28 Albertson Ave, Port Chalmers
View on mapAkarangi | Quality Evaluation evaluates the extent to which this early childhood service has the learning and organisational conditions to support equitable and excellent outcomes for all learners. Te Ara Poutama Indicators of quality for early childhood education: what matters most are the basis for making judgements about the effectiveness of the service in achieving equity and excellence for all learners. Judgements are made in relation to the Outcomes Indicators, Learning and Organisational Conditions. The Evaluation Judgement Rubric derived from the indicators, is used to inform ERO’s judgements about this service’s performance in promoting equity and excellence.
ERO’s judgements for Pioneers Koputai are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) |
Whāngai Establishing |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
|
Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions |
Whakaū Embedding Whakaū Embedding |
Pioneers Koputai is one of five services owned by a charitable trust known as the Dunedin Community Childcare Association, operating as Pioneers. A governance board of elected parents oversees the work of Pioneers. The new director has overall responsibility for the operation and professional leadership of the association. This centre serves an increasingly diverse learning community and is licensed as a mixed-age service. A small number of tamariki Māori attend. Almost all staff are qualified early childhood teachers. Good progress has been made with addressing the recommendations identified in the 2018 ERO review.
Leaders and teachers provide a learning-based play curriculum that supports children’s learning and development based on Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Children have easy access to independently revisit their learning records while at the centre. Teachers integrate the use of te reo Māori and aspects of tikanga Māori into children’s routines and group experiences. Pioneers’ services are taking a planned approach to further developing and embedding the enacted bicultural curriculum.
Infants and toddlers experience calm, caring interactions with their attentive teachers who know them well. Their transitions and routines are integrated as part of their daily learning. They experience many opportunities to explore the learning environments and play alongside older children.
Leaders and teachers take collective responsibility for the learning and development of each child. They work closely with parents and whānau to develop individual children’s learning goals that are included in assessment and planning for learning. Regular evaluation of learning and teaching is yet to be fully implemented, and refining of assessment, planning and evaluation processes is ongoing.
Leaders and teachers have established, and are beginning to embed, the organisational conditions that enable collaboration for improvement. They encourage distributed leadership opportunities. The teaching team uses a systematic approach to internal evaluation. However, this process requires refinement, and to be more timely and manageable. Leaders and teachers are yet to consistently monitor and evaluate changes made on outcomes for children and to report an overview of these to the board.
Those responsible for governance and management:
develop policies and procedures that are fit for purpose, guide inclusive practice across the association and make explicit the expectations of leaders, teachers and staff
allocate resources that place children and whānau at the centre of decision making
promote a positive working environment that facilitates low turnover of staff
are at the early stages of implementing their ongoing learning to enact the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi by recognising Māori as tangata whenua and engaging in treaty-based practices.
Pioneers Koputai will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
Continue to develop and embed the enacted bicultural curriculum that recognises the significance of mana whenua.
Further develop and streamline assessment, planning and evaluation processes and practices to clearly show the progress of children’s learning over time against the learning outcomes from Te Whāriki.
Make internal evaluation processes more manageable to better know about the effectiveness of changes made on outcomes for children.
Ensure reporting to the board regularly provides an overview of outcomes from internal evaluation for groups of children, and all children.
Before the review, the staff and management of Pioneers Koputai completed an ERO 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; safety checking; teacher registration; ratios)
relevant evacuation procedures and practices.
Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)
20 September 2023
| Early Childhood Service Name |
Pioneers Koputai |
| Profile Report |
80016 |
| Location |
Dunedin |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
35 children, including up to 15 aged under 2 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
100% |
|
Service roll |
30 |
|
Review team on site |
June 2023 |
|
Date of this report |
20 September 2023 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, September 2018; Education Review, February 2015 |
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Pioneers Koputai is one of four centres under the Dunedin Community Childcare Association, trading as Pioneers. Pioneers is a not for profit organisation and has four centres and three home-based care networks. A governance board oversees the work of Pioneers. A director acts as the operational manager and leader of learning. Pioneers aims to ‘provide accessible, affordable and flexible quality education and care for families of Dunedin’.
This is a full-day service (from 7.30am to 6.00pm) in the Port Chalmers community. Children from birth-to-school age attend the centre and learn in a mixed-age setting. The centre is a refurbished house, creating a home-like environment. The centre provides healthy food for the children.
Pioneers Koputai has a head and assistant head teacher. The head teacher is responsible for the day-to-day management of the centre. Since the 2015 ERO review, there has been little change in staffing. Most of the teachers are qualified early childhood educators.
