scholarly journals Mobilising tofā sa’ili for ECE leadership: A talanoa confronting dominant conceptualisations from a Pasifika perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-32
Author(s):  
Maria Cooper ◽  
Jacoba Matapo
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
The Self ◽  
Reciprocal Relationships ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
The Past ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Looking Back

Leadership is about all of us, but dominant frames of leadership serve only a few. In this commentary, we challenge the dominance of Western notions of leadership as linear influence relationships in order to shift Pasifika engagement from the margins. For us, ta’ita’i (Pasifika leadership) is centred on serving, not the self, but the collective spirit. It is expansive, holistic, and grounded in reciprocal relationships between people, nature, the cosmos and those of the past, present, and future. Looking back to the teachings of our families and ancestors can guide us in leading communities with strength, unity, and connection. Rather than deny the legitimate place of Western notions of leadership or romanticise ideas of Pasifika leadership, through talanoa (open talk), we mobilise tofā sa’ili (a search for wisdom and meaning) by engaging with traditional Pasifika cultural values and philosophies that hold significance for leadership in early childhood education in Aotearoa New Zealand. In doing so, we hope to open up pathways of thinking that move us beyond individualistic framings of leadership, while honouring Pasifika ways of knowing and being in serving the collective.

Belonging and culturally nuanced communication in a refugee early childhood centre in Aotearoa New Zealand

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 379-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Mitchell ◽  
Amanda Bateman
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
Refugee Children ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Refugee Families ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand

As a concept, ‘belonging’ is acknowledged to be complex, culturally determined and multifaceted. The processes of supporting belonging through early childhood education, especially where different cultural beliefs require understanding and negotiation, are not well understood. This is certainly the case for refugee children and families within early childhood education in Aotearoa New Zealand. Coming to belong is a particular challenge for these families who have been forcibly displaced from their home country. This article analyses documentation and video and interview data from a research study in an early childhood centre for refugee children and families. The ways in which cultural values and communication modes of gesture, spoken language, voice tone and dance were integrated within the curriculum are examined. A main argument is that pedagogy which incorporates key cultural constructs that refugee families bring with them strengthens a sense of belonging.

scholarly journals Pre-Service Early Childhood Teachers’ Preparedness to Teach Education for Sustainability

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-96
Author(s):  
Anita Croft
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Early Childhood Teachers ◽  
Education For Sustainability ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Sustainability Practices ◽  
Preparedness To Teach

The benefits of beginning Education for Sustainability (EfS) in early childhood are now widely documented. With the support of their teachers, young children have shown that through engagement in sustainability practices they are capable of becoming active citizens in their communities (Duhn, Bachmann, & Harris, 2010; Kelly & White, 2012; Ritchie, 2010; Vaealiki & Mackey, 2008). Engagement with EfS has not been widespread across the early childhood sector in Aotearoa New Zealand (Duhn et al., 2010; Vaealiki & Mackey, 2008) until recently. One way of addressing EfS in early childhood education is through teacher education institutions preparing students to teach EfS when they graduate.

scholarly journals Positioning Children Citizens: Exploring Discourses in Early Childhood Curricula in China and Aotearoa New Zealand

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
Peng Xu
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Citizenship Education ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Citizenship Status ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand

 Positioning young children as citizens, now rather than as citizens in waiting, is an emerging discourse in early childhood education internationally. Differing discourses related to young children and early childhood reveal various ideas of children as citizens, and what their citizenship status, practice and education can be. This paper analyses the national early childhood education (ECE) curricula of China and Aotearoa New Zealand for the purpose of understanding how children are constructed as citizens within such policy discourses. Discourse analysis is employed in this study as a methodological approach for understanding the subjectivities of young children and exploring the meanings of young children’s citizenship in both countries. Based on Foucault’s theory of governmentality, this paper ultimately argues that young children’s citizenship in contemporary ECE curricula in China and New Zealand is a largely neoliberal construction. However, emerging positionings shape differing possibilities for citizenship education for young children in each of these countries.

scholarly journals Qualities for early childhood care and education in an age of increasing superdiversity and decreasing biodiversity

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Ritchie
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Dominant Culture ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Attitudes And Practices ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Care ◽  
Childhood Care ◽  
Climate Crisis ◽  
Opening Up

© 2016, © The Author(s) 2016. In this article it is argued that notions of ‘quality’ in early childhood education have been captured by neo-liberal discourses. These discourses perpetuate the western, individualistic, normativising and exploitative attitudes and practices that are contributing to the climate crisis currently imperilling our planet. Educators may inadvertently perpetuate this situation, or they can instead consciously challenge this dominant culture, opening up spaces of divergence. Via a sequence of short scenarios or stories based within the early childhood care and education context of Aotearoa (New Zealand), readers are invited to consider alternative conceptualisations, drawing on post-humanist and Indigenous theorising, which focus on fostering dispositional qualities that holistically engage intra-actively with(in) children’s worlds.

scholarly journals Social, cultural, and ecological justice in the age the Anthropocene: A New Zealand early childhood care and education perspective

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Ritchie
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Ethical Responsibility ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Care ◽  
Childhood Care ◽  
Pedagogy Of Place

Abstract Educators have an ethical responsibility to uphold the wellbeing of the children, families and communities that they serve. This commitment becomes even more pressing as we move into the era of the Anthropocene, where human induced climate changes are disrupting the planet’s systems, threatening the survival of not only humans, but of eco-systems and the earth’s biodiversity. This paper draws upon examples from Aotearoa (New Zealand) to demonstrate ways in which a critical pedagogy of place informed by local traditional knowledges can inform early childhood education whilst also enhancing dispositions of empathy towards self and others, including more-than-human others.

scholarly journals Building Inclusive Communities in Early Childhood Education: Diverse Perspectives from Aotearoa/New Zealand

2004 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 293-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra C. Gunn ◽  
Coralanne Child ◽  
Barbara Madden ◽  
Kerry Purdue ◽  
Nicola Surtees ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand
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