Professional practice

C1 Curriculum consistent

Criteria

The service curriculum is consistent with any prescribed curriculum framework that applies to the service.

Rationale/intent

Criterion ensures that there is a link between the prescribed curriculum framework and what happens at the service.

Guidance

The curriculum framework is the Principles | Kaupapa whakahaere and Strands | Taumata whakahirahira of Te Whāriki. More information about the curriculum framework can be found on the Tāhūrangi website.

Te Whāriki – Tāhūrangi

Te Whāriki continues to provide the basis for consistent high-quality curriculum delivery in the diverse range of early childhood services in Aotearoa New Zealand. As such, it is the best guidance to meet this criterion. In this document, curriculum is described as "the sum total of the experiences, activities and events, whether direct or indirect, which occur within an environment designed to foster children’s learning and development." (page 10).

The ways in which each early childhood education service works with the curriculum framework will vary. Each service will continue to develop its own curriculum and programmes that reflect the things that are important to the children, their families, the staff, the community and the philosophy of the specific setting. It is important for services to be able to identify how everything we do in an early childhood setting works towards meeting the curriculum framework for the children and families that attend.

Other guidance, like Kei Tua o te Pae, builds from Te Whāriki to provide more detail about ways to do this.

Kei Tua o te Pae

Things to consider

• How do we know that our service empowers children?
• How do we reflect the wider world of family and community within our service curriculum?
• How do we know that our service curriculum reflects the holistic way children learn and grow? What does holistic learning look like?
• How do we know that our service curriculum is embedded in reciprocal and responsive relationships?
• How do you learn from your service curriculum and what you notice from children’s learning to deepen your understanding of the principles and strands?
• How is our understanding of what the strands mean in our service guided by the principles?
• Where does self-review fit into the curriculum framework?
• Are our understandings of the principles and strands leading us to ask questions like “why do we do things this way?”
• How does curriculum leadership happen in our team?
• How do we bring our understanding of Te Whāriki to bear when reviewing our service philosophy?

C2 Assessment

Criteria

The service curriculum is informed by assessment, planning and evaluation (documented and undocumented) that demonstrates an understanding of children’s learning, their interests, whānau and life contexts.

Rationale/intent

This criterion requires assessment, planning and evaluation to inform the implemented curriculum and ensure a connection between the different contexts of children’s learning.

Guidance

A service curriculum that is informed by assessment, planning and evaluation will notice, recognise and respond to the contributions made to the programme by the children, their families, staff and community. Experiences planned to support and enhance children’s learning will be purposeful and meaningful to them.

A service will develop a process to assist them to meet this criterion, taking into consideration the beliefs, values, knowledge and aspirations of children, their families, staff and community.

Documentation and evidence gathered during this process may take a variety of forms to suit the service’s operation, and can include:

• minutes of meetings
• observations and learning stories
• examples of children’s work
• posters and wall displays
• recorded discussions
• policies and procedures.

Children, their families, staff and community, should all contribute to this process. How information is gathered is not important – how it is used to inform the service curriculum and educator practice is important.

More information about Planning, Evaluation and Assessment can be found on pages 63 to 65 of Te Whāriki.

Te Whāriki – Tāhūrangi

Practice

Examples of what this might look like in practice:

• Parents' views are sought and recorded
• Stories about children’s learning in environments other than the early childhood service are included in the planning, assessment and evaluation process
• Children are supported by educators to be actively involved in assessing their own learning, such as, telling their own learning stories
• Photographs and other observations are analysed to identify the learning that has occurred and how to build on it
• A wide range of methods is used to gather information about children’s learning
• Curriculum goals and assessment practices are consistent with service philosophy
• Educators develop, in collaboration with parents/whānau, learning goals that acknowledge children’s heritages and support their understanding of their cultural identity
• Educators share their knowledge with parents/whānau
• Management provides educators with time and space to record and analyse each child’s significant learning.

Things to consider

• How do we identify what works well and what the barriers are to meaningful assessment, planning and evaluation?
• When changes are made to the assessment, planning and evaluation process how do we ensure they are effective?
• How is our assessment practice embedded in reciprocal and responsive relationships?
• How do we encourage contributions from children, their families, community and all staff?
• How useful is the information we gather about children? How are our current assessment practices supporting and enhancing children’s learning?
• Whose knowledge is of value?
• How are learning goals set for children, and who does this?
• What external factors influence our team’s views on assessment, for example school? In what ways do these external factors have an impact?
• How do we access knowledge that will assist us to support/enhance the learning for all children?
• How do we ensure that we have an understanding of other world views and ways that these may influence learning outcomes for the child

C3 Interactions

Criteria

Adults providing education and care engage in meaningful, positive interactions to enhance children’s learning and nurture reciprocal relationships.

