Executive summary
Introduction
For a few years, New Zealand was in the unique situation internationally of having some education and care centres with 100% qualified teachers subsidised by government, at a level that made this staffing profile financially feasible. When the government announced that funding to these centres would be reduced, NZCA decided it was important to study them, in comparison with centres with fewer qualified teachers.
The Teachers’ Work study was therefore designed to answer four main questions focused on early childhood teachers’ work, and the effects of their work on children’s learning and family participation.
1. What quality teaching practices feature (or are absent) in education and care centres with 100%
qualified teachers and in centres with 50–79% qualified teachers?
2. What features in these two categories of centres promote (or constrain) some key aspects of children’s learning and
development?
3. What features in these two categories of centres have positive (or negative) effects on family participation?
4. How do the profiles, patterns and purposes of teachers’ work differ in these two categories of centres?
Research design
A mixed-method design for data gathering was used, based on two collective case studies (Wellington, 2000): a collective ‘case’ of five centres with 100% of their regulated staff being qualified teachers, and a collective ‘case’ of five centres employing 50 to 79% qualified teachers. The centres studied were randomly selected from Ministry of Education
early childhood services databases (stratified by location, levels of qualified teachers, and the enrolment of both toddlers and young children).
In addition, two on-line surveys of a large number of education and care centres were undertaken, in order to learn more about the wider context of early childhood teachers’ work in 2011 and the deployment of qualified teachers and unqualified staff across different roles in centres. A total of 516 centres responded to these surveys (a 35% return rate), representing 21% of education and centres throughout Aotearoa New Zealand.
A review of the literature revealed that qualified teachers differ from unqualified educators in terms of their ability to relate practice to theory; quality of practice generally; effectiveness of interactions with children and relationships with families; specialised pedagogical knowledge; and, within New Zealand, ability to implement the bicultural aspects of Te Whāriki. Moreover, settings with more qualified teachers have higher quality ratings.
On-line surveys
Two on-line surveys were sent out by email: one to NZCA member centres, and one to all other education and care centres on the Ministry of Education’s database of education and care centres.
Centres with high percentages of qualified teachers had complex issues to deal with as a consequence of the reductions of funding from 1 February 2011, with about two-thirds of them reporting changes to practice and finances that impacted on teachers’ work. Managers of centres with fewer qualified teachers had no reduction in funding, but had other complex issues to deal with, in terms of how they deploy qualified staff alongside unqualified staff.
Data analysis
The main unit of analysis was two collective cases: five centres with 100% qualified teachers collectively, and five centres with 50–79% qualified teachers collectively). Ten centres are too few to apply statistical tests. The collective case studies instead provided a rich picture of teachers’ work, in settings with contrasting team profiles, in order to allow analytic generalisation (Yin, 1994).
The second unit of analysis was types of adult–child interactions (such as ‘conversations’ and ‘sustained shared thinking’). As we gathered over 1000 observations of the target children and their interactions with the staff in each of the 10 centres, the patterns in children’s experiences can be seen as reasonably typical.
Case study framework
The Teachers’ Work case study framework included:
• NZCER ECE Quality Rating Scale;
• Observations of 10 sample children (called target children in this report) in each centre interacting with teaching
staff;
• Assessments of learning of the target children aged 4 years;
• Observations of teachers at work;
• Centre documentation (e.g., philosophy of practice statements); and
• Interviews with manager/staff at each centre, and with parents of target children.
Findings
The NZCER ECE Quality Rating Scale was used on two days in each case study centre. All the tables show a visible skew toward more positive ratings for centres with 100% qualified teachers. As well, the means of clusters of variables for centres with 100% qualified teachers were always higher than the means for centres with fewer qualified teachers. However, scores on individual variables did not always fit this pattern; for example, in the centres with 100% qualified teachers, commitment to te reo me ona tikanga Māori was less evident than in centres with 50–79% qualified teachers. Across all 10 centres, none rated positively in relation to accepting and representing the diverse cultures of the children.
