53.6 Concluding Comments
In this chapter, we have argued for the importance of researching and uncovering
flows of knowledge within ECE teaching teams, by focusing on the existing
capacities of early childhood centres to develop and grow capability from the
‘ground-up’. It is through such a connectedness between teacher educators and
teachers working alongside one another that new, beginning and experienced
teachers in these centres will be able to theorise theirflows of knowledge. Thus, we
promote an integrated and research-oriented model of pedagogical leadership,
through the construction and maintenance of supportive knowledge-sharing envi-
ronments. Our argument is grounded in a desire to build upon New Zealand-based
research evidence, drawing on inclusive and participatory models of early educa-
tion, and focussing on the richness of sharing knowledge to enhance teaching
practice between participants in a centre community.
The nature of knowledge communities embraces teacher–learner relationships
through engagements with teachers’understanding of their teaching environment,
relationships within their centres, and their own learning. Networks of
co-constructing learners are critically influenced by the ways teacher knowledge is
constructed in EC teaching teams and negotiated in teacher education, requiring a
complex awareness of the influence of teacher–teacher relationships on teacher–
learner relationships. A critical and reflective approach to knowledge of the learning
and teaching environment demands a collective experience in an ECE setting, in
which teachers have an awareness of the‘other’in their centre. It is increasingly
understood that dualisms like child/adult are rather limiting, although they may
currently be promoted through teacher education. What we envisage is a ground-up
research study to explore, challenge and impact on practices in early childhood
centres and on teacher education programmes, through a critical ecological
ethnography. We have outlined ways in which such a model might shape further
understandings and strategies for sharing and developing knowledge. However,
such a model can enhance practices only through careful and extensive develop-
ment and dissemination to both professional and academic communities, to benefit
learners, teachers, teacher educators and the wider community and society in
Aotearoa New Zealand and overseas.
References
Bolstad, R., Gilbert, J., McDowall, S., Bull, A., Boyd, S., & Hipkins, R. (2012).Supporting
future-oriented learning and teaching: A New Zealand perspective.Report prepared for the
Ministry of Education. Wellington, New Zealand: New Zealand Council for Educational
Research and Ministry of Education. Retrieved from http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/
publications
Calder, P. (2015). Policies and discourses in early childhood education and care.International
Journal of Early Years Education, 23(3), 227–229. doi:10.1080/09669760.2015.1074561
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