Kei Tua o te Pae

A central feature of effective pedagogy and learning is involving the learner in the meaning making and goal setting that are part of the assessment process.

In a review of the research literature on assessment, Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam (1998) conclude that any strategy to improve learning through formative assessment should include a commitment to involving students in the processes of self-assessment and peer assessment.
Guy Claxton (1995) suggests that assessment should:

reflect those oc…

Alison James and Alan Prout (1997), writing about constructing and reconstructing childhood, comment that:

"it is now much more common to find acknowledgement that childhood should be regarded as a part of society and culture rather than a precursor to it; and that children should be seen as already social actors, not beings in the process of becoming such."

page ix

If we want to recognise and respond to the learning that is taking place, we will seek multiple perspectives, one of w…

Child's name: Louie

Date: 21 September

Teacher: Nic

Learning story

Louie lay on his tummy on the floor. The door to the outside had just been opened. As soon as he spotted this, he was off! The floor was scattered with many toys as children had just been playing inside, but this did not bother Louie as he had made his way to the outside world, using his arms to pull himself along as he slid on his tummy. He pushed each toy away as he came to it and finally made it to the door. The door…

Learning communities are also constructed by writing down or recording some of the work of the community. A learning community is a place of collective participation. One of the ways the participants are connected together as a “community” engaged in learning is through the community’s practice being made public or documented. If the practice is made public (to even a limited audience) or documented, then it is available and visible, not only for the teachers but also for the children, families,…

Group learning storyOctoberAfter reading the story about Hinemoa and Tūtānekai, we talked about the carvings in the whare of Tūtānekai and what each part of the wharenui was called in te reo Māori. We talked about how they could have been made.

Grayson said, “Special carvers made them with hammers and knives.” The other children agreed.

Azia asked if she could make a whare. I said, “Sure. What do you think you could use to make it?”

Grayson said, “You could use the ice block sticks like I did…

In documented assessments, teachers consider children’s culture, skills, inclinations, and intentions in relation to participation in learning and educational settings. Participation may be described differently in different settings. In any early childhood setting, children will have opportunities to explore and participate in a variety of ways.

Strategies and dispositions develop best in the context of whanaungatanga or reciprocal and responsive relationships with people, places, and things i…

Te Whāriki also summarises learning outcomes “as dispositions – ‘habits of mind’ or ‘patterns of learning’” (page 44).

"Dispositions to learn develop when children are immersed in an environment that is characterised by well-being and trust, belonging and purposeful activity, contributing and collaborating, communicating and representing, and exploring and guided participation."

Te Whāriki, page 45

Relationships are a key factor in helping children to develop dispositions to learn.…

Green play dough dinosaursNeeve came to me early in the day and said that she would like to make another dinosaur from play dough. Out came the play dough and a firm base to put it on, and she was onto it.

Today she wanted to make a stegosaurus. She found the favourite dinosaur book, and she was right onto it. When the head kept drooping, she asked for sticks and began to strengthen it so that it was free-standing. I have not seen Neeve use tools to stabilise her work before, and I was impresse…

FebruaryTeacher: Robyn

I was staying close to Greer and encouraging her in her play. At the same time, I was overseeing the play of six or seven other children in the room. Greer was involved with the dolls, but her concentration was interrupted by her need to look around and check for my reassurance in the presence of a lot of children.

JulyTeacher: Kerri

I noticed Greer at the puzzle table, very involved in her puzzle. She had been playing with Zhanaira, but now she was choosing to be alone…

Learning story9 June Teacher: Sue

Several children were busy in the sandpit, making puddings. Ruby was very sure of exactly the ingredients she needed for her pie – “Bananas, apples, chocolate, ice cream” – but she indicated that she didn’t have them all. “Perhaps we could go shopping?” I suggested.

So we set off. First we went to the “fruit shop”. “Need two apples,” said Ruby. We found the “apples” and handed over the money. Ruby had a bucket with a little bit of sand, and each time she bough…

Date: 23 July

Teacher: Julie

A learning storyJohn watches two children and an adult play with hooks, chains, and lines.

When they move to work nearby, he begins joining the objects together.

He places them in a line. Some droop over the end of the table, so he brings a chair to attach the length to.

A hook comes free on the table; he looks, then reattaches it the other way around.

He has difficulty attaching the length to the chair and pushes it into a hole. He continues linking and hooks…

In its introduction on page 2, Book 3 states:

"Te Whāriki is a bicultural curriculum that incorporates Māori concepts. The principles of whakamana (empowerment), kotahitanga (holistic development), whānau tangata (family and community), ngā hononga (relationships), and the different areas of mana that shape the five strands provide a bicultural framework to underpin bicultural assessment."

That book sets out a number of principles for authentic bicultural assessment, and books 11–15…

Black and Wiliam emphasise the need in effective formative assessment to secure the responsible and thoughtful involvement of all learners. They highlight the importance of the nature of each teacher’s beliefs about learning. If the teacher assumes that knowledge is to be transmitted and understanding will develop later, “formative assessment is hardly necessary”:

If, however, teachers accept the wealth of evidence that this transmission model does not work, even by its own criteria, then the c…

Children bring interests to their early childhood settings, and they also develop an interest in a range of the tasks, activities, cultural artefacts, languages, and ways of doing and knowing that are features of their early childhood setting. This domain is important because it supports a developing disposition towards lifelong learning and a commitment to an educational setting beyond the home.

 

An OECD report by Jon Willms suggests that engagement with education, defined as participating a…

 

Tyler has shown huge interest in using the fax machine as a way to communicate with Mum and Dad while he is at the centre.

This picture seems to be upside down. OOPS. (I guess Dad still appreciated it.) 

The office has never been a child-free zone. Now, it is our COMMUNICATION CENTRE.

Tyler’s interest in the fax machine has introduced another aspect of communication technology and how it can be used in a learning environment.

Tyler’s faxes have:

increased his sense of security;
made link…

Well-being/Mana Atua develops in a safe and trustworthy environment where all children are valued and enabled to be involved. Enjoyment too is a feature of such an environment.7 Well-being requires integration of the emotional with the cognitive, the social, and the physical. Health includes the attunement of the body to the mind and the spirit. Mason Durie explains this in his model of te whare tapa whā as four domains – taha wairua, which relates to identity; taha hinengaro, which is about kno…

Lewis went to sleep early but only for a little while before he let us know that sleep wasn’t what he wanted just then. So up to play and we set up a blanket outside for him to enjoy the sights and sounds of the children around him. Some older ones came over straight away as Lewis is a favourite baby. They offered him toys and for a while he was interested but not offering his usual delighted interactions.

So we tried a sleep again but “No way” said Lewis. What about a bottle then and we settle…