We're thrilled to see Professor Emeritus Margaret Carr ONZM recognised for her incredible contribution to early childhood education.
Margaret Carr has been elected as a new Fellow of the Academy of the Royal Society Te Apārangi – an honour given to those at the top of their field for their research and advancement of mātauranga Māori, humanities, technology and science.
“Margaret has shaped early childhood education with her untiring mahi and passion for the learning lives of young tamariki and the teaching practices of kaiako,” says Te Rito Maioha Chief Executive Kathy Wolfe.
Margaret was one of the leading authors of the ground-breaking and internationally recognised Te Whāriki – Aotearoa New Zealand’s bicultural early childhood curriculum – which supports young tamariki to develop dispositions for life-long learning, such as courage and curiosity, trust and playfulness, perseverance, confidence and responsibility. She later developed learning stories as an assessment practice - written narratives to assess children's learning, highlighting strengths, interests abilities and dispositions - which are widely used by ECE kaiako.
“A colleague and friend to many of our members, and a role model to all in early childhood education, Margaret is the ECE sector’s tuhi māreikura. She is so incredibly well-deserving of this prestigious recognition by the Royal Society.”
As described by the Royal Society:
Professor Emeritus Margaret Carr ONZM, New Zealand Association of Research in Education (NZARE), University of Waikato
“Margaret Carr has had an immense impact on early childhood education in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally. She was one of four lead coordinators and writers - alongside (Sir) Tamati Reedy, Tilly Reedy, and Helen May – of the 1996 bicultural and sociocultural curriculum, Te Whāriki. This introduced learning dispositions as a new outcomes language and a ‘weaving’ metaphor about pedagogy.
“In response, Margaret developed an original assessment tool that has had a profound influence on national and international early years practice and commentary. Scholarly response was extended in seven Teaching and Learning Research Initiative projects with teachers and two Marsden Fund projects – (i) disposition and design in early years, and (ii) a bi-cultural project, with Te Kōhanga Reo o Mana Tamariki, on creative capacity building in the early years.”