Teachers’ pedagogical knowledge is often evident in mantra-like phrases that act as shortcut explanations for professional actions, or as principles of practice. Five key mantras for good practice in infant and toddler settings, accumulated from theory and research, are discussed to unpack pedagogical imperatives in Te Whāriki 2017 and articulate ...

Aotearoa New Zealand’s early childhood curriculum Te Whāriki includes the explanation that “A weaver weaves in new strands of harakeke or pandanus as their whāriki expands…” (Ministry of Education, 2017, inside cover). The joining of new material to the whāriki symbolises new learning. This metaphor of a continued weaving offers ...

The revised version of Te Whāriki (2017) acknowledges children’s rights to exercise some agency in their own lives. This article responds by drawing on the author’s research in four spatially diverse early childhood education centres to consider how built environments can influence children’s agency. It argues that spatial complexity creates ...

Early childhood curricula are designed to provide young children with a range of experiences and interactions in order to grow their knowledge, skills, and dispositions for learning. New Zealand early childhood teachers typically aim to provide rich play and learning experiences which foreground children’s interests, position teachers as facilitative, and ...

Social–emotional skills provide a critical foundation for learning and wellbeing in early childhood and beyond. In this article we present specific teaching strategies that teachers can implement within the context of supportive, responsive relationships to foster young children’s developing social–emotional competence. The teaching strategies represent practices that have been identified ...

Young children’s increased engagement with technology and “screen time” has created growing concern about children’s opportunities for connecting with nature. This article draws on data from three early childhood education (ECE) settings in New Zealand that prioritise the provision of regular experiences of natural outdoor environments. The article focuses on ...

New Zealand’s increasingly heterogeneous population places manifold demands on the education sector to integrate children who do not speak English as a first language. Limited research exists on how minority language children acquire English within early childhood education settings and how teachers support this development. This article reports on research ...

Mathematics learning in early childhood education is strongly supported by existing resources of a mathematical framework (Te Kākano) and a curriculum tool, Te Aho Tukutuku. With the publication of the update of Te Whāriki, this article revisits these three resources in order to identify important threads of mathematical ...

Children’s interests are an important basis for creating an early childhood curriculum. However, opportunities to build a curriculum responsive to children’s interests may often be missed if busy teachers simply add new resources to activities. This article draws on the notion of real questions as a way to interpret children’s ...

Leading from a distance presents unique challenges, particularly with regards to building leadership capacity. This article draws from a small research project that explored the role of the professional leader supporting teachers within kindergartens and early childhood centres in a large geographically dispersed kindergarten association in Aotearoa New Zealand. The ...