This article reports on a qualitative study exploring the extent that the Apple iPad can be used to support assessment in an early childhood education (ECE) context. It is part of wider project exploring the educational affordances of the iPad in one ECE context from the perspectives of teachers, parents ...

Online portfolios, which allow teachers, families and children to document and share children’s experiences and learning, are increasingly used by New Zealand early childhood education (ECE) services. This study examined teachers’ and families’ engagement through one online portfolio system. An online survey gathered management, teacher, and whānau perspectives from 80 ...

Documentation of children’s assessment for learning is a vital cog in the turning gears of early childhood education (ECE). This article examines findings from a current research study comparing teacher, parent, and whānau engagement with, and use of, paper-based portfolios traditionally used in an ECE setting and newly introduced online ...

The authors of this article explore one child’s connections between the dispositional learning outcomes recognised during the child’s time at kindergarten, and those of the key competencies of the school curriculum. The kindergarten teachers who worked with the child came to think of these learning dispositions as part of the contents of the ...

This article considers ways in which early childhood educators in Aotearoa New Zealand might draw upon te ao Māori conceptualisations in delivering pedagogies that foster and enhance dispositions of empathy, compassion, and caring, thereby strengthening children’s emotional and social competence as well as their self-control. It first outlines some theoretical considerations from both ...

Relationships lie at the heart of early childhood education principles, curriculum, and pedagogy. Building strong relationships is taken for granted as a capacity all teachers possess; yet this might be an area of practice in which teachers need support and professional guidance. In this article, we examine and discuss what teachers do to ...

Imagine you are an immigrant early childhood teacher ... This article tells your story of transition and diversity. It interweaves tensions and complex realities, and explores issues and concerns for immigrant teachers in the cultural places and relational spaces of early childhood settings. Using teacher narratives and a post-structural discourse analysis, this article ...

Participation in community arts projects has the potential to enrich and regenerate communities, and to support teaching and learning. This article draws upon data from six New Zealand case studies, made up of six different community arts projects, and examines the dynamic relationship between community arts projects and participating schools and youth centres. Qualitative data ...

There is considerable excitement and debate in the educational world around future-oriented education, and a trend towards innovative (or modern) learning environments. This buzz is an international phenomenon. A trend towards innovative, open, and flexible learning environments is underpinned by ideas about 21st-century or future-oriented education. It is supported by International Organisation for Economic Cooperation ...

The recent revision of a national writing assessment tool, e-asTTle: Writing, is viewed from theoretical, design and implementation, and practice perspectives, and considered in relation to the original assessment concept and design. Aspects of the revision are questioned. These include a reduction in the scope and complexity of writing, with fewer functions or communicative ...