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Early childhood centres: plugging into ICT A Manukau perspective
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Information and C
The Smart Manukau ICT Project
Introduction
This project arose out of Manukau City At the same time, COMET agreed to Goal 2: That every early This document has been prepared as COMET would like to acknowledge
Council’s Smart Manukau strategy. support a pilot project with Bairds and childhood centre in Manukau a resource for early childhood centres the support of all the early childhood
The City of Manukau Education Trust Yendarra Kindergartens, through the to use to support the achievement of centres who responded to the survey.
will have a computer for
(COMET) was invited to develop a Auckland Kindergarten Association, to these goals over the next 12 months. I would also like to thank Andy
community project for building ICT skills model the ways in which ICT could be office use and a computer It summarises the research findings Williamson and Ruth de Souza of
that involved young children and their used to build family and community for teaching purposes by from the asset stock take and the Wairua Consulting; Ben Thomas; the
families. COMET commissioned an engagement in learning, to develop December 2006. learnings from the Bairds and Yendarra members of the advisory group (Naomi
asset stocktaking of the ICT resources community skills in ICT, and to connect Kindergarten pilot. Tutini of the Ministry of Education and
that exist in Manukau’s early childhood to community resources. The Goal 3: That every early Mihi Toki, Karen Matata, Wendy Grey,
centres. A survey was conducted in May kindergartens reported their findings childhood centre in Manukau Rhonda Barrett, Fou Alene, Michelle
and June, 2005, and a report was in September 2005. will be broadband (high-speed Godsiff, Michelle Mildon and Terri
presented to the participating centres Thorpe); Linda Flavell, Elise Tere, Bianca
An Advisory Group of centre managers internet) connected by
in early July. A copy of the report was Harper and Kerry Ross of the Auckland
given to Council and is available on and teachers was established. The group December 2006. Kindergarten Association; Filemoni
COMET’s website (www.comet.org.nz). helped to identify four key goals to meet Timoteo and Hanna Frederick of
the recommendations of the report: Goal 4: That every early
The findings of the report suggested Manukau City Council. And finally
that the early childhood sector required
childhood centre in Manukau thanks to Kate Sutton for facilitating
better and more strategic funding for Goal 1: That every early will have professional the project.
ICT. It also showed how useful ICT could childhood centre in Manukau development to use ICT by
Bernardine Vester
be for supporting children’s learning.
have a digital camera and a December 2006.
CHIEF EXECUTIVE
printer by December 2006 November 2005
• Documenting children’s learning is
Strategic Goals What Is ICT? How does ICT
for early childhood Information Communication improve the
vital to quality ECE according to the
principles for learning assessment
defined in Te Whaariki, the Ministry
1
education Technology (ICT) is defined in the
education sector as
quality of of Education’s Early Childhood
children’s Education curriculum. This allows
the child to reflect on their
The overall goal of the “anything which allows us to get
Ministry of Education’s information, to communicate with
learning? experiences with family.
each other, or to have an effect on • 90% of early childhood education
early childhood education ICT is the best means of
the environment using electronic or providers in Manukau City produce
strategic plan, Pathways documenting learning
digital equipment.” written records of children’s learning
to the Future: Nga Huarahi The Bairds and Yendarra Kindergartens using ICT, but fewer have the
Arataki, is that all children In early childhood education, ICT have quickly adopted an array of resources to follow the examples at
could include computer hardware the pilot kindergartens.
