scholarly journals Chinese Immigrant Children in New Zealand Early Childhood Centres

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Karen Liang Guo
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
Learning Experiences ◽  
Immigrant Children ◽  
The Body ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Major Theme ◽  
Chinese Immigrant ◽  
Cultural Tools

<p><b>This research investigated the learning experiences of Chinese immigrant children in New Zealand early childhood centres with the aim of describing educational implications for early childhood professionals. A qualitative research approach was adopted using a multiple case study design. Eight Chinese immigrant children aged three to five years, their parents and their teachers participated in the study; the children were enrolled in six early childhood centres in a large urban area. Procedures of data gathering included child observations, and child, parent and teacher interviews. Data were analysed from phenomenological and sociocultural perspectives.</b></p> <p>The children's learning experiences, particularly languages and interpersonal relationships, were discussed from the perspectives of sociocultural theories. The concept of a learning community contributed to the analysis which was also influenced by the notions of cultural diversity and multiculturalism.</p> <p>A major theme of this research was the value of the culture of Chinese immigrant families to mediate the learning experiences of Chinese immigrant children in New Zealand early childhood centres. Familiar cultural tools and mediators provided important support for the children who were able to access them in their centres. The children's intention to drive their own learning experiences was also a salient feature. Evidence was documented that illustrated how learning and development were mediated by fulfilment of feelings of belonging, as well as the children's commitment to cross cultural boundaries. The Chinese immigrant children were active drivers of their own learning and capably negotiated and created the relationships between their family culture and that of their early childhood centre. Specific strategies they adopted to construct their own learning experiences were found to be significant in explaining the emergence of hybrid cultural tools which mediated the children's evolving development of appropriate repertoires of practice in their early childhood centres. This thesis contributes to the body of sociocultural research via the examination of children's creation of intercultural learning possibilities. It provides early childhood teachers with insights regarding how to enhance pedagogical policies, values and practices to more closely align with sociocultural frameworks, concepts of learning communities and cultural diversity. It is important that diverse cultural relations are appropriately established in the early childhood centres so that immigrant children can move between different cultures in order to generate a useful intercultural way of being for themselves.</p>

scholarly journals Chinese Immigrant Children in New Zealand Early Childhood Centres

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Karen Liang Guo
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
Learning Experiences ◽  
Immigrant Children ◽  
The Body ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Major Theme ◽  
Chinese Immigrant ◽  
Cultural Tools

<p>This research investigated the learning experiences of Chinese immigrant children in New Zealand early childhood centres with the aim of describing educational implications for early childhood professionals. A qualitative research approach was adopted using a multiple case study design. Eight Chinese immigrant children aged three to five years, their parents and their teachers participated in the study; the children were enrolled in six early childhood centres in a large urban area. Procedures of data gathering included child observations, and child, parent and teacher interviews. Data were analysed from phenomenological and sociocultural perspectives. The children's learning experiences, particularly languages and interpersonal relationships, were discussed from the perspectives of sociocultural theories. The concept of a learning community contributed to the analysis which was also influenced by the notions of cultural diversity and multiculturalism. A major theme of this research was the value of the culture of Chinese immigrant families to mediate the learning experiences of Chinese immigrant children in New Zealand early childhood centres. Familiar cultural tools and mediators provided important support for the children who were able to access them in their centres. The children's intention to drive their own learning experiences was also a salient feature. Evidence was documented that illustrated how learning and development were mediated by fulfilment of feelings of belonging, as well as the children's commitment to cross cultural boundaries. The Chinese immigrant children were active drivers of their own learning and capably negotiated and created the relationships between their family culture and that of their early childhood centre. Specific strategies they adopted to construct their own learning experiences were found to be significant in explaining the emergence of hybrid cultural tools which mediated the children's evolving development of appropriate repertoires of practice in their early childhood centres. This thesis contributes to the body of sociocultural research via the examination of children's creation of intercultural learning possibilities. It provides early childhood teachers with insights regarding how to enhance pedagogical policies, values and practices to more closely align with sociocultural frameworks, concepts of learning communities and cultural diversity. It is important that diverse cultural relations are appropriately established in the early childhood centres so that immigrant children can move between different cultures in order to generate a useful intercultural way of being for themselves.</p>

scholarly journals Chinese Immigrant Children in New Zealand Early Childhood Centres

