By Himal Randeniya · 9 September 2026
For English-medium centre-based ECE services in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Assessment becomes useful when it helps kaiako decide how to respond to a child's learning and later consider what happened. A learning story can support that work when its interpretation, proposed response and subsequent revisit connect. The form of the record is one decision within a wider relationship with the child and whānau.
Te Whāriki describes assessment that happens during everyday interactions as well as through more formal records. It uses information about learning over time to inform teaching and future opportunities. Te Whāriki: assessment, planning and evaluation.
The worked example below offers a way to discuss those connections with your team. It is a suggested learning exercise, not a required template.
What does the assessment criterion require?
C102 for centre-based services requires curriculum to be informed by assessment, planning and evaluation, including documented and undocumented activity, with understanding of children's learning and contexts. The criterion does not specify a universal quota of learning stories. The document permits different forms of curriculum evidence suited to the service. Current licensing criteria, C102 on page 8 and documentation on page 9.
A service can choose a recording method that supports its work while meeting the relevant requirements. Choosing a shared format does not remove the need for kaiako to explain what they noticed and why a response was useful.
A worked example: building a bridge together
This is a fictional discussion example. Alex, the events and the family contribution are invented. They do not represent a Mana customer, a real child's assessment or a particular cultural community.
Notice the detail worth returning to
Alex and another child are building a bridge with blocks and loose parts. When the middle falls, Alex moves two supports closer together and invites the other child to try again. Alex then shows the arrangement to a kaiako and says, “It needs something here.”
The kaiako's record describes the adjustment and invitation. It does not conclude that Alex has mastered a particular concept. The detail gives another kaiako something specific to consider and gives Alex an event to revisit.
Explain a possible meaning
The kaiako wonders whether this moment shows Alex testing how a structure can be supported, while also working with someone else on a shared problem. There are at least two possibilities to explore: the reasoning behind the adjustment and how the children negotiate their ideas.
In a team discussion, a colleague asks whether moving the supports was deliberate or a change Alex made while rebuilding. That question improves the interpretation. The next observation could help the team understand more, without treating the first account as inadequate simply because it leaves something uncertain.
Invite the child's and whānau perspectives
The kaiako asks Alex to revisit the description of the bridge and explain the choice. Alex points to the gap that was left underneath. This adds to the original account; it does not require the adult to supply an explanation for Alex.
In this fictional case, Alex's family says that Alex often constructs things with a cousin and enjoys showing how they work. They would welcome opportunities for Alex to share ideas while also listening to someone else's suggestion. The kaiako checks that this captures what the family meant.
For a real assessment, the contribution must come from the people involved. A suggested aspiration written by an adult or an AI tool is not whānau evidence. Te Whāriki places whānau knowledge and participation within assessment and planning; it cannot be supplied through a generic profile. Te Whāriki assessment guidance.
Choose a response with a clear purpose
The kaiako offers the materials again and asks Alex and the other child what they would like to build next. The intended teaching response is to make space for both ideas, invite explanation and help the children consider a suggestion together.
The planning note identifies what the kaiako will pay attention to: how Alex explains a construction choice and how the children respond to each other. It leaves the outcome open. The children may choose another project, and the teaching response can follow that interest.
Revisit the learning and the teaching
At the next opportunity, Alex explains where a support should go. The other child proposes a wider bridge. Alex initially rejects the idea, then agrees to try it after the kaiako invites both children to show their thinking.
The later record can describe the explanation, the disagreement, the adult's involvement and the shared attempt. It would overstate the evidence to say that Alex now always welcomes another person's ideas. It would also miss something useful to record only that the bridge was completed.
The team decides to keep supporting opportunities for the children to explain and compare their ideas. It also considers whether the kaiako stepped in at the right moment. The assessment has prompted reflection on the adult's response as well as on the child's learning.
Make the connection easy for another kaiako to follow
As a suggested team exercise, place the initial account, the response and the revisit together. Ask someone familiar with the child to explain:
- What did we observe, and what have we interpreted?
- How did the child or whānau contribution affect our thinking?
- Why did we choose this teaching response?
- What happened when we tried it?
- What do we still need to understand?
If a contribution did not change the planned response, discuss why. There may be a sound explanation. Recording that explanation is more useful than adding a sentence about partnership that has no connection to the decision.
If no revisit has happened, keep that gap visible. The team can agree a suitable opportunity to return to the learning or explain why its direction changed. Writing an imagined successful outcome would prevent the record from helping anyone understand the child.
Start a conversation families can join
Keep invitations accessible and specific to the relationship. For example, a kaiako might describe one moment and ask what the family notices in another setting. A Ministry practice story illustrates how one service reviewed the language of its questions and learned more about whānau aspirations. That is a contextual example to learn from, rather than a script every service must adopt. Whānau-engagement practice example.
Choose one assessment thread your team would like to understand better. To explore how Mana could support your service's planning and documentation process, book a demonstration with that question in mind.
