Early Childhood Folio vol. 20 no. 1 (2016)

Early childhood education is a critical cultural and social space where children learn to live with and alongside others. Yet the education system in Aotearoa New Zealand is rarely responsive to queer cultures, often rendering them invisible. We claim that risk aversion and discourses of innocence within a heteronormative climate often prevent teachers' engagement with children and families over queer cultures. This article sheds light on picture books that can encourage social inclusion of… Read more

The focus of this article is on the findings emerging from a cross-cultural research project exploring children’s working theories about identity, language, and culture in two diverse early childhood education centres in Christchurch: one Samoan immersion, and the other English-medium. The project team believes that by nurturing children’s identity, language, and culture through a lens of children’s working theories, they will provide new perspectives of how teachers can work with young… Read more

This article presents findings from a study that explored the values and practices of early childhood teachers working with children and families from diverse cultural backgrounds in three early childhood centres in New Zealand. The research aimed to identify effective teaching practice that weaves the cultural capital of families into the fabric of the national early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki. The article focuses on the findings from one of the centres, the Pakuranga Baptist… Read more

The engagement of migrant families in early childhood education is a strategy pursued by the Ministry of Education in Aotearoa New Zealand. A growing body of research has explored the realities being experienced by these migrant families. These realities include how families are able to maintain their cultural identities, practices and languages while making a new life in Aotearoa New Zealand.

A supported playgroup model is one type of provision that can serve as a valuable… Read more

In a period of educational reform that gives much attention to children?s family experiences, gaining an understanding of diverse cultural views of parenting is important. This is especially so for Australia, a multicultural society where the values of diversity, culture, family, and community are all shared in early childhood education. This article reports a study in Australia that explored the viewpoints of seven culturally diverse women on raising young children. By engaging with… Read more

In Sweden where approximately one quarter of the children have a migrant background, preschool teachers comply with two seemingly contradictory ideas formulated in the curriculum: national cultural reproduction and intercultural awareness. The article is built on a case study that explores how a newly arrived refugee child in an ethnically diverse Swedish preschool is incorporated into a tradition that can be seen both as an ordinary preschool experience and as a means of national cultural… Read more

Early Childhood Folio is seeking articles for this special issue. The issue will honour eminent childhood studies scholar, Emeritus Professor Anne B. Smith.
This issue seeks articles focused on children as social actors and understandings of childhoods in contemporary times. It promotes a multi-disciplinary childhood studies approach, emphasising the social construction of childhoods and relationships with culture, geography, and history. The issue draws… Read more