Maungaraki Playcentre

1 Evaluation of Maungaraki Playcentre

How well placed is Maungaraki Playcentre to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Maungaraki Playcentre is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.

Background

Maungaraki Playcentre is one of 17 playcentres in the Hutt Valley region. The service operates for four sessions each week, including an extended session for older children. The centre is licensed for 30 children, including up to 15 aged under two years. At the time of this review, the service is seeking to increase its membership. Families currently enrolled represent a diverse range of ethnicities. There has been some redevelopment of the outdoor environment focused on challenge and environmental sustainability.

At the time of its May 2016 ERO review the centre was one of 17 administered by the Hutt Playcentre Association, under the umbrella of The New Zealand Playcentre Federation Inc. In June 2019, the 32 associations nationwide amalgamated into one new entity, a charitable trust called Playcentre Aotearoa. Hutt Valley playcentres are now managed as part of a regional hub (the organisation) within the new entity.

A centre support worker (CSW), employed by the organisation, regularly visits the playcentre and provides professional advice and feedback to strengthen the programme for children. A centre administrator (CA) works with parents and caregivers (members) to support compliance with regulations. Day-to-day management is the role of centre-elected office holders who are a mix of experienced and newer members. Four session facilitators, with recognised levels of training, provide ongoing support for the implementation of the daily programme.

Playcentre philosophy recognises the importance of parents working together, alongside their children, to support their self-initiated play and promote their learning.

The previous ERO report identified areas for improvement. These included developing assessment, planning and evaluation practices; implementing a rigorous appraisal process and professional development for leadership; and building internal evaluation capability. Good progress has been made in some areas. Progress in assessment, planning and evaluation is ongoing.

This review was one of eight in Playcentre Aotearoa, Hutt Valley region.

The Review Findings

Children are well supported to be independent, confident and capable learners. Adults are highly responsive, to their ideas and interests, and build on these with engaging questions. Mixed aged play is well managed. Children's social competence and their ability to be inclusive in their play are clearly evident. The environment promotes exploration, challenge and sustained, focused play. Children under two benefit from a respectful, caring and calm approach.

Families demonstrate a strong sense of community and belonging. Members take collective responsibility for the learning and wellbeing of all children, including those with diverse learning needs.

Improving the bicultural curriculum has been a priority. Some positive changes to practice, the environment and resources are providing increased opportunities for all children to engage with te reo me ngā tikanga Māori. Members should now focus on monitoring children's learning outcomes in this area, including through assessment documentation. In addition, the organisation should continue to support members to understand and enact specific, culturally responsive strategies for Māori and children of Pacific heritages.

Adults are highly supportive of children’s interests. Playcentre's child-led philosophy is strongly evident in practice. Members should now consider how they can use their sound knowledge of individual children's interests as a platform for purposefully extending their learning, through meaningful, challenging experiences and conversations.

Members know children well, and document how they provide engaging experiences that support their interests. Assessment, planning and evaluation should be strengthened, to focus on extending children’s learning dispositions, rather than involvement in their activities. Exploring the goals of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, and considering how these could guide planning for ‘where to next’ for children, would be a useful first step. In addition, documentation should be strengthened, to increase the visibility of children's culture, language and identity and parent aspirations in records of children's learning.

Collaborative internal evaluation processes are becoming embedded in centre practice, with organisation support and guidance. ERO and leaders agree that this is an area for ongoing development. The process would benefit from an increased focus on measurable success indicators, based on positive learning outcomes for children. This would better enable members to know how their practices support children's learning.

Long-serving committed members collaboratively focus on sustainability. Key members collectively support families to actively engage with Playcentre philosophy and promote a sense of community.

The CSW works collaboratively to support centre members in their roles. Relational trust is prioritised. She offers useful guidance, support and encouragement to foster members’ understanding and engagement. At times, written feedback does not include sufficient detail about next steps to strengthen centre practices. The organisation should establish consistent reporting expectations, with a particular focus on promoting the next steps outlined in this ERO report and monitoring necessary improvements.

Across the organisation, children and their families would benefit from increased clarity around identifying and supporting children with diverse learning needs, including speech and language. This should involve, timely information-sharing and guidance for all playcentres.

The restructure of playcentre operation is being carefully worked through to support a new and more sustainable future for the organisation. The regional office provides a range of support for centres. Regional leaders agree that priority next steps are to embed the recently reviewed policy framework and appraisal systems.

Key Next Steps

Organisation leaders should prioritise support for Maungaraki playcentre members in the following areas:

• continuing to grow culturally responsive practices

• focusing assessment, planning and evaluation on deliberately extending children’s learning

• using measurable, child-focused success indicators in internal evaluation

• embedding new policies and procedures, including appraisal, in centre practice.

In addition, the organisation should:

• establish clear and consistent practices for providing challenging feedback to centres, focusing on priority improvement areas

• ensure that centres receive clear, useful and timely guidance around identification and support strategies for children with diverse learning needs.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Maungaraki Playcentre 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 playcentre members should notify the Hutt Valley Playcentre regional management hub when a child has an injury that requires medical attention but is not deemed a serious injury.

Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services
Southern Region - Te Tai Tini

27 February 2020

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.