Focus on Corporatisation of Childcare - "LIttle People, Big Money" The New Zealand Herald, 24 Apr 2009

My post on the collapse of ABC Learning and prospects for childcare corporates was mentioned in an article published in New Zealand Herald (Business Herald section) on 24 April 2009. Since it is not available on the NZ Herald Website, I have included links (below) to the PressDisplay.com page for the NZ Herald edition for that day.

The writer of the article Karyn Scherer has really done a good job of highlighting the issue of corporatisation and putting it all in perspective. Kidicorp boss, Wayne Wright came across as a Sheikh of Tweak trying hard to elicit spin on a bouncy wicket. Also, I was surprised by childcare expert Sarah Farquhar trying to sit on the fence on the issue. I thought ECE professionals were supposed to be advocates for children.

Intertextuality - I really liked the illustration based on the kids classic book "A Very Hungary Caterpillar" by Eric Carle.

The New Zealand Herald
24 Apr 2009

The New Zealand Herald
24 Apr 2009

The future of ABC Childcare in New Zealand

What prompted ABC Group to announce that its NZ operations are safe, profitable and will continue.

I think NZ elections had something to do with it. McGrath Nicol the reciervers are just waiting for the outcome of the elections. Between now and Christmas expect some arm-twisting by ABC in New Zealand for a government rescue/bailout.

Tough times for childcare corporates: ABC Learning going down? What about Kidicorp?

Parents in Australia and New Zealand are waiting with baited breath to find out about the future of ABC Learning, the childcare multinational (Also see wikipedia entry). Reports in many australian papers today(see below) and now on TV 3 News in News Zealand point to the impending demise of ABC Learning. ABC Learning is in talks with receivers while at the same time trying to hoodwink the Australian government into bailing it out or even buy it out. What does this mean for childcare provision at a tough economic time?

Childcare is a tough business for corporates to handle. It can only be efficiently run as small business. The main reason is that when it operates as a corporate business it becomes top heavy - epitomising all the bad habits of capitalism. The corporate structures which they setup come home to roost sooner or later. Early childhood corporates should empower their managers to operate centres as a business with greater degree of freedom from daily demands of the golf-playing mafia in the head office. Early childhood education is a business which depends on the goodwill and skill of the people at the lowest ladder (the teachers). This lesson seems to have been lost on ABC which is notorious for over-management.

What about Kidicorp Ltd?

Not to make matters any better, there are indications that Kidicorp the largest childcare provider in New Zealand could be a sinking ship as well. In South Auckland alone where Kidicorp owns and operates many centres, Kidicorp has lost many employees (centre managers, head teachers etc.) due to management high-handedness. Employees and parents are concerned but clueless in the face of high employee turnover which also creates confusion in minds of young children and interfares with their learning. Head office people trained not in early childhood education but in business management are to be blammed here.

How does this relate to knowledge policy?

Education is the main stimulus towards attaining knowledge society and early childhood education especially so. What we reap tomorrow depends on what we sow today and how we nurture the learning of our children. Governments seem to have fallen into the trap of believing that big players can provide quality education. The governments need to realise that early childhood education delivery works best when small and medium sized businesses catering to small niches implement curricula in cmpetition with each other. Bigger players have made it difficult for smaller players to thrive. Also, bigger players often are able to byepass stringent quality criteria stipulated by the government. A cursory look at some of the corporate run centres makes one wonder how did they get license for so many children when they dont have enough indoor and outdoor play space. The overarching demand for childcare in the wake of poorly thought out and populist policies such as 20-free hours childcare in NZ has meant that parents are not in a bargaining position and usually dont complain about physical and environmental infrastructure. I challenge all the NZ Ministry of Education policymakers to put their hands on their hearts and tell me whether corporates like ABC and Kidicorp really implement curricula that follows the spirit of vision documents like Te Whariki? If the answer is no, then why bail them out when they are in trouble?


Sources from the moreover.com newsfeed:
ABC Learning teeters on the edge... - Sydney Morning Herald

Receivership talk swirls around ABC... - Daily Telegraph Australia

Receivers hover over ABC Learning... - Age

Govt must act on ABC Learning: Liberals... - Nine MSN

ABC Learning in talks with govt, banks...OptusNet
Govt must act on ABC Learning: Liberals...OptusNet
Childcare giant: ABC Learning in crisis talks...Herald Sun
ABC Learning in talks with govt, banks...Yahoo! News Australia

Innovative Thinking and Peace: The Peace Innovation Course at Stanford

Prof. Johan Galtung is fond of giving the example of Mulla and the Eighteen Camels to underline the importance of innovative thinking and compassion in peacebuilding and conflict resolution.

Peace Innovation - a new undergraduate course at Stanford University taught by Prof. B J Fogg (of Computers As Persuasive Technology (CAPT-ology) fame) - aims to "help people use new technology to invent peace". Students work in small groups using Web 2.0 services (Flickr, Google maps, YouTube ....) to explore if they can be used for peacebuilding.

The course is based on the idea that noew technologies such as mobile phones and web 2.0 are great tools of persuading people into believing (belief formation) and behaving in a certain way. Very interesting indeed.

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Knowledge 2.0 - Knowledge Outsourcing using Web 2.0 technologies

Image via WikipediaTeaching in virtual classrooms and knowledge outsourcing is a emerging and fast developing trend in India. The online learning market is set to grow manifold in the coming years and Web 2.0 technologies, in combination with faster Internet are critical in making knowledge outsourcing a key part of services exports from countries like India. Numerous Indian internet startups have harnessed the power of the Web 2.0 to impart online tutoring to pupils at home and abroad. Tutorvista has already developed a niche in this market. A promising company with links to India is WizIQ. According to the company website,

WiZiQ is a web-based platform for anyone and everyone who wants to teach and learn live, online. Teachers and students use WiZiQ for its state-of-the-art virtual classroom, to create and share online educational content and tests, and to connect with persons having similar subject interests.

WizIQ has recently developed a module for Moodle - the most popular education related Content Management System (CMS) solution. The WizIQ moodle module connects to WizIQ's free Online Virtual Classroom - a free alternative to expensive conferencing tools in online teaching/learning software market.

I am currently testing WizIQ for online teaching and have added the module to my moodle site: http://www.tutorvista.com/moodle

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