As many of you will know CORE Education has been involved in a supported trial of Kōwhiti Whakapae was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of Kōwhiti Whakapae: Practice and progress tools to support competent and confident kaiako and mokopuna, within a programme of professional learning and development.
The draft Kōwhiti Whakapae: Practice and progress tools support social and emotional learning within the framework of Te Whāriki: He whāriki matauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa.
The tools were designed to help kaiako:
- reflect on and strengthen their own practice
- understand children’s progress over time and their possible next steps.
The draft tools were developed by the Ministry of Education and a group of experts and sector representatives.
The supported trial was delivered for the Ministry of Education through a partnership between:
- CORE Education Tātai Aho Rau with InspirEd ECE, SAASIA, SEEDS
- University of Waikato Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato
As part of this process, the University of Waikato invited a group of academics, teacher educators and teachers, to form an expert advisory group to undertake an independent critical review of the Draft Practice and Progress Tools (Kōwhiti Whakapae) Social Emotional Learning (SEL). The group members hold amongst themselves, many years of experience and acknowledged expertise in teaching, teacher education, professional development, and researching in the early childhood education sector. Notable is their depth of understanding of curriculum and assessment, and specifically of Te Whāriki. Four of the group are Māori, who between them have deep understanding of Māori concepts, and experience in teaching and researching within Māori immersion settings and kōhanga reo. One Samoan group member brings Pacific understanding and perspective. They contributed this depth of understanding and experience to the discussion of conceptualisations of the child and Māori and Pacific concepts within Te Whāriki and Kōwhiti Whakapae.
This report is now available and can be shared widely, it offers thoughtful views from people who have a depth of understanding around Te Whāriki and recent relevant research. If you are interested in reading a copy of this report please email me at wendy.lee@elp.co.nz and I will send you a copy.