develop strong learning ICT resources to document children’s
and software. In the last few years, learning during the Smart Manukau
foundations. Its strategic the use of other forms of ICT has ICT project. Children’s learning from Children use ICT for
goals are: become more prevalent, including: interactive learning
day to day is recorded through learning
• Increasing participation in quality digital cameras, digital video, closed stories which describe what each child Yendarra children Hoki and William
ECE services circuit television, video-conferencing, has done in the words of their teachers, didn’t know each other well, but when
• Improving quality and electronic musical instruments. or the child him or herself. William saw Hoki struggling with the
• Promoting collaborative relationships
ICT use in early childhood education ‘Robots’ game on the centre’s computer,
With the addition a digital camera,
(ECE) does not just mean children he knew what to do. William “took on
How does ICT support images of the children learning can
using computers. It is about children, the role of a teacher,” said head
these goals? be used as a reference for teachers,
educators, parents, and families and teacher Linda Flavell. He told Hoki
parents and pupils. Pictures of learning
This document is about ways of whanau using information and where to move the mouse to click it,
are communicated to parents in a
connecting communities and families recording learning experiences to remembering when he had played the
number of ways. Often learning stories
to learning through ICT. achieve the strategic goals of ECE game. Hoki, who had not built many
and children’s portfolios are printed out
in Manukau. relationships at the centre, took his
for families on each kindergarten’s
advice and achieved the desired result.
laser printer.
Increasingly, early childhood educators
Recently, however the kindergartens
are using interactive ICT, like digital
are working with multi-media, creating
cameras and computers, directly with
slide-shows of the week’s work, and a
children. Educationalists agree that the
DVD of a class trip – even a digital
learning of infants, toddlers and young
video film showing the Bairds children’s
children is strengthened when children
progress with ICT. Yendarra has a high-
are able to be active learners.
speed Internet connection and so can
email pictures to some parents.
ICT can support children ICT promotes collaboration ICT in ECE can help redress ICT promotes collaboration
How does ICT
2 from Manukau’s diverse
backgrounds help people to
between parents and the
community
societal inequalities
At the Otara Library’s ICT workshop ,
among teachers and other
educationalists
It can be used as a way of bringing
children’s home culture and experiences
work together? When Yendarra and Bairds decided to
take part in the Smart Manukau ICT
the parents were shown how to set up
free email accounts. From these
ICT can make available valuable
professional development resources for
into the early childhood education centre. ICT helps ECE centres and the Project, they held a held a workshop accounts they wrote email messages, teachers. It can be used to:
community work together for parents to involve them in their some for the first time, to their children
• Half of Manukau ECE providers use children’s ICT learning, at the Otara at the kindergarten. They then returned • search for learning resources;
ICT to support a language or cultural Since beginning its ICT project, • seek out new ideas and inspiration;
Library. Library staff showed parents to the Yendarra Kindergarten, where
aspect of their curriculum, and over Yendarra and Bairds Kindergartens and
how to use its on-line database and they opened the emails with their
half of Pasifika providers. 72% of have become something of a focal • obtain language-based and cultural
to browse the Internet. children and read them together.
Kohanga Reo and other Maori EC point for the community, including learning resources.
groups use ICT for these purposes, parents, to use ICT. Yendarra provides While around half of parents were • Where a family doesn’t have access
predominantly through language- printing for digital pictures and the already library users with their children, to ICT in its home, being able to Computers also make it easier
based resources. children’s learning stories. Linda Flavell very few had used the library’s access it through the early childhood for centres to meet the Ministry
• Some centres are using ICT to says that more families stay during electronic resources before. They are centre, as a community focus point, of Education’s record-keeping
develop language-specific sessions, to use the computers and now equipped to get better value from becomes more important. requirements, reducing paperwork.
documentation, such as translating printers with their children. the full range of services the library has • Whether children have access to ICT
songs into a child’s native language. to offer. Parents who were not previous in New Zealand is tied up closely
Three quarters of the families at
members have had the opportunity to with their family’s income.
ICT helps teachers’ professional Yendarra do not have the Internet at
build a relationship with the library and Households in some areas of
development home. One of the families at the centre
its staff. Manukau are less likely to have
has used the broadband Internet
Internet access at home. In the 2001
• Educators can also use ICT to access connection to establish an e-link with
Census, 50% of people owning their
professional learning and networks, relatives in Tonga.
own homes had Internet access as
and for accessing and sharing
Bairds and Yendarra Kindergartens opposed to only 11% who were
resources and information.
loan out their digital camera for families living in state or local authority
• Recording children’s learning also
to record special events in their rental housing.
provides opportunities for
communities or with their whanau. • Providing children at all levels with
professional development, since the
Children are given the camera overnight, access to computers has wider
teaching process is also recorded.
and so families become involved in their societal benefits. Government
• ICT can improve the use of data and
learning at home. research has established that the
reduce the workload associated with
groups least likely to have access to
paper-based collection and
• Almost all ECE providers in Manukau ICT in their lives include Pasifika, low
management of data.
use ICT to communicate with income families and single-parents
parents, whanau and the community. (Ministry of Economic Development,
Slightly over half use ICT to 1999), many of whom are
document the views of parents and represented in Manukau City.
whanau on their children’s progress.
