FULL REFERENCE: Griffiths, V., Hall, E., Hartley, D., Hohaia-Rollinson, F., Malcolm J., Purdue, K. and Tate, A. (2023). Working towards culturally safe and inclusive early childhood work environments. NZ International Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, 25, pp. 17 – 28.
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ABSTRACT: Priority 1 of the National Education and Learning Priorities (NELP) requires early childhood education (ECE) services to ensure their educational environments are “safe, inclusive and free from racism, discrimination and bullying” (New Zealand Government, 2019, p. 2). However, recent media reports and research indicate that ECE teachers/kaiako do not experience safe, inclusive workplaces. This research supports a key action identified in the NELP namely to “ask…staff about their experience of racism, discrimination and bullying, and use that information to reduce these behaviours” (New Zealand Government, 2019, p. 2). We used a survey containing open-ended questions administered through Survey Monkey to gather information on diverse ECE teacher experiences in their work environments. The 233 respondents reported a range of positive and negative attitudes and behaviours to their differences, examples of which appear in this article. The study suggests that work is still needed to ensure early childhood workplaces are inclusive of culture and diversity. Our recommendations call on adults working in New Zealand early childhood services to help counter such experiences by honouring the Treaty of Waitangi/Te Tiriti o Waitangi, engaging in critical self and team reflection, increasing cultural and diversity capability through professional learning and development, and practicing continuous improvement.
Key words: Policy, discrimination, inclusion, early childhood workplaces.
INTRODUCTION
