The latest findings from the longitudinal Competent Children project show that early childhood education continues to have important bearings on children’s performance at age 10. Early childhood education quality is particularly important.

One challenge posed by the development of Te Whāriki is to ensure that assessment and evaluation processes associated with its implementation are in the interests of children and their families. The approach we developed and trialled is closely connected to the strands of Te Whāriki, and starts with the ...

Literacy and numeracy have been receiving increasing attention in New Zealand in recent years. This paper discusses how early childhood practitioners might respond to current initiatives in the area of numeracy. Suggestions are offered for fostering early numeracy in ways that are consistent with the early childhood curriculum Te Whāriki ...

Five case studies of starting childcare show that this experience is a complex one for all involved: children, mothers, and teachers. This article presents elements of the experiences of the participants in the study.

When young children move from one educational setting to another, it is important to understand the context of their prior experiences. Most children starting primary school have already experienced transition. Early childhood transitions include starting at an early childhood service or centre, and moving sequentially or concurrently from one early ...

Since 1996 in Aotearoa/New Zealand, we have had a bicultural early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 1996). This document was developed with regard to the early childhood field’s commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi/Treaty of Waitangi. This treaty, signed in 1840 by the British Crown and Maori chiefs ...

Prejudice often gets in the way of people living together equitably. Learning to see and work with young children’s prejudices and biases is critical in working for equity in the 21st century. Bringing children’s “knowings” about cultural diversity to the fore is essential to this task. Children’s words and silences ...

In order to fully engage with children’s thinking, teachers need to develop practices which allow them to engage in in-depth dialogue with individuals or small groups of children, with minimal interruption, for extended periods of time. This paper looks at one model of what can happen when such a structure ...