This article is one component of a doctoral study that explored six early childhood teachers’ experiences of working with culturally diverse refugee children and their families in an urban district of New Zealand. Specifically, this article focuses on how teachers supported the transition of refugee children from home to centres ...

This article endeavours to inform early childhood education teachers about the issue of poverty. It draws on a body of literature to argue for the critical importance of teachers being reflective and reflexive in relation to children and families who face economic disadvantage. Furthermore, it contends that unless teachers are ...

The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic rapidly impacted the education sector both in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally. Most research has focused on the impacts within the primary, secondary, and tertiary education sectors. This article brings attention to the challenges faced by early learning kaiako while providing learning opportunities during lockdowns. It ...

This article discusses the relationship with time in early childhood practice and research. It is based on a 2-year study, Slow Knowledge and the Unhurried Child (2020–21). The study was underpinned by a concern about time pressures within the early childhood education and care  sector and a desire to seek ...

This article draws from a Teaching and Learning Research Initiative research project that aimed to explore how three early childhood centres support children to experience and learn about their local area, including its stories, geology, biodiversity, and cultural meanings. The project helps children envision socioecological futures. This article focuses on ...

As part of ongoing collaborations with associate and mentor teachers, we explore teachers’ decision making in order to help student teachers and others become aware of the myriad  decisions and political choices made by teachers in their everyday work with children. In this article we are particularly interested in care ...

Stories are a way that children under 3 years of age learn to share meaning with others. Most research with this age group has focused on 1:1 parent–child story relationships at home, largely book reading. These studies have positioned children in the role of story listeners rather than story tellers ...

The focus of this study is the cognitive process called mentalisation and how it is woven into Te Whāriki. Employing a qualitative content analysis, we sought to examine the embedded expectations and assumptions evident in the curriculum concerning how mentalisation processes and practices should be employed by teachers. Results showed ...