Articles

Gala Dinner Photos Available - Download Them For Free!

Photographs from the ECC Annual Conference Masquerade Ball are available now! The high resolution photos can be downloaded for free from the Neil Mckenzie Photographer website. 05/05/08  more >

Important New Resource For Community Centres

The Early Childhood Council's Good Governance Guide and Tool Kit for community-owned centres covers the roles and responsibilities of governance; structure, membership and expertise of the board; and activities and functions of the board. The handbook recognises that the most effective boards and committees have a clearly defined role, and that the boundaries between their functions as governors of a centre and the role of management and staff is also clearly defined. The handbook aims to help community-run centres define these roles and to make this structure work.
14/03/08  more >

ECC Earlybird Registration Cut-off Date Coming Up Fast

Don't forget - Earlybird Registration for the ECC Annual Conference 2008 closes on 31 December 2007. This record contains information on the many exciting speakers and events that will be at next year’s conference, including an outline of workshop topics. 14/12/07  more >

New Outdoor Resource Available

A new resource edited by Cheryl Greenfield, early childhood expert from MIT, has just been released. 'Outside is Where We Need to Be: A guide to providing optimal outdoor environments for young children in early childhood settings' has been released by the Early Childhood Outdoor Reference Group. The money from sales goes towards promoting the outdoors in young children's lives. This record contains information on how to order the booklet. 30/11/07  more >

Men In ECE Publication

A new early childhood publication is now available: Proceedings of the First NZ Men in Early Child Care and Teaching Summit and a Record of Challenges, Changes and Thinking. The Early Childhood Council was the Principal Sponsor of this event, and the publication includes ECC CEO Sue Thorne's address to the summit. 31/07/07  more >

Early Childhood Education For Peace Declaration

ECC CEO Sue Thorne was part of a panel of experts at the Early Childhood Education for Peace Conference in Albacete, Spain in April this year. The panel worked together to draft the pedagogical foundation of the Declaración de Albacete, which outlines the reasons why it is necessary to develop a values-based, quality, integrating education for all, to achieve a better world. Members of the group came from all over the world, and worked together through interpreters to create the declaration. This record contains the full English text of the Declaración de Albacete. 21/06/07  more >

Free ECE Parent Information Brochure

There is expected to be a very mixed uptake of the government's Free ECE policy for three and four year olds. The ECC has produced an information brochure to help parents understand why many centres have decided not to opt in to Free ECE, and to seek their help to convince the government to make the necessary changes to the policy, so that all families can benefit as promised. The brochure is available to download from this record. 01/06/07  more >

An Historic Moment For Early Childhood Education In NZ

The Early Childhood Council was the Principal Sponsor of the Kiwi Men Can Do Anything Summit, held in Christchurch on March 29, 2007. The summit was held by the Childforum Research Network and addressed the many issues surrounding the small number of men in the early childhood education sector in New Zealand. Sue Thorne, CEO of the Early Childhood Council gave a speech to the summit. This record contains the speech in full. 30/03/07  more >

Free ECE Hits Headlines

Free ECE has been making headlines as early childhood centres begin to assess the rates, which the Government announced just two working days before Christmas. This record contains links to many of the recent articles about 20 Hours Free. 26/01/07  more >

Quoting From Articles

Have you ever wondered if it’s okay to copy an article from Swings & Roundabouts for your parent newsletter or for staff members? 10/11/06  more >

NZ Childcare Finance Package

Exclusive to ECC members, NZ Childcare Finance can bring forward a portion of your next bulk funding payment so that you can use some of it to pay everyday expenses and wages before the due date. This facility is unique to the childcare sector, and is worth looking into. 15/09/06  more >

The Kids Business

A recent article by Diana Burns in Unlimited magazine states that “Corporatisation is taking over early childhood education as parents face rising costs due to government pressure to get more qualified teachers into the sector.” The article gives an overview of the current state of the early childhood sector and takes a look at the four “big players” currently in the New Zealand market. Click here to access the link to the full article. 02/06/06  more >

The Future Of Free Kindergartens

There are special moments in the history of organisations. Opposing forces clash, and while it may not be entirely clear at the time, the outcome of the moment changes everything for the future.

