Early Childhood Folio vol. 27 no. 2 (2023)

The Middle Eastern population in New Zealand has grown significantly in the past two decades. However, little is known about Middle Eastern parents’ expectations and their children’s experiences of the New Zealand early education system. The PhD research on which this article is based was an attempt to address this gap. The findings discussed in this article derive from semistructured interviews with four case-study teachers. Using thematic analysis and drawing on constructs from critical… Read more

In te ao Māori, our connection to our maunga and physical landmarks speaks to who we are as a people. Our maunga are also a source of inspiration and direction. This article draws on the symbolism of maunga and describes a Māori process of the way maunga can also act as a metaphorical journey to strengthening identity and transformative change. It analyses data from a TLRI research study Renewing Participatory Democracy: Walking with Young Children to Story and Read the Land to exemplify… Read more

This article stems from participation in a TLRI research study, Renewing Participatory Democracy: Walking with Young Children to Story and Read the Land. It presents an account of the growing awareness of the place-based environmental and cultural relationship between Maunganui Kindergarten and Mauao.

This article is based on a 2-year TLRI-funded research project that examined how three early childhood centres explored the ways in which walking, reading, and storying the land with teachers, community members, iwi, and whānau enabled children to experience and learn about their local area, its stories, geology, biodiversity, and cultural meanings, and envision democratic socioecological futures. This article focuses on Pakuranga Baptist Kindergarten, one of the research settings that… Read more

The 2017 refresh of Aotearoa New Zealand’s early childhood education (ECE) curriculum Te Whāriki was undertaken to better guide teachers in understanding their role in supporting children’s learning and to foster alignment of teaching practices, including intentional teaching, across the ECE sector. This article draws on a small-scale research project that explored whether the updated Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 2017) has been successful with purposely guiding ECE teachers in… Read more

Autism/takiwātanga causes differences in the way people develop and learn. This research, using case study methodology, focused on teacher interactions with young autistic children in different early childhood education and care settings. The findings indicated most of the teachers included the autistic child through the use of acceptance, good communication, and some specific strategies. However, it also highlighted the need for all teachers to have professional learning and development on… Read more