About the 1st National Management Forum

Representatives from across centre and home-based services met for the first national Early Childhood Management Forum on 27th October 2010, in Wellington.  It was a brilliant meeting for all involved!  Evaluations of the forum rated it as being of high value and participants were delighted with the mix of perspectives provided.  Being the first national forum we did not know what the level of interest would be and as the Lecture Theatre quickly filled up we realised that next time if we want space to break into discussion groups, we may have to look at limiting the number of representatives or find a bigger inner-Wellington venue!

Below is a copy of the Programme and a sample of feedback on the day.  You will also be able to read the presentation slides and comments below if you are a member of ChildForum and are logged in with your username and password.

The Programme and Speakers

Welcome and Introductions

Tony Alexander (Chief Economist, BNZ)  "The NZ Economy"  

Karl Le Quesne (national office Group Manager of ECE, Ministry of Education)  "Early Childhood Policy and Funding Update"

Bevin Fitzsimons (Director, Breakthrough Strategies) "Financial Management, Being Audit-Ready, and How to Reduce the Risk of Fraud"

Jenny Thomas (Manager Registration) and Linda Gendall (Manager Teacher Practice, NZ Teachers' Council) “Teacher Registration Requirements and Reporting of Misconduct: What EC Service Managers Need to Know”. 

Discussion of issues arising and current information gaps.  Formulation of plans for ongoing management forum meetings.

Future Forums

If you would like to attend the next Management Forum or other Forums which ChildForum organises, you will be given preference for a place and a discount on the registration fee if you are a ChildForum member. 

Sample of Feedback

"I enjoyed the input from the speakers, and ample opportunity for comments and questions from the floor"

"Speakers not talking to notes, chatting with other owners, Tony's big picture, Bevin's presentation, Karl's patience"

"A great neutral forum. Would not like to see it hijacked by either the left or right wing activists"

"Good value for money, when I had to consider travel costs, etc."

"Excellent choice of speakers. Good balance of programme".

"I took copious notes because everything Tony said was so noteworthy and entertaining,  then I repeated the entire talk to my family (husband, three young adult children) that evening.  They were impressed too, even though I didn’t present it as well as Tony had."

"It is so good to get the opportunity to get away from Preschool and mix with peers. Have stimulating conversations and learn from your speakers, you and each other.  Well done"

"The presentation by Tony Alexander; very illuminating to set the context for current changes in early childhood education".

"The day on Wednesday was excellent! You had excellent speakers. Our treasurer who is and accountant was so jealous that we had Tony as a presenter".

I wasn't sure what the day would hold and can say that I enjoyed it all very much.  I did think Karl was courageous, and faced into the questioning extremely competently.  I look forward to future events.

"Getting a balance of input from experts who are in different industries e.g. banking, MOE, etc helps a person to see the "big picture". When we see things from a different perspective, we are able to make necessary changes to survive and grow in the ECE industry"

"A great opportunity to meet other owners and managers as we don't often get that opportunity and can be quite isolated. I really appreciated the vegetarian food as I don't eat meat and often find myself going hungry at workshops because of that - the food was lovely!

"Just go so much out of it all"

Presentations and Copies of Slides

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