As teachers in early childhood education the one thing
that I feel that we are constantly trying to evidence to others outside of our
sector is our ‘professionalism’. At Mairtown Kindergarten this is a huge part
of our teaching teams’ practice and philosophy. Together we aim high to provide
a high-quality service for our children, their whānau, the
community and each other. We are very lucky to have a great amount of
professional support from the Northland Kindergarten Association who are our
umbrella organisation and who make sure that their teachers are providing an
excellent service for their community.
But how do our teachers at Mairtown display their professionalism on a
day to day basis? How do we make it visible to our whānau that we are working
hard to provide a high-quality educational service for their children? How do
we prove to society that we are a very important part in the chain of our
countries growth and development?
“The first years
are the most important in the life of every child as they
set the basis for overall success in life. They are also very
important for every society as this is the best chance to influence future
prosperity, inclusiveness and social stability. Early childhood development is
considered to be the most powerful tool to address inequities, a chance to
provide opportunities to all children to develop their full potential. Every
child is needed, and every child has the right to get a good start.” (Radocaj, 2014)
Although research shows that the first years of a child’s life have a
huge impact on the rest of their life, our profession still seems to be
undermined, not only in the education sector but also in general. So, how do we
make sure that our community understands that we are hard working
professionals? And what does professionalism look like at our kindergarten?
All teachers are governed by the Education Council who provide us with
‘Our Code, Our Standards – Code of professional responsibilities and standards
of teaching profession’. This is a wonderful document that reinforces our
practice and makes us accountable for what we do. In its opening statements its
shares, “As teachers, we respect our
trusted position in society and recognise the influence we have on learners,
their understanding of the world and the future well-being of our society.” (educationcouncil.org.nz)
From the deep reflection
that our teaching team has done to unpack this document we have become more
aware of how we uphold ‘Our Code’. This has then enhanced our awareness of how
to create a learning environment that authentically considers the six standards
(Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership, Professional learning, Professional
relationships, Learning-focused culture, Design for Learning and Teaching) which has the child at the heart of the matter all the time. We
believe that as a collective we provide and design a learning environment that
reflects our community that we serve and that the ‘child’ is the driving factor
that influences what we do and why we do it. ‘Our Code, Our Standards’ is a
wonderful piece of work that helps guide our professionalism to a high quality
and uplifts our teaching vocation, particularly in ECE.
When this is broken down it can be seen in many different areas of
practice. For example how we honour the Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership, how
we use professional learning to extend on our knowledge and better our
practice, how we build and maintain professional relationships, how we seek to
create a learning focused culture in the places that we design for learning and
then how we teach in this environment. I am going to break these standards down
and give some examples of what they look like at Mairtown, however I also would
like to note that our practice is not limited to these aspects because if I
wrote everything we did down you would be reading for hours!
How do we honour the Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership? We
cherish the dual heritage of Aotearoa/New Zealand and work to uphold the spirit
and intent of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, fostering an environment where children
will experience the values, traditions and language of the bi-cultural heritage
of Aotearoa. We celebrate Māori success and acknowledge our tamariki Māori as
leaders in their own learning journey and as being able to positively recognise
their learning progress and potential. Inherent in our practice is our focus on
being welcoming and inclusive of the diversity of all our children and whānau.
We love to acknowledge and celebrate cultural diversity within our community,
and value the opportunities that enable us to learn about different people,
their beliefs and way of life.
Bicultural practice is something that we have a lot of
respect for and through our work I feel that this is represented in the way we
celebrate and hold the Te Āo Māori values of manaakitanga and
whakawhanaungatanga in high regard. The relationships we uphold and continue to
build on daily are a credit to this. We feel that it is part of our role as
early childhood educators to help create a culture of respect towards tikanga, te
reo and everything Te Āo Māori, as well as supporting and building on our
community’s knowledge and understanding of this, as it is an important and
integral part of our nations identity. This can be seen in our daily interactions
with whānau, making sure everyone feels welcomed and acknowledged. It can be seen
through our assessment from a Te Āo Māori lens in the children’s portfolio’s,
through the te reo that we use, through the waiata that we sing and through the
whānau participation that we have within our service.
“Te Whāriki affirms
the identities, languages and cultures of all children, whānau, kaiako, and
communities from a strong bicultural foundation. All children are given the
opportunity to develop knowledge and understanding of the cultural heritages of
the partners to Te Tiriti o Waitangi | Treaty of Waitangi. Each ECE setting’s
curriculum whāriki recognises the place of Māori as tangata whenua of this land…The
integration of kaupapa Māori concepts (Māori values and philosophy) and te reo
Māori (Māori language) supports cultural, linguistic, social, and environmental
diversity and enables all peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand to weave their
perspectives, values, cultures, and languages into the early learning setting…From
a bicultural foundation, the early childhood curriculum supports the
identities, languages, and cultures of all children, affirms and celebrates
cultural differences, and aims to help children gain a positive awareness of
their own and other cultures.” (tewhariki.tki.org.nz)
How do we use professional learning to extend on our knowledge and
better our practice? As a teaching team we are reflective,
regularly reviewing our practice and our environments to provide successful and
rewarding learning outcomes for children. We all share a passion for inspiring
young minds through our dedication to excellence in teaching. We believe
life is a learning journey for all, and are committed to our own ongoing
professional development and professional dialogue. Our team works
collaboratively to support one another on their professional development
journey, often sharing inspiring and forward-thinking articles and research
with one another. The teaching team undertake lots of professional learning
opportunities and engage in professional dialogue during termly meetings and
appraisals and this enhances their teaching practice in meaningful ways and has
a positive impact on the children that the team work alongside due to them
being more aware of a wider range of teaching strategies that they can
implement. This is evidenced in many ways, including our internal evaluations,
the research we use in our assessment, blog posts and documentation, the way in
which we set up our kindergarten environment with intent and how we communicate
why we do the things we do with our kindergarten whānau and the wider
educational community.
“Ongoing professional development keeps teachers up-to-date
on new research on how children learn, emerging technology tools for the
classroom, new curriculum resources, and more. The best professional
development is ongoing, experiential, collaborative, and connected to and
derived from working with students and understanding their culture.” (Edutopia,
2008)
How do we build and maintain professional relationships? Relationships
and partnerships, based on trust, respect and open communication are central to
our philosophy. Kanohi ki te kanohi (face to face conversation) is something
that we value immensely. When these genuine, authentic and reciprocal
relationships are established, Mairtown Kindergarten becomes a welcoming, safe
and inclusive place for children, whānau and teachers. This secure and warmly respectful environment
supports children to explore, play freely and fosters their ability to be
learners and leaders. We believe that everyone in our learning community is
beautifully unique and has a wealth of knowledge, which we love to honour. This
is shown through our day to day practice, through the participation levels of
our kindergarten whānau and through the relationships that we have with
external organisations and other services in the education sector. Building and
maintaining meaningful relationships is a common thread through all the
teachers personal teaching philosophy. This, I feel, is one of the key factors
that underpins our success as a team as we are all passionate about being great
role models for the profession. We all understand the importance of positive
partnership and relationships with all parties that we work with and our
success is a group effort supported by professional relationships.
“Professional
relationships asserts that teaching is not a professional activity that exists
in isolation, but that we need to build and foster a range of relationships in
the interests of learning and improvement for all involved: with colleagues,
with family/whanau, with community.” (educationcouncil.org.nz)
To be continued in part two of this blog...
To be continued in part two of this blog...
Nāku noa, nā
Zair
No comments:
Post a Comment