Narratives of relatedness in ecological sustainability in early childhood education in Aotearoa.

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of the context and some preliminary findings from a current two year Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) funded study, “Titiro whakamuri, hokiwhakamua : We are the future, the present and the past: caring for self, others and the environment in early year’s teaching and learning”. Central to the study has been the recognition of interdependent, inter-relatedness as expressed in kaupapa Māori notions of manaakitanga, aroha, and kaitiakitanga , as well as in the ‘ethic of care’ outlined in the work of some Western educational philosophers (P. Martin, 2007; Noddings, 1994). Whilst the data gathered from the ten different early childhood centres is extensive, this paper considers that contributed from Richard Hudson Kindergarten in Dunedin.