This article explores early childhood teachers’ and leaders’ early responses to the release of the revised early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 2017), with a particular focus on teaching and assessment of literacy. The study involved a convergent mixed-method design. Data were collected via a cross-sectional survey of ...

Despite implementation of significant legislation and policy initiatives related to human rights and inclusive practices, children with disabilities can still experience discrimination and exclusion in multiple areas of their lives, including in early childhood education (ECE). Evidence of a gap between policies about inclusion and the reality of exclusionary practices ...

Teaching is a highly complex and political endeavour, and as teachers we need to be courageous as we support children to make sense of the increasingly complex and diverse societies that we live in. My doctoral research highlighted a number of issues related to teachers and curriculum. Te Whāriki, the ...

In this article we present some initial findings from a Teacher-led Innovation Fund study undertaken in a kāhui ako based in the small community of Dannevirke. Teachers from the eight early childhood education (ECE) services and six schools have worked together to explore teacher practice and research the impact of ...

Practicum is understood as a critical part of initial teacher education, and associate teachers play a vital and influential role for student teachers in their practicum experience. A substantial amount of research has focused on understanding the perspective of student teachers during their practicums, as well as the requirements of ...

Professionalism in early childhood teaching is shaped within contexts, relationships, and multiple discourses of professionalism, as well as historical and enduring maternalism. This article uses posthumanist ideas from Deleuze and Guattari to reframe professionalism as produced in relationships among human and other-than-human aspects of early childhood settings, including materials, theories ...

The draft early learning strategic plan He Taonga Te Tamaiti/Every Child a Taonga (Ministry of Education, 2018) has a goal to improve quality by regulating for 100% teachers in teacher-led services. This proposal assumes a distinct separation between teachers and parents, and between services employing professional teachers and those with ...

In this article, we discuss findings from a study of how 22 teachers in kindergartens and education and care centres in Aotearoa New Zealand spent their time at work. The teachers filled in time-use diaries, writing down details of what they did at different times over a whole working day ...

In this article I discuss how discourses of democratic early childhood education and care (ECEC) as a child’s right, and enterprise discourses of ECEC as a commodity, have constructed teachers’ work and professional identities in Aotearoa New Zealand over the past two decades. I illustrate two prevailing identity constructions of ...

What do we know about the situation of leadership in early childhood education (ECE) in Aotearoa New Zealand? What can we learn from relevant leadership research? How can we use these insights to support change processes in ECE? The release of the draft 2019–29 Strategic Plan for Early Learning suggests ...