It is with great pleasure that we write an introduction to this special issue of the Early Childhood Folio on key learning competencies across place and time. Publication of these working papers (adapted and edited for the Early Childhood Folio) from a Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) project means they will now be widely available for teachers. These are articles by teachers for teachers.
Early Childhood Folio Vol. 15 No. 2 (2011)
publisher:
NZCER Press
ECF2011_15_2
2011
NZCER Press
NZD$18.40 includes GST
This is a special issue of Early Childhood Folio which draws together thinking on key competencies across time and place. All the articles have been adapted for the journal from work done as part of a Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) research project led by Margaret Carr and Sally Peters, in collaboration with three schools and two early childhood centres. It is a rich and diverse mix of articles that are both located in particular contexts and link into a coherent and extremely topical cross-sector research inquiry. This issue contains much to interest and inspire education thinkers and practitioners from anywhere in the education system.
| Product code | Product title | Price | Quantity |
|---|---|---|---|
| ECF2011_15_2 | Early Childhood Folio 2011, Volume 15, Issue 2 | $18.40 |
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Contents
4
Early childhood, Key competencies, Māori and education
This article explores the shift from “essential skills” to “key competencies” in the school curriculum. Drawing on information gathered from teacher interviews and observations at a New Zealand primary school, this article suggests that culture and context strongly shape and influence the interpretation of key competencies. The authors develop a metaphor—te tuangi—to theorise the relationship between a learner (akonga) and a teacher (kaiako) in a cultural and social context.
10
Curriculum and assessment, Early childhood, Student engagement
The authors of this article had been exploring the notion of continuity for an individual learner, and this led them to also explore the notion of continuity within the bigger picture. They provide an example of what they call a centre storyline: an ongoing project that developed over an extended period of time and across a number of experiences. They called this storyline “Stone Crazy”. The article analyses this storyline in terms of the relationship between an intentional teacher and an intentional learner. An intentional teacher is one who is in tune with learners’ intentions and co-constructs curriculum with them. The authors discuss the intentional strategies used by one of the teachers, and two different versions of an “intentional learner” are described.
15
Assessment, Curriculum and assessment, Early childhood, Key competencies, Literacy, Maths education
In this article, Yvonne, a junior school teacher, describes how she decided to explore how key competencies could be integrated into the daily programme, and assessed, without creating extra workload for teachers. The article outlines how, with support from research co-ordinators Keryn and Sue, Yvonne developed a way in which she could document the learning of key competencies and the learning of the subject-related learning areas at the same time. She recognises that the two go together like “clasped hands with the fingers entwined”, and this leads her to “split-screen” pedagogy and analysis of the learning.
20
Early childhood, Key competencies, Student well-being
A research project in this early childhood centre investigated the (school) key competency relating to others. The teachers were particularly interested in this key competency because relationships, and the empowerment of children and families, had always been key concepts for the centre. In order to research their understanding of relationships they asked “What does relating look like for children here?” Staff collected Learning Stories about relating-in-action from the children’s portfolios. Regular reflective meetings on these stories developed three layers of knowing that underpinned their perspectives on relating to others. The empowered child is at the centre of these three layers of knowing.
25
Assessment, Early childhood, Key competencies
The authors work with infants and toddlers and had become interested in rethinking the language associated with learning dispositions in documented Learning Stories. They decided to develop a different language, one that better reflected their knowledge and understanding of under-2-year-olds and their learning. The teachers returned to the curriculum document, Te Whāriki, for the language, finding a “myriad” of words that described the actions and behaviour of infants and toddlers. Dispositional action words and cues for teachers working with under-2s are set out in detail and examples for each of the five strands of Te Whāriki are included to “test out” the framework.
30
Curriculum and assessment, Key competencies, Student engagement
Two teachers research the documentation, continuity and complexity of key competencies in their combined new entrant, Year 1 and Year 2 classroom. They wanted to find ways to make the continuity visible without losing the complex interconnection of three aspects: key competencies, subjects and topics of interest. They saw the value of analysing case studies, and began to describe them as co-constructed pathways of learning. This article sets out the case study for one of the children, Kaleb, analysing the learning using four dimensions of strength.