A look at the range of assessment tools available, what they do, and how to select the most appropriate tool for your assessment needs.

This first issue of set: Research Information for Teachers 2006 begins what will be a stimulating series for the year. We are fortunate to have writers who bring leading-edge research to our attention and so enable us to pass on to you evidence-based information on issues of emerging importance. Last ...

As the first early childhood e-Fellow, the author worked with five case-study children at Westmere Kindergarten to research whether Internet and communication technology (ICT) can enhance young children’s storytelling. This article shares the story of one of the case-study children, Casper, to illustrate the overall research findings, which suggest that ...

Can traditional definitions of professionalism be reconceptualised to respond to the unique and evolving characteristics of quality early childhood practice? As part of a larger analysis, this article explores the views of teachers working in care and education settings on the nature of professional behaviour in early childhood education.

This article looks at how the belief system of “special” education can act as a barrier to inclusion in early childhood education for children with disabilities and their families. The author suggests that changes in special education thought and practice are necessary if early childhood education is to progress inclusion ...

The findings of a recent Teaching and Learning Research Initiative project. Researchers used a collaborative whakawhanaungatanga approach to explore how early childhood educators in settings other than kōhanga reo encourage whānau Māori to participate in early childhood education. They identified strategies by which early childhood educators are implementing their understandings ...

This article looks at ways of bridging the discontinuities young children experience between three settings: the home environment, the early childhood setting, and the new entrant classroom. It highlights the empowerment that occurs for children, families, and teachers in early childhood and school settings when children’s experiences at home are ...

The question of how to define and describe quality in early childhood services has been a matter of debate, both in New Zealand and internationally. This article discusses definitions of quality, drawing on examples from Norway and Japan to demonstrate the complexity involved in judging what is good or bad ...

This article looks at the current organisation of senior secondary curriculum in New Zealand, and raises some key questions that will need to be considered as we seek to develop a senior secondary curriculum designed for life in the twenty-first century. It asks: Do our current structures, for senior secondary ...