In The Te Whariki Curriculum

As a professional practice, settings are responsible for the delivery of core subjects, dictated through specific curriculums. The term curriculum ( or curricula) refers to a set of courses and their content offered in educational institutes, such as schools,(Doherty and Hughes, 2009). Its context is said to describe: a body of theory about teaching and learning, targeting the needs and characteristics of a particular group of learners,(Veale,2013). It often refers to the programmes’ objectives and goals, as well as its methods and materials, (Universal Design for Learning Guidelines, 2014). “Curricula are undoubtedly culturally shaped and cannot always be readily transferred from one environment to another,”(p.5, Miller and Pound. 2011).

However, corresponding to the five strands of the curriculum: a form of assessment is carried through observations which are known as ‘learning stories’. Learning stories keep track of a child’s strengths, as well as their interests. This enables practitioners to begin with children’s strengths, helping them to pinpoint their difficulties. Learning stories allow children to form relationships, through interactions with others. They also focus on what matters to the child, rather than influences of demands and expectations of others, (Cullen and

The key person approach emphasizes on developing close relationships between key practitioners and children, (Elfer et al., 2013, Grenier et all.,2008, Manning-Morton and Thorp,2003,2006). Practitioners can also support children’s emotional well-being in these relationships, (Miller and Pound, 2011). A child that forms a relationship “to a grown up not only becomes amendable to educational influence in a very welcome manner, but shows more vivid and varied facial expressions, develops individual qualities, and unfolds his whole personality in a surprising way, (p.57, Burlingham and