Early Childhood Education in New Zealand - Essay Example

Early childhood education in New Zealand Name Course Name and Code Instructor’s Name Date Introduction Learning begins way before a child is enrolled into school. Moss & Dahlberg (2008) states that children begin to learn how to co-ordinate, relate and react based on what they pick up from their close family and relatives from very early in life. Nevertheless, formal teaching and care is required to help these children achieve an all rounded learning and development as echoed by May (2002). Early childhood education entails equipping young children with skills, knowledge and care over and above which is offered by their family and is carried out in the exterior of the family setting. The needs of a young child prior to joining school are extensively different from the needs of older children, especially so for special needs children since these children not only require special attention and care at all time, but also just like regular children, they are at the point of their highest rate of growth and development which is characterized by rapid brain development (Gestwicki & Bertrand, 2011). This is the period when young children learn how to talk, walk, pot-train and more importantly establish their self confidence, self esteem and moral basis and it is when their outlook on the world is formed (Dahlberg & Moss, 2005). Research indicate that the early years of life are most essential in influencing the development of intelligence, establishment of individuality and development of social behaviour which is coupled with development of critical psychological, physical, and social abilities and skills (Moss & Dahlberg, 2008). This is no different for special needs children. Therefore, failure to ensure these abilities and skills are fully developed from the initial stage of a child’s life has negative implications on the learning abilities and individual development of a child thus, making effective early childhood education a necessity and integral for all young children to acquire regardless whether they are special needs children or not. Simply put, early childhood education is a vital element in a child’s life and is a vital component for special needs children (Gestwicki & Bertrand, 2011). This report is a submission that analyses in detail the issues and challenges facing early childhood education programs for special need children in New Zealand. Background In contemporary educational setting, early childhood education is imperative for young children and is a right for young children to acquire since it helps the young children ready themselves for critical processes of their lives such solving problems, making decisions and relating with others as supported by Smith (2008). Freeman (1996, p. 70) states that 'rights are entitlements, valuable commodities' which we 'do not have to grovel or beg to get.' According to New Zealand’s Education Act 1989, Sec 8, individuals with special education needs regardless of the causes, have equal rights to attend and acquire education as individuals without special needs (Ministry of Education, 1996). For special needs children who entail children who needs extra educational support and assistance for their disabilities which may be as a result of medical and psychological factors, early childhood education helps them learn coping strategies within family and learning environments and they also learn how to relate and socialize with others. In New Zealand, early childhood education is facilitated by a range of stakeholders such as community church groups, the government, voluntary agencies and private operators among others who provide variety of early childhood services (May, 2002). Majority of early childhood education services in private and public schools in New Zealand obtain government funding only when the services are licensed and have an approved charter from the Ministry of education that officially sets out educational strategies (Ministry of Education, 2009). In addition, the Ministry of Education develops the licensing standards and conditions for offering early child education programs while the Education Review Office is charged with periodic evaluations of early childhood education facilities as highlighted by May (2002). Presently, the Specialist Education Service generates specialist services for special needs children. Although it is unlawful for special needs children to be treated differently within any learning environments in New Zealand, there is much that is needed to be done to ensure all special needs children acquire their early childhood education. There is disparity when it comes to accessing quality early childhood education for owing to reduced availability, inaccessibility, and high costs of enrolling special needs children in early childhood education institutions (May, 2002). All early childhood education institutes in New Zealand are mandated to implement the national curriculum referred to as Te Whariki: He Wha ¯riki Matauranga mo nga Mokopuna o Aotearoa, which forms the foundation for early childhood teachers to develop individual growth and learning experiences of each enrolled child (Ministry of Education, 1996). Importance of early childhood education for special needs children in New Zealand Early childhood education for special need children helps them to develop in all the key developmental aspects just as regular children do which are namely social aspects; where a child learns to develop social attachments through play, they learn important social skills such as sharing, trust, loyalty, teamwork and establishing stable and long term correlations with others (Ministry of Education, 2009). There are the physical aspects; where the child develops their overall motor skills, intellectual aspects; where the child learns how to make sense of their surroundings and the world in general, creative aspects; where a child learn how to develop their unique skills and identifying their talents