E. Jayne White

Senior lecturer at Victoria University School of Early Childhood Teacher Education.

E. Jayne White is a senior lecturer at Victoria University School of Early Childhood Teacher Education. She is currently on leave from the University working at the New Zealand Ministry of Education where she is part of a team developing early childhood self-review guidelines for the early childhood education sector.

For over twenty years now Jayne has fulfilled a number of roles within the profession, ranging from kindergarten teacher, education and care teacher, Playcentre parent, researcher, academic and family day care coordinator, as well as parent in a whole range of other settings. Jaynes interest in home-based education began when she undertook the role of coordinator at the age of 23, then developed as she fulfilled the same several role years later, and had her own children in home-based education services. Since then, Jayne has been involved in developing training packages for home-based educators/caregivers, as well as working with educators who go on to complete their three year teaching diploma/degree.

Through these experiences Jayne has continued to appreciate the unique qualities (and potential) of home-based education and care, as well as the professional challenges facing the service within the context of Aotearoa New Zealand. She completed a paper in 1995 as part of her Post Graduate Diploma, entitled “Family Day Care - A home away from home”, and picked up on some of these ideas years later when she completed her Masters thesis. She is still completing papers from this investigation. Based on focus group interviews with caregivers/educators and coordinators, a number of issues were raised through her Masters research, which further highlight the complexity of family day care within the shifting sociopolitical context of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Jayne is currently involved in an international research project (OMEP) in collaboration with 5 New Zealand researchers, and 5 other countries where a range of early childhood services, including home-based education, provide the context for investigating the nature of play and learning for 0-3 year old infants, toddlers and young children.

Another professional interest is OMEP Aotearoa New Zealand (currently President 2003-2005) Jayne is currently involved in organising an Asia-Pacific Conference (www/vuw.ac.nz/omep2005) with members of National Executive.

Jayne is also heavily involved in developing and trialling a draft of the Self-review Guidelines for Early Childhood Education (Ministry of Education, 2005) across a range of services, including home-based education, in her role as Project Facilitator: Writing, with the Ministry of Education. This document, when finalized, will support all early childhood services in Aotearoa New Zealand to engage in processes of self-review that bring about positive outcomes for infants, toddlers and young children.

Amidst all this, Jayne continues to parent 3 children, the youngest now aged 12. She says that this is the most exciting time to be in early childhood education in New Zealand, and to be part of a professionalisation process that values parents as well as ‘professionals’ in the education and care of our youngest citizens. Jayne believes that home-based education has the potential to challenge current discourse and to offer new insights - and that there are still many stories to be told that will contribute to our increased understanding of early childhood education across the world!

You can contact Jayne directly at:  Jayne.White@minedu.govt.nz

Recent publications:

White, E.J. (2005). Public Spaces in Private Places: Quality review in the context of family day care, Occasional Paper; Institute for Early Childhood Studies, Wellington: Victoria University.

White, E.J. (2005). Thin Blue Lines and Red Crosses: Signposts to Quality in Family Day Care, OMEP Journal

White, E.J. & Miller, D. (2005). Using the knowledge base about family and community influences on child outcomes: A pilot study of applying best evidence for teacher preparation in early childhood, Asia-Pacific Journal, McQuarrie University (in press)

White, E.J. (2004). Turning the Kaleidoscope on quality in family day care, New Zealand Research in Early Childhood Education, (7)

White, E.J. (2003, September). Adding flavour to the home-based stew: Caregiver and coorinator perspectives, Paper presented as part of the three-part symposium, Eighth Early Childhood Convention, Palmerston North.

White, E.J. (2003, September). In search of quality - family day care, Eighth early Childhood Convention, Palmerston North.

White, E.J. (2003). In search of quality: a journey for family day care, Unpublished MA thesis, Wellington:Victoria University.