The centre philosophy states that teachers will provide a welcoming, inclusive and fun environment and value te ao and te reo Māori. It also refers to authentic and responsive relationships with children and their families, and enabling children to lead their learning, learn from each other, be challenged, accept change and achieve their full potential.
This review was part of a cluster of four early learning service reviews in the Pioneers (DCCA) organisation.
Koputai is a very welcoming and inclusive centre for children, parents and wider whānau. Caring, respectful and trusting relationships are evident at all levels. Children settle quickly and show a strong sense of belonging and ownership of the centre.
Children are very well supported in their learning. Leaders and teachers have a deep understanding of each child as an individual and as a learner. They use this knowledge to intentionally extend and deepen children's learning. As a team, they have identified key priorities for learning at Koputai. These priorities and the centre's philosophy are strongly evident in the day-to-day programme.
Children at Koputai benefit from a rich, engaging and broad curriculum. Its key strengths are:
frequent use of the local environment and community to enrich children's learning and sense of place
the way children learn about sustainable practices, healthy food and develop a respect for Papatuanuku
the many opportunities for safe risk-taking and physical challenge
a strong focus on social competency
meaningful integration of early literacy
intentional enrichment of children's oral language.
In this centre, te ao and te reo Māori are valued. Core Māori concepts and values, such as ako, tuakana-teina-like relationships; kaitiakitanga; manaakitanga and whanaungatanga are evident in the way adults and children relate and learn. Children have many opportunities to hear and use te reo Māori, enjoy waiata, follow tikanga and develop positive attitudes towards Māori culture.
Infants and toddlers (and their families) are very well supported. They develop close bonds with key teachers (the primary caregiver) and benefit from responsive and nurturing care and a strong focus on learning. Similarly, children new to the centre or moving on to school are sensitively supported through these transitions.
Teachers have comprehensive assessment and planning practices. They seek and respond to parents' wishes, and identify relevant individual goals and teaching strategies. Learning stories capture important learning moments and clearly link to children's goals.
Children benefit from well-planned, fun and engaging group experiences, such as an extension group for four-year olds and an explorers group. In the best examples, teachers had identified explicit learning outcomes and teaching strategies for the group. They regularly evaluated how well these outcomes had been achieved, and if necessary made ongoing improvements.
Leaders and teachers have a good understanding of effective internal evaluation. These contribute to well-informed change and ongoing improvement. Clear guidelines about curriculum priorities and expected teacher practices contribute to consistent practices.
Koputai children, teachers and families benefit from its strong leadership. Leaders value teachers’ strengths and passions. They and teachers work as a collaborative and collegial team to provide the best for Koputai children. Teachers benefit from well-considered internal and external professional learning that leads to improved practices. Leaders have fully addressed the recommendations in ERO's 2015 report.
The centre has a treaty that describes how everyone at Koputai should play, work and act. ERO recommends that Koputai leaders and teachers evaluate how well aspects of the Koputai Treaty are enacted.
Pioneers has sound governance practices. Board members have a good understanding of their governance role, and have relevant skills and work experience. With the director, centre leaders and teachers have developed well-considered strategic goals and useful long and short term plans. Initiatives and practices across the centres are intentionally aligned to these. Teachers and leaders feel valued and very well supported by director and board.
The director has implemented useful systems and practices that contribute to the smooth operation of the centres through a period of significant change. Valuable relationships have been built with social and educational organisations beyond the association, with the intent of improving educational provision and children's wellbeing.
The director and ERO have identified that the next steps are to:
implement the new and improved appraisal system, including teaching as inquiry
extend quality assurance to further identify and share best practices across all centres so that any additional support required is identified
build links with local iwi and Māori whānau to enable rich learning about te ao Māori across all centres
support centres to develop more useful annual action plans and improve reporting against these.
Before the review, the staff and management of Pioneers Koputai 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:
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.
The next ERO review of Pioneers Koputai will be in three years.
Alan Wynyard
Director Review & Improvement Services Southern
Te Waipounamu - Southern Region
6 September 2018
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.
|
Location |
Port Chalmers, Dunedin |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
80016 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
20 children, including up to 10 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
52 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls: 15 Boys: 27 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
7 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:8 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
June 2018 |
||
|
Date of this report |
6 September 2018 |
||
|
Most recent ERO reports
|
Education Review |
February 2015 |
|
|
Education Review |
December 2011 |
||
|
Education Review |
August 2009 |
||
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:
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.
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:
ERO has developed criteria for each category. These are available on ERO’s website.
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.