Parent–staff communication
The target children’s portfolios, plus interview data from parents and managers/teachers, revealed that parent/whānau
participation was most evident in the 100% qualified centres. Moreover, the regular (sometimes daily) email communication has transformed the participation of parents in their child’s early education. All centres valued
kanohi ki te kanohi (face-to-face) talk; however, in the 100% qualified teachers’ centres, more of the communication was intentionally about learning, rather than informal.
Centres with 100% qualified teachers explained their philosophy of practice and their planning system, and the theories underpinning these, in greater detail than staff in centres with fewer qualified teachers. The shared kaupapa Māori goals and values in the bicultural centre in the 50–79% category ensured that whānau supported and participated with kaiako to strengthen children’s learning te reo me ona tikanga Māori in the centre. Otherwise, parent participation was less evident in centres with fewer qualified teachers.
Teachers’ work with children
In centres that do not have all qualified teachers, those headteachers and teachers who are qualified and registered have to do more to guide and support unqualified staff.
Teachers’ working days are affected by their centre’s opening hours, and the patterns set for children’s days. The centres with 100% qualified teachers were more flexible with routine care times and have separate staffing arrangements for children aged over and under 2 years. Three of these centres operated a primary caregiver or key teacher system for the under 2s, but only one centre with fewer qualified teachers did; the other six centres operated a system where changing rosters meant most staff worked with the under 2s.
Observations of adult–child interactions
Qualified teachers had considerably higher rates of short interactions with target children, particularly in centres with 100% qualified teachers. Centres with fewer qualified teachers had lower rates of short interactions overall, with little
difference between qualified teachers and their unqualified peers.
Qualified teachers initiated a higher rate of conversations (or two-way non-verbal communication) with children than unqualified practitioners did. These teachers also had the highest rate of conversations initiated by children, except with toddlers in centres with 50–79% qualified teachers (probably because more unqualified staff in those centres worked with this younger age group).
One unexpected finding was the amount of time children spent in an unstructured way or waiting or watching (over 20 percent of their time in both categories of centre). However, at these times there were more conversations between adults and children. The patterns in other kinds of activity varied. In centres with 100% qualified teachers, children interacted most often with teaching staff whilst engaged in creative arts experiences. In centres in the 50–79% category,
children spent more time interacting with adults whilst eating meals and snacks.
Child outcomes
There was little to distinguish the two categories of centres in the outcomes measures chosen for this study: social competence and behaviour, and repertoires in using symbol systems.
Looking at the social-behavioural profiles of the 4-year-olds, the centres with 100% qualified teachers had a slight edge in relation to independence/concentration (also known as self-control in other studies, which found it to be important for long-term outcomes). Centres with 50–79% qualified teachers had slightly higher scores for children’s cooperation and peer sociability, outcomes aspired to by those centres. In terms of the target children’s roles in participating with symbol systems, age (being close to turning 5) mattered more than staff qualification profiles.
Another outcome studied was child participation in te ao Māori. There were more non-responses and misunderstandings about tikanga Māori evident amongst teachers in 100% centres than in 50–79% centres, which had more Māori staff in leadership roles.
Episodes of sustained shared thinking, whilst infrequent, were much more likely to be facilitated by qualified teachers and to take place in centres with 100% qualified teachers. They occurred across the curriculum, including during routines for toddlers, and ‘free’ play and group times for 4-year-olds, reflecting the broad definition of curriculum in Te Whāriki.
Although some examples of sustained shared thinking and adult mediation of concept development focused on more traditional curriculum knowledge and skills, many were about relationships, children’s identity, well-being and contribution to the group. We also found these engagements often happened when children were helping or watching a practitioner on their own. As well, qualified teachers more often engaged in sustained shared thinking with children during planned experiences connected to the creative arts, whereas unqualified educators had such engagement during meals. Unqualified educators had far fewer episodes of sustained shared thinking, and for a shorter time, than qualified teachers. Adult mediation of concept development showed the same pattern.
