Academic literature on the topic 'Maori Education (excl. Early Childhood and Primary Education)'

The New Zealand Draft Curriculum Guidelines for Early Childhood Education, ‘Te Whariki’, introduced in 1993, are discussed in relation to the historical and cultural contexts which underlie their development, and aspects of the bicultural focus of the document are highlighted. The document addresses the aspirations of the indigenous people of New Zealand, the Maori, for their language and culture to be protected and sustained. Early childhood is the primary site for the transmission of language and culture, and this places the onus on all early childhood educators in New Zealand to address these issues in an integrated way within the early childhood curriculum.

Two studies explored the connections between physical activity, participation in structured open-skilled sports (e.g., soccer and basketball) and closed-skilled sports (e.g. running and swimming), and executive function (EF) among preschool-aged children. Study 1 included 197 preschool-aged children (mean age = 4.34 years, female = 48%, white = 83.5%). Study 2 included 1012 preschool-aged children (mean age = 51.59 months, white = 60.5%). Results from regression models indicated that parent-reported physical activity was not associated with direct assessments or parent reports of child EF (Studies 1 and 2). General sport participation was associated with one direct assessment (DCCS; Study 1), but was not associated with parent reports of child EF when controlling for physical activity (Studies 1 and 2); however, depending on the conceptualization of sport, some associations were significant. Future research is necessary to determine whether these associations exist when the constructs are conceptualized differently and when using different assessments.

In 2008, Indiana launched a statewide child care quality rating and improvement system, called the Paths to Quality. To assist providers in improving the quality of their programs, professional development, coaching, and teacher support are provided. Yet the approach, format, and quality of coaching vary. This represents a potential disconnect between high-quality coaching, high-quality child care services, and positive child outcomes. The purpose of this study was to investigate stakeholder views on the strengths and needs of the early childhood coaches with respect to the current coaching system. To meet this goal, the focus group and dyadic interview data were collected with technical assistance administrators, early childhood coaches, and early childhood providers. Data were collected through audio recording and transcription of each data collection session. Results were analyzed by thematic analysis using the long-table approach. Five steps of familiarization, identifying, categorizing, labeling, and summarizing were used for interpretation of the results. The results showed that coaches have a passion for their profession and are very dedicated to helping support early childhood providers and teachers in their growth. On the other hand, the results also show the serious need for change in the coaching approaches and coaching model that is offered across the agency. There is a need for new complex formal training on coaching practices for both early childhood coaches and specialists and technical assistance administrators. Support for coaches needs to be established with an emphasis on an ongoing system of supports and follow up. Additionally, more specific areas of supports and its structure are presented in this study.

Early numeracy skills are related to children’s later mathematics and reading skills. Early interventions that target parent-child numeracy practices may be an effective way to promote these skills in young children. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a home numeracy environment (HNE) intervention in increasing preschool children’s early numeracy skills through a randomized controlled trial. The intervention was designed to incorporate practices that have been shown to improve children’s numeracy development, in addition to a number of practices that have been shown to lead to effective outcomes for parenting interventions more broadly. Parents were randomly assigned to participate in either the HNE intervention or an active comparison condition. Both groups of parents attended a brief informational meeting and received daily text messages for four weeks; parents in the intervention group received information about the importance of early mathematics development and strategies for incorporating numeracy into their children’s daily routines and parents in the active comparison condition received information on general development in preschool. Before and after the intervention, parents completed a questionnaire on their numeracy beliefs and practices, and children were assessed on their early numeracy skills. Findings indicate that, compared to parents in the comparison condition, parents who participated in the intervention reported more frequent direct HNE activities and their children showed greater improvement on numeracy skills. There were no group differences on beliefs of importance of math, self-efficacy for teaching math, or engagement in indirect HNE practices. The study provides initial evidence that a brief HNE intervention is feasible for parents to implement and is effective in improving preschool children’s numeracy skills.

The current study examined the extent to which associations between participation in a targeted state-funded pre-kindergarten (pre-k) program and children’s literacy, numeracy, executive function (EF), and social-emotional skills were moderated by the quality of teacher-child interactions. Data came from an evaluation of a state-funded pre-k program including children enrolled in pre-k and those in a matched comparison group. The sample consisted of 558 children (Mage = 57.74 months) from two cohorts (48.9% female; 43.7% African American; 0.8% Asian; 32.3% European American; 12.4% Hispanic; 10.4% Multiracial). Children’s school readiness assessments and teacher surveys were collected during fall and spring of the preschool year. Research assistants assessed teacher-child interactions using the Pre-K Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS; Pianta, La Paro, Hamre, 2008) once in the winter of the preschool year. Two-level multilevel linear models were conducted for each school readiness domain and included a variety of control variables. Results suggested that emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support did not significantly moderate the relation between pre-k participation and literacy, numeracy, EF, and social-emotional skills.