Research into leadership in early childhood education in Aotearoa New Zealand is in its infancy. At this early stage, distributed leadership has been identified as the most common style of leadership used in teacher-led early childhood education and care services. However, as a parent-led early childhood education service, Playcentre uses emergent…

Communication and literacy development of young children is shaped by the nature of social and cultural relationships in everyday situations. Few studies, however, have explored early story experiences encountered by infants and toddlers in naturalistic settings. We argue that personal stories about everyday lived experiences are a vital context…

A range of structural, interpersonal and individual factors contribute to the extent to which people can access higher education and experience inclusion and equity once there. This paper considers the experiences of parents in higher education settings, and examines the extent to which universities in two countries support parents' inclusion…

Using the concept of a trajectory, we trace one child's negotiation of his sense of belonging within his early childhood centre through analysing his participation in conflict and conflict-like interactions. Video data were gathered 2 days a week over a 6-month period from the start of his attendance at the centre. Sociolinguistic interactional…

The quality of early childhood education and care fundamentally depends on teachers' wise practice. However, the environments in which that education and care occur can influence, inform, and shape teachers' practice, and children's and families' experiences. This article draws on a written "portrait" of the learning environment created…

Greerton Early Learning Centre (GELC), is a privately owned full-day early childhood centre in Tauranga, New Zealand. GELC was operated in two centres on neighbouring streets: an infant and toddler centre (licensed for 30 children) and an older children's centre (licensed for 40 children). After two decades operating in repurposed residential…

As New Zealand society has become more diverse, there are increasing numbers of children at early childhood centres and at school for whom English is the language of instruction but for whom it is not a first language. This book is written as a resource for teachers and students who are learning how to respond to the language needs of learners…

A normative demand placed on early childhood centres by political actors and education theorists is that they should promote participation by children. Numerous publications have set out recommendations for early childhood teachers on how to promote participation in their day-to-day activities. The present study considers the role of the…

Weaving is a significant metaphor for kaiako in Aotearoa New Zealand. "Te Whariki" (Ministry of Education, 2017) is central to their professional lives. At Daisies Early Education and Care Centre (hereafter Daisies), the strands in Te Whariki shape the curriculum and its principles guide pedagogy and relationships. In January 2019, the…

This article presents findings from a doctoral study which examined the ways teaching teams in six New Zealand early childhood education (ECE) centres fostered and supported young children's scientific experiences. The focus of this article is the pedagogical practice of using provocations to facilitate scientific opportunities. The way…

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. The diary entries were coded using a taxonomy developed by…

Pedagogical documentation is practised in early childhood centres all over the world as a means to gauge the learning and development of children. From the point of view of teachers, however, documentation must compete with numerous other tasks. This paper explores the strategies teachers employ in order to integrate documentation into their…

This article reports on research conducted in New Zealand that deals with early childhood education (ECE) centre working relationships with external organisations, including agencies, social services, and other education providers. The goal of the research was to identify the types of current collaboration, the nature of these relationships, and…

We present a model that employs "cultural-historical activity theory" (CHAT) concepts to inform research with designated Educational Leaders in early years settings. We theorise practice change in early years mathematics education in terms of motive objects of activity and mediation by cultural tools. We show how CHAT can be used to lead…

Excursions (field trips) can provide new and exciting learning opportunities outside schools and early childhood education (ECE) centres, adding new dimensions to an education programme. This article presents the findings from two doctoral studies by Terreni (2017) and Ryder (2019). Terreni, as part of a mixed-method approach, undertook a…