Welcome back to Te Wāhanga Mātauranga | Playcentre Education 2022!  The Education team met in January to review all of the feedback received from ākonga, centres, teaching staff and regional teams, as well as performance statistics for 2021.  Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to share what’s going well, challenges you’ve faced and other ideas you have for Playcentre Education.

We have some new initiative coming in 2022 to make Education even better for ākonga and Playcentres, and in response to the looming Omicron challenge.  In the next couple months, keep an eye out for:

  • More webinar delivery. Webinars are online workshops that ākonga can attend from home or wherever suits.  We trialled these in Term 4 and will be continuing to offer them with more modules and more series in Term 1.  See below for a comparison of the Playcentre Education delivery options.
  • Online support sessions. Playcentre Education will be offering regular support sessions where ākonga can pop in online to get support from an experience tutor.  We will also set up breakout rooms so that ākonga working on the same module have a place where they can work online to kōrero with each other.
  • Clarification of the wording of some assessment tasks. We know that there are some tasks that are causing resubmits because students either forget to answer something or are confused by the task instructions.  We’re tidying these up so that it is clearer for students to understand the task.
  • And lastly but most exciting for centres – more PLAY WORKSHOPS! Omicron may slightly delay this plan however we are looking at a blended delivery model that will enable us to get more play workshops out to more Playcentre communities throughout the year.  Watch this space for more details.

On behalf of Playcentre Aotearoa, we’d like to thank all of our Playcentre parents, grandparents and caregivers who give up their time to study in the Playcentre Education programme.  Your time and aroha not only make a different to your own tamariki and mokopuna learning experiences but the wider Playcentre village and the next generation of NZ learners. 

Ngā mihi nui

Kara Daly & Louise Albert

 

Face-to-face

iQualify

Webinar

What is it?

In-person workshops delivered at local Playcentres.  Each module has 4 x 2.5 hr workshops (C408 5 workshops)

 

Workshops are scheduled termly in urban centres and as requested by centres in regional areas

Online learning platform with self-study content to complete (readings, videos, exercises, discussion posts)

 

New groups start the 1st of every month.  Groups starting on the 15th will be added if there is demand.

Online workshops via Microsoft Teams or Zoom.  Each webinar series includes 4 x 2.5 hr webinars.

 

Webinars are scheduled termly and will be added to meet demand in response to Omicron

Modules available

B401, B402, B403, B404, C408

All modules except B404 and C408

B401, B403, B404

Pros

·         Whanaungatanga of connecting with other ākonga and the tutor

·         Opportunity to see other Playcentres

·         May be located at your local centre

 

·         You can study when and where it suits you

·         You can work at your own pace

 

·         You can join from home or wherever suits

·         Meet Playcentre members from across NZ

·         Connect with other ākonga and the tutor

Cons

·         Have to attend specific times at a specific place

·         Travel

·         Chance of cancellation due to low numbers – chance of cancellation especially high in current Omicron environment

·         Requires self-motivation to stay on track

·         Requires internet and a tablet or laptop

·         Less interaction with others working on the same module

·         Have to be online at a certain time

·         Requires a stable internet connection

Points to note

·         If you miss a workshop, you can make it up by attending a future workshop, booking into a Webinar session or completing the equivalent online iQualify section

·         Some content can be viewed with a smartphone however a tablet or laptop is needed to complete all exercises

·         A limited number of Chromebooks are available on loan for ākonga without a laptop or tablet

·         If you miss a webinar, you can make it up by attending a future workshop, booking into a Webinar session or completing the equivalent online iQualify section

  • The learning outcomes and assessment tasks are the same regardless of delivery method.  The content is similar across all types of delivery however there are slight variations in order to provide the best learning opportunities for the situation.
  • The learning hours to complete each module has been calculated to be the same for all delivery types.  How long it takes each participant to complete varies based on their skills, experience and motivation.
  • Ākonga can pick and choose different delivery formats for different modules.  For example, you could do B401 face-to-face, B402 via iQualify and B403 via webinar.