The 'new normal' and 'new normalisations' in early childhood education policy in Aotearoa New Zealand

Learnings from Covid-19

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26686/nzaroe.v25.6911

Keywords:

governmentality, normalisation, new normal, early childhood education, Covid-19

Abstract

When New Zealand entered pandemic alert level 3 and early childhood centres were being ‘nudged’ to re-open in order to offer support for parents returning to work, the Ministry of Health advised both Early Childhood centres and parents that children were not at risk of catching or spreading the virus. Fast-forward to Level 1 and the Ministry of Health has advised that an infant, who arrived into the country from overseas together with its parents, had the virus and was in a managed quarantine. This paper discusses this apparent policy contradiction between guidelines and evidence by collecting and analysing discourses that the nation has received from government agencies regarding children and early childhood education. This paper uses these discourses to explore the 'body' of knowledge regarding childhood and early childhood education, discourses that make childhood and early childhood education possible. We then apply a range of theoretical and conceptual tools to suggest some possible conditions of early childhood education (leading up to, during, and post-Covid-19). We employ health and medical metaphors to highlight ongoing tensions for early childhood education as a patient for whom neither education nor health Ministries take sufficient responsibility. The use of a health as a metaphor additionally focuses this paper on the new ‘normal’ of early childhood education and education policy.

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Author Biographies

Andrew Gibbons, Auckland University of Technology

Professor Andrew Gibbons is an early childhood teacher, teacher educator and Professor at the School of Education. He has worked in journalism, in the social services in England and in early childhood education in Auckland. Andrew works on the Bachelor of Education, Bachelor of Arts, Master of Education, and Doctor of Philosophy programmes at the School of Education. He is an executive committee member of the Association of Visual Pedagogies, member of the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia, and co-leader of the Editors' Collective.

Marek Tesar, University of Auckland

Marek Tesar is an Associate Professor and the Associate Dean International, and Academic Head designate at the Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Auckland. His expertise is in early childhood education and childhood studies in both New Zealand as well as in cross-country contexts. His work focuses on educational policy, philosophy, pedagogy, methodology and curriculum, and draws on his background as a qualified teacher as well as his extensive knowledge of international education systems. His scholarly work has received numerous prestigious national and international awards and accolades. Currently, he is President of the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia (PESA), and chairs the Steering Committee of the Reconceptualising Early Childhood Education society (RECE).

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Published

2021-07-20

Issue

Vol. 25 (2020): New Zealand Annual Review of Education

Section

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