Figure 1: Range of ICTs in use at centres.
Smart Manukau What types of
goals for ICT ICT are currently 98% 98%
3
use in Manukau’s being used in 100%
90%
89% 88%
ECE sector Manukau’s ECE 80% 71 % 70% 67%
Goal 1: That every early centres? 70% 65 %
60% 52 % 51 %
childhood centre in Manukau Types of ICT used 50%
has a digital camera and a 40%
Almost all ECE providers in Manukau 28 % 29 %
printer by December 2006. 30%
use ICT of some sort. The most
Goal 2: That every early common forms of ICT are telephones 20%
childhood centre in Manukau and computers. Each of these were 10%
reported to be in use by 98% of 0%
City will have a computer for
C o m p u ter
Dig ital s till c am era
DV D p layer
Em ail
Fax m ac h ine
I n tern et
P h o to c o p ier
S c a n n er
Telep h o n e
Telev is io n
V id eo c am era
V id eo rec o rd er
survey respondents.
office use and a computer
for teaching purposes by The use of digital cameras was
December 2006. significantly high at 71%.
Computer-based centre management
Goal 3: That every early systems are used at 59% of centres.
childhood centre in We did not ask how old the
Manukau City will be equipment was.
broadband (high-speed
internet) connected
As mentioned on page 4, ECE but their families who may not have Over the page we show what kind of
by December 2006. providers often face the barriers any other links to certain types equipment is available in different
to using ICT that reflect those of the of information and communication kinds of early childhood providers.
communities they serve. That’s why technology, such as the Internet
extra ICT resources can help not just or computers.
the children who attend an ECE centre,
4 Table 1: ICT usage by service type.
Education & Pacific Islands Te Kohanga
Type of ICT care centre Home-based Kindergarten EC group Play centre Reo/Maori EC group
Computer 100% 100% 100% 96% 0% 100%
Digital still camera 72% 100% 94% 58% 0% 67%
DVD player 44% 0% 17% 23% 0% 28%
Email 52% 100% 67% 69% 0% 94%
Fax machine 80% 100% 100% 88% 0% 94%
Internet 52% 100% 61% 69% 0% 94%
Photocopier 84% 100% 100% 88% 0% 83%
Scanner 44% 0% 56% 42% 0% 78%
Telephone 92% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Television 68% 0% 44% 69% 0% 83%
Video camera 28% 0% 28% 23% 0% 44%
Video recorder 48% 0% 22% 62% 0% 72%
The teachers at Yendarra and Bairds The children can write their own The digital camera also allows students A student at Bairds Kindergarten,
ICT case study - use the digital camera to record learning stories to describe what they to self-direct the type of things they who had been identified as shy,
digital cameras children’s learning visually. The pictures
of children learning, playing, and doing
are seeing themselves do on screen
or in photos. The digital camera is a
want to learn about. Head teacher Linda
Flavell says she was intrigued that when
started to share more with her teacher,
Elise, after she was asked to create a
Digital cameras are an increasingly activities are then incorporated into springboard into other ICT use. Taine the children were given the freedom book of photographs of her pets which
important part of children’s learning in learning stories, where the teacher can was photographed showing other to photograph whatever they wanted, she took at home with the school’s
early childhood. Educationalists say describe what the child is doing for children how to use the “Kid-Pix” what they found most interesting was digital camera. Now she is working
they are the ‘killer’ ICT application future assessment. graphics program on the kindergarten’s themselves and each other. on a book for pictures of family
available in the sector, because they computer. He could then manipulate and friends.
