During a time in which the focus in education is shifting to monitoring achievement and providing national benchmarks for younger children, the early childhood education (ECE) sector has remained relatively unchanged in terms of assessment.

The early childhood curriculum Te Whāriki introduced in 1996 remains popular but with the introduction of National Standards in primary schools now may be an opportune time to discuss its on-going relevance and whether the flexible assessment styles used in early childhood education is  serving our children best.

The recent ECE Taskforce set up by the National government has also questioned whether Te Whāriki is still the right option for New Zealand’s youngest learners and has recommended a review of Te Whāriki’s implementation and the quality of assessment practices in the sector.

Leading New Zealand researcher Dr Ken Blaiklock will examine the benefits and pitfalls of the New Zealand early childhood curriculum in his keynote speech at the Early Childhood Research Conference hosted by ChildForum this week.

Dr Blaiklock is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Education at the Unitec Institute of Technology in Auckland where he teaches courses including developmental psychology and early literacy. His recent publications have focused on assessment issues and comparing early childhood curriculums in different countries.

In his keynote presentation Dr Blaicklock will bring this knowledge of international curriculums, questioning whether Te Whāriki is the best option for early learners. He will also question whether the general Learning Stories approach to assessing children in ECE is enough or whether we should move towards a more specific assessment process based on concrete knowledge and outcomes.

“There is much to admire in the sentiments and aspirations that are expressed in Te Whāriki,” Dr Blaiklock says.

“Few would question the curriculum’s emphasis on the importance of respectful and responsive relationships and the value of empowering children to explore, learn, and contribute within a diverse range of contexts. It appears, however, that there is little evidence that the implementation of Te Whāriki has resulted in the achievement of such ideals.  There is now a need for carefully conducted evaluative research, along with an examination of curriculum innovations in other countries to investigate whether Te Whāriki really is the most effective curriculum for enhancing the learning and development of children in New Zealand.” 

Other presentations at the conference include the quality of literacy teaching in early childhood services, a study of solo fathers and young children and implications for ECE services, involving immigrant families in ECE and helping children with communication difficulties.