pedagogy for new zealand teachers with children up to 3 years

New

Zea

land

PEDAGOGY FOR NEW ZEALAND TEACHERS WITH CHILDREN UP TO 3 YEARS

Jean Rockel, II World Congress on early childhood:“The formation and in-service training of educational agents for early childhood care”26 September 2012.

New Zealand in the world view

New Zealand in the Pacific

My country ….

My city …

Mt Eden … my home

Auckland

4 and half million people Originally Polynesian - Maori Colonized by British; in 1840 Treaty of Waitangi

with Maori chiefs: bicultural society. 3 official languages: English/Maori/Sign Ethnic diversity: Pasifika people, Asian, Indian

and European population. Equity. 20 hours free care and education for 3-4 year

olds in teacher-led services. Care for under-3home-based and care and education services.

Aotearoa New Zealand

The New Zealand context:◦Curriculum document: “Te Whariki”◦History of NZ care and education◦Pedagogy ◦ Initial teacher education: diploma/degree

1 year graduate pathway Classes full-time/part-time on-campus ‘Distance learning’: on-line (computer) Field-based: work and study

Overview

Te Whariki for a diverse sector.

A curriculumfor the infant, the toddler and the young child.

… to grow up as competent and confident learners and communicators, healthy in mind, body, and spirit, secure intheir sense of belonging and in the knowledge that they make a valued contribution to society.

The context:

Te Whariki

“The care of infants is specialised and is neither a scaled-down three- or four-year-old programme nor a baby-sitting arrangement” (p.22).

The notion of ‘teaching’ infants and toddlers is often misunderstood -previously viewed as ‘baby minding’ or modified practice for older children (Rockel, 2009).

50% of staff with children up to three are required to have an EC teaching qualification recognised by the NZ Teachers Council (Ministry of Education, 2012).

Change in social patterns: 2006-2010 growth in numbers of children under one increased 29.5% and under two by 21.5% (Ministry of Education, 2012).

Policy for ECCE services

Previous century• Passive infant• Needy, incapable• ‘Precious’ objects

A different lens 21st century

Interactive infant With capabilities

With rights

A shift in thinking: from a straight-forward ideabased on physical care, to a complexity of ideas involving ethical responsibilities.

‘Passive’ ‘Interactive’

Baby ‘immature’ .. new life

Infant ‘no speech’ .. a communicator

Toddler ‘can’t walk’ (yet) .. an explorer

DISCOURSE

The images that we hold of a child will be In order to look to the future, we need to

examine different discourses from the past and present, that will impact upon our view of the infant as learner.

Our history:

‘Safety’

‘Free to play’

A charitable gaze.

1902 Mother Aubert, and her sisters,

opened NZ’s first creche to enable

poor and/or unmarried mothers to

work during the day, funded by charitable

donations. 1907 Home of Compassion,

For ‘healthy foundlings and

children suffering

from incurable diseases

and complaints’.

The logos of the Plunket Society’s health care movement were

‘To help the mothers and save the babies’. Truby King and the

Maori leader Maui Pomare used this slogan as both Maori and

European were concerned about the survival rates of infants.

Dr. Truby King helped found the

Plunket Society in 1907.

A health

gaze

Truby King believed in a regulated and imposed sense of order.

Has this impacted our EC services today? Why?

A medical gaze.

Protection of newborns from widespread fear of infection - the flu epidemic. Later they

were to discover that hospitals could contribute their own risks.

20th century

1949 – thepoliticalgaze:Workingmothers

Identity

Liberation for

indigenous rights

– Te Kohanga

Reo,

1982.

A’oga Fa’a Samoa Early Childhood Centre,

1990, the first licensed and chartered Pacific islands centre.

The modern child –

global;

less local?

An emphasis on health and hygiene (medical model of care)

‘the-more-the-better- (more mobiles, language ‘stimulation’; educational learning materials.

Anne Stonehouse (2003)

Looking back to the 1970s and ‘programmes’

The Aubert

Centre,

Wellington,

continues.

The ‘dance’ of relationships:

teachersrespondto the child

Dalli, Kibble,Cairns-Cowan, Corrigan &McBride (2009).

title

Are practicesempowering?

Professional journal for teachers in the first years

Audience -

student-teachers; teachers; academics; policy developers.

Research initiatives

Slide title

Features –New researPeer reviewed, quality

assured articles;ch; curriculum matters; position

papers; reviews; cultural perspectives

National ‘priorities’ – IT, literacy, numeracy. Research on neurobiology Cultural studies Ethics; social justice Health studies, environmental factors and

infection control Multi-disciplinary frameworks Philosophy Politics and policy

In addition to psychology and education.

Expansion of domain knowledge for initial teacher education:

Bachelor of Education (Teaching) (ECE) 3 years (or equivalent) Content:

History & society; Te Whariki; Development, learning and teachingHealth and wellbeingTechnology; Science; Maths; Social sciencesArts (art/music/drama/dance);Language and literacies; te reo MaoriPlay and pedagogy; Infant-toddler pedagogies.

