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Preparing for review involves:
- identifying the trigger for review
- developing a focus
- establishing indicators to guide us
- identifying sources of information
- preparing a plan.
Me arohaehae tātou i te aha? | What will we review?
Review can be either planned or spontaneous.
Planned and spontaneous review
Planned review can be triggered by:
- our review schedule or plan
- an Education Review Office recommendation
- an outcome of a previous spontaneous review
- an issue arising from a previous planned review that prompts us to look at an aspect of our practice that sits outside our schedule
- our vision and strategic planning goals.
Spontaneous review can be triggered by:
- an incident
- a comment
- an event or issue
- a question that we want to answer
- an observation
- a new piece of information that challenges what we do now.
Example
At Aratika Educare's monthly meeting, parents, teachers, and management referred to their biannual review plan. The plan included the development and implementation of a questionnaire that asked parents about various aspects of learning and teaching practice. When they had done this in the past, they had received a nil response. They knew that they needed to try a different approach so that they could find out parents' views about what was happening for their children. This proved to be the trigger for self-review.
Review focus
Whether a review is spontaneous or planned, preparation requires us to prioritise aspects of our practice. Once we have identified which area of our practice we want to target for review, we can develop a review focus. (3 areas of practice that can be reviewed are outlined in Section 1 under 'What we review')
A review focus can be expressed as a question or statement that helps us to be more specific about what aspect of practice we want to look at. This focus continues to be at the forefront of our thinking throughout the review process and helps us to target our findings.
Questions can assist us in developing a focus for review.
The principles of Te Whāriki can be used to frame questions. The reflective questions from Te Whāriki can be utilised in a similar way. The Education Review Office also offers some useful evaluative questions to help us focus a review.
Ngā Ara Whai Hua: Quality Framework for Evaluation and Improvement – Education Review Office
There are a number of publications that assist early childhood education services in evaluating practice. There are specific documents, such as these guidelines and a wide range of books and articles that can be accessed to support us in preparing to review by offering different methodologies to try. These can include research texts, which can be adapted for review.
Example
Aratika Educare chose to review collaborative practice because they had identified communication with parents as a priority for review. This priority was based on a previous lack of response from parents.
Aratika Educare developed the following focus, expressed as a question:
How effective are our communication and consultation processes with parents/whānau?
Once the focus was determined, the participants at the Aratika Educare meeting called for representatives from teaching staff, management, and the parent community to plan the review. They became the review team for this particular focus.
Me pēhea tātou e mōhio ka tika, ki tā tātou e hiahia ana? | How will we be clear about what we want to find out?
In preparing for review, we select or develop indicators that allow us to shape our information gathering. Later in the process, we can check the information we have gathered against the indicators to help us make judgments.
Indicators are usually expressed as a statement of what we would expect to see. They are written using active language, such as “Educators are…” or “Adults respond…”. There can be more than one indicator for a review focus. We can select indicators that link to our vision, goals, and priorities if we want to provide a strategic element to review. See Section 3: The elements of effective review.
The elements of effective review
The process of developing indicators as we prepare gives us an opportunity to talk to one another about what is valued and why.
Indicators work best in review when they:
- focus on what is important
- can be observed
- are easily understood by everyone involved
- facilitate reflection.
There are indicators already available that can be used to guide our review:
- evaluation indicators from 'Evaluation Indicators for Education Reviews in Early Childhood Services'
How ERO reviews early childhood services – Education Review Office
- performance indicators from 'Professional Standards for Kindergarten Teachers'
- indicators from Evaluation indicators for education reviews in Kohānga Reo
How ERO reviews Ngā kōhanga reo – Education Review Office
- a range of indicators from 'Booth and Ainscow's (2004) 'Index for Inclusion: Developing Learning, Participation and Play in Early Years and Childcare'
- the cultural input exemplar from Bevan-Brown's (2003): The cultural self-review: Providing culturally effective, Inclusive Education for Māori learners.
The cultural self-review – New Zealand Council for Educational Research
Each set of indicators offers a way of looking at aspects of practice in review.
We can also develop our own indicators for review. In doing so, we ask ourselves, “What would this aspect of practice look like if it were effective?” The benefit of developing indicators for ourselves is that they are grounded in the knowledge and skills that are valued within our learning community.
Example
The Aratika Educare review team met together the following week. They drew on a goal from their strategic plan (one that was related to the review focus) as a guide for the review:
To maintain/enhance/encourage communication between centre and staff/parents/management.
From this broad goal, they developed a set of indicators, in relation to the review focus, that showed them what to look for in the review.
The indicators they developed were:
- Teachers are communicating with parents about their children's learning in consistent, authentic ways and at regular intervals.
- Parents have multiple opportunities to contribute to their child's learning at the centre.
- Teachers are available for parents when they need to talk about their child.
- Parents regularly seek opportunities to share information about their child's learning.
He aha hei awhina atu? | What can help us?
In preparing, we identify what information we need to source for review. The information we identify will be determined by our review focus and associated indicators. There is a range of records, resources, and processes available that will enable us to gather the most relevant information. These include records kept within the service that can be accessed as potential sources of information, for example, meeting minutes, children's profiles, or other assessment records. When we consider using this information, we ask, “What do we already know, or think we know, about this review focus?” and “What sources of information already exist that can help us learn more?”
There are also processes of enquiry that we can utilise to provide information about aspects of our practice. These include face-to-face meetings (such as hui, fono), interviews (such as telephone, individual, or focus-group), questionnaires or surveys, and observations of one another. When we choose 1 of these processes, we are intentionally seeking new information that can shed light on aspects of our practice. We ask, “What more do we need to find out about our practice, and how will this information help?”
We can also use resources to present aspects of review.
The most effective sources of information in review are:
- relevant for our service
- relevant to our purpose in review
- able to get 'under the surface'
- easy to use
- easily accessible.
Several potential resources that can support review are outlined in Appendix 2.
Te whakarite kaupapa | Preparing a plan
A review plan can assist in organising our review. Not only will a plan make the review accessible for everyone, but it also provides a means of clarifying responsibilities and processes. A review plan has a place even in spontaneous review. Taking the time to stop and plan helps us to maintain our focus.
Example
The following plan was used by Aratika Educare and is provided as a template for us to use or adapt in Appendix 2:
Appendix 2: Planning templates
What is our review focus?
How effective are our communication and consultation processes with parents/whānau?
What indicators will we use?
- Teachers are communicating with parents about their children's learning in consistent, authentic ways and at regular intervals.
- Parents have multiple opportunities to contribute to their child's learning at the centre.
- Teachers are available for parents when they need to talk about their child.
- Parents regularly seek opportunities to share information about their child's learning.
Who will be involved?
5 teachers and 5 parents from the under 2s and the over 2s areas, as well as the Centre Director, will form a review team. All parents will be invited to complete the survey. Children's voices will be heard through their profile records.
How long will we take?
The review will take place over a 2-month period.
When will we start?
10 October.
What resources will we use?
Children's profiles - the review team will investigate the content of these by asking questions such as “Was there continuity from teachers?” and “How much were parents contributing to the profile?” We planned for the teachers on the team to do this investigation and to report back on their findings without referring specifically to individual teachers or children.
A survey in which parents will be asked how satisfied they are with communication between management and staff and with the way that information about their child's progress is communicated to them.
How will we document this review?
The review team will record the review process in a report format that will then be analysed at a centre management meeting. The results will then be presented to the centre community in a booklet.
