Te Whāriki

Information and resources about Te Whāriki, the curriculum for early learning.

Level of compliance Main audience Other

Required

  • All early learning services
  • Service managers
  • Educators, teachers and kaiako
  • Parents, caregivers and whānau

You will need to reflect the principles of Te Whāriki in your early learning service.

Te Whāriki 

Te Whāriki is supported by resources through Tāhūrangi website. This website has been designed to provide implementation guidance, practice examples and resources, and is expanded and developed over time. 

Te Whāriki – Tāhūrangi(external link)

Te Whāriki envisages kaiako in early learning settings working in partnership with parents, caregivers, whānau and communities to realise this vision. The expectation is that children will experience a curriculum in their early years that empowers them as lifelong learners.

Te Whāriki supports this work by providing a framework of principles and strands.

The principles are the foundations of curriculum decision making and a guide for every aspect of pedagogy and practice.

The strands are 5 areas of learning and development, where the focus is on supporting children to develop the capabilities they need as confident and competent learners.

Each setting takes these principles and strands and, in partnership with parents, caregivers and whānau, uses them to ‘weave’ a curriculum whāriki that is specifically designed for their children.

Te Whāriki (2017)

The updated Te Whāriki better reflects today’s early learning contexts and the learning interests and aspirations of children and their whānau. It includes 2 documents in 1: Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa Early childhood curriculum and Te Whāriki a te Kōhanga Reo. The 2 documents share a common framework while describing alternative curriculum pathways of equal status.

To order additional copies of Te Whāriki, parent pamphlets, and posters, visit The Chair website or email orders@thechair.minedu.govt.nz if you are not an education provider.

The Chair website(external link)

Professional learning and development

Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa Early childhood curriculum Te Whāriki a te Kōhanga Reo
CORE Education work on behalf of the Ministry of Education to support the implementation of the updated Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa Early childhood curriculum. Te Kōhanga Reo National Trust work directly with Kōhanga Reo to support the implementation of the updated Te Whāriki a te Kōhanga Reo
View [DOCX, 18 KB] a description of the range of opportunities that CORE provided teachers, educators, and kaiako in 2017-2018. Wānanga and mokopuna learning activities for Kōhanga Reo that were available through Te Kōhanga Reo National Trust networks in 2017-2018.

Note: Early learning services are no longer able to enrol in the PLD that was provided by CORE Education in 2017 and 2018. 

We continue to steward Te Whāriki through the Strengthening Early Learning Opportunities (SELO) contracts. 

Professional development in early learning

Introductory workshop video

Te Whāriki professional development workshops were offered in 2017 and 2018. The workshop materials and workshop videos are available on Tāhūrangi.

Te Whāriki – Tāhūrangi(external link)

Te Whāriki webinar series

Kaiako were invited to participate in the Te Whāriki webinar series. CORE Education facilitated a series of 10 webinars from August 2017–June 2018. Each one-hour webinar explored a different aspect of Te Whāriki. This was intended to support services to weave their own curriculum as they engaged in critical inquiry around Te Whāriki. 

Early learning curriculum – Tāhūrangi(external link)

Updated Te Whāriki

The update was carried out by a group of early learning academics and practitioners from a range of different contexts. The original writers of Te Whāriki and Te Kōhanga Reo National Trust assisted with the update. Its clearer focus on what matters most will support early learning services to determine local priorities and design quality learning programmes with their parents, caregivers and whānau for the youngest learners. Consultation on the updated Te Whāriki was undertaken in November-December 2016 and the feedback was analysed and incorporated into the final changes to Te Whāriki.

View the 2 summaries of the consultation feedback here:

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