Glossary
Glossary
He Whakamārama
This glossary clarifies the meaning of key words and concepts in early childhood education
Abstract thinking thinking about concepts and about objects, sequences, or specific examples that are not physically present with the thinker
Active listening a technique by which a listener shows attentiveness and support by summarising back to the speaker what they think the speaker has said
Anti-bias curriculum a curriculum that emphasises an unprejudiced, inclusive way of working with people, situations, and challenges, regardless of their ethnicity, gender, special abilities, and beliefs.
Assessment the process of obtaining and interpreting information on children’s learning and development by observing, recording, and documenting what children do and how they do it. The purpose of assessment is to provide relevant information that can be used in deciding how best to improve learning outcomes for children.
Authentic assessment multidimensional assessment that is linked to the curriculum and to teaching methods of educators. Authentic assessment describes how children process information, construct new knowledge, and solve problems, and it enables a service to integrate all its information on a child into a cohesive picture.
Bicultural framework a concept that implies the interactions, relationships, and sharing of understandings, practices, and beliefs between two cultures; in New Zealand, the term generally refers to Māori and non-Māori.
Bridging a way of helping children to move from current knowledge and skills to new understandings by providing cues, models, interpretations, and labels
Charter an undertaking by an early childhood service to the Minister of Education
Children in action children who are actively involved in a learning experience and who are “learning by doing”
Co-construction the process by which, according to theory, the individual child, the physical environment, the social environment, and educators contribute to the child’s construction of knowledge and understanding. The implication for educators is the need to study children in context and appreciate children as active constructors of knowledge, with the assistance of educators as co-constructors.
Collaboration the process of working with another or others on a joint activity or project
Cognitive processes strategies and skills that regulate thinking and learning, such as visual scanning, recalling, organising, making links, sequencing, and reflecting. Cognitive processes can be general (for example, “thinking aloud” as a problem-solving strategy) or content-specific (for example, using colour as a cue for solving jigsawpuzzles).
Creative thinking thinking in which the thinker devises innovative ways of doing things or expressing ideas
Culturally appropriate practices ways of relating to people from another culture that acknowledge and show respect for their patterns of behaviour, practices, and values
Culture understandings, patterns of behaviour, practices, and values shared by a group of people
Curriculum the sum total of the experiences, activities, and events, whether direct or indirect, that occur within an environment designed to foster children’s learning and development
Customs particular ways of behaving within a group that have been established by social habits (traditional or contemporary)
Deductive thinking a process of reasoning that is often used in mathematics and logic and in which a sequence of steps following directly from an initial proposition or statement leads to a conclusion
Disposition a child’s frame of mind, patterns of thought, and attitudes to change that influence his or her approach to experiences and tasks
Emergent learning learning that emerges out of a child’s immediate experiences. It is often recognised and supported by an educator.
Ethnicity the state of belonging to a human group that shares some racial characteristics, a sense of identity and belonging, and a particular heritage and set of traditions
Evaluation the process of using assessment information and other data to form a judgment about the quality and effectiveness of the curriculum, in order to make decisions about change
Guided participation supportive structuring of a young child’s involvement in a learning experience, leading to the child’s eventually taking full responsibility for the task
Heritage ideas, cultural values, material goods, or other resources that are the right of a person or groups of people by birth and are often passed down through the generations
Holism a belief that all aspects of a child’s learning and development are interrelated and interconnected
Infant a child aged between birth and approximately one year
Interactive learning the process of learning by interacting with others and by total involvement with what is being learned through touching, looking, feeling, hearing, tasting, and smelling. The experience is then transformed into words or some other form of expression.
Interactive teaching teaching that focuses on promoting and responding to children’s initiations
Internal review a process that managers and educators use both to evaluate how well their service’s policies, objectives, and practices are achieving the requirements of their statement of philosophy and charter (which includes the DOPs) and to improve the quality of the service they provide
Kinaesthetic experiences experiences involving a child’s awareness of their weight, muscle tension, movement, touch, and bodily position in space and in relation to others
Learning objectives statements, set either by educators or by the learners themselves, outlining what new knowledge, understandings, skills, attitudes, and achievements learners are intended to acquire
Learning outcome the result, intentional or unintentional, of planned learning
Management those responsible for making the main decisions about a service and for achieving its goals, such as high-quality education and the well-being of its users and staff. Management is often also the charter holder. As such, it establishes and implements the service’s purpose and philosophy and may be a co-operative of parents, a private provider, a community trust, a national association, or a corporate body.
