Taihape Childcare Centre

1 Evaluation of Taihape Childcare Centre

How well placed is Taihape Childcare Centre to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Taihape Childcare Centre requires further development to promote positive learning outcomes for children.

Taihape Childcare Centre requires support to further develop teaching and health and safety practices to be well placed to promote better learning opportunities for children.

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

Background

Taihape Childcare Centre is privately owned and operated by a family trust and has been operating since 1984. There have been a number of staff changes since the June 2016 ERO report.

The service is licensed for 25 children, including 10 up to two years old. The roll of 22, includes 19 Māori children.

The centre philosophy prioritises an inclusive environment and promotes positive relationships with children and their whānau.

ERO's previous report identified that the next developmental steps were to:

• strengthen the purpose and use of planning and assessment for learning

• continue to build knowledge and understanding of internal evaluation

• implement the appraisal process to further improve the quality of feedback to develop teacher practice

• use Tātaiako: Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Māori Learners to build capability

• strengthen the distributed leadership approach.

Some progress towards these next developmental steps is evident.

The Review Findings

Ngā kaiako value relationships and provide an inclusive environment where children and their whānau are warmly welcomed. Kaiako know children and their whānau connections well. Respectful and positive relationships promote children's sense of wellbeing and belonging. Infants are provided with appropriate resources and spaces. Older children are supported to include and value toddlers' contributions to their play.

Te Ao Māori is a natural part of children's everyday experiences. Māori learners' culture, language and identities are valued. Kaiako are beginning to use Tātaiako: Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Māori Learners and are making use of assessment approaches that support Māori learners.

Children with diverse learning needs are well supported. Ngā kaiako liaise closely with families and outside agencies. New Zealand sign language is incorporated in children's daily experiences.

Assessment and planning processes are being refined. Intentional teaching and strategies that support and progress children's identified learning outcomes over time are beginning to be evident. Ngā kaiako identify that they need to strengthen whānau contribution to children's learning and their response to these through centre documentation.

Aspects of the curriculum require evaluation to ensure that outcomes align with the centre's philosophy and current theories and practices in early learning. Leaders need to ensure infants and toddlers are supported to participate during daily routines and that children have suitable access to resources and spaces that invite their participation and learning. Ngā kaiako should examine the current use of technology and its place in facilitating children's learning.

A process is in place to guide internal evaluation. Further development is required to strengthen evaluation leadership and ngā kaiako understanding of effective internal evaluation for improvement. Consideration should also be given to purposeful ways to encourage and respond to whānau contribution to internal evaluation.

Strategic and annual planning is being implemented. Strengthening internal evaluation to monitor and measure the impact on children's learning and inform future planning is required.

The revised kaiako appraisal process enables them to identify priorities for improving teaching practices. Implementation requires more rigour, including observations of teaching practice and the quality of regular documented feedback to improve teaching practices. Consideration should also be given to developing measurable goals that are focused on children's learning.

Key Next Steps

Priorities for development include:

• strengthening assessment and planning practices

• improving appraisal practices

• building capability to effectively use internal evaluation for improvement

• ensuring whānau contribution to decision making concerning their child's learning is evident.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Taihape Childcare Centre completed an ERO Centre 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.

Actions for compliance

ERO identified areas of non-compliance relating to health and safety practices and qualified teacher ratios. To meet requirements the service needs to improve its performance in the following:

• undertake the assessment and management of risk for all excursions outside of the licensed premise

• implement a process to record training or information provided to adults who administer medication to children (other than their own) while at the service

• ensure the management of serious injury, illness or incident that involves a child while at the centre includes notification to appropriate external agencies

• ensure the service maintains the minimum qualified staffing requirements. Qualified staff are not included in ratio while on a break, during non-contact or if they are not within the licensed premise.
  Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, HS 17, HS 29, HS 34. Regulation 44 (1) (a), Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations, 2008

Since the onsite stage of the evaluation, the centre has provided evidence of:

• the assessment and risk management for excursions
• development of a process for recording training or information provided to adults who administer medication to children
• the amended policy to guide staff to notify appropriate external agencies in the event of serious illness, injury or incident involving a child at the centre.

Development Plan Recommendation

ERO recommends that the service, in consultation with the Ministry of Education, develops a plan to address the key next steps and actions outlined in this report.

Phil Cowie

Director Review and Improvement Services Central

Central Region

17 September 2019

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 Early Childhood 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 ERO’s Approach to Review in Early Childhood Services.

ERO’s Overall Judgement

The overall judgement that ERO makes will depend on how well the service promotes positive learning outcomes for children. The categories are:

• Very well placed

• Well placed

• Requires further development

• Not well placed

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.