can be used to contribute to each This could be as simple as a the image to insert text directly onto Bairds Kindergarten encourages learning
one of its identified goals, both photograph of the child drawing. Or it the picture to describe what was outside the centre by having the
educationally and in the community. could be more sophisticated; Bairds happening as it was taken. children take the digital camera home
Kindergarten took pictures of their field to identify children’s interests or pursue
The Smart Manukau ICT Project trip to the ‘Body Odyssey’ exhibition at areas of learning started at the centre.
allowed Yendarra and Bairds the Pacific Events Centre and later
Kindergartens to each purchase new created a slide-show of the visit and a
digital cameras. DVD for parents.
In the Community access to photographic technology Digital cameras can be used to
Digital cameras have helped strengthen
the kindergartens’ ties with the families
(digital or film) in their homes. It is
enabling them to take part in much
more interactive ICT use.
record children in the act of learning.
Teachers and children can each write
accompanying narratives to go in
5
of children. The visual learning records
their portfolios.
have made their children’s education
In Manukau…
more accessible to parents. Digital images can also capture the
• 71% of the ECE providers in objects which are being learned about.
Yendarra produces a slide-show of Manukau have a digital camera.
digital images taken during the week, Every centre that owns a digital Digital images add value to the ECE
which it projects onto the screen at camera also has at least one provider’s communication with its
the end of the day. Head teacher computer. community.
Linda Flavell says that some parents • 66% of ECE providers document
who used to wait outside, and were children’s learning through digital Digital images can be used to relate
shy when they came into the centre to photographs. children’s learning to parents who
collect their children, now come in to • In 31% of centres, children are using may otherwise struggle to follow
see the slide show. the digital cameras to take pictures their progress because of language
themselves. (This is more common difficulties. One example of this
Flavell says that since pictures of is in a multi-cultural community.
where the centre has more than
students were put on their portfolios, the
one camera.)
number of times parents are accessing Photos can explain where words may
• 90% of centres still produce written
their children’s portfolios has increased. not. Visual records can overcome
records of student’s development;
language barriers within the
It’s not just that the parents are more however, actually presenting images
kindergarten, and encourage cross-
curious about seeing their children’s of children actively participating in
cultural interaction between children.
work when it’s that much more learning has benefits for parents and
immediate, she says – children are whanau, and encourages them to Digital images allow children to re-visit,
more eager to show them. get involved. and so reinforce, their activities.
• Only 40% of Pasifika providers have
Bairds Kindergarten loans out its digital cameras to document Children are very keen to have their
digital camera to parents if there is a children’s learning (as compared accomplishments recorded.
special family event they wish to with 63% of Kohanga Reo, 76% of
Where cameras can be taken home,
capture on film, and the kindergarten education and care centres, and
they extend children’s learning beyond
provides its facilities for printing and 94% of kindergartens).
the centre and build stronger
processing the pictures they have
connections with parents and whanau,
taken. Very few of the families in
who may not have these resources
Yendarra’s or Bairds’ communities have
themselves.
Figure 2: Number of If all centres could have dedicated
Case study -
6 Computers and
computers at ECE centres. computers for learning purposes, they
would be able to get greater benefits
from ICT.
Table 2: Computer ownership by type of service.
Children per computer Number of computers
the Internet Type of service Mean Median Mean Median
This doesn’t take into account
Computers are the most used Te Kohanga Reo/
ICT resource among Manukau ECE
other costs related to ICT use. Maori EC group 12 11 2.8 2.0
providers, along with telephones. Another barrier to using Pacific Islands EC group 14 16 5.6 2.0
98% of centres have at least one computers more is the cost of the Kindergarten 37 30 2.8 3.0
Education & care centre 29 25 3.0 3.0
computer. However, despite the consumables for making learning
benefits of using computers directly resources. That is, the cost of
in children’s learning, the single most
printer paper for newsletters and
common use of computers in ECE is Internet Access Around three-quarters of early childhood
for administration. We did not ask
learning records, ink for printers centres education providers in Manukau
The Internet has become an important
how old the computers were. (particularly colour cartridges for have Internet access. The majority
One computer capturing children’s photographs)
tool for teachers to acquire new
access the Internet through a dial-up
76% of providers use computers to resources, and is increasingly important
Two computers and laminating learning stories. for peer networking and professional
connection (47% of all providers). Only
keep records of children for internal around one in six providers use
use or to satisfy Ministry of Education Three computers development.
broadband Internet connections.
requirements.
