An evaluation of ministry-funded Early Childhood Education Professional Development Programmes 2003 Publications
Publication Details
The Ministry of Education commissioned this evaluation to examine three aspects of professional development (PD) in the early childhood education (ECE) sector: describing the current delivery of PD; identifying barriers and success factors for delivery of the PD programmes; and identifying their impact. The evaluation covered the provision of whole centre PD in the calendar year 2000.
Author(s): Michael Gaffney, Children's Issues Centre Dunedin.
Date Published: January 2003
Executive Summary
Introduction
Three factors have been identified by two earlier studies (Allan and Gibson, 1994; Gaffney and Smith, 1997) as central to any evaluation of PD in the early childhood sector. They are: the process of facilitation, including the development of relationships; the structure of the PD programmes; and those features of the PD programmes or the sector itself that impact on the ability to maximise the gains from undertaking PD.
Methodology
Data for this evaluation was collected from three sources:
- milestone reports sent to the Ministry of Education by PD providers
- interviews of the 13 providers that had participated in PD in 2000 (carried out May-June 2001)
- a postal survey, using a questionnaire, of 1130 ECE centres and services that had participated in PD in 2000 (carried out June-July 2001). These made up 38.7 percent of the centres and services in the May 2001 Ministry of Education database of all those licensed. A total of 515 responses were received, giving a response rate of close to 46 percent: 77 from kindergartens, 91 from playcentres, 307 from education and care centres, 26 from home-based services, and 14 from casual education and care centres (including those based in hospitals).
The report was drafted in September 2001 – January 2002.
Professional Development Programmes
The providers outlined the PD programmes they delivered to centres and services in 2000.
Professional Development Provider Perspectives
Overall, the factors that providers saw as having the most impact on PD outcomes were to do with facilitation, relationships, educator attitudes, educator commitment and energy, and the way the programme was set up for learners. The importance of some factors, such as the timing of the PD or difficulties in accessing relievers, varied according to sector or geographical area.
Factors supporting change
The factors which providers consistently saw as most important to success were:
- effective facilitation
- good provider relationships with participants
- providing a safe or sec
cure learning environment.
These factors had an influence in almost all centres and services being worked with.
Factors impeding change
The most prominent barriers impeding change were:
- a low level of commitment to PD in the centre or service
- a low level of educator stability.
According to providers, these factors had a negative influence on about half (40-59 percent) of the centres and services which providers worked with. That influence included both preventing PD goals from being attained, and slowing progress.
Programmes and their outcomes
Providers highlighted two aspects of effective PD programmes: integration, and supporting change. They also discussed monitoring the outcomes of PD.
Relationships
With centres and services, providers saw the following relationship factors as impacting on PD:
- leadership (or its absence) within centres and services (referred to by 10 providers)
- relationships within the centre or service (10)
- facilitator input (9 providers)
- establishment and maintenance of the relationship (9)
- centre/service reasons for participating in PD (9)
- centre/service commitment to participating in PD (8)
- selection into PD – when demand exceeded availability, all providers had selection criteria in place (6)
- a secure environment for challenge (5)
- management role and reasons for participation (5).
With the Ministry of Education, the range of relationship issues raised by providers included:
- contracting format - the change to a two-year format was welcomed (6 providers referred to this)
- Ministry communications to sector (6)
- milestone reporting and responses, in terms of consistency and feedback (5)
- agency co-ordination (4)
- participatory funding, where providers were keen to eliminate inconsistencies (3)
- professional development for providers (3)
- resource development, especially providers wanting to have some input (3).
ECE sector factors impacting on PD
ECE Centre and Service Perspectives
Centre/Service Characteristics
Educator Training and Involvement in PD
Most kindergarten teachers had a diploma, and most had been involved in PD in 2000.
The qualifications most commonly held by playcentre participants were Part 1 playcentre qualifications.
Two thirds of education and care centre staff were involved in PD. Just over half the full-time staff had a diploma or above, and just under half the part-time staff were untrained compared with a fifth of full-time staff.
Nearly all home-based service co-ordinators were involved in the PD, whereas only about one in 5 of the educators were.
