Kei Tua o te Pae

Assessment contributes to infants, toddlers, and their families and whānau becoming members of the early childhood learning community. A common message in literature about curriculum is that it is important for infants and toddlers to construct an identity of self in their social and cultural worlds through respectful interactions with the people, places, and things in these worlds. For example, Carmen Dalli (2000) discusses what young children learn about relating to adults in the first weeks o…

Reciprocal and responsive relationships contribute to infants and toddlers developing a sense of security and competence. Assessment, both undocumented and documented, takes place within reciprocal and responsive relationships. In the context of such relationships, teachers can contribute to constructing meaning with and between infants or toddlers. They can do this by listening and watching attentively and being alert to modes of communication such as vocalisation, facial expressions, gestures,…

19 June

Here are Alice and I taking a browse through her portfolio. “I know the words,” Alice keeps saying to me. We look at each page. “In the family corner I like to play with my friends, Finn and Taylor,” says Alice running her finger along the line of words.

The next page is an old story of when Alice was beginning to write her name. “I do it now and I already have my birthday and I know how to do it.”

The next page is when Alice had been playing “Doggy, doggy, who’s got the bone?” On see…

Paul found a rakiraki (duckling) on the road as he was walking to school. Whaea Margaret asked Paul if she could bring the rakiraki to the centre to show the tamariki. He agreed, and Whaea Margaret brought the rakiraki to the centre.

She introduced the rakiraki to the tamariki at morning mat time and told them that he had lost his mother. The tamariki were fascinated with the rakiraki and gathered around the new addition to the fold. The staff suggested we give him an ingoa (name), and the tama…

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…

IntroductionThe exemplars in this book should be considered in conjunction with the discussion in Book 16. A definition of mathematics and statistics in The New Zealand Curriculum includes the statement:

"Mathematics is the exploration and use of patterns and relationships in quantities, space, and time. Statistics is the exploration and use of patterns and relationships in data. These two disciplines are related but different ways of thinking and of solving problems. Both equip students w…

Teachers and other adults who work with children are invited to explore the following three aspects of competence:

personal goals, interests, and working theories;
learning strategies and dispositions;
social roles and culturally valued literacies.

Each of these three aspects involves knowledge, skills, and attitudes. The aspects overlap, and the purposes of them will often be in opposition to each other. For example, personal goals and the smooth running of a centre may be at odds with each o…

In Hinepau’s centre, the documented assessments are both collective and individual (and often dictated by the children). Te Whāriki includes the following statement:

"This curriculum emphasises the critical role of socially and culturally mediated learning and of reciprocal and responsive relationships for children with people, places, and things. Children learn through collaboration with adults and peers, through guided participation and observation of others, as well as through individua…

Effective assessment practices enhance children’s sense of themselves as capable and competent learners.

What to look for
Assessments that refer to children setting their own goals. 
Children developing their own criteria for assessing achievement. 
Teachers’ criteria for assessment that are transparent and accessible (and that may be negotiated by older children). 
Children being consulted about what they will do next. 
Children being consulted about what will be recorded or collected.
Reflect…

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…

One way of responding to the inevitable uncertainty is to get to know the children well, to listen and observe carefully, and to respond appropriately. This enables us to stand higher up the mountain so that we can see more of the horizon in order to provide continuity in their learning. Book 4 includes exemplars in which children comment on their own learning, set their own targets, and do their own assessing.

Philippe Perrenoud (1991), writing on assessment in schools, warns that it:

"…

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…

"Assessing or observing children should take place in the same contexts of meaningful activities and relationships that have provided the focus for the holistic curriculum … Assessment of children should encompass all dimensions of children’s learning and development and should see the child as a whole."

Te Whāriki, page 30

Sociocultural approaches to assessment:

construct “communities of learners”
support the ongoing development of learning communities with a philosophy of whanaung…

Vic Kelly (1992) comments:

"Accuracy of assessment is related inversely to the complexity and the sophistication of what is being assessed. And, since education is a highly complex and sophisticated process, educational assessment can be regarded as measurement only in the remotest of metaphorical senses.

page 4

Worthwhile educational outcomes are often complex, especially if they are about relationships and participation. Te Whāriki states that “the outcomes of a curriculum are knowledg…

Child: Emily

Teacher: Jane

A learning story
Emily came up to every one of us this morning proudly holding something she had written. I said, “What is it, Emily?” She answered, “It is a song.” I could clearly see the musical notes she had written. A little later Rosie made a suggestion that maybe Emily would like to sing her song at mat-time. I wondered if she would be brave enough to stand in front of everyone and sing a song, especially one that she had just written, without practising it. We…

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…

Child: Tia

Date: 16 August

Teacher: Grandmother

 
 
Examples or cues
A Learning Story

Belonging

Mana whenua
Taking an Interest
Finding an interest here – a topic, an activity, a role. Recognising the familiar, enjoying the unfamiliar. Coping with change.

Tia and I were travelling out to Whitecliffs and the wind was blowing very strongly.

Tia asked, “What's that?” I told her that it was Tāwhirimatea and he was blowing very hard today.

She asked, “Where?”, meaning “Where is it? I can&…

Child: Daniel (14 months)

Teacher: Shaz

Date: 1 August

A learning storyDaniel was sitting on my knee while I read the story about a pudgy pig that visits lots of different animals on his way to find his favourite pigsty with all his little pig friends.

Daniel pointed to the animals, squealing with excitement and bouncing up and down on my knee. He loved lifting the flaps to discover a different animal each time, saying “eyes” emphasising the “s” on the end. He often turned to me with a big g…

Child's name: James, 9 months, 3 weeks

Date: 8 Oct

Observer: Julie

A learning story   

James crawls to the puzzle area where Leigh (3.5 years) is completing a puzzle. He looks at what Leigh is doing, then chooses a puzzle and starts to work with it. He takes a piece out and attempts to put it back in. He tries quite a few times to position the piece correctly by lifting it out, repositioning it, and putting it back in. Eventually, the piece goes in the right way.

Leigh (the older child…

Child's name: Jorjia 2.2yrs

Date: September

Teacher: Caroline

 
Examples or cues
A Learning Story

Belonging

Mana whenua
Taking an Interest

I was sitting down by the reels, writing in the infants’ daily books. Jorjia came over. Jorjia: “See my turtle.”

Caroline: “You’ve got a turtle,” as she carefully laid “the turtle” in my hands.

Jorjia: “Look, my turtle.”

Caroline: “What shall we do with your turtle?” Jorjia: “Put it here,” pointing to the plank.

I placed it down carefully.

Jor…