Report looks to co-ordinated childcare training

Press, 24 December 1986, Page 4

Report looks to co-ordinated childcare training

PA Wellington New Zealand could be the first country in the world to develop co-ordi-nated and integrated training for people working in early childhood education services, said the Minister of Education, Mr Marshall.

Releasing the report of the working party on childcare training yesterday, Mr Marshall said it had resulted in clear guidelines for overcoming the present fragmentation of training schemes, while still catering for diverse training needs.

Among the report’s major recommendations are proposals for co-ordi-nating existing schemes under one certifying authority, recognising previously gained qualifications and experience in the education and care of young children; and introducing three-year training for all early childhood educators.

The working party was established on the recommendation of the 1985 Forum on Early Childhood Education, and the Joint Ministerial Advisory Committee on the transfer of childcare from the Social Welfare Department to the Education Department.

Beginning in 1988, teachers’ college councils should assume responsibility for both field-based and pre-service training for childcare in all areas of New Zealand — three colleges being phased in in 1988 and three in 1989, says the report.

The exception to this is the National Te Kohanga Reo Trust, which may reserve the right to conduct its own training and have its own resources. The report calls for special transition arrangements and emergency measures to be put in

place in 1987 to meet the urgent need for trained staff, with particular attention given to the needs of Pacific Island trainees and those already training. The department’s director of early childhood education, Ms Valeria Burns, called the report progressive and far-reach-ing in its implications.

“If the proposals are implemented, New Zealand could avoid the problems encountered by other countries where different types and levels of training exist concurrently and result in different working conditions and standards of provision,” she said.