visiting teachers are meeting expectations. This should include systematic checks of coordinators' practice in homes and documentation.
• the implementation of an improved appraisal process for teachers, including regular and constructive feedback to improve the quality of professional development
• improving ongoing hazard checks by coordinators and organisation of trips with specific guidelines to support the care of children aged up to two.
• undertaking a review of the philosophy to support decision making about change and improvement
• promote further understanding of self review with a focus on how well practices support the service’s improvement focus.

3 Management Assurance on Compliance Areas

Overview

Before the review, the management and staff of Building Blocks 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 will review the service again within three years.

Joyce Gebbie

National Manager Review Services Central Region (Acting)

26 February 2014

About the Service