Among the educators who significantly shaped early childhood education in New Zealand, one prominent figure shines. Her pioneering spirit left an indelible mark on the country and her life and works are an inspiration to those who find out more about this extraordinary woman.   A trailblazer in early childhood education, special education and MāoriRead More…

Pedagogical documentation is a process of making learning visible to support and inform curriculum planning. It involves collecting data about children’s interests and current knowledge, and reflecting on the data in order to plan, implement, assess and progress learning.  Data collection can be done with different tools, such as notes, videos, recordings, portfolios and forms.Read More…

Teacher wellbeing is the state of feeling good and functioning well as an educator and is important not only for teachers themselves, but also for their students, colleagues, schools and communities. It involves having positive emotions, meaningful relationships, a sense of purpose and a balance between work and leisure. Teacher wellbeing also includes taking careRead More…

The journey of a person through the lifespan is an intricate tapestry of experiences, challenges and growth, which I see as a continuous process marked by the evolution of intellectual change, the development of wisdom and the inescapable march of the change and growth process itself. These key ideas are deeply intertwined and reflect myRead More…

Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand, label, express and regulate emotions (self and others) in appropriate and effective ways. Resilience is the ability to cope with stress, adversity ad change in positive and adaptive ways.  (I have previously discussed ‘resiliency’ here: Bouncing Back : How to nurture resiliency across the lifespan.) Both emotionalRead More…