In 1989 the New Zealand Council for Educational Research organised a seminar on
Assessment in Early Childhood Education. This was one of the first times that the
topic of assessment and evaluation received formal airing by the early childhood
community. Until then, the generally accepted wisdom had been that assessment in
early childhood education was inappropriate because of the very young age of the
children who use this service and the great variability in developmental progress at this
age.
The 1990s saw a decided increase in interest in assessment and evaluation. Curricular
change, and with it, assessment and evaluation, became part of the national policy
agenda for all parts of the educational sector
