Together, these four foundations task kaiako with providing equitable opportunities for all children to learn in individually and culturally responsive learning environments.
In Kōwhiti Whakapae communication is inclusive of all the ways children and kaiako communicate, including, but not limited to:
- Spoken languages including te reo Māori and home languages.
- New Zealand Sign Language and other home signed languages
- Oral and visual means of expression, including vocalisations, gestures, movement, images and alternative and augmentative communication (AAC).
To support children to create and communicate maths, kaiako should:
- Weave te reo Māori and tikanga Māori meaningfully into the everyday curriculum. For example, provide opportunities for children to create and communicate pattern through kapa haka.
- Value children’s home languages and cultures and respond to their cultural ways of knowing and being. For example, create opportunities for children to explore through their art-making the shapes or patterns of familiar cultural motifs.
- Work with families, whānau and community to identify and dismantle barriers to participation and learning. For example, adapt the environment so that children with physical disabilities have opportunities to represent their thinking through painting, drawing, and construction.
- Weave the principles of Te Whāriki through all curriculum decision making and use them to guide pedagogy and practice. For example, adults should notice, recognise and respond to the ways children communicate their understanding of maths through their art, gestures or constructions (Relationships | Ngā hononga).
