Poipoia Kōhungahunga

1 Evaluation of Poipoia Kōhungahunga

How well placed is Poipoia Kōhungahunga to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

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

Background

Poipoia Kōhungahunga is one of four Poipoi home-based education and care networks that provides for children up to six years of age in Far North communities including Kaitaia, Kareponia Hill, Awanui, Takahue, Whangarei and One Tree Point. Of the 44 children currently enrolled, 98 percent have Māori heritage. Most Māori children whakapapa to the five iwi of Muriwhenua.

Educators, who have a range of early childhood qualifications, provide programmes for up to four children at a time. Most educators provide a Māori immersion setting for children where only Māori is spoken in homes. The three coordinators are qualified and registered early childhood teachers. They regularly visit educators and support them to plan educational programmes for children. All of the coordinators were appointed in 2015. The owner is also a qualified and registered early childhood teacher. She is involved in all aspects of service operations, including some home visits.

A commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and respect for Te Ao Māori underpins the services' approach to home-based education and care. The owner and coordinators work with social agencies to support and advocate for children and whānau.

ERO’s previous review in 2014 identified that partnerships with whānau and caring relationships between educators and children were positive features of the service. Areas for further development included:

• implementing effective systems to monitor health and safety

• better supporting educators to plan for and extend children's learning

• developing strategic planning and self-review systems.

In 2015, the Ministry of Education provided professional development to improve the quality of self-review and curriculum practices. A longterm strategic plan has been established. The owner, coordinators and educators are continuing to develop shared understandings of programme planning, assessment and evaluation requirements. Health and safety systems have been implemented.

The Review Findings

Learning records show that children's sense of wellbeing and belonging is supported by aroha and whanaungatanga. Children experience homes where they are supported to be confident speakers of te reo Māori and to have a basic knowledge of local tikanga. They participate in community outings and have opportunities to explore the natural world. Educators know children very well. Curriculum experiences include daily household activities that are based on individual children’s ages, ideas and play interests. Children build positive social relationships with others.

Educators use Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, to help them write about children's learning. Assessment records show educators have made very good progress in providing a programme that is responsive to children's ideas and interests. They are responsive to whānau wishes for their children’s learning. Coordinators support educators to plan for and provide learning programmes for individual children. Some learning records are beginning to show children’s progress over time. Coordinators plan to review how programmes could further extend older children.

A belief in the value and benefits of home-based education and care for children and their whānau is evident. Relationships between the service, educators and families are responsive and caring. Coordinators provide educators with ongoing support and guidance and communicate with whānau through visit notes, emails and phone calls/texts. Coordinators have significantly improved the quality of their monthly reports about children's learning.

The owner and coordinators are reflective and focused on improving educator knowledge and educational outcomes for children. Clear guidelines and professional expectations of educators and coordinators have been developed. Training opportunities have had a positive impact on educators’ practice and helped them to increase their understanding about how to plan for and assess children's learning. The service plans to introduce an electronic tool to further support educators with assessing and recording children’s learning and to increase parents’ contribution to their children’s learning programme.

A framework to guide service operations and practices has been established. Useful systems are in place to ensure health and safety and licensing requirements are being met. Coordinators have formed shared understandings about their role as leaders. They provide consistent guidance and feedback to help build educator confidence and capability. Developing formal induction processes for coordinators could enable team understandings about curriculum and about health and safety requirements to be monitored and sustained.

The service's philosophy and vision is evident across all practices and policies. Children's wellbeing and education is at the heart of service operations. The owner and coordinators have an ongoing commitment to a kaupapa Māori approach. They are considering how they can better support educators to sustain the use of te reo Māori in homes.

The service is guided by clearly defined long and short-term plans. The owner and coordinators reflect on and implement development priorities. They recognise they could better record self-review processes to help them sustain improvements over time. An appraisal system for educators and coordinators has been developed. The owner agrees that evaluating and recording progress against appraisal goals would be useful.

Key Next Steps

The owner and ERO agree that key next steps include:

• embedding newly implemented expectations about planning for and assessing children's learning

• enhancing parent/whānau partnerships to further support children’s learning

• establishing a documented framework of self review

strengthening performance appraisal systems for the owner and coordinators.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Poipoia Kōhungahunga 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 Poipoia Kōhungahunga will be in three years.

Graham Randell

Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern

11 May 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 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.