Conclusions
The profile of qualifications amongst teaching staff in the case study centres affected not only the teaching and learning of children specifically, but also the staff’s capacity to engage with parents. In most centres, it affected the quality of early childhood education. Centres with 100% qualified teachers had far more positive scores on the majority of the research measures than centres with 50–79% qualified teachers. The most obvious differences were in the ratings of quality using the NZCER ECE Quality Rating Scale, where most centres with 100% qualified teachers were rated above the mid-point on the large majority of variables, whereas the majority of centres with fewer qualified staff were rated on the mid-point or below for most variables. The adult–child interaction ratings were corroborated when triangulated with adult–child observational data.
As well as the patterns in quantitative data about differing quality, when the analytic lens zoomed in a different sort of pattern was detected. There was a thread through the findings about pedagogy associated with children’s thinking, that is, a cognitive learning thread. Compared with children in the centres with 50–79% qualified teachers, children in the 100% centres benefit from more teachers asking more open-ended questions and posing challenges in ways that lead children to use more complex thinking. Four centres provided the conditions where children spent more than 10% of their time in complex play; three of these had 100% qualified teachers. Children in the 100% centres had:
• more interactions with qualified teachers;
• more conversations with these teachers;
• more episodes of sustained shared thinking;
• more teacher mediation of their concept development; and
• slightly higher scores on indicators to do with independence and concentration.
For the under 2s, the centres with 100% qualified teachers provided higher quality care and education than the 50–70%
centres.
The research literature tells us these effects are significant; for example, sustained shared thinking has significant predictive value for children’s later success (Siraj-Blatchford, 2010). Staff mediating children’s concept development also increases children’s consciousness of their material and social worlds.
Many of the practice effects relate to greater pedagogical expertise in the 100% teams, in linking theory to practice in planning, teaching, assessment and evaluation/self-review, and in communicating with parents and whānau. But logistics are also part of the explanation, that is, the numbers and ratios of qualified teachers to unqualified staff. In the centres
with 50–79% qualified teachers, the smaller number of qualified teachers must mentor and guide their unqualified colleagues, so the qualified teachers have less time with children.
This project has shed light on the beneficial effects of the internationally innovative policy to have a target of 100% of required (regulated) staff holding a teaching qualification in education and care centres. The policy change on 1 February 2011 to reduce funding to centres with 100% qualified teachers has implications for practice which affect child outcomes.
For a few years, New Zealand was in the unique situation internationally of having some education and care centres with 100% qualified teachers subsidised by government, at a level that made this staffing profile financially feasible. When the government announced that funding to these centres would be reduced, NZCA decided it was important to study them, in comparison with centres with fewer qualified teachers.
The Teachers’ Work study was therefore designed to answer four main questions focused on early childhood teachers’ work, and the effects of their work on children’s learning and family participation.
1. What quality teaching practices feature (or are absent) in education and care centres with 100%
qualified teachers and in centres with 50–79% qualified teachers?
2. What features in these two categories of centres promote (or constrain) some key aspects of children’s learning and
development?
3. What features in these two categories of centres have positive (or negative) effects on family participation?
4. How do the profiles, patterns and purposes of teachers’ work differ in these two categories of centres?
Research design
A mixed-method design for data gathering was used, based on two collective case studies (Wellington, 2000): a collective ‘case’ of five centres with 100% of their regulated staff being qualified teachers, and a collective ‘case’ of five centres employing 50 to 79% qualified teachers. The centres studied were randomly selected from Ministry of Education
early childhood services databases (stratified by location, levels of qualified teachers, and the enrolment of both toddlers and young children).
In addition, two on-line surveys of a large number of education and care centres were undertaken, in order to learn more about the wider context of early childhood teachers’ work in 2011 and the deployment of qualified teachers and unqualified staff across different roles in centres. A total of 516 centres responded to these surveys (a 35% return rate), representing 21% of education and centres throughout Aotearoa New Zealand.
A review of the literature revealed that qualified teachers differ from unqualified educators in terms of their ability to relate practice to theory; quality of practice generally; effectiveness of interactions with children and relationships with families; specialised pedagogical knowledge; and, within New Zealand, ability to implement the bicultural aspects of Te Whāriki. Moreover, settings with more qualified teachers have higher quality ratings.
On-line surveys
Two on-line surveys were sent out by email: one to NZCA member centres, and one to all other education and care centres on the Ministry of Education’s database of education and care centres.
