IMO they have been following the successful centre transitioning process of Think (TNK). The aggressive buying of centres after Affinity entered the market, and the large volume that G8 acquired would have made it impossible to integrate all of those centres successfully and improve quality at the same time. Today they have 240 staff vacancies advertised, that constant churn of staff also detracts from the ability to maintain quality. Sometimes centres, because of regulations have to hire a staff member for their qualification rather than the quality of their teaching.
The training was a step forward, but only covered a small portion of staff. Please don't think that the video reflects what early learning centres are really like. The video missed the opportunity to showcase, provocations, teachable moments, intentional teaching, that depth that I've mentioned before, just wasn't there.
Two of the major hurdles that I see are (1) knowing what are Anchorage are going to do with Affinity (2) will the flexible childcare option mentioned by the government mean that subsidies will only be paid to centres for the actual hours of attendance by a child and not for the twelve hour blocks currently subsidised.
As I said in a previous post, it's a positive step in the right direction, but it will consistently be a work in progress. That's what quality in early childhood education is about, a journey that never ends but is constantly reviewed, reflected upon and actioned.
GEM Price at posting:
$4.10 Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
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