The purpose of this study is to elucidate the major features and issues of the playcentres in New Zealand. Playcentres are a kind of early childhood services managed by parents. They have a philosophy“ Families growing together" and involve a high level of parental involvement. They also provide adult education programs for developing early childhood observation or communication skills to facilitate this philosophy. This paper focuses on this parental involvement.
My conclusion is that playcentres:
1) emphasize parent involvement, but places the burden upon parents;
2) create a relationship of trust, fairness, sense of shared decision making require greater parental involvement;
3) adult education programs are useful for parents to become more aware of the demands of child rearing.