Strengthening Intentional Teaching & Planning: Part II Responding & Evaluating

Do your curriculum plans clearly show how kaiako are intentionally responding to children’s learning? 

Once you have noticed and recognised a child’s learning, what happens next? How do you decide which intentional teaching strategies to use, and whether your teaching has actually supported the child to make progress?

Strengthening Intentional Teaching & Planning – Part II is a practical online professional learning module that  focuses on the Respond and Evaluate stages of the curriculum planning process.

It helps ECE kaiako and leaders move beyond simply recording what children are doing to developing purposeful plans that clearly show what learning will be strengthened or extended, how kaiako will intentionally support that learning, and how progress will be evaluated over time.

Turn assessment into purposeful teaching

Effective curriculum planning is not about filling in a template. It is about using what you know about a child to make thoughtful decisions about what to do next.

In this module, you will learn how to move from Notice and Recognise into a clear and purposeful response.

Explore how to:

• identify an appropriate learning focus from what you have noticed and recognised
• use Te Whāriki and Kōwhiti Whakapae to support planning decisions
• decide what learning you want to strengthen, support or extend
• select intentional teaching strategies that directly support the identified learning
• distinguish between broad activities and genuine intentional teaching
• plan different ways to support learning across everyday experiences and interactions
• document the Respond stage clearly and meaningfully
• evaluate whether your teaching strategies are making a difference
• recognise and document progress in children’s learning
• use evaluation to inform what happens next.

Throughout the module, practical ECE examples show how the planning process works with real children, helping you see the connection between assessment, learning focus, intentional teaching strategies and evaluation.

See intentional teaching in practice

Work through practical examples and planning scenarios that demonstrate how different children’s interests, strengths, dispositions, working theories and learning needs can lead to different teaching responses.

Rather than providing a list of activities to complete, the module encourages kaiako to think deliberately about:

What are we trying to support? Why have we chosen this focus? What will we intentionally do? How will we know whether it has made a difference?

This helps create curriculum planning that is purposeful, responsive and genuinely focused on children’s progress.

Perfect for both experienced and developing ECE teams

This module is ideal for ECE kaiako, team leaders, centre managers and owners wanting to strengthen the quality and consistency of curriculum planning.

For people working in or leading ECE who don’t have an ECE teaching qualification, the module provides practical guidance for understanding the professional thinking behind planning and intentional teaching.

For qualified and experienced kaiako, it provides an opportunity to critically reflect on current planning practices, strengthen intentional teaching and ensure planning clearly demonstrates how teaching is contributing to children’s learning and progress.

Professional development that works around you

Complete the module online, at your own pace. Work through it in one sitting or leave and return to continue your learning when it suits you.

Practical activities throughout the module give participants opportunities to apply their learning and practise developing purposeful responses to children’s learning.

At the end of the module, participants can print a certificate of completion to retain as evidence of professional development and add to their professional learning records.

Get your whole team planning with purpose

A multi-user licence is an excellent option for services wanting to develop a more consistent approach to intentional teaching and curriculum planning across the team.

Use the module as part of:

• team professional development
• curriculum improvement
• mentoring and professional growth
• strengthening planning and evaluation
• induction for new kaiako or leaders
• developing consistent planning practices
• building leadership capability.

When completed alongside Strengthening Intentional Teaching & Planning – Part I, the two modules take kaiako through the curriculum planning process from Notice and Recognise through to Respond and Evaluate.