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Karen Liang Guo
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
Learning Experiences ◽  
Immigrant Children ◽  
The Body ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Major Theme ◽  
Chinese Immigrant ◽  
Cultural Tools

<p><b>This research investigated the learning experiences of Chinese immigrant children in New Zealand early childhood centres with the aim of describing educational implications for early childhood professionals. A qualitative research approach was adopted using a multiple case study design. Eight Chinese immigrant children aged three to five years, their parents and their teachers participated in the study; the children were enrolled in six early childhood centres in a large urban area. Procedures of data gathering included child observations, and child, parent and teacher interviews. Data were analysed from phenomenological and sociocultural perspectives.</b></p> <p>The children's learning experiences, particularly languages and interpersonal relationships, were discussed from the perspectives of sociocultural theories. The concept of a learning community contributed to the analysis which was also influenced by the notions of cultural diversity and multiculturalism.</p> <p>A major theme of this research was the value of the culture of Chinese immigrant families to mediate the learning experiences of Chinese immigrant children in New Zealand early childhood centres. Familiar cultural tools and mediators provided important support for the children who were able to access them in their centres. The children's intention to drive their own learning experiences was also a salient feature. Evidence was documented that illustrated how learning and development were mediated by fulfilment of feelings of belonging, as well as the children's commitment to cross cultural boundaries. The Chinese immigrant children were active drivers of their own learning and capably negotiated and created the relationships between their family culture and that of their early childhood centre. Specific strategies they adopted to construct their own learning experiences were found to be significant in explaining the emergence of hybrid cultural tools which mediated the children's evolving development of appropriate repertoires of practice in their early childhood centres. This thesis contributes to the body of sociocultural research via the examination of children's creation of intercultural learning possibilities. It provides early childhood teachers with insights regarding how to enhance pedagogical policies, values and practices to more closely align with sociocultural frameworks, concepts of learning communities and cultural diversity. It is important that diverse cultural relations are appropriately established in the early childhood centres so that immigrant children can move between different cultures in order to generate a useful intercultural way of being for themselves.</p>

scholarly journals Chinese Immigrant Children in New Zealand Early Childhood Centres

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Karen Liang Guo
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
Learning Experiences ◽  
Immigrant Children ◽  
The Body ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Major Theme ◽  
Chinese Immigrant ◽  
Cultural Tools

<p>This research investigated the learning experiences of Chinese immigrant children in New Zealand early childhood centres with the aim of describing educational implications for early childhood professionals. A qualitative research approach was adopted using a multiple case study design. Eight Chinese immigrant children aged three to five years, their parents and their teachers participated in the study; the children were enrolled in six early childhood centres in a large urban area. Procedures of data gathering included child observations, and child, parent and teacher interviews. Data were analysed from phenomenological and sociocultural perspectives. The children's learning experiences, particularly languages and interpersonal relationships, were discussed from the perspectives of sociocultural theories. The concept of a learning community contributed to the analysis which was also influenced by the notions of cultural diversity and multiculturalism. A major theme of this research was the value of the culture of Chinese immigrant families to mediate the learning experiences of Chinese immigrant children in New Zealand early childhood centres. Familiar cultural tools and mediators provided important support for the children who were able to access them in their centres. The children's intention to drive their own learning experiences was also a salient feature. Evidence was documented that illustrated how learning and development were mediated by fulfilment of feelings of belonging, as well as the children's commitment to cross cultural boundaries. The Chinese immigrant children were active drivers of their own learning and capably negotiated and created the relationships between their family culture and that of their early childhood centre. Specific strategies they adopted to construct their own learning experiences were found to be significant in explaining the emergence of hybrid cultural tools which mediated the children's evolving development of appropriate repertoires of practice in their early childhood centres. This thesis contributes to the body of sociocultural research via the examination of children's creation of intercultural learning possibilities. It provides early childhood teachers with insights regarding how to enhance pedagogical policies, values and practices to more closely align with sociocultural frameworks, concepts of learning communities and cultural diversity. It is important that diverse cultural relations are appropriately established in the early childhood centres so that immigrant children can move between different cultures in order to generate a useful intercultural way of being for themselves.</p>

Transnational parenting practices of Chinese immigrant families in New Zealand

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 219-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angel Chan
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Parenting Practices ◽  
Immigrant Families ◽  
Chinese Immigrant ◽  
Parenting Strategies ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Chinese Immigrant Families ◽  
Transnational Parenting

