Dear Tara,
Thank you for the day- to- day account of our study visit in Wellington coupled with fantastic pictures. You're great.

What amazed me most was the use of video as a reflective tool for both the teachers and the children. Teachers use digital video as a documentation tool for children's learning. Children would usually revisit footage of their behavior and interaction. This was my greatest learning.

Thanks and please extend my regards to Nick,Tania and Dolly.

Merry Christmas.
luisa

Day 4 - NZTE Programme

Dolly had organised our first meeting with Massey University, Wellington Campus. We met with Professor James Chapman, Kama Weir, Brendan Mitchell and Dr Claire McLachlan to discuss the programmes offered by the College of Education, Massey University.


We then travelled to the College of Education, Victoria University of Wellington where met with Assoc. Prof. Carmen Dalli, Assoc. Dean Sue Cherrington, Dr Mary-Jane Shuker and Ali Glasgow. We gained further understanding of the NZ educational context as well as hearing more about ICT in NZ early childhood education.


Late afternoon, we met with Natasha Kibble at the Childspace Early Childhood Institute before travelling to Wilton Childspace to see their centre and talk with the teachers.





Our day saw us end with a lovely dinner at the Dockside Resturant.

Day 3

We started our day off with a quick visit to the Parliament Buildings where we took pictures of the Beehive.
We then visited Alicetown Playcentre where we observed the centre in action. Children were engaging in play and we were able to witness literacy, numeracy and science happening at the water trough, the confidence course and many other activities. At the same time the children were learning, so too were the adults. This particular session had an adult education group who were studying Te Tiriti O Waitangi as part of their Course 3 module.
Our next stop was the Hutt Playcentre Association Rooms where we discussed adult education and the Playcentre Education Diploma with Suzanne, Gillian and Faith from Playcentre Federation.
After lunching at Galleria/Maori Treasures, we returned to the NZTE buildings where we met with Jenny Clark and Lennane Kent of ERO.

Lady Norwood Rose Gardens

Afternoon meeting at NZTE

A perfect day in Wellington

Day 3 Photo Diary

Day 2 photo diary

Tuesday morning debriefing and exemplars of New Zealand Early Childhood Centres who have undertaken ECE ICT Professional learning followed by an overview of Foundations for Discovery.

With Rose and Lynn from the Ministry of Education - an overview of Early Childhood Education covering aspects such as government principles for ECE, priorities for education, the ECE network and demographics, 20 Free ECE, policies and trends.

A visit to Barnardos - discussions with Julie and Robyn. Very interesting hearing about Number One Nannies and KidStart - home based care and learning. We talked about the training Barnardos provided, the type of educators and nannies they employed, who their service provided for, the cost for families, the benefits of home based care and the curriculum and assessment undertaken by educators and nannies. Many questions and curiosities. The educational leaders delegation can see the benefits of this home based service model for the Phillipines.
Next stop - a picnic lunch at Lyall Bay - the sun was not yet out in Wellington and the wind was blowing. We imagined sunshine and seeing the South Island in the distance...
Our next visit was to Aubert Childcare Centre where we were able to walk through the various areas - babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers. Aubert Childcare Centre is steeped with history and we were lucky enough to be shown around this centre by Ann.
Click here to see website for more details

The Two Tees - Tara and Tania:-)

Next stop Te Papa Tongarewa - Musuem of New Zealand
Click here to find out about the meaning of Te Papa

Click here for Te Papa website

We concluded our day with afternoon tea and a debrief of our visits. Lots of discussion and another day of rich learning experiences. We left our visitors to spend time at Te Papa and the souvenir shops!

Trends in Early Childhood Education

A brief overview of Day 1

A day of meeting, questioning, discussions, professional dialogue and learning. We met at the Quest Apartments and walked to our meeting room at the Trade and Enterprise building - a typical Wellington walk involving up hills, down hills and chilly wind! The view from our meeting room is fabulous, overlooking the Wellington harbour and waterfront. The perfect place for our first photo session. We were met by Dolly Seow-Ganesan - Sector Manager - Education (New Zealand Trade and Enterprise) who warmly welcomed us and joined us for coffee and our first session. Our first session involved outlining the various early childhood organisations in New Zealand - kindergarten, playcentre, childcare, home-based and playgroups. We discussed our curriculum, assessment, training for teachers, parent education and theorists that guide/influence our New Zealand centres and curriculum. There was also discussion around government funding of early childhood education at the Free 20 hours for 3 and 4 year olds. We travelled by "bus" to Pukerua Bay where we enjoyed a taste of New Zealand seafood before spending time at Pukerua Bay Kindergarten. We arrived in time to observe a mat time and then had the opportunity to spend time talking with the teaching team as they outlined curriculum, assessment and documentation and ICT in early childhood.

Day 1 photo diary

Trade and Enterprise meeting room

Our tour bus!

Tara sharing her knowledge of the NZ Curriculum and NZ Education and Care providers

Our group at the Trade and Enterprise Building

Sampling NZ seafood at the Fishermans Table, Pukerua Bay

Visit to Pukerua Bay Kindergarten

Welcome to Wellington, New Zealand

On behalf of CORE Education we would like to welcome you all to Wellington. We look forward to meeting you and working with you over the next few days.
Tara Fagan and Tania Coutts