Playcentre is an

early childhood education Early childhood education (ECE), also known as nursery education, is a branch of Education sciences, education theory that relates to the teaching of children (formally and informally) from birth up to the age of eight. Traditionally, this is ...

and

parenting Parenting or child rearing promotes and supports the physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and educational development from infancy to adulthood. Parenting refers to the intricacies of raising a child and not exclusively for a biologica ...

organisation which operates

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned a ...

parent A parent is either the progenitor of a child or, in humans, it can refer to a caregiver or legal guardian, generally called an adoptive parent or step-parent. Parents who are progenitors are First-degree relative, first-degree relatives and have ...

-led early childhood education centres throughout

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. While the concept originated in New Zealand, it is now also established in Japan. Their mission is stated as "Whānau Tupu Ngātahi - Families growing together."

History and spread

Before 1941 the prevailing philosophy in New Zealand child education was that education did not really start until children entered the formal, disciplinarian, school system. The early beginnings of Playcentre were in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

in 1941. Mothers Joan Wood, Inge Smithells and Beatrice Beeby opened " nursery play centres" that aimed to support mothers and provide a social space for their children. Other centres soon opened in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

and

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, leading to the formation of the New Zealand Federation of Nursery Play Centre Associations in 1948.

Education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

ist Gwen Somerset became the first

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of the association. She had already been involved with a

community centre A community centre, community center, or community hall is a public location where members of a community gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may be open for the whole community or for a sp ...

Feilding Feilding is a town in the Manawatū District of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on New Zealand State Highway 54, State Highway 54, 20 kilometres north of Palmerston North. The town is the seat of the Manawatū District Council. ...

that included classes on

child development Child development involves the Human development (biology), biological, psychological and emotional changes that occur in human beings between birth and the conclusion of adolescence. It is—particularly from birth to five years— a foundation ...

and

, as well as a cooperative playgroup, so she was a good fit to lead the growing movement. From the start each Playcentre was a community-driven initiative. Centres were organised and run by volunteer parents utilising existing premises (e.g.

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

or community halls), with parents themselves acting as teachers and collective caregivers. This allowed the movement to easily spread, including to

rural area In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...

s where other early childcare options were unavailable or impractical. In 1951 Playcentre began an adult education programme to train volunteer parents in child development and

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

. The Playcentre model has been copied by groups in other countries, including the Japan Playcentre Association, which was founded in 1999.

Philosophy and practice

Playcentre was instrumental in introducing the concepts of

learning through play Learning through play is a term used in education and psychology to describe how a child can learn to make sense of the world around them. Through play children can develop social and cognitive skills, mature emotionally, and gain the self-confide ...

to the early childhood setting in New Zealand. This philosophy has since been adopted throughout all New Zealand early childhood education centres through the New Zealand national curriculum for early childhood education,

Te Whāriki Te Whāriki, or ''Te Whāriki He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa'', is New Zealand's early years curriculum guideline. It is published by Ministry of Education, and has been recognised worldwide for its approach to early learning ...

. The organisation believes that parents are the first and best educators of their children and children learn best when they initiate their learning through

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

(child-initiated play). Within the centres children and adults learn alongside each other, in agreement with the socio-cultural model of learning which posits that a child learns best when surrounded by trusted members of their community. Children attend half day sessions, no more than 5 times a week. Children from 0 to 6 years, normally in mixed age groups, attend sessions run by parents. Groups are typically no larger than 30 children. As a cooperative, parent volunteers decide how their centre will run and are responsible for the education of their children. Playcentre offers dedicated sessions for babies under 1 year old, called Space. Space is an

acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

for "Supporting Parents Alongside Children's Education". In addition to childcare, sessions are designed to create connections between new parents and to provide a place for new parents to discuss parenting.

