Newsletter - Weekly Early Childhood Update Being Informed - March 24th 2011
Being Informed - March 24th 2011
A warm welcome to ChildForum's first weekly newsletter!
We hope you are all keeping well and looking forward to April and the Easter break that will be coming our way soon.
Don't forget about the national ECE policy forum "The Future for Children" next week. For details go to the Events page on our website or click here ...
Due to member interest and demand the monthly newsletter is changing to weekly update. The newsletter will keep the same name "Being Informed" - and you will receive it weekly from now on if you have subscribed to it.
Click here for a PDF copy of this newsletter to forward to your friends and colleagues
New Stuff
New Report Released on Reactions to Increasing the Number of Children in Early Childhood Centres
Would you like to be one of 75 infants being cared for together? Or what about one in 150 preschoolers? A regulation amendment is being made to increase the maximum licence size of early childhood education and care services. Thank you to everyone who participated in our quick fire survey about this - we received 450 replies. Would you like to know what the findings were? Read the full report by clicking here ...
You are very welcome, because this is such a critical issue, to email the link to the report to your friends and colleagues, or print off a copy to discuss with your mates. Here is the link: http://www.childforum.com/news/310-more-children.html
We are hoping that the Minister of Education, the Ministry of Education, MPs and relevant officials will read what you have said in response to this regulation amendment being made, and either delay the implementation of the regulation change or use the feedback to develop conditions that will be best for small and large services alike, and help to minimise the potential risks for children - and staff.
Early Childhood Services and Providers to Face Stiff New Fines for Not Meeting Standards
In New Zealand we take a soft approach to ensuring compliance with standards in early childhood services, compared to what is now being proposed in Australia! Also in Australia there is a quality accreditation system - and we don't have anything like it in NZ.
Services may face court-enforced penalties of up to $30,000 for failing to ensure children are supervised and protected from harm. And up to $20,000 for not delivering a programme based on an "approved learning framework" that responded to each child's "needs and abilities".
The latest Australian National Childcare Accreditation Council found 29 per cent of childcare centres assessed did not have effective food, safety and hygiene practices. 20% did not act to prevent the spread of infections and diseases. 18% did not have a programme that assisted each child to be a successful learner. Read more by clicking here to go to the full article ...
Research on the effects on children of evacuation and natural disasters
This article discusses what we can learn from research on the effects of disasters on children and the decisions that are made as to whether to leave or stay and when to return home. Also, there are interesting findings related to whether children should stay with parents - such as during war-time - or be evacuated into foster care. Read more by clicking here ...
The Childcare/ECE of Under 2s
A far reaching and gutsy inquiry into childcare ECE for infants and toddlers has been completed by the Office of the Children's Commissioner. You may have read about it in the papers this week. The Office of the Children's Commissioner advocates for the best interests of all children. And the Commissioner, Dr John Angus, along with Dr Janis Carroll-Lind have kept the interests of children at the forefront of the inquiry. A central part of this is what seems to be a fairly honest (politically unbiased) and thorough appraisal of the empirical evidence around infant-toddler care and the effects of non-parental ECE. Click here for our news article about this including a link to the full report. If you are a ChildForum member you can also view video footage from the launch of the report and comment on the Commission's recommendations by clicking here ...
Notices
Canterbury children - The child's currently enrolled and new ECE service may both be funded for the child's hours
The Government has said that emergency funding for ECE services will be extended until at least the end of March. This is so centres whose children are not attending for what ever reason (e.g. moving away) can have financial stability. If a child enrols at another Canterbury ECE service or elsewhere it too will also receive funding for the child. This is great news for ECE services, especially those who may not have insurance cover for loss of funding. Read more by clicking here to go to the Minister's press release ...
Services that are advertising/offering "free" childcare may also receive government funding for the child. Ethically this is something that services should make known to parents.
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