The Hon Luamanuvao Winnie Laban has announced support of $99,000 from the Community Partnership Fund of the Digital Strategy to advance the SmartCentres project. The project, managed by the City of Manukau Education Trust (COMET), will enable early childhood centres in Manukau City to become connected to families and communities through Information and Communications Technologies (ICT).
A booklet that reports on project goals was launched on November 29, 2005, by Sir Barry Curtis. Called Early Childhood Centres Plugging into ICT: A Manukau Perspective, it reports the results of research into what kinds of ICT support (digital cameras, computers and printers, etc) early childhood centres in Manukau have access to. It also announced some goals developed through an Advisory Group for getting centres fully connected by the end of 2006.
“The goals are very simple,” says Bernardine Vester, Chief Executive for the City of Manukau Education Trust. “The Advisory Group of representatives from the early childhood sector told us how valuable digital cameras and printers are for connecting parents to their child’s learning. They also told us about how much they wanted to learn more about how to use technologies to design better learning programmes.”
The four goals are for every early childhood centre in Manukau, by the end of 2006, to;
- be connected to the internet via high-speed broadband;
- have access to a digital camera;
- have a computer for administration as well as one for learning;
- have professional development to build confidence in staff;
The work on developing the booklet was funded by Manukau City Council through the SmartManukau strategy. “Because early childhood centres are community-based, their understanding of the potential of modern communications can ripple out to the rest of the community. A pilot at two kindergartens in Otara showed us the exciting opportunities for using ICT tools to enrich families and child learning,” reported Bernardine Vester.
Ten Pasifika centres have already participated in activity to increase their readiness for further project development.
The government funding will be used to support the work of community co-ordinators, to ensure that organisations such as early childhood centres are able to
- develop their own ICT plans
- access equipment and support to meet the goals
Hard copies are also available from the COMET office. Manukau centres can use the booklet to support their ICT development plans and funding applications. COMET also has available sets of brochures for centres to give to parents, to engage them in support of their centre's ICT plans.