Centres with high percentages of qualified teachers had complex issues to deal with as a consequence of the reductions of funding from 1 February 2011, with about two-thirds of them reporting changes to practice and finances that impacted on teachers’ work. Managers of centres with fewer qualified teachers had no reduction in funding, but had other complex issues to deal with, in terms of how they deploy qualified staff alongside unqualified staff.
Data analysis
The main unit of analysis was two collective cases: five centres with 100% qualified teachers collectively, and five centres with 50–79% qualified teachers collectively). Ten centres are too few to apply statistical tests. The collective case studies instead provided a rich picture of teachers’ work, in settings with contrasting team profiles, in order to allow analytic generalisation (Yin, 1994).
The second unit of analysis was types of adult–child interactions (such as ‘conversations’ and ‘sustained shared thinking’). As we gathered over 1000 observations of the target children and their interactions with the staff in each of the 10 centres, the patterns in children’s experiences can be seen as reasonably typical.
Case study framework
The Teachers’ Work case study framework included:
• NZCER ECE Quality Rating Scale;
• Observations of 10 sample children (called target children in this report) in each centre interacting with teaching
staff;
• Assessments of learning of the target children aged 4 years;
• Observations of teachers at work;
• Centre documentation (e.g., philosophy of practice statements); and
• Interviews with manager/staff at each centre, and with parents of target children.
Findings
The NZCER ECE Quality Rating Scale was used on two days in each case study centre. All the tables show a visible skew toward more positive ratings for centres with 100% qualified teachers. As well, the means of clusters of variables for centres with 100% qualified teachers were always higher than the means for centres with fewer qualified teachers. However, scores on individual variables did not always fit this pattern; for example, in the centres with 100% qualified teachers, commitment to te reo me ona tikanga Māori was less evident than in centres with 50–79% qualified teachers. Across all 10 centres, none rated positively in relation to accepting and representing the diverse cultures of the children.
Parent–staff communication
The target children’s portfolios, plus interview data from parents and managers/teachers, revealed that parent/whānau
participation was most evident in the 100% qualified centres. Moreover, the regular (sometimes daily) email communication has transformed the participation of parents in their child’s early education. All centres valued
kanohi ki te kanohi (face-to-face) talk; however, in the 100% qualified teachers’ centres, more of the communication was intentionally about learning, rather than informal.
Centres with 100% qualified teachers explained their philosophy of practice and their planning system, and the theories underpinning these, in greater detail than staff in centres with fewer qualified teachers. The shared kaupapa Māori goals and values in the bicultural centre in the 50–79% category ensured that whānau supported and participated with kaiako to strengthen children’s learning te reo me ona tikanga Māori in the centre. Otherwise, parent participation was less evident in centres with fewer qualified teachers.
Teachers’ work with children
In centres that do not have all qualified teachers, those headteachers and teachers who are qualified and registered have to do more to guide and support unqualified staff.
Teachers’ working days are affected by their centre’s opening hours, and the patterns set for children’s days. The centres with 100% qualified teachers were more flexible with routine care times and have separate staffing arrangements for children aged over and under 2 years. Three of these centres operated a primary caregiver or key teacher system for the under 2s, but only one centre with fewer qualified teachers did; the other six centres operated a system where changing rosters meant most staff worked with the under 2s.
Observations of adult–child interactions
Qualified teachers had considerably higher rates of short interactions with target children, particularly in centres with 100% qualified teachers. Centres with fewer qualified teachers had lower rates of short interactions overall, with little
difference between qualified teachers and their unqualified peers.
Qualified teachers initiated a higher rate of conversations (or two-way non-verbal communication) with children than unqualified practitioners did. These teachers also had the highest rate of conversations initiated by children, except with toddlers in centres with 50–79% qualified teachers (probably because more unqualified staff in those centres worked with this younger age group).
One unexpected finding was the amount of time children spent in an unstructured way or waiting or watching (over 20 percent of their time in both categories of centre). However, at these times there were more conversations between adults and children. The patterns in other kinds of activity varied. In centres with 100% qualified teachers, children interacted most often with teaching staff whilst engaged in creative arts experiences. In centres in the 50–79% category,
children spent more time interacting with adults whilst eating meals and snacks.
