After today, thousands of kaiako (teachers) who have loved and cared for their children – valued members of our society, are now committing an offence and will be arrested if they enter their place of work.

Here are some of their voices, written on Te Whāriki, New Zealand’s Early Childhood Curriculum document.

Underpinning Te Whāriki is the vision that children are competent and confident learners and communicators, healthy in mind, body and spirit, secure in their sense of belonging and in the knowledge that they make a valued contribution to society.

Te Whāriki is an inclusive curriculum.

“Kotahi te kākano, he nui ngā hua o te rākau. A tree comes from one seed but bears many fruit.”

This whakataukī emphasises that in our commonality we are all different. In early learning we celebrate those differences while maintaining our relationship with each other.

Kaiako are the key resource in any ECE service. “Waiho i te toipoto, kaua i te toiroa. Let us keep close together, not far apart.”

More about Te Whāriki:

Highly regarded in New Zealand and internationally acknowledged, Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa early childhood curriculum (1996) was one of the first national curriculum documents for early childhood education. Significantly, it was developed using a partnership approach as envisaged by te Tiriti o Waitangi. Given the cultural context of the time, it was a challenge to create a curriculum that would embody this partnership and fulfil the vision of leading sector thinkers.

The whāriki or woven mat is used as a metaphor for the ECE curriculum, in which four curriculum principles are interwoven with five curriculum strands. Together, these principles and strands give expression to the vision for children that is at the heart of Te Whāriki.

The four principles of Te Whāriki are

These principles are the foundations of curriculum.

The five strands of Te Whāriki are

Together with the principles, these strands provide the framework for a holistic curriculum.