Te Rito Maioha Early Childhood New Zealand is thrilled to see Professor Emeritus Margaret Carr ONZM recognised for her
incredible contribution to early childhood education.
Margaret Carr has been elected as a 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 and the teaching practices of kaiako with her untiring mahi and passion
for the learning lives of young tamariki,” says Te Rito Maioha Chief Executive Kathy Wolfe.
Margaret was one of the 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 - 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 on its website:
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.”