North Shore Times (New Zealand)
Preschool programme rolls out
A programme that teaches selfregulation to preschool children has received $19.7 million in government funding for a nationwide roll out to early childhood centres.
The university-developed and widely tested ENGAGE programme builds self-regulation skills in children aged 3-5, and has had positive outcomes so far that will benefit the next generation.
It’s the brainchild of Associate Professor Dione Healey, from the Department of Psychology, who worked in partnership with Otago Innovation Ltd and the Methodist Mission Southern to trial the programme in Dunedin early childhood centres.
The trial was then expanded to 28 centres and, in the past two years, the programme has been funded by the Ministry of Education to be included in 300 centres in Dunedin, Auckland and the Bay of Plenty.
The government funding, which will see ENGAGE expand to 1830 centres nationwide by
2027, is an ‘‘incredible outcome’’, Associate Professor Healey says.
‘‘I have always been focused on intervention and doing research that will have a real world impact and to now be in a position where my programme is being rolled out nationally is, to be honest, still hard to believe.
Healey says ENGAGE teaches self-regulation through play and these skills can have the potential to change children’s lifetime trajectory.
The programme aligns well with the 2010 findings from the Dunedin study that showed how poor self-regulations at age 3 was predictive of a wide array of adverse adult outcomes including higher rates of unemployment, learning difficulties, relationship difficulties, criminal activity, mental health issues and substance abuse.
‘‘Self-regulation is a core skill needed for a wide range of activities across the lifespan,’’ she says. ‘‘Within the ECE setting children learn a wide range of self-regulation skills within ENGAGE including things like slowing down, remembering instructions, waiting their turn, managing their emotions, and planning activities, which are important not only within ECE but in all life settings and in helping to prepare children for school.’’
In research trials with a diverse range of whā nau, ECE, and primary school participants in Aotearoa and overseas, ENGAGE has consistently been associated with statistically significant improvements in children’s self-regulation development, she says.
Otago Innovation chief executive officer David Christensen says the impact ENGAGE could have on young children and their families and caregivers was evident from his first meeting with Dr Healey.
He says it has been great to see this reaffirmed by Methodist Mission Southern and the Ministry of Education.
‘‘That young children can often have behavioural issues is well known,’’ Christensen says. ‘‘What is not known is that when delivered appropriately, interventions such as Dione’s ENGAGE have an ability to vastly improve aspects of behaviour.’’