Year

2024

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

School of Education

Abstract

The early childhood education and care (ECEC) context plays a critical role in shaping learning trajectories of children. The early childhood pedagogue in Australia, guided by the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) V2.0 (AGDE, 2022), provides a rich foundation to support optimal child development through play, interactions, and a responsive curriculum. A key domain of learning that is essential for children’s development and predictive of later success is early mathematics, with research advocating for a more intentional approach to enhance this learning (Ertle et al., 2016; Knaus, 2017). Despite this developmental significance, early childhood educators and teachers remain largely uncertain how to best approach mathematical pedagogy in their practice, with a lack of practice supports to enhance children’s skills and understanding. One way to enrich the early mathematical context is through the integration of assessment strategies that are easily embedded within everyday practice, produce reliable and actionable data while aligning with the dominant play-based philosophies of the early educational context.

The aim of the current thesis was to respond to this need through the development of a formative early mathematics assessment - the Numeracy and Mathematics Block-Based Assessment (NUMBBA) – to support educators to better respond and plan to the developmental capacities and learning needs of young children across prior-to-school educational contexts. NUMBBA provides a rich capture of children’s mathematical development in areas known to be foundational for later achievement (i.e., patterning, symmetry, number). Importantly, the tool aims to provide actionable and accurate data to support practice and inform intentional pedagogy, while aligning with pedagogies of play.

FoR codes (2008)

130208 Mathematics and Numeracy Curriculum and Pedagogy, 130102 Early Childhood Education (excl. Maori), 130303 Education Assessment and Evaluation

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Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Wollongong.