Waiariki wins contract to offer new early childhood master's degrees ahead of universities

Waiariki has won a contract to offer new early childhood master's degrees ahead of universities.

Waiariki has been awarded two of three Ministry of Education contracts to develop postgraduate teaching qualifications aimed at raising the quality of teachers in the early childhood education (ECE) industry, ahead of many New Zealand universities and tertiary education providers.

With the quality of ECE provision being questioned in the media in recent times, Ruth Barnes, faculty dean of Te Pākaro a Ihenga: Faculty of Health, Education and Humanities at Waiariki, feels the new Master of Teaching Early Childhood Education and the Master of Teaching Early Childhood Education (Bilingual) will help to reverse that trend.

"The University of Canterbury won one of the bids and we won two. That is huge kudos for Waiariki, because that says the ministry believes in our ability to deliver these exemplary masters degrees."

Alongside a passionate team and Waiariki's bicultural framework, Ruth feels the institute's connection with the community helped to win the approval for the two programmes.

Largely practical-based, the new Level 9 programmes will offer students with a bachelor's degree in any field, the opportunity to join ECE, try out new ideas and become truly reflective researchers and evidence-based practitioners.

"These masters are so inspirational," says Julie Hollis, co-owner of Rotorua's Ole Schoolhouse Early Childhood Centre. "Waiariki are also providing professional development to us as the mentoring centres, in return for supporting their students, so we are all increasing our knowledge and growing together; not just Waiariki, but the whole community and beyond."

"These qualifications definitely raise the bar and aspirations," says Eric Hollis, Julie's partner and co-owner of Ole Schoolhouse.

By allowing professionals to focus on an area in ECE that interests them and "burrow down", Eric feels the new master's degrees will see more industry collaboration and greater insights into other ECE disciplines.

"You go into most centres and they are in principle doing the same thing that we have for the last 15-20 years. What we need to know is, is that really working? Across all cultures in our community? What would it look like if we started with a white piece of paper? That's what these qualifications represent and that is very exciting. We were jumping up and down when we heard that these masters were coming to Rotorua."

While both programmes will share the same culturally integrated framework, the difference is that students enrolling on the bilingual version will be expected to be conversational in te reo Māori, and required to do their research papers using kaupapa Māori principles. Bilingual graduates will also then have access to roles within bilingual or immersion centres upon completion.

"This is something awesome for Rotorua, not just Waiariki," says Joanne Hayes, head of department, education and social sciences at Waiariki. "People who have a passion to make a difference for children should enrol now for 2016 because if you make a positive difference for a child in their first three years, then you are changing their outcome in life."