Child outcomes
There was little to distinguish the two categories of centres in the outcomes measures chosen for this study: social competence and behaviour, and repertoires in using symbol systems.
Looking at the social-behavioural profiles of the 4-year-olds, the centres with 100% qualified teachers had a slight edge in relation to independence/concentration (also known as self-control in other studies, which found it to be important for long-term outcomes). Centres with 50–79% qualified teachers had slightly higher scores for children’s cooperation and peer sociability, outcomes aspired to by those centres. In terms of the target children’s roles in participating with symbol systems, age (being close to turning 5) mattered more than staff qualification profiles.
Another outcome studied was child participation in te ao Māori. There were more non-responses and misunderstandings about tikanga Māori evident amongst teachers in 100% centres than in 50–79% centres, which had more Māori staff in leadership roles.
Episodes of sustained shared thinking, whilst infrequent, were much more likely to be facilitated by qualified teachers and to take place in centres with 100% qualified teachers. They occurred across the curriculum, including during routines for toddlers, and ‘free’ play and group times for 4-year-olds, reflecting the broad definition of curriculum in Te Whāriki.
Although some examples of sustained shared thinking and adult mediation of concept development focused on more traditional curriculum knowledge and skills, many were about relationships, children’s identity, well-being and contribution to the group. We also found these engagements often happened when children were helping or watching a practitioner on their own. As well, qualified teachers more often engaged in sustained shared thinking with children during planned experiences connected to the creative arts, whereas unqualified educators had such engagement during meals. Unqualified educators had far fewer episodes of sustained shared thinking, and for a shorter time, than qualified teachers. Adult mediation of concept development showed the same pattern.
Conclusions
The profile of qualifications amongst teaching staff in the case study centres affected not only the teaching and learning of children specifically, but also the staff’s capacity to engage with parents. In most centres, it affected the quality of early childhood education. Centres with 100% qualified teachers had far more positive scores on the majority of the research measures than centres with 50–79% qualified teachers. The most obvious differences were in the ratings of quality using the NZCER ECE Quality Rating Scale, where most centres with 100% qualified teachers were rated above the mid-point on the large majority of variables, whereas the majority of centres with fewer qualified staff were rated on the mid-point or below for most variables. The adult–child interaction ratings were corroborated when triangulated with adult–child observational data.
As well as the patterns in quantitative data about differing quality, when the analytic lens zoomed in a different sort of pattern was detected. There was a thread through the findings about pedagogy associated with children’s thinking, that is, a cognitive learning thread. Compared with children in the centres with 50–79% qualified teachers, children in the 100% centres benefit from more teachers asking more open-ended questions and posing challenges in ways that lead children to use more complex thinking. Four centres provided the conditions where children spent more than 10% of their time in complex play; three of these had 100% qualified teachers. Children in the 100% centres had:
• more interactions with qualified teachers;
• more conversations with these teachers;
• more episodes of sustained shared thinking;
• more teacher mediation of their concept development; and
• slightly higher scores on indicators to do with independence and concentration.
For the under 2s, the centres with 100% qualified teachers provided higher quality care and education than the 50–70%
centres.
The research literature tells us these effects are significant; for example, sustained shared thinking has significant predictive value for children’s later success (Siraj-Blatchford, 2010). Staff mediating children’s concept development also increases children’s consciousness of their material and social worlds.
Many of the practice effects relate to greater pedagogical expertise in the 100% teams, in linking theory to practice in planning, teaching, assessment and evaluation/self-review, and in communicating with parents and whānau. But logistics are also part of the explanation, that is, the numbers and ratios of qualified teachers to unqualified staff. In the centres
with 50–79% qualified teachers, the smaller number of qualified teachers must mentor and guide their unqualified colleagues, so the qualified teachers have less time with children.
This project has shed light on the beneficial effects of the internationally innovative policy to have a target of 100% of required (regulated) staff holding a teaching qualification in education and care centres. The policy change on 1 February 2011 to reduce funding to centres with 100% qualified teachers has implications for practice which affect child outcomes.