New Assessment Journal

It is great to see a new peer reviewed journal out from NZCER - New Zealand Council for Educational Research.

It is simply named Assessment Matters and looks like a 'must have' for anyone interested in assessment and education.

Along with some other great articles about school assessment there is one from Margaret Carr on the early childhood exemplars-

Kei tua o te pae: Assessing learning that reaches beyond the self and beyond the horizon
Margaret Carr

"This paper outlines the development and the conceptual design of an assessment for learning resource of 177 exemplars from early childhood contexts. Two metaphors provide the foundation for the resource: Te Whäriki and Kei Tua o te Pae. These metaphors underpin a discussion about assessment of learner outcomes that reach “beyond the self” and “beyond the horizon”, using the resource as an example. The resource that is built on these two metaphors includes three themes: principles that frame up the assessment; practices that are based on narrative; and a view of progression that aligns with the principles. The assessment practice exemplified is sited in stories and portfolios, and the paper concludes with an argument for the consequential validity of narrative assessments."

Interest in assessment

WOW! So you are still coming here for information! I feel a little bad that I haven't been more active here. I am pleased to see so many visitors and it is interesting to see the websites you choose from here. Please be patient. I will still have plenty to add here.

I will be teaching aspects of this topic to ECE student teachers and with a change in employer and responsibilities will be able to be more critically reflective than before.

I am still suffering a touch of new jobitis along with trying to sort out my own study and research options for this year.

I promise to be back by February checking links and adding information.

A new direction

I am now officially no longer employed by the University and the Kei Tua o te Pae contract and will gradually be re-structuring this blog. For those of you interested in assessment and planning in the early years, there will still be useful material here for you. Hopefully in time there will also be a wider range of material.

I intend this to be more of a personal reflective journal but the links to other web sites and blogs will remain.

I will be on leave for a bit now and then start a new position as an early childhood lecturer at a private teacher education provider in Auckland.

I am considering a focus on assessment for my thesis but I will be maintaining a strong interest in online environments for teaching and professional development of adults. My own experimentation and discoveries will become a part of the ICT fun and learning blog ( see link on this Blog).

Back again

Well I didnt expect the pause to be quite so long!

It has been a very busy time for everyone, as is usual at this time of the year.
As you may all know the Kei Tua o te Pae PD contract is ending, as is hte Te Whaariki contract.

The Team here at the University of Auckland have put together a proposal for 2010 which has been well supported and approved by the Faculty of Education and Uniservices.

Auckand ECE Services will recieve this information shortly so keep your eyes peeled for that. There is some initial information in our Bulletin Board which went out this week.

A pause

There is likely to be a pause in postings this month as we work on completing our contract ( always a busy time of year anyway) and also develop some ideas to support centres and services as they move into a very different world where for many, external Professional Development is likely to be user-pays rather than Ministry funded, now that the Government focus is on participation.

The MOE website contains some information on how centres can support their own professional learning.