Assessment
Aromatawai
Assessment principles in Te Whāriki
Guidelines and principles for assessing learning have been set out in the first nine books of Kei Tua o te Pae. Each of books 2–9 asks evaluative questions about assessment practice. The four overarching evaluative criteria, based on the four curriculum principles in Te Whāriki, are set out as questions on page 19 of Book 1:
- Is the identity of the child as a competent and confident learner protected and enhanced by the assessments? (Empowerment/Whakamana)
- Do the assessment practices take account of the whole child? (Holistic Development/Kotahitanga)
- Do the assessment practices invite the involvement of family and whānau? (Family and Community/ Whānau Tangata)
- Are the assessments embedded in reciprocal and responsive relationships? (Relationships/Ngā Hononga)
These criteria for assessment are described in detail on page 30 of Te Whāriki.
Book 1, pages 9–19, sets out additional criteria for assessment for learning with Te Whāriki in mind. These criteria are: having clear goals, balancing the documented and the undocumented, siting assessment in everyday contexts, protecting and enhancing the motivation to learn, acknowledging uncertainty, listening to children, including collective assessments, and keeping a view of learning as complex – all features that are demonstrated in the exemplars in books 11–15.
Narrative methods of assessment and portfolios can document the complex weaving together of knowledge, skills, and attitudes into learning dispositions and working theories. Narrative methods of assessment can also note the role of enabling resources in everyday contexts and raise questions about whether they are working well:
The New Zealand model of learning and assessment, and the narrative method at its core, have, I believe, enormous potential for educators in other places. In adopting the dominant metaphor of story, in place of the tape measure (or long jump), educators are committing themselves to taking each child’s learning seriously as a process, with its own life and living landmarks.16
At the same time, documented stories about learning dispositions can themselves contribute to children becoming lifelong learners. Narratives are embedded in the relationships and connections of the storyteller’s community.