Category: Educator Professional Development

Articles and resources to support educators professional growth and development

Bring the magic

The Storypark blog shares diverse opinions from educators and parents all over the world. Today our guest blog is from the author of ‘Uplifting Early Childhood‘. What are your thoughts? Share them below in the comments, we’d love to hear from you! Why do some mat times fail and others succeed? Do you think that some teachers just have the...

/ April 19, 2017

The loud teacher quandary

The Storypark blog shares diverse opinions from educators and parents all over the world. Today our guest opinion piece is from the author of ‘Uplifting Early Childhood‘. What are your thoughts? Share them below in the comments, we’d love to hear from you! The loud teacher quandary… When I began my journey in early childhood education and care, I had...

/ March 8, 2017

Imagine a classroom without walls – video

3 and 4 year olds can climb mountains! I know this, because I went up a mountain recently with some very capable young children. They trekked for over 2 hours to get to the top of Mount Kau Kau, one of the great walks in Wellington, New Zealand. This excursion was part of the Nature Explore component of Daisies Early...

/ February 22, 2017

Filtering emails to avoid cluttering your inbox

I have an admission. Sometimes I avoid checking my email, even when there are important things in it for me to deal with – because the mere thought of the chaos that is my inbox is enough to make my head feel like polystyrene and my cortisol levels to rise.  Luckily, many of the emails I receive are quite similar...

/ February 15, 2017

What is the impact of Storypark for children, families and educators?

What we see: We surveyed our Storypark families to ensure we’re making an impact. We have been delighted with the responses: 97% of parents felt that Storypark has enabled them to be more involved in their child’s learning. 94% of parents felt that Storypark has enabled their wider family to be more involved in their child’s learning. 96% of parents...

/ February 13, 2017

Children and technology

The use of technology by children has changed rapidly in a short period of time. Many children as young as 3 years own their own devices, but how are they using this technology and what sort of learning is happening with it? Watch this interview with researcher Dr Joanne Orlando about how children are actually using technology at home, and...

/ January 15, 2017

The workout for children: A different kind of Village

Our latest guest post is from Beth Clements from Affinity Education Group in Australia. Beth is a passionate educator who works as a consultant in the Early Years framework with a mission to empower educators to change the lives of children one connection at a time. A child arrives into this world with knowledge and capabilities, they are wired to...

/ December 14, 2016

Supporting an effective transition to school

The end of year is a busy time for everyone, so we’ve prepared a few practical tips from experts to help you save time and create the best outcomes for children. In the run up to holidays children are excited, parents are frantically trying to prepare and educators’ workloads increase as they prepare to farewell a group of children. Across...

/ December 5, 2016

The Golden Gift – Marte Meo at home

Dutch born, Maria Aarts, studied parent-child interactions for 40 years across varies countries and cultures. She recognised the difficulties in explaining scientific observations of a child’s problems to parents and other educators and in turn developed ‘Marte Meo‘. Marte Meo means ‘One’s own strength’ and is a method which is widely used in 43 countries. It gives parents and caregivers information that’s not only...

/ November 1, 2016

Helping Children to Identify and Manage their Feelings

How do we raise children to be empathic human beings? One of the biggest challenges faced by those working in early childhood care and education services is managing the behaviour and emotions of young children. “Brain research studies have shown us that when we try to use distraction, punishment or logic with children to help them calm down then they...

/ October 17, 2016