Excerpts from the report:
Pathways to the Future: Ngā Huarahi Arataki was a 10-year strategic plan for early childhood education published by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in 2002. It had three overarching goals to promote participation in good quality early childhood education (ECE); to improve the quality of ECE; and to enhance collaborative relationships between ECE services, parent support and development, schools, health and social services. Four supporting strategies underpinned these goals: to review regulations; review the funding system; undertake ongoing research; and involve the sector in ECE policy development.
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This report synthesises findings from a locality-based longitudinal evaluation of Pathways to the Future: Ngā Huarahi Arataki. The entire evaluation provides a baseline picture of how things were in mid-2004 in eight localities in the study in relation to the three goals of the strategic plan and before the major ECE strategic plan policy changes began (Mitchell, Royal Tangaere, Mara, & Wylie, 2008), tracks changes that occurred in services and for parents between 2004 and 2006 as strategic actions got underway (Mitchell & Hodgen, 2008), and in 2009 after strategic plan actions
had been in place for some time.
Four evaluation questions were asked. To what extent, in what ways, and how effectively has the strategic plan:
1. increased participation in ECE
2. improved the quality of ECE
3. facilitated the formation of collaborative relationships between ECE services, parent support and
development, schools, health and social services
4. supported parents' ability to engage in work and training?