Attracting diverse kaiako to and retaining them in early childhood education in Aotearoa New Zealand

Aotearoa New Zealand is a bicultural nation with a superdiverse society, a feature which presents opportunities and challenges for our early childhood education (ECE) sector (Chan & Ritchie, 2020). A primary challenge within the sector is achieving, in accordance with the partnership, protection and participation principles of te Tiriti o Waitangi and the Treaty of Waitangi, equitable educational outcomes for Māori tamariki (children) as well as for tamariki from the many other minority groups attending ECE services. An important over-arching policy initiative in this regard is growing and sustaining a quality ECE teacher workforce that reflects and represents Aotearoa New Zealand’s increasingly diverse society (Ministry of Education, 2019). Research evidence suggests that such a workforce can make a positive contribution to ensuring more equitable educational environments for diverse tamariki, their whānau (family and extended family) and their communities. Our study investigated barriers to and facilitators of attracting diverse kaiako (teacher) to ECE in Aotearoa New Zealand and retaining them once there. Although our research showed some positive developments in this regard, it also indicates much work is still needed to ensure our ECE teacher workforce and workplaces are representative of and inclusive towards diversity. We hope this research and its recommendations will create further discussion and reflection around the opportunities and challenges still ahead of us in working towards a world-class inclusive ECE education system for all (New Zealand Government, 2019).