Abstract:
Ensuring that young Samoan children have quality early literacy experiences is accepted as a key factor in later success at school and in the workplace. Many Samoan families are now enrolling their young children in a'oga amata (Samoan language early childhood centres) and kindergartens for their early childhood education. In order to assure quality in the communication and literacy experiences offered by a'oga amata, this study provides information on the print environment experienced by Samoan children in a'oga amata and kindergartens with reference to related findings from international research.
Using methodology used in the United States for comparing the print environments and print experiences for children in low and high socio-economic communities, I recorded the print environment and experiences available to Samoan children attending three a'oga amata and three kindergartens from the same community in different parts of the Wellington region.
The study looked at the number and types of print items accessible to children including books and print on walls and other surfaces. The types of print items were evaluated in terms of their diversity, which is considered a key aspect of quality, ensuring variety, choice and interest for the children. I also recorded the number and nature of print experiences children were having. For the nature of the print experience, the child's ability to choose is considered to be an important aspect of quality.
The results from an initial visit to each centre indicated that a'oga amata had fewer print items accessible to children than kindergartens. Centres responded to the numbers reported so that at a second and third visit the differences in the numbers of print items had generally reduced. I suggest that both services should pay attention to the diversity of print accessible to children to meet the expectation of the communication strand of Te Whāriki, the New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum, that children experience the stories and symbols of their own culture.
The study raises implications for strengthening early childhood practice in the area of print experiences. I see a need for extending the research to a wider sample of centres to confirm the findings, and make valid comparisons with overseas studies.
I propose using professional development programmes to introduce early childhood staff to the methodology for classifying the print environment so that young Samoan children are having a wide diversity of early literacy experiences that will encourage a lifetime of enjoyment with reading and writing and the associated benefits that provides.
