Australasian Journal of Early Childhood

An analysis of New Zealand’s changing history, policies andapproaches to early childhood educationClaire McLachlanMassey University College of EducationNew Zealand has an internationally unique approach to early childhoodeducation, which includes a bicultural early childhood curriculum, a robustinfrastructure of organisation and management overseen by the New Zealand Ministryof Education, and a growing reputation for innovation in early childhood teaching andlearning. This paper examines how the current model of early childhood educationemerged, the policy decisions that enabled current systems to be developed, theimportance of the early childhood curriculum, teacher education and professionaldevelopment, and recent developments during a time of recession in New Zealand.Some recommendations for early childhood education, based on the New Zealandexperience, are proposed.IntroductionAs in many countries, early childhood education as aformal construct is relatively recent in New Zealand,although there has been formal and informal provisionfor children younger than school age for around 120years. This paper will briefly explain how the NewZealand conception of ‘early childhood education’developed and how it has been adopted by governmentand formalised via regulatory and financial systems.The paper will conclude with some speculation on thedirections the National Government which came topower in 2008 is taking, along with recommendationsbased on the lessons learned in New Zealand.A brief history of early childhood educationin New ZealandEarly childhood education had its birth in New Zealandin 1889 in Dunedin, in the South Island, when the firstkindergarten was established to cater for the childrenof the poor who were left to play on the street whiletheir parents worked (Hughes, 1989). The initiative wasbased on Christian and philanthropic motivations bymiddle-class members of the Dunedin community. Thefirst childcare centre was established by the CatholicChurch in the capital city, Wellington, in 1908, againbased on Christian motivations of caring for children ofthe poor whose mothers were working (Cook, 1985).For the first part of the twentieth century, kindergartensdeveloped across the country, as they did in manyWestern nations, based on the philosophies of Germanphilosopher Friedrich Froebel and notions of childrenlearning through play in a natural environment and throughinvolvement with educational materials he called ’gifts’.Child care developed in a more ad hoc way with someestablished centres and a great deal of ‘backyard’ careor ‘baby farming’, where mothers took in other people’schildren during the day (Cook, 1985; May, 1997).The first Labour government in New Zealand in 1935brought about sweeping changes in education in allsectors, making secondary school compulsory forall children and promoting progressive notions ofeducation. These were based on Dewey’s theories,of young children learning through active participationwith real experiences such as blocks, carpentry andwater play. With the support of the then minister ofeducation, Peter Fraser, and the visionary directorgeneral of education, Clarence Beeby, Englisheducationalist Susan Isaacs was invited to New Zealandin 1937 to talk about the psychoanalytic notions ofchild development trialled in British nursery schools,such as the Malting House nursery. Such trials were36A u s t r a l a s i a n J o u r n a l o f E a r l y C h i l d h o o d