Alice Tate is a Senior Lecturer for the Bachelor of Teaching (ECE) programme at UCOL | Te Pūkenga in Manawatu. Her teaching and research interests include student and teacher diversity, and the relationship between theory and practice in teacher education. Email: a.tate@ucol.ac.nz

Barbara Scanlan grew up in Austria and has been engaged in early childhood education for the past 23 years in roles ranging from teacher, mentor and centre manager in Austria, Scotland and in New Zealand. Barbara has completed her Master’s degree in Education and is interested in supporting tamariki, whānau and adult ākonga wellbeing and educational success. Currently, Barbara is the Student Services Manager at New Zealand Tertiary College and spends her free time with her family, friends and outdoors.

Professor Colin Gibbs, PhD is a Fellow of the New Zealand Tertiary College, and Chairperson of the Advisory Committee. He has worked at many universities and teachers colleges, as a teacher of art and of young children, as a researcher and author, and as an education consultant. His contemplations on education continue to be enriched with the synergies he experiences through his involvement in the arts as a contemporary painter, and in health as an Advanced Ortho-Bionomy Instructor and Practitioner.

Derek Hartley has been in early childhood education for over 30 years and an Academic Staff Member at Open Polytechnic | Te Pūkenga since 2006. He began his career as a teacher and leader in a range of early childhood services before moving into Initial Teacher Education. His teaching and research interests include men in ECE, professional practice, and culture and diversity. Email: Derek.Hartley@openpolytechnic.ac.nz

Donna Williamson-Garner, PhD is an Academic Staff Member in Early Childhood Education at Open Polytechnic | Te Pūkenga. She has worked in various roles teaching and advocating for young children and their families, internationally and in New Zealand including an infant specialist of the blind/visually impaired, programme specialist, and family and child counsellor. Her teaching and research interests include inclusive practice, professional inquiry and practice, working with children and families experiencing adversity, parent education and infant and toddler pedagogy. Email: Donna.Williamson-Garner@openpolytechnic.ac.nz

Edgar Burns has taught in the polytechnic and university tertiary sectors for more than twenty-five years. He takes an interdisciplinary approach starting from his core sociology teaching and research roles. His recent book, Theorising professions: A sociological introduction is published with Palgrave Macmillan.

Erin Hall (M.Ed., Hons)joined the tertiary education sector six years ago as an Academic Staff Member (Initial Teacher Education ECE) with Open Polytechnic | Te Pūkenga. Prior to this, Erin’s experience and background was in ECE teaching and in leadership roles. She has particular interests in the areas of inclusion and diversity, professional practicum experiences, and mentoring, with all of these areas underpinned by the importance of relationships and seeking ongoing understanding about teaching and learning. Email: Erin.Hall@openpolytechnic.ac.nz

Fleur Hohaia-Rollinson is a Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Teacher Education at Te Rito Maioha Early Childhood New Zealand. Fleur has worked in the early childhood sector for over 20 years, and began her career as a teacher in a range of early childhood services, before moving into Initial Teacher Education. Her teaching and research interests include Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Tiriti-based practice, Te Whāriki as a bicultural curriculum framework, practicum and professional and responsive teaching practice, and more recently Teacher Diversity in ECE. Email: Fleur.HohaiaRollinson@ecnz.ac.nz

Galina Stebletsova is a Lecturer at Unitec | Te Pūkenga, with extensive experience in both ECE and academic teaching and curriculum writing. She has a keen interest in children’s wellbeing and how curriculum supports it, aspects of play, child’s mental health, and the role holistic curriculum plays in supporting children and families today.

Gillian Postlewaight has been an Early Childhood Teacher Educator at Te Pūkenga / Eastern Institute of Technology since 2004. She is a member of the Editorial Board for the New Zealand-International Research in Early Childhood Education Journal. Her research publications include: student teacher advocacy, transition from ECE to school and barriers to children’s access to early childhood education.

Glynis Cooper was Programme Coordinator, Bachelor of Teaching (Early Childhood Education) at Te Pūkenga / Eastern Institute of Technology. Over 20 years she worked in various positions in the early childhood sector; as a teacher, centre supervisor, and facilitator for Ministry of Education funded Professional Development. Most recently, Glynis completed 12 years as a Teacher Educator.

Jackie Solomon is a Senior Academic Staff Member at Open Polytechnic | Te Pūkenga. She has worked in early childhood education for over 30 years in a variety of roles – Playcentre, kindergarten kaiako, professional development facilitator and for the past 10 years, in Initial Teacher Education with Open Polytechnic | Te Pūkenga. She has a wide range of interests, and has taught on a wide range of courses, more recently on practicum, however, her overarching focus is around equity, diversity and inclusion. She completed her Masters of Education in 2021 with an emphasis on supporting Pacific ākonga to succeed in tertiary education.  Email: Jackie.Solomon@openpolytechnic.ac.nz

Jenny Malcolm is a Senior Academic Staff Member in the early childhood education programmes at Open Polytechnic | Te Pūkenga. Before this Jenny was a kindergarten teacher with an interest in working with children with diverse needs. Her research interests are in equity, diversity and inclusion with a focus on the experiences of diverse kaiako working in early childhood. Email: Jenny.Malcolm@openpolytechnic.ac.nz

Kayla Charteris grew up in the central north island of Aotearoa, New Zealand in a small town called Taumarunui. Kayla is currently living in Hamilton, where she initially came to study early childhood education at the University of Waikato. Having completed her Bachelor of Teaching in 2009 she has had experience working in a range of different early childhood centres, including a bilingual centre in Taumarunui, and a Reggio Emilia inspired centre on the Sunshine Coast in Australia. Kayla began working at Wintec | Te Pūkenga as an Academic Staff member in 2021, and completed her Masters in Education in 2022. Areas of academic interest to Kayla include inclusive education, ecopedagogy, and exploring the use of philosophical questioning as a prompt for stimulating critical reflection.

