Kei Tua o te Pae

There are a number of exemplars from other books in the Kei Tua o te Pae series that could also be useful in considering assessment within the Belonging/Mana Whenua strand. These exemplars are as follows:

Book 2: Becoming a friend, becoming a learner; Zahra and the donkey; Letters from the teacher, letters from the parent; Assessments in two languages

Book 3: Making jam; Te Aranga responds to a photograph; Jace and the taiaha; A bilingual “parent’s voice”

Book 4: Emptying the supervisor’s bag…

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.

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…

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…

How do documented assessments contribute to the health, well-being, and safety of children in this early childhood setting?
Is there a clear understanding of the definition of well-being from a Māori perspective?
Are assessments clear about some of the strategies children can use to keep themselves safe and to see that others are safe as well?
Do documented assessments provide staff and children with guidelines about how children have been able to stay involved in a task?
Do families and whānau…

The most comprehensive review of research on formative assessment in recent years was carried out by Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam at King’s College, London.21

Black and Wiliam define formative assessment as follows:

"In this paper, the term “assessment” refers to all those activities undertaken by teachers, and by their students in assessing themselves, which provide information to be used as feedback to modify the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged. Such assessment…

This is the first of five books on assessment in the domain of symbol systems and technologies for making meaning.

In the Reggio Emilia programmes in northern Italy, symbol systems are described as "one hundred languages" for making meaning and communicating.1 Carlina Rinaldi writes about listening "to the hundred, the thousand languages, symbols and codes we use to express ourselves and communicate, and with which life expresses itself and communicates to those who know how to l…

Introduction - He kupu whakataki
"Teaching children as young as kindergarten age to question relentlessly and learn from their failures is the key to producing world-class scientists … We must stimulate the asking of questions by young people so they grow up in an environment that encourages scientific questioning … The education system must also help young people develop resilience in the face of repeated failure … It is so important to keep trying and trying." 1

This book collects t…

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…

"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…

Assessment for learning will protect and enhance children’s motivation to learn. In 2002, Terry Crooks, one of New Zealand’s leading commentators on assessment, set out some requirements for effective learning.

"First, people gain motivation and are most likely to be learning effectively when they experience success or progress on something that they regard as worthwhile and significantly challenging. At its best, learning under these conditions occurs in the state Csikszentmihalyi calls “…

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…

11 August - Mūmū Te Āwha na Whaea Re-nee 

Mūmū Te Āwha was watching Mira drawing on the whiteboard. She picked up a pen and began to draw alongside Mira, glancing over her shoulder to see what Mira was drawing then continuing with her own picture. After a short period Mūmū Te Āwha decided to use two pens, one in each hand, then changed to both in one hand. She drew circles with great concentration holding the two pens. She was very impressed with the outcome and asked Mira to look at her work.…

Te Whāriki  elaborates on the Well-being/Mana Atua strand:

"The health and well-being of the child are protected and nurtured. Children experience an environment where: their health is promoted; their emotional well-being is nurtured; they are kept safe from harm.4

Ko tēnei te whakatipuranga o te tamaiti i roto i tōna oranga nui, i runga hoki i tōna mana motuhake, mana atuatanga … Kia rongo ia i te rangimārie, te aroha, me te harikoa, ā, kia mōhio ki te manaaki, ki te atawhai, me whakahir…

The exemplars in this book illustrate some ways in which assessing, documenting, and revisiting children’s learning will contribute to educational outcomes in the curriculum strand Belonging/Mana Whenua.

Assessment contexts and tasks are “varied in interest, offer reasonable challenge, help [learners] develop short-term, self-referenced goals, focus on meaningful aspects of learning and support the development and use of effective learning strategies.” Tasks/activities/projects as sites for ass…

10 February

Zalaluddin is a Malaysian boy, Sajed is from Afghanistan and Art is from Kosovo. They are good friends and take care of each other.

Sajed and Zalaluddin were driving the truck. They left Art behind and Art was looking unhappy. I asked him, “What is the matter?”

He said, “I like to play with them and drive the truck. They do not want to have company.”

I asked him if he would like to have another truck and play with it but he wasnʼt happy about it and said, “No no no! I like to pla…

"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…

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…

"Families should be part of the assessment and evaluation of the curriculum as well as of children’s learning and development."

Te Whāriki, page 30

Sociocultural approaches to assessment:

reflect the interconnecting social and cultural worlds of children
recognise that a bicultural approach is necessary when assessing children’s learning within bicultural and bilingual programmes
acknowledge multiple cultural lenses on assessment and learning.

Urie Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecologica…