This issue explores the theme of Teacher Readiness, examining how it is perceived by early childhood teachers, the sector, and how it is enacted by Initial Teacher Education (ITE) providers. Teacher readiness has led the discourse in recent years and has underpinned several key reforms that have significantly impacted the sector. These reforms have raised critical questions about the expectations for graduating teachers and helped to establish greater consistency and quality of teaching. We received a wide variety of responses to the call for papers for both our practitioner and peer review sections. The practitioner section revisited vital areas for early childhood and raised questions of readiness with regards to reflective practice, design of learning, partnership with parents, using one’s own funds of knowledge and re-evaluating at the role of theory in supporting readiness.

This article focuses on the importance of teachers growing their reflective skills and implementing them as foundations to their beginning professional practice. Doing so will prepare teachers for the various challenges and situations that they will encounter in their teaching careers. The author considers reflection through an analogy of gardening in which teachers, who are reflective, can be considered as being gardeners of their practice. This is to paint a picture of both the general and personal aspects of reflective practice, which will be different for all teachers. The value and benefits of reflection will also be discussed so that all teachers can understand why reflective practice is important, particularly to grow at the beginning of teachers’ careers. Furthermore, challenges to implementing reflective practice will be explained before sharing some important points about how teachers can use reflective practice to grow their professional learning.

Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education [MoE], 2017) is a play-based curriculum, positioning children as rights holders, and active participants in their learning, with foundations of whakamana/empowerment, and relationships (May & Carr, 2016; Stover, 2016). With the refresh of Te Whāriki in 2017, there was a shift in the role of kaiako (teacher) being repositioned from being responsible for setting up the environment and observing the interactions of tamariki, to providing intentional direction and becoming a co-constructor of learning with tamariki. This has led to some confusion on how to intentionally teach within a play-based curriculum. This article aims to provide practical application of how to be intentional through the design for learning and teaching in a play-based early childhood curriculum. There is also guidance for leaders and associate teachers on how to support students and new graduates to unravel the confusion.

In recognising the bicultural nature of early childhood education (ECE) within Aotearoa New Zealand, there is a body of professional knowledge that provides guidance to the sector to acknowledge Māori as tangata whenua and prepare graduating kaiako who embrace Tiriti-based pedagogy. This article investigates the expectations of tauira (students) regarding bicultural teaching and learning throughout their Initial Teacher Education (ITE) experience. The core documents that pave the way for biculturalism within ECE are considered in relation to their intentions and the direction they provide for graduating students. Sharing their unique perspectives, the authors identify tauira who are regarded as having exemplary skills in one or more facets of te ao Māori, demonstrated either through te reo Māori competency exit assessments or observed practice during practicums. Through discussions with these tauira about their practice, the authors reflect on common factors that contribute to their bicultural ‘success’ and readiness to teach.

With the accelerated pace of life in the 21st century, workplaces and education settings have witnessed changing social dynamics, alongside changes to ways in which relationships are built. With the nature of partnerships evolving, children’s learning, development and growth could be impacted. This shifting meaning of ‘relationships with people, places and things’ (Ministry of Education [MoE], 2017, p. 21) puts an extra strain on kaiako (teachers) teams across Aotearoa New Zealand and on Initial Teacher Education (ITE) providers to prepare kaiako for the busy Early Childhood Education (ECE) sector. This article, written through the lens of the Pā Harakeke model, considers the importance of authentic relationships with parents and whānau. It explores the changing meaning of relationships and the ways of understanding such changes in early childhood contexts.

Understanding and drawing on the knowledge and skills of all those involved in a child’s education, children, families, teachers, and the wider community, leads to exciting possibilities for extending children’s learning. Underpinned by sociocultural perspectives the New Zealand early childhood curriculum embraces this notion of connectedness with children’s wider worlds positioning families as experts of their child and teachers as knowledgeable in facilitating learning. This article discusses the funds of knowledge held by children, families, and teachers and the rich potential for children’s learning that is exposed when such knowledge and skills are jointly valued in curriculum making. I argue the funds of knowledge approach is an essential tool in a teacher’s kete, sharing examples of my experiences as an infant toddler teacher to illustrate how using the funds of knowledge approach can enrich responsive day to day teaching.

The phrase ‘readiness to teach’ has become synonymous with the work of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) providers and their role in ensuring student teachers have the skills, knowledge and dispositions to support quality outcomes for ngā tamariki from their first days as beginning teachers. In a 2024 report compiled by the Education Review Office it was found that many beginning teachers did not feel that their academic programs adequately prepared them for the teaching profession, aligning with Flewitt and Ang’s (2020) proposition that theory and practice should be inseparable. Within ITE at New Zealand Tertiary College, student teachers engage in practice-based learning through weekly centre attendance and scheduled professional experience placements. The purpose of these practical experiences is to not only support student teachers’ development of teaching practices but also to support adaptive expertise, the ability to apply knowledge effectively in a range of different situations and contexts (Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand, 2019). The following article details the findings of a small survey to explore student teachers’ perception of their application of theoretical knowledge to teaching practice through weekly centre attendance and professional experience placements.

There has been a significant growth in the number of international students enrolled in initial teacher education programmes for early childhood education in Aotearoa New Zealand (Education Counts, 2024). This reflects the increasing number of teachers from overseas entering the early childhood education workforce. Educational practices and pedagogy differ across cultures and contexts which might prompt a culturally responsive pedagogical reorientation for migrant teachers. In this article, we examine migrant teachers’ readiness to teach from a strengths-based cultural perspective. As migrant teachers ourselves, we explore the likely challenges faced by teachers in relation to cultural shifts, understanding of the ECE curriculum, and the resulting tensions underpinning their pedagogical practices. We also offer practical ways to support teachers in their culturally oriented readiness to teach.

