A Study On Early Childhood Education Reviews In New Zealand

Providing quality early childhood education is a common pursuit in many countries. The government has attached great importance to the development of early childhood education and conducting early childhood education reviews is a significant initiative in New Zealand. The implementation of early childhood education reviews is effective, especially for guaranteeing and improving early childhood education quality. Centered on early childhood education reviews in New Zealand, this study begins with the analysis of the background, presents the content system, explores the impact, discusses the features and raises some suggestions for the improvement of early childhood education reviews in China.The study consists of five parts:Part one:The background of early childhood education reviews in New Zealand. The part analyzes the background of early childhood education reviews in New Zealand from both the international and domestic aspects in details. Early childhood education reviews in New Zealand emerged following the trends of early childhood education quality movement in developed countries. It’s necessary to enhance the administration of early childhood education through education reviews. The spotty quality of early childhood education was the practical reason to conduct education reviews. And the10-year strategic plan for early childhood education Pathways to the Future promoted education reviews. Furthermore, the former exploration on education reviews of Education Review Office(ERO) laid foundation for early childhood education reviews.Part two:The content system of early childhood education reviews in New Zealand. The part describes the basic content of early childhood education reviews in New Zealand:purposes, organization, content, indicators, approaches and procedures. The purposes of early childhood education reviews conducted by ERO are accountability and improvement. The four review strands are the quality of education, additional review strands, areas of specific government interest and compliance issues. Besides, ERO also developed evaluation indicators and put forward review approaches and process guidelines for reviews.Part three:The impact of early childhood education reviews in New Zealand. The part analyzes the effect of early childhood education reviews in New Zealand. The implementation of early childhood education reviews is effective. It has constructed the early childhood education review system, enhanced the early childhood education self-review of early childhood services, promoted the sustainable development of early childhood services, formed the benign interaction with the government policy, strengthened public participation in early childhood education and reinforced the early childhood education quality assurance atmosphere.Part four:The features of early childhood education reviews in New Zealand. The part discusses the features of early childhood education reviews in New Zealand. Specifically to say, in terms of value orientation, the early childhood education reviews pay much attention to education quality and education equity. In terms of content, the review focuses on how services are contributing to children’s learning and development, the evaluation indicators cover both outcome indicators and process indicators, the expertise of reviewers is of great importance. In terms of practice, the education reviews highlight objectivity, flexibility and participation.Part five:The enlightenments of early childhood education reviews in New Zealand to China. Based on the analysis of the background, content, impact and features, the part puts forward some suggestions for early childhood education reviews in China. Combining the early childhood education reviews in New Zealand and China, the study proposes the following recommendations:strengthening the aim of improving education quality, promoting the construction of evaluation indicators, amplifying the participation of reviews, making full use of the self-review of early childhood services and enhancing the efficiency of early childhood education reviews.