New Zealand Early Childhood Education services, since the year 1996, has used Te Whāriki as their curriculum basis due to the implementation and rule of the Ministry of Education. This implementation has brought about many benefits within this educational context. The curriculum is deepened and enriched through the integration of Te Whāriki throughout all aspects of it. This provides a solid bicultural framework for teachers and a higher quality education, therefore enhancing the learning of young children. Te Whāriki has widened the knowledge and resource base for teachers and staff in early childhood and has been very effective when fully executed.
This curriculum was first released in 1996 by the New Zealand Ministry of Education and designed for the purpose of providing a consistent framework for all ECE services throughout New Zealand, for children from birth to five years of age. (New Zealand's National Early Childhood Curriculum: Te Whariki, 2011). It gives an unchanging vision, creating unity among all of the staff involved. (Architecture of early childhood - Te Whāriki) The curriculum was founded upon the following statement, “To grow up as competent and confident learners and communicators, healthy in mind, body and spirit, secure in their sense of belonging and in the knowledge that they make a valued contribution to society.” Both holistic and bicultural approaches are uniquely featured in Te Whāriki and are woven around four principles from which teaching and assessment practices are evaluated. (Te Whāriki - Early Childhood Curriculum, n.d.). (Te Whāriki, 2006).
At the core of the ECE curriculum are the following four principals: Relationships, empowerment, holistic development and also family and community. Followi...
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... take responsibility. These teachers will also lead the way in which they are to go about interpreting and implementing the curriculum within their early childhood environments. This has introduced a challenging factor within the curriculum for some of its users. (Alvestad and Duncan). This challenge could result in a negative effect through partial curriculum implementation and also disadvantage the learning and development of children. Alternatively, a positive outcome of this challenge could result in a deepened and further enriched curriculum for children, allowing teachers to incorporate their philosophies and existing practices in a creative and diverse manner. (ME).
To conclude, Te Whariki, the bicultural and holistic curriculum has been in practice for the past nineteen years. The curriculum brings about many benefits along with few negative connotations.
I am a firm believer that the quality of the child care directly affects the child’s development in the classroom. By eliminating the need for competing preschools to continue to improve their curriculum and to remain relevant in the field of early childhood education, we risk falling into the same trap K-12 education has fallen into. In other words, individual classroom freedom will be lost when teachers are forced to follow the governments blanket and mandatory regulations. I choose this concept because I feel it is important to allow a wide variety of options to families in order for them the find the right fit for their
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum in England differs greatly in structure and content to the Te Whariki curriculum in New Zealand; this therefore makes for an interesting comparison. The EYFS was introduced in England, in 2008, by the DfE as a framework that ‘sets the standards for learning, development and care of children from birth to five’ (DfE, 2012). Alternatively, Te Whariki was founded in New Zealand, in 1996, based on the aspirations for children ‘to grow up as competent and confident learners and communicators, healthy in mind, body, and spirit, secure in their sense of belonging and in the knowledge that they make a valued contribution to society’ (Ministry of Education, 1996). Throughout this essay, the EYFS and Te Whariki curriculums will be compared and contrasted to give a greater understanding of the similarities and differences between England and New Zealand regarding their beliefs about young children’s needs.
Early childhood education, although constantly evolving, was actually established and practiced as early on as the times of Ancient Greece and Rome. The foundation that early childhood education is based upon is to instill in children the skills needed to succeed later on in life, while making sure young children enjoy their time in schooling. Throughout chapter 3 in the textbook Who Am I in the Lives of Children, the reader is capable of evaluating just how greatly the methods for teaching today’s youth have evolved and changed for the better.
Te Whᾱriki is the New Zealand’s early childhood curriculum, which was developed in 1996. Compared with Reggio Emilia Approach, they have similarities as focus on children’s interests; develop children’s learning though interacting in relationship with others, emphasise the importance of environment and adults’ active responding. They also differ in many ways, such as teacher’s role, culture background and documentation and Assessment.
From the perspective I have at this stage in my journey in the early childhood education field, I would like to share what I have come to value and believe in regards to early learning and care by looking at my philosophy statement. To begin we will look at the statement and highlight three key features and find out why they are important to me, then we will see what they will look like in my practice, and lastly we will examine these ideas closely by looking at where they originated. By taking an in-depth look at my philosophy statement we will better understand the motivation behind my practice which I hope to continue to refine and refresh as I gain more knowledge and experience.
This has led to children having a poor start to life, which carries on through their learning and is the leading cause of behavioural or emotional problems (Commonwealth of Australia, 2015). Therefore, the Australian Government inaugurates an ECE and care reform agenda. The key components: • Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) • Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) • Early Years Workforce Strategy •
How one plans to tackle all of the challenges will help them when making decisions in the future. To many people, early childhood education is unnecessary. I realize that going into this teaching field, I will most likely have to interact with adults who will argue that it is useless. There are a lot of thorny issues surrounding the professionalization of early childhood education (“The Challenges of Professionalizing ECE Workforce”). I am prepared to talk to adults about my beliefs and the importance of the program. As I go into this career with the knowledge of this, I will be more prepared on how to handle those who have a different opinion than I
In this assessment I will be talking about the principles and philosophy of Frobel and Montessori, what they have in common and differences, there contributions to Siolta and my own thoughts in relation to early childhood education and their impact on the learning environment
McDevitt, Teresa M., and Ormrod Jeanne Ellis. Child Development and Curriculum. New York: Pearson, 2009
...S., … Killen, R. (2009). Professional Practice in Primary Education. South Melbourne, VIC: Cengage Learning Australia Pty Limited.
...parents have used conscientisation, when they have not complied with the status quo of English medium schools, by moving their children, their whanau, their support and allegiance into the Māori medium schools. Tragically, this has been because of deficit theorising, as Māori have been under represented in educational successes, with teachers feeling there is little they can do to bring about change. Thankfully, for the greater percentage of Māori children who still remain in English medium schools, with professional development models such as Te Kotahitanga, and Ka hikatia, with their Māori education strategy initiatives, educators can create learning contexts that will provide students with those tools that are vital for the future, the tools of creative, critically reflective thinking citizens in a culturally inclusive environment that will benefit all pupils.
Ministry of Education. (1996). Te whāriki early childhood curriculum: He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum.Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.
Isenberg, J. P., & Jalongo, M. R. (2000). Exploring your role: A practitioner’s introduction to early childhood education. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
There are many documented theories about early childhood development, contemporary research still concurs with some of these theories. It suggests, however, that we should be thinking more holistically, taking into consideration; respect for diversity, the wider community and equity, play based curriculums, intentional teaching and ongoing reflective practices when planning for optimal educational experiences for children (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, 2009). I acknowledge that ongoing professional learning and reflective practices are a key element of the Early Years Learning Framework (DEEWR, 2009). I accredit working and collaborating with other teachers, families and local communities collectively contribute
Aotearoa is the home to Te reo Maori where is should be promoted and encouraged. In fact, Te Whāriki and New Zealand Early Childhood curriculum acknowledge Te reo Maori by encouraging the teachers to promote and implement it in early childhood settings allowing all children the opportunity to understand and develop an understanding of Maori heritages; Te reo, and partnership to Te Tiriti of Waitangi(Ministry of Education [M...