This article explores concepts of ‘love’ and ‘aroha’ within the New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum, Te Whāriki, which was first published as a bicultural curriculum in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) in 1996 in both English and Māori languages (Ministry of Education [MoE] 1996). The discussion focuses primarily on the English text and the pedagogical and cultural implications for teachers working with the English text. While Māori cultural understanding of relationship, family and love are acknowledged and considered in the English text, there appears to be a difference in the understanding of cultural concepts within the two (English and Māori) texts themselves. It is important to remember that the written definitions of these cultural concepts within Te Whāriki inform teacher perception and how a bicultural curriculum can be implemented. In 1996, ‘loving’ was mentioned twice in the English text of Te Whāriki whereas ‘aroha’ appeared seventeen times in the Māori text – this difference in emphasis has been queried (Hughes, 2013; Stewart-MacKenzie, 2010; Zhang, 2019) with Hughes succinctly identifying “the relative invisibility of love in initial teacher education and Ministry of Education documentation, particularly in Aotearoa New Zealand's early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki” (p. 1).

Inclusive practice in early childhood education is seen as a matter of“removing any barriers to participation and learning” in the early childhood curriculum Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education [MoE], 2017, p. 13). However, what those barriers might be how to ‘remove’ them, is not always clear, and with negative attitudes proclaimed the biggest barrier to inclusion (Cologon, 2019), it is not easy for kaiako (teachers) and families to dismantle such barriers. This article aims to discuss what inclusive practice is and what it is not, based on the literature review of the research study I carried out as part of the requirements for my PhD with the University of Auckland (Whyte, In progress). Since the study’s focus is on the parents of a disabled child attending early childhood education, I will discuss inclusion from a parent’s as well as the children’s and teachers’ perspective.

For student teachers and teachers with disabilities, determining whether to disclose their disability (that is, self-report) or the extent of it in learning and employment contexts can be a complex dilemma. Before a student teacher or teacher decides to disclose or conceal their disability, they must consider a range of potential responses and disclosure outcomes, including whether they will be considered “ready and fit to teach”. Research provides evidence of disabled teachers facing this dilemma from when they apply to enter initial teacher education (ITE) programmes through to when they seek and secure employment as qualified teachers (see, for example, Bellacicco & Demo, 2023; Griffiths et al., 2023a; Ware et al., 2022). The issue of disability disclosure among student teachers and teachers with disabilities in the early childhood education (ECE) sector has received limited attention in Aotearoa New Zealand. This article offers a step towards addressing this lack by looking at the complexities of disclosure decisions among student teachers and teachers with disabilities in their ITE programmes and ECE workplaces, respectively. The article also offers recommendations to address barriers, facilitate disclosure and support inclusion for this group of students and teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand.

This article considers the influence of organisational culture in early childhood centres on the new teacher’s readiness to teach. Organisational culture has not been well explored in early childhood education in Aotearoa New Zealand, yet my PhD research has shown it to be a powerful influence on the teaching and learning that occurs in centres (Radford, 2015). After introducing Schein’s (2016) model as the framework for my discussion, I will suggest how organisational culture can impact the new teacher’s sense of efficacy, belonging and wellbeing. I then draw on my research to explore organisational culture as a curriculum issue, with examples showing how children’s active development of working theories from their experiences of the organisational culture of their setting may lead to unintended and troublesome learning that their teachers are oblivious to. The new teacher is uniquely positioned to notice all levels of a centre’s culture, and I conclude my discussion by suggesting ways they can uncover and share this with the team to enhance not only their own readiness to teach, but to strengthen teaching and learning in the centre, supporting everyone to thrive.

Teacher education degree programmes have a range of imperatives when preparing students for the multifaceted and complex role of becoming a teacher. In the field of Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa, readiness to teach is one such pressing driver. It is important to prepare student teachers to develop a range of theoretical and practical competencies that will support them in being ready to teach. Yet teaching is so much more than a technical practice – it’s a political act that occurs in a localised time/space. In this article, I rethink the concept of ‘teacher readiness’ in neo-liberal contexts in Aotearoa. This article uses new materialist and posthumanist theories to challenge the neoliberal notion of teacher readiness as an outcome based on predetermined attributes and standards. Instead, I focus on how the concept of (un)readiness might challenge dominant Western Euro-centric and neo-liberal ways of knowing and being. It is argued that refractive thinking allows a nuanced and fluid approach to aspects of teacher readiness such as teacher positionality, identity, and pedagogy. Embracing (un)readiness opens spaces for imaginative, creative and deeply thoughtful practice with children. It also offers possibilities for a deepening resistance to the neoliberal discourses within ECE in Aotearoa.

Alice Tate, Chelsea Bracefield, Chelsea Freeman, Derek Hartley, Dr Devika Rathore, Donna Williamson-Garner, Elizabeth Polley, Erin Hall, Fiona Woodgate, Fleur Hohaia-Rollinson, Galina Stebletsova, Helen Stewart-MacKenzie, Jackie Solomon, Janice Pennells, Jenny Malcolm, Joy McLelland, Kerrin Hearfield, Kelly Bouche, Kerry Purdue, Krystal Taiapa (Ngāti Porou, Rongowhakaata), Dr Lynley Tulloch, Maddie Hendrie, Marjolein Whyte, Pearl D'Silva, Dr Sandy Radford, Dr Sean Dolan, Veronica Griffiths