A learning story is a documented account of a child's learning event. These stories are structured around five key behaviours: taking an interest, being involved, persisting with difficulty, expressing a point of view or a feeling, and taking responsibility. A teaching story, on the other hand, is about evaluating practice.
In this research project, learning stories refers to the framework developed for assessment during the Project for Assessing Children's Experiences. Teaching stories refers to the systems, structures, and processes put in place by teachers/practitioners as part of on-going evaluation and accountability procedures.
The project was designed to:
- construct an overall framework for assessment and evaluation in early childhood programmes in Aotearoa-New Zealand
- use this framework to develop an evaluation process through an action research trial in a small range of early childhood centres.
The report sets the context of the research project; outlines the theoretical foundations and the methodological approach; summarises and synthesises the data; and suggests some overview issues and implications for self-evaluation processes in early childhood centres.