University of Auckland

◦“The regulatory regime has minimum standards that are too low; the infant and toddler content in teacher education programmes is too meagre.” (p.xx)

Office of Children’s Commissioner report (2011)

what to reduce or remove – pragmatic attempts are made to distribute content across several units of study with a birth-to-five focus.

Ultimately this reduces content with the focus on the very first years.

The dilemma …

Findings of document analysis 2012:Sample of 11 of 21 ITE programmes.

Clarity in content UtoT Lack of visibility of UtoT

5 providers (all universities) with specialised courses

Specialised courses had substantive, up-to-date references

In-depth assessments for UtoT.

Specialised lecturer knowledge.

6 providers with material spread across

Content birth to five

years, minimal content children up to 3

Assessment optional

Insufficient specific research

International reputation for institutional care Paediatricians; pedagogues (Masters degree;

caregivers (College degree). In-house training (2 year mentoring)

Content: child development; movement; play; education during care; observation; theories of learning (Vygotsky/Winnicott/Meltzoff); self-awareness – personal stories of relationships; working with parents; philosophy of respect.

Budapest – Pikler Institute training

(1) “Jack” infants-toddler & families course Quality in group settings Te Whariki Understanding self – understanding others Discourses of care Environments and spaces Transitions: emotional, cultural and

linguistic continuity Philosophies of practice Diverse perspectives/diversity Teacher panel.

NZ – Examples of synergy with EC curriculum

Socio-cultural historical-political issues of care and education.

Philosophies of practice and cultural perspectives

Infant-toddler learning and development and analysis of selected theoretical perspectives

Three themes: Security (brain research); identity (diversity); and exploration (play)

Care in curriculum; learning environments. Selected curriculum topics for student

research, e.g. music.

(2) Jill – infant-toddler pedagogies

Philosophies of practice, for example:

‘Respect’ – Resources for infant educarers (RIE) (Magda Gerber)

‘Free movement’ Pikler Institute ‘Image of the child’ Reggio Emilia Indigenous models:

◦ Tapa wha – holistic wellbeing philosophy (Maori)◦ Samoan spirituality

Pedagogies

Rosemary Roberts (2010) .. Interdependence of four constructs:

“Firstly, agency; Secondly, belonging; Thirdly, communication Fourthly, physical wellbeing?”

(p.29)

Wellbeing

Using their ‘agency’/actions to chose or remove items.

“What is the place of love and care in our profession?” (Dalli, 2006; Hughes, 2010)

“Is education inclusive of care?”

Making care pedagogical

BELONGING

Caring encounters are learning experiences for the very young … “it is by being the cared-for that he or she will learn how to be the one-caring”.(Goldstein, 1998, p.3, in

Rockel, 2009)

Communicating

A professional identity?

Is the person with infants a ‘caregiver’… primary caregiver or key teacher/key

person? worker, director, supervisor, educator teacher? Whaea/kaiako, faiaoga?

Socio-political context

A caring teacher as smiling with warm hugs obscures the complexity and intellectual challenges for teachers (Goldstein, 1998).

Carer or teacher?

Contemporary beliefs are based on a culture of thinking, reflection, debate and dialogue by adults;

deep and broad knowledge of child development

appreciation of the active role infants play in their own learning.

Anne Stonehouse (2003)

Involves the ‘big picture’ of caring

Showing empathy

Caring about the quality of services

Social justice

An ethic of care

Sustainability – recycling

We can also think more deeply about caring for the environment

(Tromso, Norway)

The curriculum

“… curriculum is only a guide or a book on a shelf – it requires teachers to mediate the

content with pedagogy to put ideas into action.”

J. Rockel (2009, p.7)

PEDAGOGY IS VALUES-BASED, INFORMED BY

THEORIES OF LEARNING/TEACHING AND PHILOSOPHIES (of practice)

Rather than a vision of the world full of self-sufficient individuals “we live instead in an interdependent world in which our moral values are created through the way we relate to each other, starting as early as babyhood”.

(S. Gerhardt, 2011, p.5)

Research

Social change has impacted our views of teaching and learning.

Practice has moved beyond task efficiency and towards thoughtful consideration of scientific knowledge and philosophies and values.

What will pedagogy for children up to 3 mean for teacher-education programmes and curriculum in EC care and education centres?

Conclusion

54

Seeing a capable and competent child

Dalli, C. (2006). Re-visioning love and care in early childhood: Constructing the future of our profession. The First Years Nga Tau Tuatahi NZ Journal of Infant and Toddler Education, 8(1), 5-11.

Dalli, C., Kibble, N., Cairns-Cowan, N., Corrigan, J. & McBride, B. (2009). Reflecting on primary caregiving through action research. The First Years Nga Tau Tuatahi NZ Journal of Infant and Toddler Education 11(2), 38-46.

Gerhardt, S. (2011). The selfish society: how we all forgot to love one another and made money instead. London: Simon & Schuster.

Hughes, R. (2010). Where is the love? Putting love at the heart of early childhood teaching. The First Years Nga Tau Tuatahi NZ Journal of Infant and Toddler Education 12(2), 25-28.

Roberts, R. (2010). Wellbeing from birth. London: SAGE. Rockel, J. (2009). A pedagogy of care: Moving beyond the margins

of managing work and minding babies. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood 34(3), 1-8.

References