Kei Tua o te Pae

The exemplars in these books are about assessments carried out in everyday contexts. A major purpose of documentation is that it will inform everyday, undocumented, interactive teaching and spontaneous feedback, making children’s interactions richer and more reciprocal. The curriculum is at its best when activities and conversations are sited in meaningful contexts.

The following is an example of a typical everyday episode in a childcare centre, which happened to be recorded by a visiting resea…

1 Ann L. Brown, Doris Ash, Martha Rutherford, Kathryn Nakagawa, Ann Gordon, and Joseph C. Campione (1993). “Distributed Expertise in the Classroom”. In Distributed Cognitions: Psychological and Educational Considerations, ed. Gavriel Salomon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, chapter 7, pp. 188–228 (quote from p. 217).

In this chapter, Ann Brown and colleagues write about classrooms as being communities of learners. This research is in a school context, but early childhood centres can be u…

Views of continuity can go far back in time.

"The child was, and still is, the incarnation of the ancestors: te kanohi ora, “the living face”. The child was, and still is, the living link with yesterday and the bridge to tomorrow: te taura here tangata, “the binding rope that ties people together over time”. The child is the kāwai tangata, the “genealogical link” that strengthens whanaungatanga, “family relationships”, of that time and place."

Reedy, 2003, page 58

The higher up the…

The exemplars are followed by annotations that provide focused comment on each exemplar. These annotations follow a standard question-and-answer format.

What’s happening here?
The answer gives a brief description of what’s happening in each exemplar.

What aspects of [the area specified] does this assessment exemplify?
The answer refers back to the explanations in the exemplar book’s front pages. It explains why this assessment was chosen. (The exemplar may also illustrate other aspects of asse…

This resource is titled Kei Tua o te Pae, a line from an oriori (lullaby) by Hirini Melbourne. There are a number of images in this oriori that can be applied to development, learning, and assessment for learning.

The following are some aspects of participating in the domain of literacy (oral, visual, and written) that might be noticed, recognised, responded to, recorded, and revisited.10 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 particular, when episodes are documented and revisited, children will be able to recognise their own literacy competencies.

A repertoire of literacy practicesAn indic…

The exemplars in this book illustrate possible ways in which assessing, documenting, and revisiting children’s learning will contribute to educational outcomes in the curriculum strand Well-being/Mana Atua.

Assessments secure the responsible and thoughtful involvement of all children (for very young children, photographs of learning episodes can be revisited, and families will provide a proxy involvement for their children).
Assessments reveal the nature of the teacher’s belief about learning a…

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…

"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. [emphasis added]."

Early Childhood Learning and Assessment Exemplar Project Advisory Committee and Co-ordinators, 2002

Book 5 emphasises the importance of inviting all members of a child’s learning community to participate in assessment. For children supported by an early in…

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…

Introduction - He kupu whakatakiThe strands of Te Whāriki
"This curriculum is founded on the following aspirations for children: to grow up as competent and confident learners and communicators, healthy in mind, body, and spirit, secure in their sense of belonging and in the knowledge that they make a valued contribution to society." 1

This book introduces the section of Kei Tua o te Pae/Assessment for Learning: Early Childhood Exemplars that focuses on the five strands of Te Whāriki.…

Assessment for learning implies that we have some aims or goals for children’s learning. Te Whāriki provides the framework for defining learning and what is to be learned. The goals and indicative learning outcomes are set out in strands.

Who are we documenting for? Who should we be documenting for?
How do our assessment practices make valued learning visible to teachers, to children, and to families and whānau?
In what ways do assessment examples from our early childhood setting reflect socially and culturally valued roles in the community?
Have the families contributed to the development of our learning community? In what ways? How do we make this possible for families where English is not their first language?
Do our assessmen…

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…

Documentation and assessment practices will themselves contribute to opportunities for children to be creative and imaginative. Carlina Rinaldi from Reggio Emilia has explored the topic of documentation and assessment. She writes about the role of documentation:

"In Reggio Emilia, where we have explored this methodology for many years, we place the emphasis on documentation as an integral part of the procedures aimed at fostering learning and for modifying the learning–teaching relationshi…

Children's names: Matiu and Heremaia

Date: 23 July

  
A Learning Story

Belonging

Mana whenua
Taking an Interest

Nanny came into Kindergarten today with Matiu and Heremaia. They were both proudly holding the pūrerehua they made with Nanny at home.

“Hoatu ki a whaea,” says Nan. Matiu gives me his pūrerehua.

“You know what it's made of?” he asks, smiling at me.

“I'm not too sure, Matiu, can you tell me?”

“I made it from fish heads, me and Nanny, see?”

“Were the fish heads n…

Pathways to bicultural assessment practice will have the following features:

Acknowledgment of uncertainty: Teachers will be willing to take risks and to acknowledge that the pathways are not clearly marked out. Advice from the community and reciprocal relationships with families will provide signposts and support.
Diversity: There is not one pathway; there are multiple pathways. However, all early childhood settings will be taking steps towards bicultural assessment practice.
Multiple perspect…

Families and whānau know their children well. They must be included in the mutual feedback loops that contribute to informal and formal assessment in early childhood settings. In the case of infants and toddlers, parents and whānau are often able to fill gaps in the teachers’ understanding or to explain the learning with reference to events and circumstances beyond the early childhood setting. They are able to widen the horizon, to extend the view of the other adults in the child’s life. This bo…

Group learning storyOn the foreshore to the east of Howick grows a large pōhutukawa tree known by the Ngāi Tai people as “Te Tuhi a Manawatere” – the mark of Manawatere.

It is said that this ancestor came from Hawaiki. Tradition states that he did not come by canoe, but that he glided on the ripples of the waves on the back of a taniwha. He came by way of Thames and Maraetai and then to what is now known as Cockle Bay. There he landed by the large pōhutukawa tree and made his tuhi (mark) thereu…

At the centre, we have a plum tree. It was laden, and the fruit was sweet. Our kuia came to visit. They do not like to waste food, so we decided to use it all and make jam.

BackgroundThis activity of making jam is not a particularly Māori thing to do, but embedded within the activity are the Māori tikanga – those cultural aspects that are distinctly and uniquely Māori. (We’re sure other cultures do similar activities underpinned by similar cultural values but represented in different ways.)

Ma…