Project Description:
In our qualitative research project (2010-2012), the team investigated how "ordinary" early childhood centres enacted extraordinary" pedagogy by including families, wider wha¯nau and communities in the "everyday" of early childhood programmes; that is, within this project, we explored both theoretical constructs and teaching and organisational strategies to increase parent participation and positive learning outcomes for children and community wellness. Our primary research question was:
How does active adult participation in early childhood education enhance positive outcomes for children and their whanāu?.
Our research included all four teaching teams, parent facilitators, and the management of the four early childhood centres, the 303 Parenting Resource Centre (hereafter referred to as 303), and the management and administrators at the Whanganui Central Baptist Kindergarten and Early Learning Centres (hereafter referred to as CBK). Judith Duncan and Sarah Te One1 worked alongside the CBK teams as researcher leaders over the two years of the project.
Adult participation included families, whanāu and, where appropriate, communities. Our research has led us to reconceptualise the roles "people, places and things". The most significant change was to embed CBK early childhood education services within the wider community, in contrast to the traditional approach to an early childhood education centre sited within a community but distinct, and sometimes isolated, from the wider community.