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

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-96
Author(s):  
Anita Croft

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.

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-58
Author(s):  
Pratika Singh ◽  
Kaili C Zhang

AOTEAROA/NEW ZEALAND HAS a reputation for being a world leader in early childhood education. However, research indicates that many early childhood teachers in New Zealand encounter difficulties when working with children and families from diverse backgrounds. In addition, though a plethora of research has been done on early childhood teachers’ partnership with parents of multicultural backgrounds, little attention has been given by researchers to Pacifika parents’ perspective on early childhood education in New Zealand. This article draws on findings from an interpretative study on three Pacifika families’ views about their cultural practice at home and their views about early childhood education in New Zealand. It is believed that investigating parents’ views on early childhood education and early childhood services in New Zealand can provide better support for families and children from Pacifika backgrounds.


2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Ritchie

AbstractThis article offers a perspective from early childhood care and education in Aotearoa New Zealand. It draws from the data of four recent studies to demonstrate pedagogical practices informed by Indigenous (Māori) perspectives. Māori values, such as manaakitanga (caring, hospitality, generosity) and whanaungatanga (relatedness), are shown featuring in routines focused on provision of food and serving as a key focus of early childhood education for sustainability. It is argued that providing opportunities for children to become engaged with growing, cooking and sharing food enables them to operationalise compassion towards themselves, others and the environment, reconnecting with the source of their food and demonstrating generosity and care to others (both human and more-than-human) in their communities. This can be viewed as a pedagogical response to the increasing encroachment of neoliberalism, with its incumbent individualism and lack of collectivist consciousness or concern for the environment, into education settings. Furthermore, drawing upon Indigenous perspectives honours traditional, localised wisdom regarding sustainability practices.


2012 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 344-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beverley Clark

This article examines small-scale research into what passion might mean to early childhood teachers in the context of Aotearoa New Zealand. The catalyst for this research was twofold: Moyles' work in the United Kingdom on passion, professionalism and paradox, and the author's personal encounters with the distinct views in the teaching community on the relevance of passion for teaching. While on a small scale, this research is significant as it explores a term that is widely used in many contexts, particularly in relation to teaching. The research examines the interpretation of this concept in the context for teaching in early childhood education (ECE) settings in Aotearoa New Zealand and it will form the basis for further, wider research on this topic in 2012.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
Peng Xu

 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.


2004 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 293-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra C. Gunn ◽  
Coralanne Child ◽  
Barbara Madden ◽  
Kerry Purdue ◽  
Nicola Surtees ◽  
...  

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