such as arts, music, singing, reading and playing a musical instrument among others (Dahlberg & Moss, 2005). Finally, there is the emotional aspects which early childhood education helps nurture, where a child develops their self awareness, self esteem, self confidence and they learn how to understand, manage and control their feelings (Gestwicki & Bertrand, 2011). Early childhood education acts as a litmus paper to test the child’s ability to counter challenges in the coming school years as suggested by Rieser (2008). Although early childhood education in New Zealand is not mandatory, it is meant to ensure educational opportunities are not limited by language, race, economic restrictions, locality and gender since relevant educational stakeholders have realized there exists a connection between language, learning and culture (Ministry of Education, 2009). Therefore, early childhood education acts as basis for dealing with social challenges facing children developing in a society that has multiple cultural heritages as noted by May (2002). This is illustrated by the existing disparities between Maori and non-Maori children, and Pacific and non-Pacific children in New Zealand. Issues facing early childhood education for special needs children in New Zealand According to Dahlberg & Moss (2005), it is integral that there are suitable educational aspects intertwined into a child’s developmental stages in order to ensure quality early childhood education. Apart from ensuring special needs children acquire quality education, it is as much important to ensure they receive quality social and emotional care which is vital in developing their basis of self worth, enhancing their preparedness in facing real world challenges and improving their educational and life progress as supported by Ministry of Education (1996). According to Moss & Dahlberg (2008), educational opportunities coupled with quality social and emotional care offered by early childhood education ensures special needs children are able to identify and utilize their potential and hence, play their role in the society and at the same time, they are able to develop as social beings. In New Zealand, relevant stakeholders are too much focused on providing educational progress for special needs children as a way to empower them and give little attention to offering quality social and emotional care as an integral component to achieving the anticipated educational and social outcomes (Rieser, 2008). This has led to failure to achieve the desired learning outcomes for special needs children enrolled in early childhood education programs (Dahlberg & Moss, 2005). Quality early childhood education for special needs children are characterized by key elements of organization and involvement where routines and schedules are developed to ensure the special needs, children, their parents and the teachers are aware on when and what to expect and the special needs children are involved actively in activities and services offered to ensure they learn from them respectively as outlined by Ministry of Education (2009). In addition, quality early childhood education is intentional in nature where services offered are intended to enhance a child’s readiness of oncoming school life. Be it as it may, early childhood for special needs children in New Zealand is remotely lacking on these key elements since teachers and care givers are limited in organizing services and engaging the children as required. In addition, due to the difficulty special needs children may have in absorbing educational materials, their education is designed in such a way it is not intentional in nature. Smith (2008) suggests that the rights of children for education do not obtain extensive public and political support in New Zealand despite the fact the state is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. However, with the development of Te Whariki in 1996, a national curriculum, which focused over and above the physical, intellectual, social and emotional needs of children, to include embracing the distinctiveness, rights and ethnicity of young children as members of the New Zealand society, has helped enhance quality, acceptability, availability and affordability of early childhood education for both regular and special needs children (Ministry of Education, 1996). Early childhood education especially for special needs children although a universally accepted and implemented concept in New Zealand, it has been limited by shortage of funding for such institutions, lack of sufficient time to incorporate educational curriculum with emotional and social care and more importantly, lack of sufficient qualified early childhood teachers professionally trained to handle and teach special needs children particularly in their pre-school years as indicated by Rieser (2008). Inadequate funding and lack of trained staff capacity has meant the quality of educational programs in these institutions have been compromised, which therefore, impedes achievement of goals and objectives set out in the Te Whariki (May, 2002). In regards to lack of trained personnel to facilitate early childhood education for special needs children in New Zealand, the personnel usually are not equipped with primary foundations and principles for facilitating early childhood education for children with special needs and they are limited in skills relating to diagnosing and examining, ethical responsibilities and assessment as discussed by Purdue et al. (2001). Rieser (2008) notes that teachers who are not knowledgeable about special needs are uninformed of current best practices in managing special needs children, applying various behaviour modification methods based on the special needs of the child and learning communication techniques required to facilitate teaching. With such a scenario it becomes virtually impossible to offer special needs children enrolled in early childhood education programs the learning environment they require to ensure their