Kei Tua o te Pae

1 Iram Siraj-Blatchford and John Siraj-Blatchford (2003).
More than Computers - Information and Communication Technology in the Early Years. London: The British Association for Early Childhood Education, p. 4.

2 Ministry of Education (2005). Supporting Learning in Early Childhood Education through Information and Communication Technologies: A Framework for Development. Wellington: Ministry of Education, p. 16. The passage quoted is from Ministry of Education (1996). Te Whāriki: He Whāriki Māta…

Which assessments from our setting make ICT learning visible to teachers, children, families, and whānau?
What opportunities do we have for involving ICT expertise from the wider community in the documentation of our children’s learning? Do we access this expertise?
In what way are our assessments grounded in a clear understanding of the purposes, practices, and social context of our early childhood setting and its community? In what way, therefore, can ICT assessments indicate that we are on th…

What is the vision for wise bicultural assessment practice in our setting? How far are we along the pathway towards it? What evidence do we have that we are moving towards it?
How do our assessment practices reflect the bicultural nature of Te Whāriki? What steps can we take to make this bicultural nature more visible in our assessment practices?
Are our assessment practices accessible to Māori whānau? Do they access them? Do they have a say? If not, why not? How can we encourage dialogue on and…

Bishop, Russell and Glynn, Ted (2000). “Kaupapa Māori messages for the mainstream”. Set Research Information for Teachers, no. 1, pp. 4–7.
Durie, Mason (2003). “Māori Educational Advancement at the Interface between te Ao Māori and te Ao Whānui”. Paper presented at the Hui Taumata Mātauranga Tuatoru, Tūwharetoa, 7–9 March 2003.
Ministry of Education (1998). Quality in Action/Te Mahi Whai Hua: Implementing the Revised Statement of Desirable Objectives and Practices in New Zealand Early Childhood…

Teachers can help children to contribute to their assessment in two ways: through encouraging self-assessment (which can be carried out in a variety of ways) and by including the child’s voice in assessments that include multiple perspectives.

The principles of Te Whāriki as they apply to assessment are set out on page 30 of the curriculum. They include the following statement:

"Assessment should be a two-way process. Children’s self-assessment can inform adults’ assessment of learning, development, and the environment by providing insights that adults may not have identified and by highlighting areas that could be included or focused on for assessment. Children may also help to decide what should be included in the process of a…

23 July: “Dom, will you be able to make this again?”

12 August: Remaking the construction

I captured this photo of Dom today. He was using a photograph of a construction in his portfolio to make another one just the same! Dom has done this a number of times and said to me that it made it easier having the picture there to remake his construction.

What’s happening here?
Dom makes a construction, copying from a photograph in his assessment portfolio of an earlier construction.

What aspects of…

A repertoire of practicesThe following are some aspects of participating in ICT that might be noticed, recognised, responded to, recorded, and revisited. Not all of these aspects are represented in the exemplars, but teachers may be able to locate them in their own settings and write their own exemplars.

In her book Pedagogy and Learning with ICT, Bridget Somekh comments:

"The sub-title of this book is “Researching the Art of Innovation” because my interest is in finding ways of assisting…

"[A child’s identity as a competent and confident learner is] mediated by: competence with artefacts that set up meaning-making devices and bridges between participants in a community; authentic connections to family; opportunities to take responsibility; and routines and conventions that engage children and structure their participation. It is about responsive and reciprocal relationships with people, places and things, empowerment, holistic approaches, and the involvement of family and co…

The principles of Te Whāriki apply to both assessment and curriculum, and the assessment of children’s participation in ICT keeps this in mind. Assessments provide useful information for teachers, families, and children, enabling and informing pedagogy that will strengthen all dimensions of participation in ICT. Assessments take place in the same contexts of meaningful activities and community practices that have provided the focus for curriculum. Families are included in the assessment and in t…

