Kei Tua o te Pae

Kei Tua o te Pae/Assessment for Learning: Early Childhood Exemplars is a best-practice guide that will help teachers continue to improve the quality of their teaching.

The exemplars are a series of books that will help teachers to understand and strengthen children's learning. It also shows how children, parents and whānau can contribute to this assessment and ongoing learning.

We are making improvements to our download-to-print functionality. So if you want a printed copy there are PDF versions available at the bottom of the main cover page.

The quality of assessment in early childhood education – ERO(external link)

Belonging situated within rules, rights, and responsibilities

  • The meeting

    • 12 May

      This morning Isaac came to me and said, “We need to have a meeting for boys only. We want to plan something only for boys.”

      “Sounds like a good idea,” I said. “When would you like to have the meeting?”

      “Today,” responded Isaac. “What time?” I asked. “Nine o’clock,” said Karl.

      “Well, we have already had nine o’clock, today,” I said. “How about twelve-thirty this morning? After we’ve tidied up?”

      “Yes. That will be okay,” said Isaac.

      “You’ll need a notice so that all the boys know about the meeting,” I said.

      Isaac found a piece of A3 paper and a felt-tip pen.

      “Do you want me to write it or do you want to write it yourself?” I asked.

      “You write it on a piece of paper, and I’ll copy it,” he said.

      Isaac wrote on the paper and then stuck it to the front door.

      I discovered later that Ben had copied it as well.

      A bit later, Douglas told Sue, “I’m going to join the girls’ club because the boys’ group is going to do things that my mum will not be pleased about.”

      Sue asked, “What are they going to do?”

      Douglas said, “Hit each other, so I will join the girls’ club.”

      Child's written note

      What’s happening here?

      Two boys approach a teacher about holding a meeting for boys only in the centre. We don’t know what the boys plan at the meeting, but we do know that Douglas is rather pessimistically imagining the agenda (or perhaps he has inside information) and has decided not to join the boys’ club. This is the beginning of a story about the connection of gender to “what we do here”.

      What does this assessment tell us about the learning (using a Belonging/ Mana Whenua lens)?

      The children here are developing the inclination and the ability to have a say in the curriculum. The teacher is implicitly supporting this notion when she responds that a meeting “sounds like a good idea”, so the children are also learning that this kind of initiative is appropriate here.

      The children are also exploring a working theory to do with gender-based communities. Isaac wants a “boys only” meeting as he wants to plan something only for boys.

      Planning meetings are events associated with a sense of place, and the boys’ holding one indicates a values system that includes children being permitted to have a say in the curriculum.

      In this case, the children are proposing community memberships (a boys’ club and a girls’ club) to which they will invite, or from which they will exclude, other children. We don’t know what the boys planned at the meeting.

      Interestingly, however, we know that Douglas is basing his decision on where to belong on the (probable) agenda rather than on whether he is a boy or a girl. He says, “I’m going to join the girls’ club because the boys’ group is going to do things that my mum will not be pleased about.” He appears to be developing the capacity to take a mindful or critical approach (a dimension of strength outlined in Book 10), resisting a very powerful gender-related invitation. This might well become a topic of ongoing dialogue at the centre, among both teachers and children.

      How might this documented assessment contribute to Belonging/Mana Whenua?

      This could well indicate the beginning of a series of discussions about gender-related activities in the early childhood community, a debate that children and adults could return to, to reflect on possible directions.

      What other strands of Te Whariki are exemplified here?

      Preparations for the meeting included writing for a purpose (preparing a notice to announce the meeting), which is a feature of the Communication/ Mana Reo strand. Fairness and inclusion, key aspects of the Belonging/Mana Whenua and Contribution/Mana Tangata strands, were also evident.

  • Fergus and William take their folders outside

    • 21 October

      Today I was sitting at the puzzle table and several children were looking through their folders. Fergus was watching the other children and then asked me to help him look for his folder.

      “Where’s my folder? I’ve got two folders now, cause Mum paid for another one,” he said.

      He found both folders and got out his new one first. “Where’s my other one?” he asked. “Cause this one’s only got one page and I want to look through my other one.”

      Fergus found his folder, and then he and William went and sat at the table together. I observed the boys from the puzzle table, and they were both busily looking back and forth through their folders.

      I then went to join them and listened to their conversation.

      “You’ve got one of those Māori ones, William. No, not there, but back there – turn the pages.”

      “Hey, yeah! Look, there you are, Fergus, on the stage.”

      “That’s when we went to the museum,” replied Fergus.

      Both boys glanced at the two photos, which were very similar.

      “But they’re not the same, that’s the one when we were in the spaceship,” said Fergus, pointing to the photo in William’s folder.

      Both boys then closed their folders and tucked them under their arms. Fergus asked, “Is it all right if we take them outside?”

      “Well, if it was my nice book, I wouldn’t take it outside,” replied Anne.

      “Well, Shelley does sometimes – takes books outside,” replied Fergus.

      “Well, it’s your book, so it’s your decision,” replied Anne.

      Both boys ran off with their books tucked under their arms.

      What’s happening here?

      Fergus and William are revisiting their portfolios (called folders in this centre).

      What does this assessment tell us about the learning (using a Belonging/ Mana Whenua lens)?

      Fergus and William may be developing the inclination to take a critical or mindful approach to rules (“mindful” is a dimension of strength outlined in Book 10). There is evidence here that they have the ability to do this and of their sensitivity to occasion. In this example, the children’s folders are artefacts of belonging: they “belong” to the children, and although the teacher may be concerned that they might get dirty or damaged, she acknowledges that the boys have the right to move their folders from place to place.

      How might this documented assessment contribute to Belonging/Mana Whenua?

      This story centres around the folders that contain the children’s documented assessments. It illustrates the view at this centre that these books belong to the children, and although as a general rule such folders don’t get taken outside (presumably because they might get dirty), what children do with the folders is ultimately their decision.

      What other strands of Te Whāriki are exemplified here?

      The ability of children to make their own choices is part of the Well-being/Mana Atua strand (Goal 2); children’s rights and those of others feature in the Contribution/Mana Tangata strand (Goal 1) as well.