Supporting teaching and assessment with Kōwhiti Whakapae#

In case you missed it. In August 2024, we released the full suite of Kōwhiti Whakapae resources. Grounded in Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the principles of Te Whāriki, Kōwhiti Whakapae promotes inclusion and nurtures children’s identity, language, and culture. It’s designed to provide guidance on how to build children’s growing confidence and capability in 3 key areas:

• oral language and literacy which focuses on:
  • understanding and using language
  • emergent literacy
  • forms, and functions of literacy
  • learning an additional language,
• maths where the subareas focus on:
  • space and measurement
  • number and measurement
  • pattern and relationships
  • create and communicate maths,
• social and emotional which focuses on:
  • connected relationships and caring for others
  • emotional awareness, regulation and spiritual connectedness
  • agency and adaptability
  • and social inclusion, and action.

Each area walks you through a four-step process to strengthen teaching and formative assessment practices. You can explore Kōwhiti Whakapae on Tāhūrangi.

Kōwhiti Whakapae – Tāhūrangi

Our curriculum advisors are also here to provide you with implementation support. You can contact them through our local offices.

Regional offices

More Kōwhiti Whakapae resources on the way#

Keep an eye out for a range of new resources coming soon to support your use of Kōwhiti Whakapae. Here’s a hint at what you can expect.

Printed resources to support Kōwhiti Whakapae#

The full online suite of Kōwhiti Whakapae was released in August 2024, designed to help early learning kaiako and leaders strengthen planning, formative assessment and teaching practice within the framework of Te Whāriki. To support its implementation, printed versions of content already available on Kōwhiti Whakapae have been developed. While the materials are the same, these are designed to respond to different ways of learning and to support teams to engage in collaborative ways.

You should have (or will soon) receive the following items.

A set of maths lay the groundwork cards

These cards provide teaching practices to help you whakaritea te pārekereke | prepare the seedbed and create an enabling environment for all children. Each card has information about why the practice is important and how you might apply it in your setting.

A poster illustrating the 4-step process

This poster guides you through the four-step process to help you:

• lay the groundwork to create an enabling environment for all children
• notice and recognise children’s current capabilities and possible directions for learning
• respond to scaffold, consolidate or expand children’s learning over time
• document children’s learning using the assessment examples as a guide.

If you would like to order more, visit Down the Back of the Chair:

Down the back of the chair

New assessment examples

These will offer you fresh ways to gather, document, and communicate evidence to support children’s progress over time, as well as your conversations with whānau.

Kōwhiti Whakapae printable PDFs

In response to feedback and evidence that kaiako are seeking a printable version of Kōwhiti Whakapae and alternative, more accessible ways to engage, we have created printable PDF books. These consist of an introduction and overview of Kōwhiti Whakapae and 3 books, each focused on an area of learning (Social and Emotional, Oral Language and Literacy, and Maths). These printable versions closely match the content of the digital resource so kaiako can choose the format that works for them.

We’ll let you know here and on Tāhūrangi when all this content is available.

Implementing Te Whāriki with a focus on infant and toddler care#

Six new resources are available on Tāhūrangi to support your delivery of quality infant and toddler care and education through Te Whāriki. These include:

• ngā pēpi me ngā nohinohi | infants and toddlers, which help kaiako and leaders understand and support infants and toddlers’ mana and rapidly growing capabilities
• rights, agency and autonomy of infants and toddlers, which helps understand how to incorporate these concepts into your practice, and the ways it contributes to holistic learning
• infant and toddler pedagogies, to learn more about teaching and learning approaches to support the increasing number of infants and toddlers attending early childhood settings
• care practices with infants and toddlers, for information on the concept of care as an important dimension of infant and toddler pedagogy
• ngā whakawhanaungatanga | reciprocal and responsive relationships, which can help you to understand the important role kaiako play in supporting infants and toddlers to develop relationships
• infant and toddler play, which covers ideas related to play, why it is important, diverse perspectives of play, and the role of kaiako.

Thanks to Associate Professor Maria Cooper and Dr Justine O’Hara-Gregan who developed these resources. Ngā pēpi me ngā nohinohi | infants and toddlers is a great place to start, and you can find all of the resources on this page.

Ngā pēpi me ngā nohinohi | Infants and toddlers – Tāhūrangi

Exploring giftedness from Pacific perspectives #

We recently released 4 new videos that help you explore giftedness in early learning through different Pacific perspectives. Tongan, Cook Islands Māori, Samoan and Tokelauan experts take the time to talanoa in their Pacific languages about what it means to be gifted. We want to acknowledge and thank the team from Tui Tuia out of Auckland University who have created these resources.

The videos come with written summaries that highlight key points and provide insights on how you can engage with Pacific children and their families in appropriate ways. These new resources are designed to help you create a supportive environment that nurtures the gifts, talents, and abilities of Pacific children in early childhood. Check out the resources, including an introduction from Associate Professor Jacoba Matapo. You can find them on Tāhūrangi.

Giftedness from Pacific perspectives – Tāhūrangi

If you’re looking for more resources to help you understand and respond to gifted tamariki, you can find them on Tāhūrangi.

Pito mata | realising potential – Tāhūrangi

Mānawatia te iho pūmanawa | acknowledging gifted tamariki – Tāhūrangi

Weaving Te Whāriki and Pacific pedagogies#

Self-directed modules to bring Pacific values into your practice#

Five new eLearn modules are available to help those of you working in Pacific bilingual and immersion services to weave Te Whāriki with Pacific pedagogies and values. Each module is based on one strand of Te Whāriki and focuses on ways you can reflect community values and Pacific worldviews in your implementation of the strands’ goals and learning outcomes.

All the modules are written by kaiako working in Pacific language services, from a Pacific worldview, and in te reo Māori Kūki ‘Āirani, Te Gagana Tokelau, Vagahau Niue, Gagana Samoa and Lea Faka-Tonga. They come with tip sheets to share what you’ve learnt with your team and community.

We would like to acknowledge the expertise and contribution of the following people in the development of our pacific eLearn modules, Dr Jeanne Pau’uvale Teisina, Juliana Carmerita Iosefo-Perez, Mary Kapaga Tasmania, Mary Jane Kauraka-Seiuli, Tinā Ruta McKenzie, Siale Faitotonu, Melehete Perez, Malo Polata, Poe Kairua, Peseta Tonu’u Tui and the team at Core Education for their work developing these resources.

You can explore the modules on our AKO learning platform here.

Education LMS - External Dashboard page (with login)

ENRICH programme update#

As announced in Budget 2025 and featured in the 'Make It Write' action plan, the Government is investing in early literacy through the ENRICH programme. This is a targeted initiative designed to strengthen oral language and early literacy foundations in early learning settings.

Beginning in Term 1, 2026, ENRICH will be delivered in 525 early learning services across Aotearoa New Zealand over 4 years. The programme focuses on supporting tamariki aged 18 months to 5 years, helping them build the language skills that underpin confident communication and future writing success.

We’ll share more information about the rollout of this initiative as it becomes available.

The New Zealand Curriculum refresh#

It might be helpful that you keep up to date with the changes being made to The New Zealand Curriculum, so that you can help your learners make their transition into schooling.

You can find the latest information about the updated curriculum on Tāhūrangi. You can also get them emailed to you directly with each issue of our curriculum newsletter for schools and kura.

The New Zealand Curriculum – Tāhūrangi

Sign up to receive our curriculum newsletter – Mailchimp