Introduction He kupu whakatakiThe exemplars in this book should be considered in conjunction with the discussion in Book 16. Information and communication technology (ICT) can be defined as “anything which allows us to get information, to communicate with each other or to have an effect on the environment using electronic or digital equipment”.1 The Government’s ICT framework for early childhood education states:

"Acknowledging the central position of the ECE curriculum Te Whàriki in ECE…

Why should children contribute to their own assessments?
What examples do we have of the children contributing to their own assessment records?
What examples do we have that show the children having a say in the description and discussion of their work or their learning? How else might we encourage this?
What examples do we have in our assessments that show the child, family, or whānau taking part in deciding what learning is important for the child’s well-being?
What evidence do we have of mult…

Ames, Carole (1992). “Classrooms: Goals, Structures, and Student Motivation”. Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 84 no. 3, pp. 261–271.
Bishop, R., Berryman, M., and Richardson, C. (2001). Te Toi Huarewa. Final report to the Ministry of Education. Wellington: Ministry of Education.
Bishop, R. Berryman, M. Tiakiwai, S. and Richardson, C. (2003). Te Kotahitanga: The Experiences of Year 9 and 10 Māori Students in Mainstream Classrooms. Wellington: Ministry of Education.
Black, Paul and Wiliam,…

Introduction - He kupu whakataki
"Exemplars are examples of assessments that make visible learning that is valued so that the learning community (children, families, whānau, teachers, and beyond) can foster ongoing and diverse learning pathways."

Early Childhood Learning and Assessment Exemplar Project Advisory
Committee and Co-ordinators, 2002 (emphasis added)

Exemplar books 5, 6, and 7 ask the question: “What difference does assessment make to children’s learning?” These exemplar b…

Étienne Wenger (1998) explains that:

"Students need:

places of engagement
materials and experiences with which to build an image of the world and themselves
ways of having an effect on the world and making their actions matter.

From this perspective the purpose of educational design is not to appropriate learning and institutionalize it into an engineered process, but to support the formation of learning communities ..."

page 271

Teaching and learning events can be designed around…

The exemplars in this book supplement those in Book 2 where the four principles of Te Whāriki are discussed and exemplified separately. Learning communities that are empowering take a holistic approach to learning. They are constructed through responsive and reciprocal relationships with people, places, and things as well as through involving whānau and community. All the principles are integrated in the development of a community that will foster ongoing and diverse pathways of learning.

Asses…

1. This is Matthew’s first attempt to draw his car, but he was not happy with the wheel.

2. This is Matthew’s second attempt, but again, his wheel was not what he wanted.

3. Matthew is starting his third attempt to draw his car

4. Matthew is now drawing the doors on the car, and it has windows and hubcaps, too.

5. The car is taking shape, and Matthew is very happy!

6. Look, this door opens here!

What’s happening here?
This series of photographs illustrates Matthew’s attempts to draw a car…

Introduction - He kupu whakataki
"Exemplars are examples of assessments that make visible learning that is valued so that the learning community (children, families, whānau, teachers, and beyond) can foster ongoing and diverse learning pathways."

Early Childhood Learning and Assessment Exemplar Project Advisory
Committee and Co-ordinators, 2002 (Emphasis added)

This is the second of three books of exemplars that ask the question “What difference does assessment make to children’s lea…

Which assessments from our setting make valued aspects of the arts visible to teachers, children, families, and whānau?
What opportunities for experiencing the arts in the wider community are evident in the children’s assessments?
How do teachers include the practices in the arts that children are experiencing outside the centre in their assessments?
Are there opportunities for children’s portfolios to become artistic artefacts? How does this happen?
Do our assessments that include the arts refl…

1 Ministry of Education (2007a). The New Zealand Curriculum for English medium Teaching and Learning in Years 1–13. Wellington: Learning Media, p. 20.

2 Vivian Gussin Paley (1988). Bad Guys Don’t Have Birthdays: Fantasy Play at Four. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, pp. vii–viii. Books by Vivian Paley include many transcripts and drama sequences, and we do not have examples of extended pretend play in these exemplars. She urges us to listen carefully and to respond – exploring the chil…