The early childhood sector’s curriculum Te Whāriki was the focus of a recent Kahui Ako leadership group meeting.

Our kahui ako leadership team and a contingent of kaiako from Christchurch East School recently met together for a workshop on Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Jocelyn facilitated a brief overview of the history of this document, giving the context to the revised 2017 version. As we looked into each section of the document we made connections with the New Zealand curriculum. The leadership team made the following insightful comments:

"A particular point of interest for me was hearing about the formation of the curriculum document. I imagine the effects its introduction has had for tamariki throughout Aotearoa cannot be understated. I was struck by how holistically Te Whāriki considers the growth and development of a child and loved the inclusion of 'play' throughout. This was a valuable experience and much appreciated!"

“This was such a valuable session, drawing out the vital links between the Early Childhood and The NZ Curricula.”

“What came through to me? The centrality of two of the strands, belonging and wellbeing - ‘pūtake o te kaupapa’ – absolutely ‘at the heart of the matter’ for learners of all ages in fact. I’m really looking forward to our kāhui team visits to several ECEs and to seeing belonging and wellbeing in action, as well as other parts of Te Whāriki.”

Our kahui leadership team will be visiting some of the ECE services early next term to view Te Whāriki in action in ECE learning environments. We are also planning an opportunity next term for kaiako from early childhood and kura to get together to meet and begin sharing practice around things like play-based learning and transition to school.