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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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, ...

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 ...

This article examines the early childhood curriculum in action by looking at two oppositional forces that are at play: authoritative discourse (which is perceived as uncontestable) and internally persuasive discourse (which is open for debate). Unless challenged by knowledgeable teachers, authoritative discourse may dominate. When this occurs, there is little ...

This article draws on recent research into early childhood teachers’ views on how they support children’s scientific learning. It identifies four strategies teachers used to increase their scientific knowledge base—learning from parents and children, learning from other teachers, learning with children and learning from outside sources such as books or ...

A real challenge children face is how to successfully enter collaborative play that is already in progress. Some children achieve this with little trouble, while others struggle to be included. Through case studies of four children, this study explores the nature of participation strategies, and offers strategies for teachers to ...

This article presents a fine-detail analysis of one observation from a wider ethnographic study of four-year-old children in a primary school in mid-Wales. The social interactions of the participating children show the multifaceted nature of children’s everyday social organisation. By investigating the complexities of children’s social interactions, their social competencies ...

This article explores teaching games of chase in the early childhood curriculum. It identifies three areas of teacher involvement: (1) developing a framework for playing games, which prompts the teacher to create teaching strategies that consider both the value of and issues with games in early childhood; (2) engaging with ...