Swings + Roundabouts Autumn 2021

and the strength of one’s commitment to community. It is also useful to consider how one’s cultural capital or culture (Samoan: aganu’u) might influence the way leadership plays out in practice. For example, in Indigenous cultures, ‘modesty’ and ‘humility’ (agamalu) might have a higher value due to the emphasis on a ‘collective’ society as opposed to the ‘self-attention’ actions that may characterise the more ‘individualist’ Western society. This cultural tension may become apparent in practice whereby some Pasifika may not wish to ‘stand out’ and draw attention to their talents and gifts at the expense of their peers, whereas in Western society ‘individual pursuit and success’ may be more highly valued. Indeed, Indigenous values are less about competing for power and control and more about cultivating an interconnected system of cooperation, patience, sharing, and serving (Ahnee-Beham & Napier, 2002). It is not, however, the intention of the study to question the values of Western cultural societies. Rather, the study embraces a Pasifika Indigenous lens in order to critically identify and utilise the wisdom that already exists within Pasifika cultural communities regarding their values, knowledge, and understandings of leadership (aoao manogi o le lolo - gathering scented flowers for the oil). For us, this proverb reflects our search for wisdom in the collective process of gathering the ‘best’ scented flowers (the ‘best’ ideas and practices) from the forest (community) and bringing them back to produce the oil (the outcome) to inform the duties and responsibilities of leaders in ECE services. It also rests on the idea that every Indigenous person has knowledge that is important, as Tuhiwai Smith (2015) so aptly put in the introductory quote. Inspired by Indigenous scholarship, the study begins with the idea that leadership is first a place, both literally and spiritually, of engagement and interaction between people (Ahnee-Beham & Napier, 2002). This Indigenous way of seeing and acting upon the world incites leaders to value human relationships and their complexities as central to understanding and enacting leadership for the greater good. Also important to the study is the idea that all things living and non-living are connected in a dynamic, organic and reciprocal relationship. The reciprocal relationship between who we are, why we are, and our surroundings, connects us to time through our ancestors, past and future generations. This way of being reflects Pasifika peoples’ integral connection with the land, waters, skies, histories, and cosmos (Matapo, 2017; Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Taisi Efi, 1998/2003). Embracing a holistic, indigenous framework may, therefore, motivate leaders in ECE to serve a purpose much bigger than the self. HOW WILL THE STUDY BE CARRIED OUT? With a strong motivation to reclaim Pasifika ways of knowing, the study will explore culturally nuanced meanings of leadership in ECE that transcend the traditional notion of leadership as an individual leader’s power over others. It will do this by first acknowledging the uniqueness of each Pasifika identity to reflect the multiple voices and insights that will inform the study. It will also employ a blended Pasifika-Western methodology—reflecting the make-up of the participant community, the researcher’s dual Pasifika-Western lens, and what some ECE communities in Aotearoa currently experience—to glean collective thoughts and insights related to leadership from teachers, leaders, family and community members of Pasifika Early Learning (AoKids) centres. The main research question is: How might relevant Pasifika Indigenous knowledge be used to frame and guide collective meanings and enactment of leadership in ECE services serving Pasifika children and communities in Aotearoa New Zealand? This question is underpinned by a social justice agenda, which holds researchers accountable in fulfilling their role and obligation to communities whose voices remain unheard (Jolivétte, 2015) and addresses issues of disempowerment, disenfranchisement and marginalisation that often result when situations remain unjust. Actioning a social justice agenda also means constantly questioning the assumptions that underpin how we think about leadership, knowledge construction, and what the participant community will bring to the study. PASIFIKA EARLY LEARNING (AOKIDS): THE PARTICIPANT COMMUNITY The participant community, Pasifika Early Learning (AoKids), is a longstanding organisation, established 20 years ago in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. This respected family-run organisation is led by its directors, Fitu and Sue Ah- Young, and supported by key people, including Ina Fautua and Brittany Newport. The organisation has five ECE centres geographically spread across Auckland and Wellington, which serve Pasifika and non-Pasifika communities through practices inspired by Pasifika cultures, languages and identities. The organisation is founded on the legacy of Pacific elders (who remain March 2021 { 18 }