The following principles promote continuity in children’s learning and provide the foundation for successful transition to school.
High expectations, equity and respect for diversity
Children learn and progress when all partners hold high expectations and promote equity and success for all. Teachers make curriculum decisions that respect and include children’s diverse ways of being and knowing, social and cultural experiences, geographic locations, abilities and needs.
Respectful relationships
Respectful and reciprocal relationships provide strong foundations for children’s learning and development. Teachers interact positively with children to build relationships that support children to develop confidence and feel respected and valued.
Collaborative partnerships
Collaborative partnerships involve teachers, colleagues, families and professional partners working together to support the learning potential of each child in kindergarten. They are based on understanding each other’s expectations and priorities, communicating respectfully and engaging in shared decision-making.
Effective pedagogies
Children learn and develop in interconnected ways. Teachers use a range and balance of evidence-based pedagogies — including play-based, inquiry-based and project-based — to support children’s learning. These pedagogies provide opportunities for children’s agency in their own learning and extend their knowledge, skills and dispositions for learning.
Reflective practice and professional decision-making
As a professional practice, reflection encourages teachers to explore ways of improving learning and relationships, builds insight, and provides starting points for making decisions. It also helps teachers connect theory to practice, maintain accountability and integrity in their practice and justify
their decisions.
Reflection involves children, families and colleagues in an ongoing process to guide decisions about children’s learning. Teachers draw on their interactions, observations and assessments of individual children and the whole group’s progress to plan future teaching and learning.
- Last updated:
- 15 March 2024
