Release of revised Te Whāriki welcomed

Auckland Kindergarten Association welcomes release of revised Te Whāriki

The Auckland Kindergarten Association (AKA) has welcome the Government’s release today (12 April) of an update to New Zealand’s early childhood education curriculum, Te Whāriki.

Association CEO Tanya Harvey called the update of the twenty-one-year-old curriculum ‘timely’, and said the new version would improve outcomes for New Zealand children.

She said she was pleased that both bi-culturalism and an holistic approach remained at the core of the revised document.

The 118 learning outcomes of the old curriculum presented kindergartens with an unwielding proliferation of guidelines, she said. And the reduction to 20 would clarify the progress of children for parents and whanau.

The improved links to the primary school curriculum, in the new Te Whāriki, would improve transitions for children between kindergarten and school, Ms Harvey said.

The next challenge, however, was for government ‘to ensure the new version of the curriculum is actually adopted in all corners of our very diverse early childhood education sector’.

She said she hoped ‘very much’ that the Government would provide sufficient funding for the professional learning and development necessary to make this happen.

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