Most staff in casual education and care centres were involved in PD in 2000. Over half the full-time staff and the part-time staff had diplomas or above.
Centre and service involvement in PD
Outcome areas and goals: Across all sector types, those areas receiving the most attention in 2000 were management systems and the DOPs, curriculum management, quality environments, and Te Whäriki. The Treaty of Waitangi and Te Reo and Tikanga Mäori were rated highly in kindergarten and in home-based care, but lower in education and care services and in playcentre. The areas of parent partnerships, literacy and numeracy, special needs, and transitions were consistently rated the lowest across all sector types. The highest rating defined goals, across the whole sector, were programme and observation based planning, systems to support DOPs, and assessment. Work on systems to support DOPs was separate from the policy development that might be occurring alongside that work.
Overview of factors impacting on PD
The 515 responses from centres and services held generally consistent views about the major factors impacting on the success of PD. However, there were variations for some sector types.
Provider and facilitator factors supporting change: There was a great deal of consistency among all sector types about the five most important factors. These were having providers and facilitators who:
- looked at centre/service needs
- kept the centre/service focused
- supported centre/service goals
- brought an outside perspective
- provided resources.
These factors were seen as more important than the next set of factors including facilitators being accessible, being flexible, providing intellectual challenge, or articulating practice.
Programme factors impeding change: There was a great deal more variation between sector groups here. For example, kindergartens had far less concern about any of these aspects than the other sector groups did. Evening meetings were an issue for education and care centres, playcentres, and casual centres. Problems with the facilitator relationship were more often identified by home-based services and casual centres than by the other three sector types.
Centre or service factors supporting change: Consistently rated as important were:
- enthusiastic staff (or parents, for playcentre)
- a good relationship with the facilitator
- having systems in place
- supportive leadership.
Having extra meetings paid for was important for 45 percent of education and care centres, but only for less than 10 percent of centres and services of other sector types.
Centre or service factors impeding change: Again, this showed much more variability among sector types. However, respondents in all sector types identified the following barriers:
- lack of time to engage with PD (reported at least twice as often as any other barrier)
- impact of staff turnover (or parent turnover in playcentre)
- limited community resources.
The importance of other barriers varied by sector type. Low commitment to PD was an issue for many playcentres and home-based services, but far less so for education and care centres and casual centres, and almost negligible for kindergartens. Again, kindergarten appeared to have fewer barriers to change than other sector types.
Outcomes
Centres and services were asked whether they agreed or disagreed that they had improved their ability to implement Te Whäriki and the DOPs, and had met their own PD goals.
Overall, about two thirds of centres and services from most of the sector types reported an improved ability to implement Te Whäriki or the DOPs. However, only half of the home-based services reported improved implementation. Between 5-10 percent of respondents said they did not improve. The remainder were had mixed improvements.
Two thirds of centres and services across the sector types reported meeting their own PD goals, but only half of the home-based services did so. (However, only 26 returns came from this sector type.) While the casual centres agreed they were meeting their goals and improving the implementation of DOPs at the same level as other sector groups, improved implementation of Te Whäriki had a lower level of agreement. (However, only 14 returns came from this sector type.) This suggests that casual centres were working in specific areas not so directly related to curriculum.
Discussion
This chapter is based mainly on a discussion of issues raised by providers, and in responses from centres and services.
All three studies found that the main centre or service barrier to change was the lack of time, or too many other things happening within a centre or service. This was the only barrier to be mentioned by more than 40 percent of respondents across the sector. Most other barriers were mentioned by fewer than 20 percent.
Impact on educators: The numerous levels of complexity operating in early childhood services and centres made successful facilitation for individual learning a complex undertaking. Sustainable change appeared to involve the facilitator being able to provide the stimulation and create the opportunities for participants to learn by challenging their own practice.
Further research: Some other useful areas for further research indicated by this evaluation are:
- the role of successful facilitation, and how it supports change in policy implementation, centre/service development, and teacher/educator development
- whether and, if so, why home-based care services and casual education and care centres have more difficulty in engaging effectively with the current PD programmes.
- how all forms of PD, not just Ministry funded programmes, provide an environment to support the professional development of teachers and educators.
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