exploit their learning potential as indicated by Moss & Dahlberg (2008). Progress in early childhood education for children with special needs has been notable as more emphasis has been generated on offering holistic education for children. With increased acknowledgement of the entitlement to access quality education for a child with special needs, more and more early childhood education centres in New Zealand are allowing the inclusion systems where these children are integrated in the mainstream education programs alongside their counterparts (Ministry of Education, 1996). There has been enhanced collaboration and partnering between teachers, parents, health specialists and care givers which has enhanced learning outcomes for special needs children in New Zealand. Nevertheless, the education systems for special needs children are marred by complexities and bureaucracy which makes it difficult to align resources with needs and developing qualified professionals to ensure delivery of quality care and services. In addition, it is has been challenging for the relevant stakeholders in New Zealand to transfer the same quality services to special need children in marginalized, low populated communities and among varied ethnic communities where there are no qualified professionals to facilitate early childhood education for special needs children across cultures. Potential solutions 1. Regular Training and employment of qualified teachers with knowledge on special needs Among the most notable and impacting challenge to offering comprehensive and quality early childhood education for children with special needs in New Zealand has been consistent lack of sufficient qualified personnel who are able to effectively and efficiently manage these children. As earlier discussed, few personnel are available who are able to offer the required services across cultures and more so, able to diagnose and monitor, assess and apply best practice management of special needs children and effectively utilize varied behaviour modification techniques that suits different needs for different children. According to Purdue et al. (2001), experts who are charged with delivering quality early childhood education services to special needs children have been left alone to borne the responsibility instead of utilizing them as resource people to help early childhood education teachers to be accountable for children with special needs. The solution therefore, would be to not only train and employ qualified staff but also to ensure, they do have knowledge on special needs, they know how to recognize and manage them and they attend regular refresher courses on teaching special needs children to ensure they are equipped with up to date information and contents as echoed by Gestwicki & Bertrand (2011). Having a workforce that is knowledgeable is a battle half won. 2. allocation of adequate resources Substantial amounts of resources in terms of time, funding, capital, services and facilities are required to ensure every special needs children are able to access quality early childhood education. Lack of sufficient resources have been cited as a justification for mainstream systems and teachers that do not want to foster inclusion of special needs children as noted by Purdue et al. (2001). Therefore, to ensure the inclusion systems do work, it is critical for the wider community to have a positive attitude, actions and outlooks towards special needs children with their parents and more importantly, the government and other relevant stakeholders to obtain and allocate adequate resources in mainstream schools as suggested by Dahlberg & Moss (2005). Other resources such as physical resources, individual assistance and other material resources are also required to ensure varied needs for different special needs children are effectively and adequately met (Purdue et al. 2001). In addition, training and employment of qualified and knowledgeable early childhood education teachers should be coupled with recognizing and appreciating their efforts and work and rewarding and remunerating them accordingly. This will not only help motivate the teachers but also empower them to exploit their best potential, take ownership of the set learning goals for special needs children enrolled and generate high performance (Rieser, 2008). 3. Regular research In order to keep abreast and enhance flexibility and adaptability of the curriculum for special needs children enrolled in early childhood classes with changing educational environment and to ensure quality of education for these children is continuously improved, the government should invest in research and development. This is to ensure new and emerging technologies and innovations are adopted to help these children achieve the anticipated outcomes and help teachers execute their mandate competently (Gestwicki & Bertrand, 2011). 4. Encourage Inclusion Although exclusion systems allow for special needs children to receive utmost attention and care from their teachers and specialists, it deprives them the opportunity to relate with regular children (Dahlberg & Moss, 2005). In fact, taking these children to different learning settings and classes enhances their chances of being seeing as different which undermines the value of exclusion. Therefore, to ensure special needs children develop in all the aspects of their lives, emotionally, socially, creatively, mentally, physically and intellectually, fostering inclusion systems is imperative (Purdue et al. 2001). This is achievable by deploying teachers with knowledge on special needs in mainstream schools and creating community wide awareness and education on the need for inclusion and how each member can be accountable to facilitating a favourable learning environment for children with special needs enrolled in early childhood education. Recommendations According to Rieser (2008), quality, accessible, acceptable, diversified and affordable early childhood education services in relation to