In early childhood education in Aotearoa New Zealand it is common practice for teachers to write Learning Stories to document and interpret children’s learning events. What these stories don’t always uncover or articulate, however, are the parallel roles which teachers play in these learning episodes. By widening these stories ...

Information and communication technology (ICT) is acknowledged as being a significant part of many people’s lives, and for many young children it forms the backdrop to their lives. Research suggests the very nature of some ICT requires relational and collaborative pedagogical practices to accompany it. This article draws on ...

This article responds to an increasing emphasis on early childhood care and education (ECCE) as preparation for academic success and the child as a future economic resource, manifest in various recent government policy initiatives in Aotearoa New Zealand. The article explores the way this situation has arisen despite the ...

This article explores identity-work stories of three newly qualified early childhood teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand. A small poststructural research study investigated how five newly qualified early childhood teachers understood their identities as teachers. Within the data was evidence of three dominant discourses of early childhood education that shaped ...

This article describes how two critical literacy activities were successfully incorporated into an early childhood centre in Aotearoa New Zealand. The article discusses the design of the activities, how the activities worked in the classroom, and the children’s perceived learning. The article concludes that critical literacy activities with young ...

This article describes the findings of a series of qualitative research studies which explored the technologies with which children aged 3–5 years old play, the forms of learning related to these activities, and the conditions which shaped their experiences with digital resources. Three forms of learning were observed in ...

A research project in this early childhood centre investigated the (school) key competency relating to others. The teachers were particularly interested in this key competency because relationships, and the empowerment of children and families, had always been key concepts for the centre. In order to research their understanding of relationships ...

This article is premised on a view that early childhood education (ECE) is a public good and a child’s right. As such, there is no place for ECE services to be treated as a private commodity that is bought and sold in the marketplace. Yet, despite policies to transform its ...

Of great concern within the Ministry for Regulation’s 2024 Regulatory Review of Early Childhood Education report was Recommendation number 10 that aims for greater flexibility in qualifications within the early childhood education (ECE) workforce. The recommendation directly undermines current policy objectives within the Early Learning Action Plan (2019–2029) which aspire ...

In Europe and the UK there is lively debate about when children should start school and what kinds of curriculum and pedagogical approaches are most effective in the early years. Caroline Sharp of the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) considers some of the most recent research evidence and draws ...