ECE Professional Development Programmes 2010 - 2013

Contracts for Ministry of Education funded Early Childhood Education (ECE) Professional Development Programmes for July 2010 - June 2013 have been finalised.

The ECE Professional Development programmes for July 2010 - June 2013  have been designed to align with current Government and Ministry priorities for ECE; ie, increasing opportunities for all children to participate in quality ECE. The key priority is to improve ECE participation for Māori and Pasifika children and children from lower socio-economic backgrounds, as these groups of children participate in ECE at much lower rates than their peers.

Targeting of Professional Development

The focus for the ECE Professional Development Programmes is on targeting:

• locations with low rates of ECE participation to support quality provision in those communities
• services that are likely to enrol children who have the greatest potential benefit to make from participating in quality early childhood education (Maori, Pasifika and children from low socio-economic areas).

ECE Professional Development Programmes

The Professional Development programmes for 2010-2013 are:

• Programme 1A: In depth professional development to services in low socio –economic communities identified by the Ministry of Education. Programmes will be flexible in duration and may operate for up to three years.
• Programme 1B: Professional development to be provided to clusters of services in locations selected by the Ministry of Education that feed into decile 1-3 schools. Timeframes will be flexible but generally programmes will be for up to one year.
• Programme 2: Leadership – a nationally available programme
• Programme 3: Education and care of children under two years of age – a nationally available programme

Professional development will also be made available to services identified by the Ministry of Education as experiencing significant service quality issues or facing the risk of closure or are newly licensed services where the Ministry has made a significant investment.

The Professional Development Programmes will have a focus on service responsiveness; services being more responsive to the identity, language and cultural needs of specific communities, particularly Māori and Pasifika. Valuing of identity, language and culture will be central to all Professional Development Programmes.

The focus of professional development will be on services in target locations with assessed need for PD in the following areas:

• literacy and numeracy
• transitions
• education and care of children under two years of age
• developing children's social competence
• leadership

The programmes are expected to develop self sustaining communities of learning or networks.  Professional development programmes will be underpinned by Te Whāriki and the use of other key information and practice models such as the Best Evidence Syntheses, Nga Arohaehae Wahi Hua and Kei Tua o Te Pae.

ECE Professional Development Programme Implementation

Programmes 1A & B - In depth professional development to services and to clusters of services

Providers are now contacting services in target locations to assess their professional development needs. From 1 October 2010 providers will start working with selected services in the target locations identified by the Ministry to deliver professional development.

The providers for Programmes 1A& B, who will be delivering professional development for the 2010 – 2013 period are listed below.
Target locations are based on Ministry of Education regions. A map of Ministry of Education regions can be downloaded from this page.

Core Education

Operating in the Northern, Central North and Southern Regions
PO BOX 13-678
Christchurch 8141
Ph: 03 379 6627

Te Tari Puna Ora o Aotearoa/New Zealand Childcare Association

Operating in the Northern, Central South and Southern Regions
PO BOX 12725
Thorndon
Wellington
Ph: 04 473 4672

Education Leadership Project (ELP)

Operating in the Central North region
PO BOX 24 100
Hamilton
Ph: 07 856 8708

Manukau Institute of Technology

Operating in the Northern region
Private Bag 94 006
Manukau
Auckland
Ph: 09 968 8628

Te Kopu Inc

Operating in the Northern region 
PO BOX 271
Waiuku
Ph: 09 235 8004

Ngahihi Inc

Operating in the Northern and Central North regions
PO BOX 14160
Hamilton
Ph: 07 854 7284

Massey University College of Education 

Operating in the Central South region 
Private Bag 11222
Palmerston North
Ph: 06 356 9099

University of Waikato

Operating in the Central North region  
Private Bag 3105
Waikato Mail Centre
Hamilton
Ph: 07 838 4874

New Zealand Playcentre Federation

Coverage of playcentres nationally
362 Highway 56
RD7
Palmerston North
Ph: 06 329 9694

Te Kōhanga Reo National Trust Board

Coverage of Kōhanga reo nationally
PO BOX 38741
Wellington
Ph: 04 381 8750

Programme 2: Leadership

The aim of this programme is to build pedagogical leadership within services in the following focus areas:

• literacy and numeracy
• developing children’s social competence
• education and care of children under two years of age
• transitions

Further information can be found on the websites of the professional development providers, who are delivering this programme, Core Education and Educational Leadership Project .

Programme 3: Education and care of children under two years of age

The goal of this programme is to increase educator understanding of and practice in how best to support learning and development of very young children.

Further information can be found on the websites of the professional development providers, who are delivering this programme, Core Education and Educational Leadership Project .