Parent involvement and information

GMA1 Display of information

Criteria

The following are prominently displayed at the service for parents and visitors:

• the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008, and the Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008
• the full names and qualifications of each person counting towards regulated qualification requirements
• the service's current licence certificate; and
• a procedure people should follow if they wish to complain about non-compliance with the Regulations or criteria.

Documentation required

A procedure people should follow if they wish to complain about non-compliance with the Regulations or criteria. The procedure includes the option to contact the local Ministry of Education office and provides contact details.

Rationale/intent

The criterion aims to ensure that parents are aware of key regulatory information relating to the service's operation (thus providing an additional level of accountability for the service), and are given the information they need if they wish to raise concerns and be involved in the service.

Guidance

ECE services are required to clearly display the required documents so that they are easily available to be read by anyone using the activity room.

These could be displayed on a notice board so they are clearly visible and can be read by parents/whānau, caregivers or any other visitors.

The procedure for people with complaints about any instance of non-compliance must include the option for people to contact the regional Ministry of Education office, with appropriate contact details.

Good practice for any service provider is to have policies and procedures in place to deal with a range of complaints from a variety of sources. These may come from a parent, a member of the community or a staff member. They may be about a specific teaching practice, routine or policy, an event, a particular staff member, a member of the management team or board, or about the service in general.

Complaints will vary from minor to major, and may escalate rapidly from one to the other unless they are well managed.

For clarity, a simple summary notice about the complaints process could be displayed close to the licence. This summary notice would cover the key steps and people to contact, and include details of the regional Ministry office.

More guidance on developing a complaints policy and process is available, which includes a suggested template for developing a complaints policy and procedure.

GMA2 Parent access to information

Criteria

Parents are advised how to access:

• information concerning their child
• the service's operational documents (such as its philosophy, policies, and procedures and any other documents that set out how day-to-day operations will be conducted); and
• the most recent Education Review Office report regarding the service.

Documentation required

Written information letting parents know how to access:

• information concerning their child
• the service's operational documents; and
• the most recent Education Review Office report regarding the service.

Rationale/intent

The criterion aims to ensure that parents know how to access information about the service’s operation and their child’s education and care.

Guidance

Providing written information to parents could take a variety of forms. This information can be provided in a variety of ways including:

• a handout for parents containing relevant information, or 
• a notice on the wall of the service.

As parents are usually present and actively engaged with their children in hospital for much of the time, they see what is occurring and are involved in watching the child’s interactions with the play specialists. The educator may need to explain to them the purpose, educational benefits and learning from activities.

Parents/caregivers need to be made aware that reports from ERO are free and available from the local ERO office on request.

They can also be downloaded from the Education Review Office.

Education Review Office

Things to consider

There will be hospital policy covering adults who may not have access to a child. Unless a court order rules otherwise, all parents and guardians are entitled to:

• reports about their child’s participation and learning experiences in ECE
• participate in the opportunities provided by the ECE service to engage with parents
• have access to any official records held at the service about their child’s participation in that service.

If parents wish to gain information related to a child’s participation in ECE that has been documented in clinical notes they will need to follow hospital policy for reading these notes.

Note too, staff of hospital-based services may be strongly discouraged from retaining information about individual children on file separately from the clinical notes, as clinical notes are the official record of all aspects of a child’s stay. One way of dealing with this is by documenting "Learning stories" or similar during the child’s stay then giving them to the family when the child is discharged.

GMA3 Information provided to parents

Criteria

Information is provided to parents about:

• how they can be involved in the service
• any fees charged by the service
• the amount and details of the expenditure of any Ministry of Education funding received by the service; and
• any planned reviews and consultation.

Documentation required

Written information letting parents know:

• how they can be involved in the service
• any fees charged by the service
• the amount and details of the expenditure of any Ministry of Education funding received by the service, and
• about any planned reviews and consultation.

Related to clause 47(1)(d) of standard.

Rationale/intent

The criterion aims to ensure that parents are well informed about the service's operation and their child's education, and are made aware of the input they are able to have.

