MR513 Assessment 3

Proposal Scenario

Young Learners Early Learning Centre in New Zealand, once a thriving early childhood centre, has more recently been underperforming and struggling to increase its occupancy rate. It is licensed for 40 children –10 in the nursery and 30 in the preschool – but current enrolments are sitting at five in the nursery and 15 in the preschool. Jo (who currently owns centres in other parts of the city), recently took ownership of the centre and is seeking to reach maximum occupancy in two years, based on the potential opportunity that has arisen with a very large housing development under construction less than two kilometres away. The community is diverse with a mixture of ethnicities. One of the first steps Jo has put in place is a change to the centre philosophy, so it is more in alignment with the philosophy of the early childhood curriculum framework, TeWhāriki and her other centres. This will result in a shift from a very teacher-led approach to one that is child-centred. There are currently three staff working in the centre, one teacher has over ten years’ experience working in this setting and the other two staff members, one of whom is in training, have two to three-years’ experience. Task Jo has appointed you as centre manager and asked you to prepare a detailed proposal to make the shift in curriculum approach and raise the enrolments.

How do you as manager undertake at least two to three responsibilities from the list below, to effectively address the management challenges in the scenario:

• parental involvement in the centre, including assessment
• self-review
• staff appraisal
• recruitment and induction of new staff
• community, communications and relationship development
• funding, finances and resourcing the centre Consider your personal and professional values, and a range of literature to support your proposed actions.