Early Childhood Folio Vol. 15 No. 2 (2011)

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. 

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.

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… Read more

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… Read more

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… Read more

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.… Read more

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… Read more