Explorers Early Learning Centre

The Education Review Office (ERO) Evaluation

Explorers Early Learning Centre is a new centre located in Hamilton East.  It is fully licensed to cater for up to 36 children over the age of two at any one time and accepts children between two-and-a-half years and school age.  Currently 47 children are enrolled to attend each week.

The centre has adopted an educational style called the ‘Reggio Approach’, which supports the New Zealand early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki.  The philosophy supports an inquiry-based curriculum that encourages children to investigate and explore the world.

Children participate in the programme as confident and enterprising learners, play cooperatively, exchange ideas and show leadership.  Teachers spend time with them, listening and responding to their interests.  Children enjoy books, stories and music, and are learning to represent their ideas through drama, drawing, painting, construction and other art works.

Explorers offers children an aesthetically pleasing and safe environment that is well planned to invite their participation in meaningful play and learning.  High quality resources and well organised play spaces allow children to choose their own activities and challenges and use them for sustained periods of time.

Teachers plan the programme to meet children’s learning needs.  Observations, photographs and samples of children’s art work are presented in individual portfolios and displays to illustrate their learning.  Parents are well informed about the programme and can revisit their children’s earlier experiences as they share these resources.

The centre owner, who is also the licensee, and centre manager are providing continuity and support for the staff team through times of change and development.  They work together collaboratively with a high level of commitment to furthering the centre’s vision and mission statement.

Coherent leadership and management place the centre in a good position to continue to meet the challenge of developing programmes and setting goals for continuously improving performance.  Ongoing attention to its identified priorities:

• building teacher understanding of the Reggio approach;
• refining assessment, planning and evaluation processes; and
• integrating Māori and New Zealand perspectives;

is likely to enhance the centre’s programme development.

Future Action

ERO is confident that the service is being managed in the interests of the children.  Therefore ERO is likely to review the service again as part of the regular review cycle.

Review Priorities

The Focus of the Review

Before the review, the management of Explorers Early Learning Centre was invited to consider its priorities for review using guidelines and resources provided by ERO.  ERO also used documentation provided by the centre to contribute to the scope of the review.

The detailed priorities for review were then determined following a discussion between the ERO review team and the management and staff.  This discussion focused on existing information held by the centre (including self-review information) and the extent to which potential issues for review contributed to positive outcomes for children at Explorers Early Learning Centre.

All ERO education reviews in early childhood focus on the quality of education.  For ERO this includes the quality of:

• the programme provided for children;
• the learning environment; and
• the interactions between children and adults.

ERO’s findings in these areas are set out below.

The Quality of Education

Background

Explorers Early Learning Centre is a new centre which is fully licensed to cater for up to 36 children over the age of two at any one time.  It accepts children between two-and-a-half years and school age.

The centre has adopted an educational style called the ‘Reggio Approach’, which supports the New Zealand early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki.  Its philosophy is for teachers to develop a flexible programme that encourages children to investigate and explore the world.  This inquiry-focused curriculum is designed to include in-depth investigations and explorations of art media.  Children’s learning and progress are then made visible through documentation panels and observations.

The objective is for children to develop skills in investigation, representation, reflection and critical thinking.

The centre is staffed with five fully qualified early childhood teachers.

Areas of good performance

Interactions and relationships: Interactions among centre staff, children and parents have established a climate of respect, inclusion and trust.  Significant contributing features are:

• teachers notice and encourage children’s emerging interests and develop experiences to prompt further exploration, inquiry and discovery.  They spend time with children, listening and responding to their ideas and building their vocabulary;
• children play cooperatively, exchange ideas and show leadership.  They are beginning to learn negotiation skills and develop communication skills;  and
• parents are greeted, made welcome and many spend time in the centre.  They readily exchange information about their children with teachers, and encourage children to share home experiences and resources with the centre.

Children demonstrate high levels of wellbeing and belonging, which allow them to participate as confident and enterprising learners.

Quality of the environment: Explorers Early Learning Centre offers children an aesthetically pleasing environment that is well planned to invite their participation in meaningful play and learning.  Children’s learning is extended by:

• high quality resources that are readily accessible and can be used in open-ended ways;
• a full range of essential learning areas that are attractively presented and allow them to move freely around the centre.  Books, puzzles and information and communication technologies give support to early literacy and numeracy development, and art activities offer additional opportunities for children to represent their ideas and discoveries;
• encouragement to choose their own activities and pursue their interests.  Children are able to spend sustained periods of time developing their play and being involved in explorations and investigations; and
• display panels that illustrate their involvement in the programme and aspects of their learning.  Children can revisit earlier experiences and share them with teachers, parents and each other.

