Making a meaningful impact on the lives of children and their families and communities.
The Government’s Child & Youth Wellbeing Strategy articulates a Vision that:
“Aotearoa-New Zealand is the best place in the world for children in young people”.
The Early Learning Action Plan 2019-2029 is designed in part to respond to this Vision. Our goal is to work with others to make that Vision a reality.
The meaning of Whanake
We selected the word Whanake for our trust as it carries deep meaning for us. It is a word that both links back to the creation of Daisies Early Education and Care Centre through the cabbage trees (“Whanake”) that grow in front of Te Purapura (one of the Daisies whare) and the word we have long used to describe the group of oldest tamariki who are almost ready to transition to school. But it is also a word used by Māori in other ways, all equally meaningful.
1. To move onwards, move upwards
Whanake tahi ana a Rātana rāua ko Tirikātene ki Pōneke: Rātana and Tirikātene went together to Wellington.
2. To grow
E whanake ana te rākau nei: This tree is growing.
3. To spring up, develop
Nō ngā tau o te 1960 ka whanake mai ngā rōpū mautohe: Protest movements developed from the 1960s.
4. To rise
Ka haere a Tū-rāhui ki waho whakahāereere ai i te tamaiti; kātahi ka titiro atu ki te rā e whanake ana i te huapae o Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa: Tū-rāhui went outside to stroll about with the child. Then he looked at the sun rising on the horizon of the Pacific Ocean.
5. The Cabbage tree
Pēnā tonu te rere a te kererū i te wā e mau ana tēnā kākano, ā, tata noa ki te horonga o tērā kākano, o te Whanake: The flight of the Aotearoa-New Zealand pigeon is like that during the time that the fruit lasts and until just before the seeds of the cabbage tree falls. The word whanake is a reference to the cabbage tree, which are numerous around Johnsonville where we are based.
Our goal for the Whanake Education Trust is to make a meaningful impact, and in particular we believe there is a “wicked problem” for Aotearoa-New Zealand that we would like to respond to in a major way. This can be described as follows:
We know that for many children, participation in ECE can make a big difference to how well they succeed at school and indeed also their broader life outcomes beyond education into employment, health and wellbeing.
However we also know that this statement does not hold true for all children in all situations. For some children, participation in ECE seems to confer only modest benefits as they transition to school and beyond. For others it can be a bad experience. But why is this? The answer is likely twofold.
Firstly, quality of ECE. Research is still ongoing into what makes the most difference in an ECE setting to the outcomes for children and their families, but we do have a pretty good idea what poor quality looks like. The Action Plan describes quality as “settings characterised by purposeful and respectful interactions…, focused on extending children’s interests, capabilities and participation”.
Secondly, the child’s environment outside of the ECE setting. Good quality ECE (probably in combination with other services/actions) seems to make the most difference to the wellbeing of children who are at a disadvantage at home due to poverty or other factors. For children with a stable comfortable and supportive home environment, the benefits may be less marked.
This suggests that if Aotearoa-New Zealand is genuinely to be the best place in the world for children, we need to make sure that the children who need (quality) ECE the most, get it. Right now, we don’t believe that to be the case. An early goal for the Whanake Education Trust is to find ways to work with others to respond to this wicked problem.
Why did we decide to establish a new Trust entity?
While ECE in Aotearoa-New Zealand is better than in many other countries, there still remain some issues.
The Early Learning Action Plan 2019-2029 identifies some of these and proposes a range of actions. It is exciting to see the Action Plan reference the Government’s Child & Youth Wellbeing Strategy Vision that “Aotearoa-New Zealand is the best place in the world for children in young people”. This is truly ambitious, and ECE can play a major part.
Over the medium to long term our objectives, working alongside Daisies, are to:
Genuinely engage the community in the delivery of high quality ECE, so that it is recognised as of equal importance as good housing, health, and schools.
Increase the awareness of the benefits of (quality) ECE so that governments do not question the value of increasing funding.
Raise professional awareness of how children learn, what good teaching looks like and what makes the most difference for children as they move on to school and beyond.
Understand (through research and otherwise) what else is necessary, adjacent to and complementing ECE, to make the most difference for children.