Historical Influences on Early Childhood Education Practices

^{(Tearney, n.d.)}

Watch

Froebel’s Kindergarten: The Origins of Early Childhood Education

A short video explaining the origins of the Kindergarten movement started in Germany in 1838 by Friedrich Froebel to reflect his belief that young children should be nurtured and nourished like “plants in a garden”.

Expected Duration: 5:37 minutes

Activity

Read and research key events shown on the above timeline of the development of early childhood education and care from first kindergarten in 1889 to the publication of revision of te Whāriki and its subsequent revision in 2017. You can start by downloading or reading online the document from which the timeline above was taken: Working Paper 2016/03: History of education in New Zealand

1. How has the purpose of childcare evolved from the early examples to today’s ECE environments? Identify what you think some of the major events were which led to the evolution of early childhood education and care in Aotearoa/New Zealand.
2. How has access to early childhood education services changed over the years? Read this article as a start to help you think about this.
3. Choose one of the key events in the history of the development of early childhood education in Aotearoa | New Zealand and explain (in approx. 300 words) why it was influential. Remember to reference your sources.
   1. Before 5 report
   2. Publishing, and subsequent revision, of te Whāriki
   3. Plunket
   4. Playcentre Federation
   5. Kōhanga reo movement
   6. Pasifika playschools
   7. First qualification for ECE teachers
   8. Funding of 3 year diploma of teaching and training
   9. Teach NZ scholarship programme

Post your responses to these activities on the discussion forum. Read what your classmates have posted and comment on their posts too.

We have seen how early childhood education and care in New Zealand has changed since the days of the first kindergartens more than 130 years ago to the introduction of the revised te Whāriki and beyond. ECE services have evolved and changed practices in line with changes in the general ECE environment. Changes in ECE practices do not occur in a vacuum, but also reflect changes in society and attitudes of people in general: for example, think about the way women’s role in society has changed over the decades from predominantly stay-home mothers solely responsible for childcare and housekeeping to today where over 66% of women over the age of 15 are participants in the New Zealand labour force (The World Bank, n.d.)

Activity

Use the example of the development of the Kindergarten movement in Aotearoa | New Zealand to explore how it has changed and evolved over time. In particular, consider how the way Kindergartens have been run has changed with society in terms of relevance to te Tiriti o Waitangi and how the emphasis of the movement has moved from care-based to education-based over the years.

Post your responses to the forum. Read and respond to the posts of some of your classmates.

You’ve reached the end of this topic. Let’s go over the key points:

• There is a timeline of key events in the history of early childhood education and care in Aotearoa | New Zealand starting in 1889 with the establishment of the first free Kindergarten.
• You researched some of the events and their impact on today’s ECE practice.
• You researched how the purpose of, and access to childcare has evolved over time

Make sure to complete the discussion forum tasks before moving on to the next topic.