Tiny Nation News – July 2020

Kia ora koutou katoa

It’s been a busy last few weeks as we’ve settled into Term 3 and our community programme has fully ramped up again to allow us to connect with our educators, families and tamariki regularly.

Earlier this month we welcomed the Minister’s announcement that the home-based early childhood education and care sector will move to a fully qualified workforce by 2025.

We know that qualifications are an indicator of quality and believe that this move professionalises the incredible work that our educators and nannies do to support high-quality learning outcomes for the children in their care. That’s what Tiny Nation has always been about and it’s exciting to see the rest of the sector move into this space as it can only mean great things for the children and families we support.

Last week, we had a celebration of Matariki in Hawke’s Bay with a visit to Waitangi Park. It was a beautiful day and our tiny learners loved exploring the whakairo (carvings) in the park, with the waharoa (gateway) and tekoteko (carved human form) telling the whakapapa (story) of the sun, moon and stars. It was a nice way for us to reflect on Matariki, the Māori New Year and celebrate a year of growth here at Tiny Nation!

As we grow our Tiny Nation, we’re excited to now be sharing our philosophy and kaupapa with educators and families across many regions in New Zealand.

Ngā mihi, nui
Erin Maloney and the Tiny Nation Team

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Facebook Live: Interview Series

Our Facebook Live interview series has continued post-lockdown, with some of the best and brightest minds in the early childhood education industry going live with us each month. This is a part of our intention to live into our core organisational principles – relationship, partnership and leadership. 

The Facebook Live interviews have been a way to connect with our Tiny Nation community (fostering relationships), work alongside some nationally renowned experts in the early learning and care space (fostering partnerships) and provide our industry with free professional learning and development to challenge the status quo in the way that early childhood education is delivered in New Zealand (fostering thought leadership).

These interviews are recorded and can be accessed on our Facebook page, or by clicking on the links below:

We’re excited to share that in August we will be interviewing Helen Armstrong, a nationally renowned Early Childhood Consultant. Helen is an infant and toddler specialist working with families and professionals towards developing lives that embody peace, respect and simplicity. With relationships at the heart of her approach, she is guided by the work of Dr Emmi Pikler and Magda Gerber’s Educaring® Approach. It is her passion to inspire and empower caregivers and educators of young children with these principles and practices.

We are so looking forward to interviewing Helen and hearing more from her about socio-emotional learning and wellbeing, including the BIG sticky topics like tantrums, discipline and how to manage big feelings. Like or follow us on Facebook to find out more.

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Tiny Nation and Visiting Teacher Vacancies

We are proud to now be a Ministry of Education licensed service in Hawke’s Bay, Taranaki, Whanganui and Manawatu.

Because of our high-quality home-based offering, we’ve already been overwhelmed with family enquiry in these areas and many of our educators are full. This means that we’re now on the scout for passionate and like-minded trained educators, nannies and teachers to join our team.

If you’re interested in finding out more about our educator roles or families, please get in touch. We’d love to share more about our Tiny Nation and talk you through the educator recruitment process.

Due to growth, we are also now recruiting for a passionate and inspirational ECE qualified visiting teacher to join our team in Taranaki. If you’re a fully registered teacher looking for your next leadership role, check out our role advertisement on SEEK.

Visit our website or contact us on 0800 TINY NATION or at info@tinynation.co.nz to find out more.

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Moving to a Fully Trained Home-Based Workforce

Following the review of home-based ECE, the Government has announced there will be a five-year transition to a fully-qualified home-based workforce.

Qualification requirements will be gradually lifted over the next five years, leading to a single quality rate from 1 January 2025. We welcome this change as Tiny Nation already operates as a fully trained and qualified workforce.

For other home-based services, this will mean that from 1 January 2025, 80% of educators in each home-based service will be required to have one of the following qualifications:

• Grand-parented Level 3 ECE
• Level 4 or higher ECE
• Te Ara Tuarua or higher
• Primary teaching qualification.

Further information is available on the Education Conversation website.

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Māori and Pacific Education Strategies Released

We were excited to see last week that refreshed versions of Ka Hikitia, Tau Mai Te Reo, and the Action Plan for Pacific Education 2020 – 2030 were released.

These strategies and plans underpin the overall approach to improving outcomes for Māori and Pacific children. They are at the heart of affirming the identity, culture and language of our community to ensure our tiny learners know they have a place with us. Understanding the intent for Māori and Pacific education supports us to work alongside our educators and empower them to foster the identity, language and culture of ākonga – and one of our key values, belonging.

You can find out more about the Māori Strategy for Education here.
You can find out more about the Action Plan for Pacific Education here.

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Policy, Form and Procedures Review

We will shortly be undertaking our first full review of all policies, forms and procedures. We want to make sure these are ‘fit for purpose’, meaningful and practical.

If you are a Tiny Nation educator or family, we want your feedback! Please let us know how well the forms, policies and procedures are working for you in practice. If you have any suggestions, we would love to hear them, given you are the end-users. To share feedback, just let your visiting teacher know or email us.

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What’s Coming Up: The Tiny Nation Home Learning Focus and Community Programme

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