ideologies, culture and ownership is essential in enhancing collaboration among administrators, specialists, teachers, special needs children, wider community and their parents in New Zealand. According to Gestwicki & Bertrand (2011), there is need to incorporate education with social and emotional care to ensure overall development for the special needs children enrolled in early childhood education. To overcome the present challenges that face early childhood education for special needs children in New Zealand, there are two recommendations that are fundamental which includes Engagement and collaboration Regardless of the amount of resources that are acquired and allocated in supporting early childhood education for children with special needs without adequate engagement and collaboration between relevant stakeholders, the anticipated learning outcomes for this children will not be realized (Dahlberg & Moss, 2005). Therefore, there is need for active participation and transparency in finding mutually agreed solutions to the existing challenges. On the other hand, engagement can be generated between the teachers, the child and the parents where the teachers do not unreasonably exert too much power and control over the child’s continued presence in the learning environment. Engagement and collaboration is supported by social –cultural theory as discussed by Smith (2002). Commitment and Accountability All the above mentioned challenges and issues facing early childhood education for special needs children can sufficiently be addressed through commitment and accountability where each member of the wider community change their attitudes, beliefs and outlook about special needs (Rieser, 2008). The government needs to commit more and become more responsible to developing and implementing reasonable and attainable policies on early education for special needs children and ensures adequate knowledgeable staff and resources are developed and available when needed. Teachers and specialists for special needs children need to commit, be accountable and take ownership of overall development for these children (Dahlberg & Moss, 2005). They need to co-operate and engage in knowledge sharing and involve each other in deciding better ways and techniques to enhance learning for special needs children enrolled in early childhood education programs. Conclusion Early childhood education entails equipping young children with skills, knowledge and care over and above which is offered by their family and is carried out in the exterior of the family setting. All young children regardless of their culture, language, locality, race, gender, health status and social status need to have an all rounded development in their early years to prepare them for challenges that lies ahead. Early childhood education is a fundamental feature that helps young children develop their intelligence, establish their individuality, enhance their social conduct and ensure they develop mentally, socially, emotionally and physically. Despite efforts to deliver early childhood education services to special needs children in New Zealand, the process has encountered varied issues and challenges. The report, which is a submission, has explicitly analysed issues and challenges facing early childhood education programs for special need children in New Zealand. The report has highlighted potential solutions and recommendations that relevant stakeholders can implement to ensure quality, accessible, affordable, engaging, acceptable and diversified early childhood education for special needs children in New Zealand. The most important variables for success lies in engagement and collaboration and commitment and accountability by the government, specialists, teachers, educational administrators, parents, researchers and the wider community. References Dahlberg, G., & Moss, P. 2005. Ethics and politics in early childhood education. London: Routledge Falmer. Freeman, M. 1996. The importance of a children's rights perspective in litigation. Butterworths Family Law Journal, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 84-90. May, H. 2002. Early childhood care and education in Aotearoa-New Zealand: An overview of history, policy and curriculum. McGill Journal of Education, pp 1-15. Accessible from http://www.aeufederal.org.au/Ec/HMayspeech.pdf Ministry of Education. 1996. Te Whãriki: He Whãriki matauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa, Early childhood curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media. Moss, P. & Dahlberg, G. 2008. Beyond quality in early childhood education and care- Languages of Evaluation. New Zealand Journal of Teachers’ Work, Volume 5, Issue 1, 03-12. Accessible from http://www.teacherswork.ac.nz/journal/volume5_issue1/moss.pdf Purdue, K., Bllard, K., & MacArthur, J. 2001. Exclusion and inclusion in New Zealand early childhood education: disability, discourses and contexts. International Journal of Early Years Education, vol. 9, no. 1. Smith, A. B. 2002. Interpreting and supporting participation rights: Contributions from socio-cultural theory. International Journal of Children's Rights, vol. 10, pp. 73-88. Smith, A.B. 2008. Children’s rights and early childhood education: links to theory and advocacy. Retrieved on the 21st Sept 2011 from http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/australian_journal_of_early_childhood/ajec_index_abstracts/childrens_rights_and_early_childhood_education.html Ministry of Education. 2009. Early Childhood Care and Education in New Zealand. Retrieved on 21st Sept 2011 from http://www.educate.ece.govt.nz/learning/curriculumAndLearning/TeWhariki/PartA/EarlyChildhoodCareAndEducationInNewZealand.aspx Rieser, R. 2008. Implementing Inclusive Education: A Commonwealth Guide to Implementing Article 24 of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. Sidney: Commonwealth Secretariat. Gestwicki, C. & Bertrand, J. 2011. Essentials of Early Childhood Education. London: Cengage Learning. Read More