Rationale/intent

Criterion is a means of ensuring that the service curriculum is consistent with the prescribed curriculum framework, and recognises the key importance of adult-child interactions.

Guidance

Relationships are a source of learning, empowerment and identity for all of us. As educators, if we believe everything we do has an impact on learning and teaching, we have a responsibility to engage in responsive and respectful relationships with children, whānau | families, and each other.

Interaction provides a rich social world for children to make sense of and understand. Educators provide encouragement, warmth, acceptance and challenges to help children extend their ideas and understanding of the world.

How services support and organise staff, to ensure that children experience stable and predictable relationships with educators, is important to enhance learning and care experiences for children.

Practice

Examples of what this might look like in practice:

• Cooperative ventures and achievements are valued and encouraged
• Educators listen carefully to children, asking open and searching questions to encourage complex learning and thinking
• Educators use daily care routines as opportunities to have meaningful interactions with children
• The service curriculum develops children’s skills in forming and maintaining positive relationships with others
• Infants experience one-to-one interactions which are intimate and sociable
• Adults are warm and friendly in their interactions with other adults
• The service curriculum provides opportunities for children to play together for sustained periods in groups of their own choosing
• Strong relationships are formed between children and educators due to low turnover of staff
• Children’s actions demonstrate that they trust educators to respond in a positive way
• Educators respond quickly and directly to children, adapting their responses to individual children. They provide support, focused attention, physical proximity and verbal encouragement as appropriate, are alert to signs of stress in children’s behaviour and guide children in expressing their emotions.

Things to consider

• How would we explain to others how children’s learning is supported through meaningful and positive interactions?
• How are reciprocal relationships reflected in our setting?
• What do we understand about the notion of whanaungatanga? How is it reflected in our service?
• What strategies do we use in our teaching practice to be ‘in-tune’ with children?
• How do we ensure that every child has the opportunity to develop a strong, reciprocal relationship with at least 1 educator?
• How does the language that we use empower children?
• How does our team define an engaged learner?

C4 Adults' knowledge

Criteria

The practices of adults providing education and care demonstrate an understanding of children’s learning and development, and knowledge of relevant theories and practice in early childhood education.

Rationale/intent

The criterion is based on the assumption that quality education is more likely to be assured when teachers working at the service have appropriate knowledge and understanding.

Guidance

Our understanding of children’s learning and development underpins what we do, and why we do it. A range of theories in learning and development support and influence early childhood education. It is important that we understand what influences our teaching practice and can articulate and put into action the knowledge that we have.

The early childhood education knowledge base is constantly being revised and developed. Professional learning helps us to keep up to date with these changes. Participating in professional development opportunities (formal and informal) and professional reading helps us to continuously build on our understanding. Educators should take opportunities to discuss and debate ideas and theories and identify meaningful ways to put their new knowledge into practice.

Self-review practices also play an integral role in assisting us to explore our understanding of children’s learning and development, and identify what we do not know and what we need to learn more about.

Practice

Examples of what this might look like in practice:

• Educators can clearly articulate how their practices impact on children’s learning.
• Educators critically reflect on practice in the light of new information they have learnt.
• Educators share their understandings at staff meetings.
• Practices reflect the service’s philosophy in relation to aspirations for the child.
• Planning, evaluation and assessment documentation clearly identify the learning that has occurred for the child.

Things to consider

• How do we make decisions about our focus for professional development?
• How do our relationships and interactions reflect relevant theories and good practice in early childhood education?
• What do we say by our actions? What goes unnoticed, or unsaid? Do our actions match our words?
• How does the language we use demonstrate our understanding of relevant theories and good practice?
• How do different theories that guide our practice connect with each other? How are they different?
• How do we articulate to others why we do things, and what we are doing?
• How do our understandings of Te Whāriki inform our approach to new knowledge?
• How does our professional learning change our perspectives of Te Whāriki?

Te Whāriki – Tāhūrangi