This article advocates for fluid pedagogies that align with the transnational parenting practices of immigrant families. New Zealand is now considered to be a superdiverse country with a large population of immigrants. This superdiversity phenomenon can therefore also be found in its early childhood education settings. Research has indicated that many contemporary immigrants are transnationals who maintain close connections with their home countries and frequently engage in border-crossing activities. Transnational immigrants are mobile, and their parenting strategies may be similarly fluid. This article uses findings from a research project which involved Chinese immigrant families to illustrate transnational perspectives of early childhood education and parenting practices. Narrative excerpts are presented and analysed using key theoretical constructs of transnationalism to illustrate the participants’ cultural dilemmas in their parenting, their preparedness to adapt their heritage practices and to adopt early childhood education discourses of the host country, and their agency in choosing parenting strategies that they believed best support their children’s learning. It highlights the importance of parent–teacher dialogue and of enacting a curriculum with fluid pedagogies that are responsive to heterogeneous parental aspirations.

scholarly journals Skirmishes on the Border: How Children Experienced, Influenced and Enacted the Boundaries of Curriculum  in an Early Childhood Education Centre Setting

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Alison Margaret Stephenson
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
Physical Structure ◽  
The Body ◽  
Data Generation ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
Education Centre ◽  
Null Curriculum ◽  
Adults And Children

<p>The notion of curriculum as contested was central to this thesis. In particular, the focus was on how children (aged from 8 months to 5 years) experienced and influenced the scope of curriculum and participated in the process in defining what constituted null curriculum in one New Zealand childcare centre. Qualitative methods were used to investigate this process of setting curriculum boundaries. Participant observations over five months yielded detailed observations, and these were supplemented by conversations with children which occurred in the context of a range of research strategies; children's perspectives have been foregrounded throughout. Data generation and analysis was guided by principles of the generic inductive qualitative model. Critical pedagogy and the sociology of childhood together provided the theoretical and methodological framework for the study, and 'strategies of dislocation' were devised to assist in seeing unfamiliar aspects in a familiar context. The central source of curriculum boundaries was found to be the assumed demarcation between adults and children; not only did this wider social norm influence the teachers, but it was also found to be embedded within the physical structure and organisation of the centre. It is argued this generational division conflicted with teachers' commitment to implementing sociocultural practices. The core of curriculum for children was found to be relationships with others. However, many relationships were characterised by a dialectic tension between a desire to establish relationships and be accepted within the community, and a desire to exercise control/power. It is argued that these two concerns were significant aspects of curriculum for children. Children's focus on gender and their individual interests also influenced the scope of curriculum, although children's ability to introduce interests depended upon how conducive the physical and social environment was to their expression. Teachers' and children's interpretation of what constituted null curriculum varied. Some aspects, and particularly the body, appeared to be null curriculum for all. Children used strategies of resistance to introduce new elements into the curriculum. Findings from the thesis are aligned with those of other recent qualitative studies in similar New Zealand settings and implications for the early childhood profession are discussed, particularly in relation to scrutinising the image of the child that is implied in practices, and challenging assumptions about the roles of adults and children, as a first step towards dismantling expectations that currently limit the potential scope of curriculum.</p>

scholarly journals Skirmishes on the Border: How Children Experienced, Influenced and Enacted the Boundaries of Curriculum  in an Early Childhood Education Centre Setting

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Alison Margaret Stephenson
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
Physical Structure ◽  
The Body ◽  
Data Generation ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
Education Centre ◽  
Null Curriculum ◽  
Adults And Children

