Big Bear Early Childhood Education & Care Centre

1 Evaluation of Big Bear Early Childhood Education & Care Centre

How well placed is Big Bear Early Childhood Education & Care Centre to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

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

Background

The Big Bear Early Childhood Education & Care Centre in Clover Park caters for up to 45 children. Most of the children enrolled are of Māori descent or are Samoan, Cook Island Māori, Tongan or Kiribati. Big Bear managers are committed to supporting families so that children can participate in formal early childhood education that fosters pride in their cultural identity. A van pick-up service helps children to attend regularly.

Since ERO's 2013 review, there have been changes in the centre's management structure. There is a new manager who has oversight of centre operations and strategic development on behalf of the owners. In addition, a centre manager has responsibility for staffing, administration, and relationships with whānau. The owners have also appointed a programme manager who is responsible for leading curriculum development.

The teaching team includes the centre and programme managers, a further three qualified teachers and a teacher who is in the process of training. Other support staff include an administrator, van driver and teacher aide.

ERO's 2013 review noted that inclusion, relationships with whānau and provision for infants and toddlers were strengths. ERO also identified the need for significant improvement in management practices and in curriculum development and implementation. The new manager has begun to take positive steps to address some of these areas.

The Review Findings

Children at Big Bear are confident, capable and highly social. They are welcoming and inclusive of others and often direct and make decisions about their own play. Their skills for negotiating and working cooperatively with teachers and each other are developing well. They have ready access to a variety of interesting activities and play areas and their play is imaginative and creative.

Tuakana/teina relationships are visible as older children support younger children in their play. Toddlers are sometimes able to join older children for music sessions and other activities in the main playroom. There is a separate, well-resourced space for children up to two years of age. The programme for these children is responsive and individualised.

There is a settled and inclusive atmosphere in the centre. Teachers' interactions with children are gentle and caring and they work closely alongside them to support their play ideas. Teachers listen carefully to children and there are some good examples of conversations that prompt children to think more about their learning. Teachers skilfully integrate literacy and maths concepts in meaningful ways as children play. Trips that make use of local facilities help children to make connections with their community.

A positive feature of the service is managers' and teachers' commitment to working in partnership with whānau to support children's learning. Teachers have established trusting relationships with whānau and provide good information for them about the programme.

Families' cultural identity and home languages are celebrated in the environment and some teachers are able to converse with Pacific children in their home languages. Māori children's iwi connections are recognised and most teachers are also confident to include te reo Māori in their interactions with children. Children recite karakia and sing waiata Māori with confidence. Matariki and other cultural events are celebrated in a meaningful way.

Teachers have established a purposeful cycle of assessment, planning and evaluation. They identify and plan in response to individual children's capabilities and interests. They also plan around events and themes that emerge from children's interests. Their next steps are to extend this planning so the focus shifts from activities to strategies that teachers will use to build on children's prior learning and to support complex, child-led, extended learning. The teaching team should also consider developing shared understandings and consistent practices for fostering children's social competence, including positive conflict resolution.

The new manager is leading a process of well informed, critical thinking about centre development. She has sought external advice and mentoring to assist her with this process and to develop a more appropriate staff performance management system. The regular self review is established and well documented. However, the manager is keen to develop more collaborative, evaluative approaches that consider how effective teachers' practices are in promoting positive learning outcomes for children. Aligning strategic documents with research about best practice will support managers and teachers to move in this direction.

Key Next Steps

The new manager has made good progress identifying and beginning to address areas of service operations that are in need of improvement. Next steps to support ongoing centre development include:

• articulating a vision for the centre and aligning this with long-term strategic planning and annual action plans, as well as with Te Whāriki and the Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Services 2008
• establishing shared understandings and collaborative approaches to critical, well-informed, internal evaluation that uses research and results about improved practices and outcomes for children
• strengthening programme planning to focus more closely on strategies for promoting child-led and extended learning through complex play, and for fostering children's thinking and independent problem-solving skills.

Reviewing how well the new management structure is working and accessing professional development and support for staff in leadership positions would be timely and useful. Building leadership capacity should help managers to improve the consistency of good quality teaching practices.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Big Bear Early Childhood Education & Care 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.

To improve current practice, the manager should:

• continue to review and refine policies and procedures so that they reflect legal requirements and best practice in early childhood education and provide better guidance for centre managers, leaders and teachers in their work
• establish robust processes for performance appraisal and the endorsement of practising teacher certificates to meet the requirements of the Education Council of New Zealand
• develop and implement robust processes for risk assessment and management when planning excursions for children. 

ERO identified that an area of non-compliance noted by ERO in 2013 has not been addressed. The owners and manager must:

• report to the centre's community about the expenditure of all funding received from the Ministry of Education, including specific information about the allocation of equity funding.

Licensing Criteria for Education and Care Services 2008, GMA3, GMA7.

Next ERO Review

When is ERO likely to review the service again?

The next ERO review of Big Bear Early Childhood Education & Care Centre will be in three years. 

Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern

31 August 2016 

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 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.