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

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, hoki whakamua: We are the future, the present and the past: caring for self, others and the environment in early years’ 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