Guidance

Providing information to parents could take a variety of forms. This information could be:

• included as part of a handout for parents, which may be specific to the ECE service and/or as part of brochures of information about the children’s ward
• in the annual plan
• in meetings with parents
• notices on the wall of the activity room
• on the hospital website.

Things to consider

Services may want to consider how information is shared so it is culturally appropriate for the audience. Things to consider include:

• parent’s first language
• communal decision-making practices
• the topic or subject.

Kei Tua o te Pae/Assessment for learning: Early Childhood Exemplars, a best practice resource developed to help educators understand and strengthen children’s learning and to show how children and parents can contribute to this assessment and improve parental awareness of teacher intentionality around ongoing learning.

Kei Tua o te Pae – Tāhūrangi

Te Whatu Pōkeka: Kaupapa Māori Assessment for Learning: Early Childhood Exemplars, a resource that explores cultural contexts and methods that contribute significantly to nurturing all aspects of children’s growth and development. It provides guidance for the assessment of Māori children in a Māori early childhood setting.

Te Whatu Pōkeka (English and Māori) – Tāhūrangi

However, services are also able to use other resources that they may have developed in-house for this purpose.

If parents wish to gain information related to a child’s participation in ECE that has been documented in clinical notes they will need to follow hospital policy for reading these notes.

There will be hospital policy covering adults who may not have access to a child. Unless a court order rules otherwise, all parents and guardians are entitled to:

• reports about their child’s participation in ECE and learning experiences
• participate in the opportunities provided by the ECE service to engage with parents
• have access to any official records held at the service related to their child’s participation in that service.

There will be hospital policy covering adults who may not have access to a child. Unless a court order rules otherwise, all parents and guardians are entitled to:

• reports about their child’s participation and learning experiences in ECE
• participate in the opportunities provided by the ECE service to engage with parents
• have access to any official records held at the service about their child’s participation in that service.

Professional practice regarding separated parents/guardians

If parents wish to gain information related to a child’s participation in ECE that has been documented in clinical notes they will need to follow hospital policy for reading these notes.

Note too, staff of hospital-based services may be strongly discouraged from retaining information about individual children on file separately from the clinical notes, as clinical notes are the official record of all aspects of a child’s stay. One way of dealing with this is by documenting "Learning stories" or similar during the child’s stay then giving them to the family when the child is discharged.

Related downloads

See the Professional practice regarding separated parents/guardians above.

GMA4 Involving parents and educators

Criteria

Parents of children participating in the service and adults providing education and care are provided with opportunities to contribute to the development and review of the service's operational documents (such as philosophy, policies and procedures and any other documents that set out how day-to-day operations will be conducted).

Documentation required

Evidence of opportunities provided for parents and adults providing education and care to contribute to the development and review of the service's operational documents.

Rationale/intent

The criterion is underpinned by the belief that parent and whānau involvement can positively contribute to the service’s operation and quality of education and care provided to their children.

Guidance

Hospital-based service providers are required to show evidence they have provided opportunities for parents and educators to contribute to the development and review of the service’s operational documents.

Given the special nature of the service provided by hospital-based service providers, creating opportunities for parents and educators to engage with and have input into the service’s key operational documents could require considerable advance planning.

Documentation guidance

Evidence that parents have had opportunities to contribute to the development and review of the service's operational documents could include the following:

• for meetings, attendance records and minutes could be considered as evidence
• if you are sending documents out to parents, having a sheet parents can tick and sign when they have reviewed documents would also be a way of recording evidence
• documentation of discussions with families.

Things to consider

If a child attending the service is from a family with separated parents, the Education and Training Act 2020 sets out the right of entry to early childhood education (ECE) services for parents and guardians.

Unless a court order rules otherwise, all parents and guardians are entitled to:

• reports about their child’s participation and learning experiences in ECE
• participate in the opportunities provided by the ECE service to engage with parents
• have access to any official records held at the service about their child’s participation in that service.

Services will need to develop a process which supports staff to ascertain how a relationship between separated parents and the service may be established so that communication channels can be opened. This could include ensuring educators have a copy of the enrolment form, so they are clear what any court orders are.

Related downloads

See the Professional practice regarding separated parents/guardians above.