The current kindergarten industrial dispute may turn out to be such an instant: At stake, the survival of the kindergarten movement in New Zealand. 09/12/05  more >

Ownership Debate In The NZ Listener

Joanne Black’s comment in a recent Listener article arguing that: “Who owns childcare centres is not the crucial thing” has sparked debate in the Letters page of the publication. For several weeks numerous letters have been published, including one attacking the principles of the ECC. 07/11/05  more >

Growth In ECE Chains The 'Start Of An Ongoing Development'

The arrival of Macquarie Bank's Forward Steps group in New Zealand brings to five the number of (early childhood education) ECE chains in the country, and is likely the start of an ongoing development in the sector, says Early Childhood Council chief executive Sue Thorne. 30/09/05  more >

Parents Hold The Key

When it comes to the quality of a child's life, no one has more at stake than parents, and parents with young children are often more sensitive to quality than most.
So it was with unease that many parents heard the Government's Budget announcement that 20 free hours a week of early childhood education would be available only for children at community-based centres.
(An article by Sue Thorne, chief executive of the Early Childhood Council, first published in the NZ Herald 16 August 2005) 16/08/05  more >

Parents Deserve Freedom Of Choice For Childcare

Citizens who won't even be voting for another 15 years or so have been the target of tough political campaigning this month as MPs target the votes of parents with preschoolers.
The political one-upmanship has been staunch, but has either side really hit the right note? 12/07/05  more >

ECC's Teacher Registration Assessment Booklet Available Now

The Education (Registration of Early Childhood Services Teachers) Regulations 2004 have been passed requiring that from 1 January 2005 all Persons Responsible will be required to be registered teachers. Confused about how to finish your teacher registration? Eligible but not sure how to proceed? Looking for an efficient practical resource to guide you? Want to know how to assess and provide advice and guidance?
ECC's Teacher Registration Assessment Booklet is now available to assist you through this process. Order form available on this site. 22/03/04  more >

"ECC Should Act As A Good Employer" Says NZEI

In a recent media release "Robbing Peter to bribe Paul" the ECC criticised both the Government and the NZEI for their selective approach to negotiating subsidised retirement savings for ECE teachers. It took the NZEI a couple of days to try to justify their discriminatory actions and when they did National Vice President, Colin Tarr accused the ECC of blaming NZEI for improving conditions for its members and helping create a working environment that enables them to provide a quality education for the children they teach.
He urged ECC to stop the attacks and instead follow the government’s lead and act as a good employer by negotiating a similar retirement scheme for teachers in the private sector early childhood education centres it represents.
Click on this record to read the full response from NZEI and the ECC's additional comments. 22/11/03  more >

A Better Deal For Education

With 18 rural schools in Northland and many more around the country facing either closure or radical changes, Sue Thorne CEO of the Early Childhood Council and member of the Education Forum argues that parents and local communities should have more say in the schooling process. It works in early childhood, why should it not in the compulsory sector? Go to this record for Sue's article published recently in the Northern Advocate and links to other sites on the issue of the importance of parents and local communities in the decision making when it comes to a child's education. 16/11/03  more >

'INVEST IN KIDS' TAKEN LITERALLY

Milton Friedman, meet Maria Montessori. Advocates of early childhood education have a new ally - the economists. Economists say money put toward early childhood programmes offers great returns and may be the best form of economic development out there. This article is reproduced from Pioneer Press in the United States and puts a strong case forward for increasing investment in early childhood education. 15/11/03  more >

Disestablishment Of ECD Completed This Week

This week, Early Childhood Development was merged into the Ministry of Education. The Minister's decision to disestablish ECD was done swiftly and without consultation with the early childhood sector. This record looks at the stated functions of the former ECD, how these roles may conflict with existing Ministry functions, and gives the ECC's opinion on why the Minister may have chosen to bring the axe down on the ECD. 02/10/03  more >

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