Kerry Purdue is an Academic Staff Member in the early childhood education programmes at Open Polytechnic | Te Pūkenga. Kerry is a kaiako/researcher who is interested in a wide range of issues related to early childhood education policy and practice including, disability, quality, curriculum, rights, equity and inclusion, and ITE. She is currently working with some colleagues on a research project on teacher diversity in early childhood education. The aim of this project is to continue the kōrero on what needs to be done to ensure early learning services are safe, fair and equitable places for all. Email: Kerry.Purdue@openpolytechnic.ac.nz

Dr Lynley Tulloch (lead author) is an early childhood education Lecturer (ECE) at Wintec | Te Pūkenga in Hamilton, New Zealand. She has a PhD in the field of sustainability education and ideologies of nature. Lynley taught environmental and sustainability education at the University of Waikato between 2006 - 2017. Her research interests focus on early childhood education, policy discourse analysis, critical animal studies, and sustainability education.

Maddie Hendrie has been a Lecturer at New Zealand Tertiary College since 2019 and is currently Associate Teacher Support. She has a background in Playcentre, home based care and early childhood centres having been an assistant manager, operational manager and head teacher. Maddie also has considerable experience working with adults, including being an Associate Teacher, leading workshops and mentoring learners for teacher registration. This interest in educational leadership has developed into a passion for Maddie, which she uses to help bring out the best in others and is an area that she would like to research further in the future.

Marjolein Whyte came to New Zealand from the Netherlands over 30 years ago as a social worker, working for Barnardos foster care. She retrained as a primary school teacher and early childhood teacher through the University of Auckland. Marjolein has worked in the early childhood sector as a head teacher for over ten years and has been a Lecturer with New Zealand Tertiary College since 2011. She has completed postgraduate papers with the University of Auckland in the areas of leadership, early development, literacy and research, followed by her master’s thesis on parent involvement in assessment for learning in early childhood education. Marjolein is currently studying for her PhD at the University of Auckland.

Michelle Andrews is an early childhood education (ECE) Lecturer for Wintec | Te Pūkenga. She has over 30 years’ experience working in the ECE sector as a kaiako, manager, and a professional development facilitator in assessment, planning and evaluation, implementing Te Whāriki and learning stories. She has had 15 years’ experience working as a review officer for the Education Review Office, and is an experienced qualified evaluator working in both the ECE and Primary School sector.

Phoebe Tong is the Postgraduate Program Leader at New Zealand Tertiary College and a doctoral candidate at the University of Auckland. Her research focuses on Chinese immigrants’ perspectives of becoming and being a teacher in Aotearoa New Zealand early childhood education. In her master’s thesis, she explores different understandings of childhood by engaging in stories in children’s literature. She is interested in childhood studies, children’s literature, child agency, Initial Teacher Education and multicultural education.

Sina Fowler is a Lecturer at New Zealand Tertiary College and has been teaching for 13 years. She began her career teaching adults to primary school-aged children/tamariki internationally before finding her passion in the under twos in Early Childhood Education. Her professional and research interests include Tiriti-Based Pedagogy, culturally responsive practices, and supporting Pacific learners.

Tania Du Plessis is a Teacher Educator and Programme Coordinator for the Bachelor of Teaching (Early Childhood Education) at Te Pūkenga / Eastern Institute of Technology, Hawkes Bay. She is an alumna of New Zealand Tertiary College, having completed her Master of Education (Early Childhood Education) in 2017. She is a beginner researcher with a passion for leadership in early childhood education; music education and music therapy for infants, toddlers and young children; and teaching and learning in nature. She is currently working alongside an ECE colleague on a research project in an outdoor education space at EIT, Ōtātara Outdoor Learning Centre, where ECE student teachers are taught how they can teach and learn alongside children in nature. She is also aspiring to initiate her own research project on the support, or the lack thereof, for newly graduated teachers stepping into leadership roles, within the next 12 months.

Tanya Shorter is an early childhood education (ECE) Lecturer for Wintec | Te Pūkenga. She has over 30 years’ experience in the early childhood sector, in roles ranging from head teacher to college appraiser. Tanya spent five years between 2015 – 2020 living and working in London as a consulting teacher in forest schools and Montessori nurseries. Her research interests focus on teacher appraisal/professional development and learning cycles in both the ECE and tertiary sectors and their relationship to motivation, collegial relationships and pedagogical change.

Veronica Griffiths has worked in various roles in early childhood education in New Zealand before becoming an Academic Staff Member at Open Polytechnic | Te Pūkenga in 2019. Veronica developed a strong interest in leadership and mentoring, working in leadership roles in a number of early childhood settings which contributed to her desire to support student kaiako. Her current research interests are kaiako diversity and she is currently working with other colleagues on a research project related to this. Email: Veronica.Griffiths@openpolytechnic.ac.nz