Govt. run preschools

[oziwi]

Would I be correct in saying that preschools that are on school grounds and run by the govt. be under the same National Quality Standards that all other preschools will be assessed by.

[Alisona]

Yes, that is correct. I work in a Government preschool in the grounds of a primary school. We have to implement the changes in the same way as everyone else. The DEC is providing us with some training, however, it will be difficult to make any physical changes to our environment as we don't have access to the budget needed to do this. And what the preschool needs is not a high priority as far the rest of the school is concerned. Some preschools also have difficulty with programming as the executive staff who supervise them do not understand how different preschool planning is and they require the preschool staff to program in the same way as the teachers in the primary school. I'm lucky I don't have this pressure where I teach.

[oziwi]

Thanks Alisonia.....would you be implementing your own policies & procedures to be in line with law & regulations or will you be using the schools policies. From what I am aware many of the school policies are quite different to what is required

[Alisona]

I understand that we will have to modify the policies that come from the DEC so they are relevant to the preschool setting in the same way that schools usually modify them to fit the individual school communities.

[oziwi]

Do you have any assistants with you and will they need to do obs and evaluations.
Also when it comes to other duties such as general cleaning, taking small groups etc... how will they be able to do this on top of normal duties

[Alisona]

I have one assistant who assists in the classroom but she does not do any obs, evaluations or paperwork. Assistants have traditionally been untrained and these things weren't part of their role. As I get paid a lot more than she does, I feel it's my responsibility and so I do all the planning, all the obs, all the evaluations, learning stories etc. She has however agreed this year to take half the group for a story or other group activity at times (that is 10 children) as I feel 20 is too large a group especially at the beginning of the year and in particular when many have a NES background. Things like packing up are done by everyone with the children helping as well. My assistant gives the tables an extra clean before they are used for eating at, however, there isn't much else that she needs to specifically do by herself. Everyone pitches in. One thing to remember, however, is that all the government preschools are run differently (this is in NSW) depending on the traditions at that particular centre, the school they are attached to and what the principals want. The principal is the one who is in charge of how things are run.
Does this help? I'm happy to answer any more questions you might have.

[cathiek]

I understand that we will have to modify the policies that come from the DEC so they are relevant to the preschool setting in the same way that schools usually modify them to fit the individual school communities.

I have heard the same Alisona (I am in WA in a Kindy -4 year olds in WA) We have told we might be 'responding' slightly differently to the NQS as we have DET policies to adhere to too. We should hear in a month or so (apparantly)

Cathiek