Early Childhood Education in New Zealand

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Short Answer : Identify three quality indicators relevant to Early Childhood Care in New Zealand and discuss why you believe they are important for children, parents and society ? Answer : NAEYC (1998b) defines “high quality” as “a program that meets the needs of and promotes the physical, social, emotional and cognitive development of the children and adults – parents, staff and administrators – who are involved in the program.” Three important indicators of quality in ECE are - Parent – Teacher Interactions : - Since parents play a huge role in reinforcing child's learning at home it is important to involve parents as observers and contributors . (Powell, 1989). When parents leave their child at school, it is a stressful period that needs to be handled with open communication channels from both parents and teachers so that all the child's needs are met and he/she feels safe.(Erickson & Kurz-Reimer, 1999). A negative environment formed as a result of the stress caused by separation from parents often discourages any form of learning and may lead to separation anxiety disorder. (Robinson, Dr.Segal & Smith, 2013) Planned Curriculum : - Planning the curriculum in advance not only gives the teacher a chance to include the various needs of the children, especially the ones having learning difficulties, (Bailey et al.,1996) but also encourages the child to experience a variety of developmentally appropriate activities and materials. (Arce, 2001). Planned curriculum gives a direction as in logical progression to the learning process and also provides a concrete format, from which evaluation and assessment can be made. (Gordan & Browne, 2004) Teacher : Child Ratio :- Smaller group size and high staff ratio are related to positive outcomes for children . As the individual needs of the children are met in such environment it boosts learning.
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