Category: Educator Professional Development
Articles and resources to support educators professional growth and development
Reflections on the 2023 ECA Conference
Like many others, I am now recovering from this year’s wonderful ECA Conference. As usual, Storypark took a team to the conference and this year I gave my very own presentation–a somewhat scary but exciting experience! From powerful keynote speakers to engaging sessions and meaningful conversations, this conference left a lasting impression. In this blog post, I will document my...
Documenting children’s learning – slow down!
Documenting children’s learning – are we rushing the process? When documenting children’s learning, it can sometimes feel like we are racing against the clock to gather information, turn it into a story, and hit publish. We rush to provide the evidence that we have noticed, recognized and responded to the learning. Early childhood educators have a lot of boxes to...
Community of Practice Guidelines
Community of Practice Guidelines Do you want to nurture the growth of your community, foster innovation, and support and share quality practice? A Community of Practice is a great way to network with like-minded professionals who share a concern or common passion. Communicating and collaborating within a Community of Practice supports everyone in the community to be the best version...
Stop the cobwebs and ghouls
Is it time to stop the cobwebs and ghouls? Tessa McStravick asks this question and offers some non-spooky alternatives for Halloween. One October, walking into a department store, my friend Ani came across a human skeleton seated on a bench at the entrance. She had her two small children with her and she wasn’t too pleased to find that the...
Planning and documentation in nature-based settings
Planning and documentation in nature-based settings Planning and documentation in nature-based settings are crucial if you want to embrace and support an emergent curriculum. But for many, the idea can bring up perceived barriers and challenges that can prevent you from moving forward with bringing nature and technology together. Dr. Claire Warden recently presented an online workshop that explored planning...
Reflective Practice in Early Childhood Education
Reflective practice in early childhood education – growing as educators and learners Reflective practice in early childhood education has been described as a process of turning experience into learning. That is, of exploring experience in order to learn new things from it. Reflection involves taking the unprocessed, raw material of experience and engaging with it to make sense of what...
Evaluation and compliance in New Zealand ECE services
New tools to help with evaluation and compliance for New Zealand learning services We regularly hear from educators and educational leaders that you wish you had more time! You spend a lot of your time reading regulatory documents and guides and figuring out ways to implement the requirements that ensure you provide a quality early learning environment for your children...
The documentation process – 6 easy ways to simplify it
Have you ever reflected on ways you can improve your documentation process and wondered if there are any simple strategies you can use to make this process more effective? There are various ways to document children’s learning, with so many benefits for children, families and the educators who work with them. Relationships and connections with families are strengthened. Families become...
Recruitment and Retention: Standing Against an Outgoing Tide
According to Gallup, the cost of replacing an individual employee can range from one-half to two times the employee’s annual salary. They calculate that this means U.S. businesses are losing a trillion dollars every year due to voluntary turnover. A New Zealand expert goes deeper, and suggests: For entry-level employees, it costs between 30-50 percent of their annual salary to...
Setting professional goals in early childhood education
Setting Professional Goals in Early Childhood Education Teaching goals are slightly different from the usual ‘drink more water/walk more’ type of goals. Nowadays, there is a lot of advice about goal setting for early childhood professionals. Professional development goals for early childhood educators are deep, mindful, and have the potential to impact others around you as well as yourself. So,...