Did you miss last week's Being Informed?  Click here to read. 

Contents of this weekly update:

1. Greater Transparency for Ministry of Edn ECAC on Policy Development
2. 9th in the World for NZ's ECE System is a Proud Headline - but there's more to this  ...
3. Responding to Children with Severe Behavioural Problems
4. School Holiday Idea - Take Children on a Trip to a Farm Park
5. Wendy Ure - ECE Centre Manager and Advocate for Community-Based ECE
6. Heather Te Huia (QSM) - Manager of an ECE Centre for Teenage Parents and Former ECE Lobbyist
7. National Forum on Early Childhood Centre Management (Sept 6th)
8. $20.00 Entry to Auckland's NZ-Ed Show for ChildForum Members
9. Children's Book of the Week - "If You're Happy and You Know It"
10. NZCA Study of Teacher Behaviour in 10 Centres with Various Percentages of Qualified Teachers
11. What Teachers Can Do to Help Prepare Children For School
12.  International News Headlines for this Week

1. Greater Transparency in the Pipeline for the Ministry of Education's ECE Advisory Committee 

For many years the Ministry of Education has organised and funded an Early Childhood Advisory Committee (ECAC) meeting up to five times a year. Membership is at the invitation of the Chief Executive, Ministry of Education.

Until now the meetings have been held in a somewhat secretive state with reporters and anyone else from the early childhood sector excluded from attending or having access to minutes and reports. 

* READ MORE:  Greater Transparency and Opportunity to Broaden and Improve with Whom and How the Ministry Consults on ECE Policy

2.  9th in the World is a Proud Headline for ECE in NZ - but ...

A new report by The Economist Intelligence Unit (part of The Economist magazine) titled “Starting Well: Benchmarking early education across the world” scores different aspects of early childhood systems in 45 countries and gives overall rankings.  NZ is ranked 9^th after Finland, Sweden, Norway, UK, Belgium, Denmark, France, and the Netherlands. Countries ranked as having a worse early childhood education system than NZ include: South Korea, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Hong Kong and Japan. Countries ranked 44^th and 45^th respectively are Indonesia and India.

The methodology used in benchmarking early childhood education across different cultures, both in developed and third world countries, means The Economist must necessarily impose its own value system in comparing and ranking ECE systems.  For NZ to get a higher rating it seems to be expected to bring 4 year-olds into the public school system.  There are numerous possible errors or misunderstandings shown in the report regarding NZ's ECE system.  

* READ MORE:  NZ's ECE System World Ranking - How Accurate is It?

3. Responding to Children with Severe Behavioural Problems

Back in the day, disruptive children who acted out or caused problems around the house were usually deemed to be badly behaved and would have been given a clip round the ear or told to get on with things. In today’s society, however, things have changed. Now when a child is badly behaved, often one of the first assumptions made is that they have some kind of behaviour disorder. From ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) to ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder), it seems as if there is an explanation or in some people’s view an excuse for every type of bad behaviour.  This article reviews the issues and looks at how parents and early childhood services may respond.

* READ MORE:  The Rise in Behavioural Disorders, Treatment and Management

4. School Holiday Idea - Take Children on a Trip to a Farm Park

While the animals may not be as exotic as the ones you find in a zoo, the farm park can still be a great day out.  

It can be especially good for smaller children as they can usually get closer to the animals. 

There are lots of ideas in a new article on ChildForum's website for you to try to increase the learning potential of your visit.

* READ MORE:  Taking a Trip to the Farm Park 

5. Wendy Ure's Early Life and Career

Wendy is the manager at the Gisborne Community Early Education Centre/Te Whare Tiaki Tamariki Inc.  

She has served, locally, on the Kiwa Education Partnership representing ECE which has now been disbanded and was also a member on the consultative group for 20-Hours Free ECE set up by the Labour government and has been a representative of ECE on the NZ Teachers Council.

* READ MORE:   Biography of Wendy Ure

6.  Profile of Heather Te Huia (QSM)

Heather Te Huia is an experienced early childhood centre manager and former political lobbyist.

In 1995 she was nominated for and accepted a Queens Service Medal by the Ministry of Education for her services to early childhood education. 

* READ MORE: Biography of Heather Te Huia

7.  National Forum on Early Childhood Service Management

This unique annual one-day national forum is for all ECE services.  It is to be held in the capital city, Wellington, on Thursday 6th September this year.

Come and hear the Minister of Education, experts and speakers from the sector.  

This is your opportunity to ask questions, gain new information, and share ideas for how best to meet current and future challenges and build on the success of your ECE service.  

Registrations are now open and places are going very fast so register now to attend.  For details of the programme and to register online click here.  Or to print a copy of the registration form click here.

8.  $20.00 Entry to Auckland's NZ-Edn Show - For ChildForum Members 

Are you going or sending staff to the NZ-Ed Show at the Telstra Pacific Events Centre in Auckland?  ChildForum members are eligible for a discount and gate entry is reduced to 20.00 for members - but tickets must be pre-purchased and you need to put in the ChildForum member discount code.  The Show is open on Saturday 15th Sept 10am - 4pm making it an accessible (and very affordable) P.D. day for teachers.   

* READ MORE:  ChildForum discount code for NZ-Ed Show

10.  NZCA Study of Teacher Behaviour in 10 Centres with Various Percentages of Qualified Teachers

NZCA contracted researcher, Anne Meade, presented a study of how teacher qualification is related to the quality of teachers' work at NZCA's recent conference.  An ODT report summary says "the profile of qualifications among teaching staff in case-study centres affected not only the teaching and learning of children specifically, but also the staff's capacity to engage with parents. Teachers in [centres with 100% qualifed teachers versus less than 80% qualified teachers] centres were more intentional about children's learning, evidenced through planning, talking to parents and exchanging information about child learning". 

We look forward to reading the research when it is published and seeing if factors such as staff age, staff experience levels, access to professional development, differences in management structure, centre routines, etc have been taken into account. This could be exciting new policy research if it adds to the evidence base that training works and also in our NZ context that less than 80% qualified staff means teacher work is not at the same level as when all staff in the team are qualified (supporting calls to regulate for 100% qualified teachers).  

ODT article on NZCA study on the Relationship between Teacher Qualification and Teaching Behaviours Shown by Teachers

Research on "Does Training Make a Difference for Understanding Pedagogy:  The Perspectives of Semi-Trained and Degree Trained Teachers"

Research-based Characteristics on What Makes for Effective Teaching

11.  What Teachers Can Do to Help Prepare Children For School