One ring to rule them all? Locating discourse in Aotearoa New Zealand early childhood education curriculum

2020 ◽  
pp. 147821032097312
Author(s):  
Fiona Westbrook ◽  
Jayne White
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Julia Kristeva ◽  
National Government ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Early Childhood Curriculum ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Te Whāriki

Early childhood scholars in New Zealand have long lamented a rising dominance of neoliberalism. Correspondingly they suggest that there has been a lessening of socialist ideals and principles of Te Ao Māori after years of a right-wing government. With the ‘refresh’ of New Zealand’s national early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki under the Fifth National Government we sought to investigate the location of these discourses in Te Whāriki. Borrowing from Tolkien this paper draws on the metaphor of a ruling, in this case neoliberal, discourse as ‘one ring to rule them all’. We investigate the governmentality of the Fifth National Government through their Four Year Plan 2016–2020 and its permeation of the revised curriculum. Seeking to better understand the location and dominance of neoliberalism within the updated Te Whāriki, the paper analyses both the 1996 curriculum and the 2017 revision for socialist, neoliberal and Te Ao Māori discourses, and their status within the document. A post-structuralist conceptual framework is employed for this study, bringing to bear Michel Foucault and Julia Kristeva in conversation. Analysis across both Te Whāriki and the Four Year Plan found that while neoliberalism was certainly a pervasive discourse, it was, in fact, accompanied by discourses of socialism, neoliberalism and Te Ao Māori. The paper concludes by suggesting that, while neoliberalism may appear to dominate texts, there are complex interanimations between a number of discourses. This multitude potentially ameliorates any one discourse’s domination or, conversely, compromises others. With these findings come important implications concerning the pervasive discourse of neoliberalism and its shaping potential. However, there are also concerns for a new form of colonisation within early childhood curriculum and policy reform.

scholarly journals Kei hea te Ora? The whereabouts of the health of children in the early childhood curriculum of Aotearoa New Zealand

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-102
Author(s):  
Andrew Gibbons
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Early Childhood Curriculum ◽  
Competing Values ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Spheres Of Influence ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Te Whāriki

AbstractThe policies and practices of early childhood teaching in Aotearoa New Zealand have been an ongoing site of political, economic, social and cultural contestation. Competing values and beliefs regarding experiences of both the child and the teacher have been central to the contesting. Helen May (2001, 2009) tracks these tensions through the waxing and waning of particular landscapes or paradigms, each of which can be seen to have contributed to the growth of the early childhood sector, its purpose, operations, manifestations, and its arguably tenuous cohesion as an educational sector. This paper provides a brief overview of the various paradigms, their purposes, and their spheres of influence (recognising that other papers in this special issue will contribute to a very detailed picture of early childhood education in Aotearoa) before analysing the discourses of child health in relation to the early childhood curriculum. Health is woven into the strands and principles of Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education [MoE], 1996). Yet, this paper questions whether teachers and student teachers are attuned to what it means to have health as a key part of the curriculum, and explores whether health is a marginal consideration in the curriculum. The paper engages Foucault’s work, exploring tensions between pedagogical and medical disciplines in relation to the professionalisation of early childhood teaching. The idea of holism is then discussed as an approach to early childhood education curriculum discussions with reference to the participatory approaches to the development of Te Whāriki.

The Bicultural Imperative within the New Zealand Draft Curriculum Guidelines for Early Childhood Education, ‘Te Whariki’

1996 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 28-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Ritchie
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Primary Site ◽  
Early Childhood Curriculum ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Curriculum Guidelines ◽  
Te Whāriki

The New Zealand Draft Curriculum Guidelines for Early Childhood Education, ‘Te Whariki’, introduced in 1993, are discussed in relation to the historical and cultural contexts which underlie their development, and aspects of the bicultural focus of the document are highlighted. The document addresses the aspirations of the indigenous people of New Zealand, the Maori, for their language and culture to be protected and sustained. Early childhood is the primary site for the transmission of language and culture, and this places the onus on all early childhood educators in New Zealand to address these issues in an integrated way within the early childhood curriculum.

The Aotearoa New Zealand Curriculum Te Whāriki as a Basis for Developing Dispositions of Inclusion

2019 ◽  
pp. 181-195
Author(s):  
Michael Gaffney ◽  
Kate McAnelly
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Early Childhood Curriculum ◽  
Disabled Children ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Family Perspectives ◽  
Early Childhood Settings ◽  
Te Whāriki

Over the last 20 years Aotearoa New Zealand's early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki, has required and supported inclusive approaches to the active participation of disabled children and their families in everyday early childhood settings. The revised Te Whāriki, released in 2017, further places an onus of responsibility on teachers to resist inequity and exclusion experienced by disabled children through its focus on nurturing respectful, responsive relationships with families and honoring the knowledge parents bring with them as experts on their children. This chapter explores how Te Whāriki and initial teacher education (ITE) programs in Aotearoa New Zealand can act on each other to produce student teacher practice that is inclusive of family perspectives. Te Whāriki is a bicultural curriculum and recognizes the Crown's earlier commitment to the indigenous people of New Zealand. This also acknowledges the role of families in early childhood settings as equal partners in establishing aspirations for their children's learning.

The Aotearoa New Zealand Curriculum Te Whāriki as a Basis for Developing Dispositions of Inclusion

2021 ◽  
pp. 1103-1117
Author(s):  
Michael Gaffney ◽  
Kate McAnelly
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Early Childhood Curriculum ◽  
Disabled Children ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Family Perspectives ◽  
Early Childhood Settings ◽  
Te Whāriki

Over the last 20 years Aotearoa New Zealand's early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki, has required and supported inclusive approaches to the active participation of disabled children and their families in everyday early childhood settings. The revised Te Whāriki, released in 2017, further places an onus of responsibility on teachers to resist inequity and exclusion experienced by disabled children through its focus on nurturing respectful, responsive relationships with families and honoring the knowledge parents bring with them as experts on their children. This chapter explores how Te Whāriki and initial teacher education (ITE) programs in Aotearoa New Zealand can act on each other to produce student teacher practice that is inclusive of family perspectives. Te Whāriki is a bicultural curriculum and recognizes the Crown's earlier commitment to the indigenous people of New Zealand. This also acknowledges the role of families in early childhood settings as equal partners in establishing aspirations for their children's learning.

Children’s ‘working theories’ as curriculum outcomes

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally Peters ◽  
Keryn Davis ◽  
Ruta McKenzie
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Adult Child ◽  
Early Childhood Curriculum ◽  
Complex Thinking ◽  
Young Learners ◽  
Early Childhood Settings ◽  
Te Whāriki ◽  
Sense Of Wonder

This chapter explores how children make sense of their world through the development and refinement of ‘working theories’. Working theories are a key item for young learners, and are emphasized in the New Zealand early childhood curriculum Te Whāriki. Children’s working theories develop in environments where they have opportunities to engage in complex thinking with others, observe, listen, participate, and discuss, within the context of topics and activities. It is through interactions and activities that children begin to own the ideas and beliefs of their culture and begin to make sense of their worlds. However, fostering this learning in early childhood settings is not always easy, and requires skilled adults who can respond appropriately. We explore and discuss the nature of children’s working theories and ways in which adult–child interactions can enhance or inhibit a sense of wonder and curiosity.

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.

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