The Ministry of Education has already
Four of five computers A broadband Internet connection
Only 34% of providers directly interact identified broadband (high speed)
Six or more computers Internet access as an educational can help providers achieve
with children using computers. One
reason given for this is that the lack of priority for children. The Ministry has outcomes in each of the strategic
computers means it is difficult if not
No computers dedicated $48.3 million to extend areas of early childhood education.
impossible to schedule one on one or broadband access to every primary and
secondary school in the country. Centres in Manukau use the
small group time on the computer for This problem is associated with the Internet to improve the quality
children and teachers. Fewer than half cost of computer equipment. 58% of The early childhood education sector of ECE provision through
of centres have computers in areas providers identified cost as the biggest is not centrally planned like the later professional development of
that are used by children (43% have problem associated with computer use stages of schooling, and so government teachers:
computers in both the children’s area in ECE, and 67% reported money as a will not centrally fund all ECE providers
and in either a teaching only or reason which prevented them from • 64% use it to search for
directly. The government has announced
administration only area). making greater use of ICT. learning resources.
a contestable fund for ICT in early
• 58% use it to find about a
childhood education. Because ECE
specific topic.
centres are run autonomously, by their
• 52% use it to seek out new ideas
communities, the communities have to
and inspiration.
lead the call for funding in their areas.
• The Internet is used as a resource
to obtain language-based and
cultural learning resources.
The Internet is used to directly At the same time as beginning the In the same way that children and their The majority of ECE providers in
Staff need to be
support children’s learning:
• Children at 17% of centres use the confident users of
Smart Manukau ICT Project, staff at
Yendarra and Bairds took part in
professional development with Ian
families have different backgrounds in
ICT, so do early childhood educators.
Linda Flavell said that previously
Manukau have to rely on their staff’s
knowledge of computers from outside
their education work-life, or on
7
Internet to research a subject.
• Children at 7% of centres write and
ICT themselves Newson, a computer consultant (from teachers at Yendarra and Bairds had volunteers from the community. There
the Auckland Kindergarten Association). developed their ICT skills and methods is no way of making sure the standards
send e-mails. Goal 4: Every early childhood This didn’t just mean they were more for documenting children’s learning of knowledge the centres are getting
• Internet use is seen as a natural teacher in Manukau will have comfortable using their new ICT, but in an ad hoc way. Much had to be this way are comparable. Fewer than
progression from using digital
professional development to that they discovered how to use accomplished through trial and error, or a third of providers have support
cameras and other ICT. Children can
send pictures to whanau.
use ICT by December 2006. resources they already had. Yendarra by picking the brains of their colleagues. contracts in place.
Kindergarten produced a learning
Staff have to be confident users and Elise, a head teacher at Bairds While most centres are using ICT to
movie, ‘Fireman George’, starring the
Providers are also using learners, in order to be able to harness Kindergarten, didn’t have any experience some extent to support children’s
centre’s children, which it made with
the Internet to increase the full potential of ICT. using ICT herself, and was nervous learning, far fewer have formal training
software that had been sitting unused
collaboration within the about the ICT Project. “No doubt we will programmes for their staff. 58% of
ICT is not an end in itself. It has to be on their old computer (and with their
ECE sector: experience moments of frustration, providers rely at least in part on staff
used appropriately in order to provide new digital camera).
• 55% use it to communicate with however the benefits we will experience being responsible for their own
benefits for the early childhood
professional organisations and as a community of learners will be learning. For 38% of providers this is
education sector. Research indicates
colleagues. priceless,” she said at the time. Now the only training.
that developing professional capacity is
• 49% use it for their own learning. she is confidently showing students and
the most important factor in improving
• 43% use it to find out about courses parents how to use the kindergarten’s
ICT use in early childhood education.
and conferences. ICT resources.
