Category: Educator Professional Development
Articles and resources to support educators professional growth and development
Why do educators really struggle to engage with parents?
As CEO of Storypark I have the good fortune of working with great educators from all over the world. My job is to listen and understand our partners, educators and advisors to ensure that Storypark evolves in the ways that best serve children, educators and families. All this listening lets me see common challenges and trends, so this is my...
How Learning Tags can inform your practice and programme
One of my roles at Storypark is to work with centres and teachers supporting them to get the most out of Storypark. While undertaking this work I have noticed some trends emerging over the use of learning tags so I would like to share with you some suggestions on how to make learning sets and tags work for you, your...
Mentoring advice part one – Working with children
We had the most overwhelming response to our recent give away where we asked you to share with us the one piece of advice or lesson learnt from a mentor that has influenced your teaching the most. We compiled your entries into lists, defined by category and filled with all of the best advice given to our Storypark users by their mentors...
Who is documentation of children’s learning really for?
“The question in my mind is – who is documentation really for, at the end of the day who does it belong to? Is it a record for the child now or in the future? A tool for children to reflect on their recent learning? A way of sharing and engaging parents, family and communities in a child’s learning? Or...
How to get the most out of your study tour to Reggio Emilia
No one in Reggio wants to teach others how to “do school.” What we seek to do rather is to try and deepen our understanding, together with others, of why it was possible in Reggio Emilia for an (educational) experience founded after the war, to grow and consolidate with time… What we want to do is look together for...
Electronic portfolios in early childhood education: Parent-teacher communication
By Amanda Higgins A three paper thesis Submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Education Victoria University of Wellington 2015 Abstract Electronic portfolios (ePortfolios) are a new phenomenon in early childhood education (ECE) and there is minimal existing research available on their use and effectiveness as a learning...
Mentoring advice part two – Leadership
Recently we asked you to share with us the one piece of advice or lesson learnt from a mentor that has influenced your teaching the most. In the second of our articles on mentoring, we focus on leadership advice. There are some great words of wisdom here, we hope that one or two of them strike a chord with you, and...
Long Day Care Professional Development Programme Opportunities
The Long Day Care Professional Development Programme (LDCPDP) is the single biggest investment ever in Australian professional development for child care and early learning educators in long day care (LDC) services. There are a lot of opportunities to invest your LDCPDP funds, including covering the cost of Storypark. To quote the Department of Education Website: “The LDCPDP will fund LDC services to...
Walking alongside a teacher’s career
Sharon Carlson has worked as a Kindergarten teacher, Head teacher and consultant. In this blog post, she talks about reporting and assessment in teaching and the launch of Storypark’s new teacher portfolios. As teachers, we have to show evidence of our own learning and progression as well as that of the children we work with. In Australia, many centres are...
Musings on teachers’ professional learning and Storypark
The following post has been written by Joce Nuttall, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education and Arts, Australian Catholic University and advisor to Storypark. It offers some provocative questions, astute observations and interesting ideas for educators. I have a passionate interest in the learning and development of early childhood teachers. I know that Storypark was initially motivated by wanting to share stories...