Structure and regulations

Since 2019, Playcentre Aotearoa is a charitable trust. Previously every centre was part of one of 33 regional associations. Each association was supported by the national body, The New Zealand Playcentre Federation. All of these entities were

amalgamated Amalgamation is the process of combining or uniting multiple entities into one form. Amalgamation, amalgam, and other derivatives may refer to: Mathematics and science * Amalgam (chemistry), the combination of mercury with another metal **Pan ama ...

in 2019. In 2022 Playcentres voted at a special general meeting to replace the previous

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

with a new

Deed A deed is a legal document that is signed and delivered, especially concerning the ownership of property or legal rights. Specifically, in common law, a deed is any legal instrument in writing which passes, affirms or confirms an interest, right ...

of Charitable Trust. This change will centralise the financial operations of Playcentre in the trust, taking some administrative burden off individual centres and allow Playcentre to remain compliant with Ministry of Education guidelines. Playcentres are chartered early childhood education providers with the

New Zealand Ministry of Education The Ministry of Education () is the public service department of New Zealand charged with overseeing the New Zealand education system. The Ministry was formed in 1989 when the former, all-encompassing Department of Education was broken up into ...

. Each Playcentre is subject to audits by the

Education Review Office The Education Review Office (ERO; ) is the public service department of New Zealand charged with reviewing and publicly reporting on the quality of education and care of students in all New Zealand schools and early childhood services. Leader ...

to confirm the quality of Playcentre's programmes. Playcentres are partially funded by the Ministry of Education under the Education and Training Act 2020. Government funding is on a per-session basis, and is determined by the number and ages of children, and the number of qualified supervising adults present. Playcentres typically also rely on additional community grants. Since 2000, government policy has trended towards a focus on a qualified teacher-led curriculum for ECE providers to be funded. This conflicts with the principle of parent-led co-operative education — where most parents are not fully trained teachers — resulting in parent-led ECE services like Playcentre being "marginalised". To solve this, many Playcentres have chosen to employ one or more '' facilitators'' in their centre, who is employed by the trust and is a qualified ECE teacher, often through Playcentre's own education system. The facilitator supports the parents to organise the ECE aspects of sessions, while centre advisors help ensure compliance with Ministry of Education requirements for curriculum, supervision and government funding.

Adult education programme

Playcentre Education offers the NZQA Level 4 Certificate in Early Childhood Education and Care. The course assists parents in developing their parenting skills and their ability to facilitate early childhood education in a playcentre setting. The programme also helps members to learn how to work in a cooperative as well as being the training ground for Playcentre adult educators. The adult education programme is delivered at no cost to the learner.

Notable Playcentre people

Famous Playcentre alumni include New Zealand's first female prime minister, the Rt. Hon.

Jenny Shipley Dame Jennifer Mary Shipley (née Robson; born 4 February 1952) is a New Zealand former politician who served as the 36th prime minister of New Zealand from 1997 to 1999. She was the first female prime minister of New Zealand, and the first woma ...

, New Zealand's first female Governor General, Dame

Catherine Tizard Dame Catherine Anne Tizard (née Maclean; 4 April 1931 – 31 October 2021) was a New Zealand politician who served as mayor of Auckland City from 1983 to 1990, and the List of governors-general of New Zealand, 16th governor-general of New Zeal ...

, the Olympic gold medallists,

Caroline Evers-Swindell Caroline Frances Meyer (born 10 October 1978), better known under her maiden name Caroline Evers-Swindell, is a New Zealand former rower. She competed in the double sculls with her identical twin sister Georgina Evers-Swindell. In November 20 ...

and

Georgina Evers-Swindell Georgina Emma Buchanan Earl (born 10 October 1978 in Hastings, New Zealand), better known under her maiden name Georgina Evers-Swindell, is a New Zealand former rower. She competed in the double sculls with her identical twin sister Caroline E ...

, Colin Simon (designer of the Christchurch Commonwealth Games 1974 games –

symbol and the Playcentre Logo), and Valerie Burns (Companion of the Queen's Service Order ).

External links

Playcentre Aotearoa official websiteJapan Playcentre Association official website (in Japanese)

References

{{reflist, 2 Education in New Zealand Early childhood education in New Zealand Early childhood educational organizations Charities based in New Zealand