Management plan a short-term or annual plan that outlines how the requirements of the DOPs and the service’s goals will be met. Management plans allocate specific responsibilities and state time frames and expected costs.
Mandatory requirements requirements set out in either legislation or regulations and therefore required by law
Mediation positive intervention and support to resolve a problem or difference between two or more parties
Modelling providing examples of behaviour, such as ways of speaking, acting, and relating, for others to imitate
Negotiated curriculum a curriculum that is planned and organised in response to the knowledge, interests, skills, and dispositions of children and that adapts readily to their interests
Pedagogy the knowledge, skills, and attitudes resulting from the theory, principles, and practice of the teaching profession. The term “Māori pedagogy” refers to pedagogy based on tikanga Māori and Māori understandings of learning and development.
Professional development courses that managers and educators undertake to improve their performance or the operations of their service
Protocol the formal code of behaviour, or culturally accepted ways of behaving, usually associated with rituals, ceremonies, meetings, and formal occasions
Reciprocal relationship a relationship involving mutual, complementary reactions and responses between two parties
Responsive relationship a relationship in which one party (often the teacher) reacts quickly and sensitively to the interests, observations, or experiences of another party (often the child)
Scaffolding a term first used by Bruner to describe guidance and support that help a child take the next step for him- or herself. Scaffolding can involve asking an open-ended question, modelling an activity, encouraging a child to try a different approach, or directing a child to another opportunity. The educator adjusts their help in response to the child’s current performance, aiming to reduce support until the child can act alone.
Schema (plural: schemata) a term used by Piaget to describe cognitive structures that individuals develop as they internalise their actions. It also describes their forms or patterns of thought and pieces of ideas. Children construct or modify their schemata as they relate their experiences to earlier perceptions and experiences.
Service-based training training of staff that involves both on-the-job supervision and release from work for study and attendance at courses. Service-based training assists staff to understand the link between practice and theory.
Shared control a situation where the child and an educator or a more skilled child share “control” in the learning-teaching task. The educator or the other child is responsive rather than directive and controlling.
Shared planning a process of joining with others, such as colleagues, parents, or children, to develop an agreed procedure of action
Sociocultural context the society in which children live and its cultural values, which influence children
Staff appraisal a means of evaluating and enhancing the performance of managers and educators. An effective appraisal system is integral to successful performance management.
Statement of philosophy a statement of the fundamental beliefs, vision, values, and ideals on which a service operates. The philosophy is the basis for decisions about the way the service is managed and about its directions for the future.
Strategic planning broad planning for the medium or long term. Strategic planning enables a service to determine its direction and what it hopes to achieve in the future.
Symbolic thinking thinking in which objects or other things represent abstract concepts, such as ideas, qualities, or emotions
Teachable/irretrievable moment an occasion when connections between a learner’s interests, knowledge, skills, disposition, and development provide opportunities for new insights, which can occur with the support of a more informed person
Toddler a child aged between approximately one and two years
Whole child a concept of the child as an integrated being, with all dimensions of their learning and development interconnected and interrelated within the wider sociocultural context. The expression is closely related to the terms “holism” and “holistic development”.
Working theory a unique system of ideas that is based on a person’s experience and provides them with a hypothesis for understanding their world, interpreting their experience, and deciding what to think and how to behave. This system is in a constant state of development and change.
Zone of proximal development a term coined by Vygotsky to describe the hypothetical, dynamic area of the individual child’s potential for learning and development. The zone is the distance between what the child can accomplish alone and what they can achieve with the help of an adult or more capable peer. It is hypothesised that working in the zone of proximal development achieves maximum learning for the child for the investment of educators’ time.