<p>The notion of curriculum as contested was central to this thesis. In particular, the focus was on how children (aged from 8 months to 5 years) experienced and influenced the scope of curriculum and participated in the process in defining what constituted null curriculum in one New Zealand childcare centre. Qualitative methods were used to investigate this process of setting curriculum boundaries. Participant observations over five months yielded detailed observations, and these were supplemented by conversations with children which occurred in the context of a range of research strategies; children's perspectives have been foregrounded throughout. Data generation and analysis was guided by principles of the generic inductive qualitative model. Critical pedagogy and the sociology of childhood together provided the theoretical and methodological framework for the study, and 'strategies of dislocation' were devised to assist in seeing unfamiliar aspects in a familiar context. The central source of curriculum boundaries was found to be the assumed demarcation between adults and children; not only did this wider social norm influence the teachers, but it was also found to be embedded within the physical structure and organisation of the centre. It is argued this generational division conflicted with teachers' commitment to implementing sociocultural practices. The core of curriculum for children was found to be relationships with others. However, many relationships were characterised by a dialectic tension between a desire to establish relationships and be accepted within the community, and a desire to exercise control/power. It is argued that these two concerns were significant aspects of curriculum for children. Children's focus on gender and their individual interests also influenced the scope of curriculum, although children's ability to introduce interests depended upon how conducive the physical and social environment was to their expression. Teachers' and children's interpretation of what constituted null curriculum varied. Some aspects, and particularly the body, appeared to be null curriculum for all. Children used strategies of resistance to introduce new elements into the curriculum. Findings from the thesis are aligned with those of other recent qualitative studies in similar New Zealand settings and implications for the early childhood profession are discussed, particularly in relation to scrutinising the image of the child that is implied in practices, and challenging assumptions about the roles of adults and children, as a first step towards dismantling expectations that currently limit the potential scope of curriculum.</p>

scholarly journals Ko toku reo ko toku ia mana: My language, my identity - The Pacific language nest: How language, culture and traditions are supported and promoted for the Pacific communities of the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau in Aotearoa New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Ali Glasgow
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
The Body ◽  
Significant Feature ◽  
Advisory Group ◽  
Pacific Island ◽  
Cook Islands ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Group I ◽  
The Pacific

<p>Within the early childhood sector of New Zealand, Pacific language nests have played a pivotal role in promoting Pacific education, language development and building Pacific communities. Pacific Island language nests have emerged as foundational contexts that have facilitated learning, family and community engagement as well as promoting cultural aspirations. This study focusses on the Pacific Nations of the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau Islands; all share the status of New Zealand Realm states, and have languages which are at extreme risk of language death.  This research examines the extent to which families and communities engage with the language nests. It investigates challenges that impact on the support and promotion of language, culture and traditions for the Pacific language nest. This study explores practices and processes in the Pacific language nest, and how these practices are evolving and adapting within the contemporary early childhood education sector.   Using a combination of Sociocultural and Indigenous theoretical framings, I apply an ethnographic approach to three case study settings. Applying the methods of observation, talanoa (informal group discussion), document, video and audio analysis, and reflective field notes applied in the study, and guidance of a Pacific advisory group I seek out the cultural, social and linguistic conceptualisations and practices that take place in the Cook Islands, Niuean and Tokelauan language nest settings.   Findings from this study reveal that Pacific ECE language services are delivering programmes that embrace cultural practices in which children are immersed in culturally and linguistically rich learning environments. Language experiences are varied and designated mat time music and group sessions provide and are utilised for Indigenous language learning opportunities. The language nest provides a hub for the Pacific Island communities and the expertise of the wider family. Intergenerational participation is a significant feature. Grandparents and elders of the community, in particular, maintain a prominent role in the provision of authentic cultural and linguistic programmes for the Pacific nations of the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau islands. The language nest is providing a crucial role in stemming the decreasing use of vernacular language in these nations.  This study provides a framing of valuable knowledge that adds to the body of knowledge and provides an in-depth understanding of the Pacific language nests of the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau communities in Aotearoa New Zealand.</p>

An Investigation into the Practices of a Class of Field-Based Student Educators Working in Linguistically Diverse Early Childhood Centres

2007 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Schofield
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Second Language ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Teaching Practices ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Learning Experiences ◽  
Linguistically Diverse ◽  
Learning English

TWENTY EARLY CHILDHOOD STUDENT educators were surveyed on their teaching practices when working with children learning English as a second language in early childhood centres in New Zealand. The bilingual and trilingual participants stated that their practices were based on their own language learning experiences, theories learned in class and practices modelled by experienced educators. Monolingual participants, with no second language learning experiences, stated that their practices were based on theories and observations of other teachers. This seems to highlight the importance of experiences in the field for all student educators, but especially for those with no personal experience of second-language learning. The field-based mode of study is identified as a successful way of providing this experience, as it requires students to work at a centre during their training. This provides them with ongoing opportunities to apply and consolidate knowledge gained in the classroom, and to observe and critically analyse their own practice and that of others.

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