Inspiring the early childhood sector.
Our kaupapa at The Care Collective focuses on inspiring and empowering those who work with children.
We know that we can only be at our best for the children and families in our care when we have the tools, support and knowledge we need to nurture enriching early learning experiences. The Care Collective brings together decades of research and evidence-based practice in early childhood care and education (ECE) to provide targeted training opportunities for anyone working with pre-school children.
Our training opportunities include custom packages, NZQA unit standard delivery and assessment, Ministry of Education initiatives and community-based programmes.
We believe that we are better together, and the concept of mahi tahi, of collaboration and sharing, drives our mission to enable high quality and meaningful learning for our ECE collective.
OUR TEAM
Erin Maloney
Founding Director
Erin Maloney is a strong advocate for professionalising early learning services through workforce training and sector partnerships that support high quality outcomes for tamariki.
Having spent almost 20 years’ in education management and delivery in early childhood, secondary and tertiary sectors, Erin is passionate about using current theory and research to be innovative and create new ways of learning and leading. Her passion is education and training, with much of her experience in this sector focused on NZQA, TEC and core Government, industry and community goals for tertiary education in the early childhood education and care space. Her key areas of experience are in governance and management, leadership and culture, curriculum design and delivery, advocacy and representation, strategic planning, policy, communication, professional learning and development, quality management systems and internal review processes.
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Erin has a qualification major in communication, with human resource and pastoral care aspects of organisational culture and engagement a key area of focus. She’s served on the board of early childhood education and care services, the Independent Tertiary Education New Zealand (ITENZ), has achieved Category 1 status in NZQA External Evaluative Reviews (EER), and has recently held the President role with the NZ Home Based Childcare Association. She has also represented the early learning sector in a Governance Group for NZQA and on the Early Childhood Advisory Committee (ECAC) for the Ministry of Education.
Her most important job is being mum to Jack (10), Gus (8) and Ella (2). Her own experience as a working mum is the driving force behind why Erin is so invested in the future of early childhood education and supporting the best possible growing conditions for our babies. Through this, she’s drawn to collaborate with other early learning experts and organisations that champion a powerful vision for positive social change.
Jeanette Beard
Facilitator
Jeanette comes to The Care Collective with many years of hands-on teaching experience in both the primary and early learning education sectors, including time as a Specialist Teacher of Learning and Behaviour in the primary sector. After working in primary for 26 years, Jeanette re-trained as an early learning teacher so that she could share her passion for all children to be confident and self-driven lifelong learners through natural play experiences.
Wendy White
Head of Early Learning
A qualified early childhood education teacher with over 20 years’ experience, Wendy has worked across many different service types in the early learning sector, including centre-based, kindergarten and home-based. With a natural rapport for relationship-building, Wendy’s teaching and facilitation philosophy centres on whanaungatanga and the essence of relationship being the key driver around not only how we learn, but also how practice can positively change and evolve as a result of what we learn (and who we learn alongside).
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A trained adult education facilitator, Wendy is also an accredited facilitator and Group Leader for the Incredible Years® teacher programme, including the Autism programme. She has designed and developed early childhood education unit standard-based learning modules at Levels 3 and 4 on the national framework, contributing to NZQA selected working groups and supporting the ongoing development of teaching pathways for early childhood education in Aotearoa. She has also had extensive training in inclusive education and child protection and is well versed in supporting service providers and managers with practical guidance around ‘how to’ massage service policy into day-to-day operational practice.
Wendy has a strong commitment to adult education and has gained a Diploma in Career Guidance which supports her with her work supporting teachers to extend their skills and knowledge through ongoing professional learning and development. She is passionate about continuing her work in this space to ensure those who are delivering early learning services have the support and guidance they need to be successful in delivering quality outcomes for children.
Tracy Caldwell
Facilitator
Tracy is passionate about supporting kaiako and educators to provide environments that give children the freedom to explore and create new meaning about the world around them. She is a qualified early childhood teacher, with over 20 years’ of experience and a strong Montessori philosophy guiding her teaching (and learning) practice. Over the past few years, Tracy has delved into adult education, supporting teachers to grow and develop professionally with a self-directed, hands-on approach.
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Over the past few years, Jeanette has been working in different leadership and management roles to support teachers, kaiako and support staff to enable high quality early learning experiences for children. More recently she trained in the Incredible Years programme to support the facilitation of this work to a range of different early learning and primary providers. She is passionate about providing those working alongside children with a toolbox of techniques to help foster emotional and social competencies, with her previous specialist roles in learning and behaviour enabling participants to benefit from her significant experience and knowledge.
In addition to this, Jeanette is a very proud Mum to Emily, Sam and Adam. She has a strong family focus that she applies to all that she does and working alongside her will make you feel like you are a part of her whānau!
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Her Montessori approach is also applied in this setting, with her facilitation style guiding a process of learning through experience at each participant’s own pace. Tracy is a trained Group Leader in the Incredible Years Programme® for teachers and has worked collaboratively with teachers from all different service types to support their understanding of guiding children’s behaviour in a positive way. She has held leadership and management roles in many different early learning services, both in New Zealand and abroad, and is skilled at providing a supervision and observation lens for supporting a growth cycle journey for those she works alongside.
Tracy is also Mum to Sienna and Harry. She understands the day to day realities of working alongside young families and teachers, which makes her support all the more meaningful and tailored.
