Abstract
This chapter will discuss the New Zealand [NZ] approach to mathematics in early childhood settings with a particular emphasis on the foundational mathematics that infants and toddlers gain through play. It will describe ways that children’s mathematical knowledge is developed through and with others as they move toward formal schooling. Early years curriculum in NZ encompasses both prior-to school (early childhood) and school education. Early childhood education serves children in education and care services from birth to school entry at (approximately) 5 years of age and is underpinned by Te Whariki, the NZ framework for early childhood. The formal (school) sector is, similarly underpinned by The NZ Curriculum Framework. These two documents are both grounded in constructivist, socio-cultural theory and provide the basis for a seamless transition from EC to school. Mathematics education in NZ has a particular emphasis on the development of numeracy (number knowledge and understandings) through progressions laid out in national frameworks. This emphasis has established the need for early childhood programmes to ensure that very young children are given opportunities to explore foundational mathematics in a variety of ways. However, the challenge for NZ early childhood teachers is twofold: to provide a play-based mathematics curriculum that builds on children’s interests and provides for seamless, child-centred transitions, and to align the informal learning of EC with the more formal requirements of established mathematical transitions.
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Lee, S., Lomas, G. (2015). A New Zealand Perspective: Mathematical Progressions from Early Childhood to School Through a Child Centred Curriculum. In: Perry, B., MacDonald, A., Gervasoni, A. (eds) Mathematics and Transition to School. Early Mathematics Learning and Development. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-215-9_13
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