ONLINE Professional Development for Teachers 2 hour workshops Interactive, Q+A ● Assessment & Evaluation ● The Standards in ECE ● Stepping Up to Supervisor ● Child Protection In ECE ● Early Literacy in ECE ● Language Diversity in ECE For information and bookings visit: www.ecc.org.nz/events recipes, dress up ZOOMS, scavenger hunts in the backyard – the ideas have been super creative and fun. Managing social distancing? Once we confirmed a bubble we sent a very clear operating guideline for the parents to read. They had to confirm they read and accepted the guidelines for bubble enrolment. This covered that we would have no parents in the centre under level 3 and included instructions to stay in the carpark and call the centre to tell of us of arrival / pick up and we would bring the child out to the gate. School bags were left by the parent in a particular area for the teachers to collect after they had left and where possible children were encouraged to walk in independently. Teachers wore masks during these times and were instructed to step back 2m when a child was collected. Updates on the child’s day were done via a phone call and also a daily note went home in their bag. We accepted one family at a time at the gate. Managing bubbles in level 3? We have three centres, two have opened with two bubbles each and the other centre could only have one bubble due to its open plan layout and shared toilets. In the centres with two bubbles we have completely separated them physically, so each bubble has their own staff area / toilet and child toilets and indoor / outdoor play space. The teachers do not mix bubbles. Did most of your whānau wear face masks? We made it a compulsory condition of coming into our bubble. No mask, no enrolment. Greatest insights insights during this time? How the lockdown affects everyone so differently – some people have massive concerns, anxiety, financial concerns, logistics, family challenges, technology access and time – while others breeze through it and love it. So you have to come up with a variety of strategies to manage all the different levels and needs for your staff and community. How has well-being been implemented? Utilising a variety of different communication channels and options to engage. Knowing your staff well enough to understand who may be struggling or needing support. Options of working from home with flexibility and in-centre, especially for those teachers with children who are trying to home school. Discussing with staff who wanted to work, with some who were scared, or desperate to get out of the house, etc and tailoring staffing solutions for each teacher. Further insights? ● ● It’s been a challenge with the limits of ten – who comes into the bubble and how you decide. ● ● Dealing with the pay parity issues at the same time has not been ideal. ● ● Financially it’s been very hard. ● ● Issues such as re-opening and losing the wage subsidy has been detrimental financially as it was better being closed on the wage subsidy, but not better for our community. ● ● The complete lack of clarity from government and the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the drip feeding and constant changing of information has been a nightmare! December 2021 { 28 }
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