Children are actively involved in learning about the world through their engagement in exploration and discovery within the centre environment, ‘the third teacher’.

Programme provision: Teachers have developed a useful framework and tools for planning the programme to meet children’s learning needs.  Their emergent curriculum cycle reflects the centre’s philosophy, incorporating the Reggio Approach, and references to the Te Whāriki curriculum.  Teachers:

• collect observations, illustrated with photographs, that notice and recognise children’s interests and describe their learning;
• maintain well-presented individual profiles that illustrate children’s involvement in the programme and identify their learning.  These books are used and enjoyed by children, their parents and teaching staff;
• work as a team, placing a strong emphasis on sharing information about children as a basis for programme planning and development;
• write evaluative contributions to reflective journals about the programme.  These journal focus on the development of inquiry investigations and of explorations of art media; and
• engage in spontaneous self reviews and participate in decision making.  These practices allow them to make timely adjustments to routines and aspects of the programme.

Children are experiencing a programme that capitalises on their energy and enthusiasm to build on their skills, knowledge and levels of development.

Management and leadership: The owner, who is also the licensee, and centre manager work collaboratively with a high level of commitment to furthering the centre’s vision and mission statement.  They provide teachers with professional development opportunities as well as extensive practical guidance and support.  They understand self review as a process for continuously improving performance, and use appropriate processes to set short term and strategic goals.  Coherent leadership and management place the centre in a good position to continue to meet the challenge of developing programmes based on a rich foundation of inquiry, investigation and representation.

Area for improvement

Journey of discovery: During the 12 months the centre has been open, managers and staff have been formulating a distinctive programme.  The curriculum is being designed to reflect the vision and philosophy of enabling children to develop their ability to investigate and represent their ideas through a process of inquiry alongside teachers.  The centre has identified, and ERO agrees, that ongoing attention to the following points is likely to enhance progress in achieving this goal.  The priorities are:

• continuing to build the capacity of teachers to develop and implement the Explorer’s interpretation of the Reggio Approach to learning and teaching;
• refining the implementation of assessment, planning and evaluation processes to expand the role of parents as partners and increase the reflection of children’s learning and progress; and
• increasingly including Māori and New Zealand perspectives as integral features of the centre programme.

Further development of these aspects of curriculum design and delivery should contribute to children’s journey of discovery as curious, competent and inventive learners.

Area of National Interest

Overview

ERO provides information about the education system as a whole through its national reports.  This information will be used as the basis for long term and systemic educational improvement.

Literacy Teaching and Learning

When children understand, enjoy, engage with, and use language and symbols they are better able to express their individual identity and become active participants in a literate society.  As part of this review ERO looked at literacy practices, particularly the opportunities provided for children to develop strong literacy learning foundations.

In this service children’s literacy learning opportunities included:

• holding conversations with teachers who listen and respond to their ideas and interests;
• hearing vocabulary that includes technical terms, for example, for parts of the body and medical equipment;
• using a range of ‘languages’ and media for writing and other forms of creative expression, including music and movement, dramatic play, acting familiar stories, construction, sculpture, painting and drawing.  There has been a particular emphasis on line drawing, wire sculpture and constructing puppets as forms of representation;
• using reference books to get ideas and information about aspects of nature;
• using computers and digital cameras for visual and written literacy experiences;
• enjoying stories as members of a group and using books for individual relaxation and interest;
• sharing individual portfolios with teachers, parents and family members; and
• referring to documentation panels to revisit earlier inquiries, investigations and representations.

Management Assurance on Compliance Areas

Overview

Before the review, the licensee and staff of Explorers Early Learning Centre completed an ERO Centre Management Assurance Statement and Self-Audit Checklist.  In these documents they have attested that they had taken all reasonable steps to meet their legislative obligations related to:

• administration;
• health, safety and welfare;
• personnel management;
• financial and property management.

During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on outcomes for children:

• emotional safety (including behaviour management, prevention of bullying and abuse);
• physical safety (including behaviour management, sleeping and supervision practices; accidents and medication; hygiene and routines; travel and excursion policies and procedures);
• staff qualifications and organisation; and
• evacuation procedures and practices for fire and earthquake.

ERO’s investigations did not identify any areas of concern.

Recommendation

ERO and the centre management agreed that:

Management and staff continue to work on the priorities already identified:

• building teacher capacity to implement a Reggio curriculum;
• refining assessment, planning and evaluation processes;  and
• integrating Māori and New Zealand references in the programme.

Future Action

ERO is confident that the service is being managed in the interests of the children.  Therefore ERO is likely to review the service again as part of the regular review cycle.

Dr Graham Stoop
Chief Review Officer

18 March 2010

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