The Internet can increase the Only one in every 30 early childhood
collaboration between ECE education providers in Manukau City
centres and their communities: think they are using ICT enough. Money
Teachers report using the Internet to is the single most cited impediment to
explore the different languages and wider, and better, use but close behind
cultures among their children, to are a cluster of barriers which relate to
increase knowledge about the range of staff’s ability to use ICT with confidence.
cultural groups at centres.
When Manukau ECE providers were Figure 3: Provision of staff training (percentages).
8 asked to identify any problems
associated with using computers…
70%
• 53% suggested not having enough 58%
knowledge about computers. 60%
• 45% said they faced problems with
the related issue of lacking
50%
confidence in using computers.
40% 35 %
• 30% struggled with a lack of 30%
technical support, 29% with a lack of 30%
training resources, and 21% with the
general unreliability of computers 20% 16 %
(which, again, is a support issue).
• Among private providers, lack of 10%
support and training in ICT were the 1% 0%
biggest barriers to greater ICT use. 0%
External
Internal
One on one
Own learning
Don't k now
No training
• Over half (56%) of providers said
patchy knowledge about ICT was
preventing them from using it more.
38% said they would be using ICT
more but for lack of training.
• Pasifika providers are more likely to
be dependent on their teachers’ own
learning. 68% of Pacific Islands early
childhood centres use this method
and 64% rely solely on it.
Table 3: Percentage of services relying solely on their staff’s own learning.
Service type External Internal One on one Own learning Don’t know No training
9
Education & care centre 32% 20% 24% 76% 0% 0%
Home-based 0% 100% 0% 100% 0% 0%
Kindergarten 61% 33% 17% 50% 0% 0%
Pacific Islands EC group 20% 12% 12% 68% 4% 0%
Play centre 0% 0% 0% 100% 0% 0%
Te Kohanga Reo/Maori EC group 37% 63% 11% 26% 0% 0%
stimulate a conversation about how ICT suggestions about where centres might
Conclusion can be used in your centre; or use it to be able to apply for funds to support an
apply for funds. ICT development plan.
This document is intended for centre
committees, management groups or It is very apparent to the project For more information about the Ministry
owners to use in discussing their Advisory Group that the use of ICT in of Education’s ICT strategic plan for
budgets and ICT needs. early childhood centres and in the early childhood education, go to
community can only be useful if staff http://www.ecd.govt.nz/ict.html.
The document can also be used to
are themselves confident in its use. Copies of the plan, called Foundations
support a centre’s funding applications
Participation in professional for Discovery, have been distributed to
for assets or consumables; or for
development, therefore, is critical to the all centres. Hard copies are available
promoting the use of ICT among staff,
success of any centre’s ICT development from:
parents, or managers. It is intended to
plan. COMET is working with the
support your arguments about why the Learning Media, Ministry of Education
Ministry of Education and others to
purchase of ICT assets or computer Publications Customer Services
ensure that Goal 4 can be delivered in
consumables adds value to learning for Phone: 0800 800 565 (8am to 5pm
the next 12 months.
young children. weekdays), Fax: 0800 800 570,
We thought it might be useful to help Email: orders@learningmedia.co.nz
This document is accompanied by a
centres to identify what costs might be
brochure for use with parents to explain
involved in order to make a funding
how ICT can be used to support learning
application for assets. A sample funding
in your centre. We hope anyone
application letter can be found on our
associated with early childhood centres
website at www.comet.org.nz/advocacy/
in Manukau will be able to use either
earlychildhood. The page also has some
this document or the brochure to
City of Manukau Education Trust (COMET)
Private Bag 94006, Manukau City
Phone 09 968 8773 www.comet.org.nz
This document was produced with
Photos by Melissa Gardi.
support from the Manukau City Council
Thanks to Naomi Iotua, Tuaula Asiata,
as part of the Smart Manukau Strategy. Taraani Dean, Glenis Harrison and their families.
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