Swings + Roundabouts Summer 2020

Education, 2017) doesn’t explicitly link to ECEfS, but there are multiple references that align the curriculum with a local curriculum and te ao Māori and Kaupapa Māori pedagogies to guide early childhood educators to sustainable practices which are consistent with Indigenous traditions and transformative: “ For Māori this means kaiako need understanding of a world view that emphasises the child’s whakapapa connection to Māori creation, across Te Kore, te pō, te ao mārama, atua Māori and tīpuna. All children should be able to access te reo Māori and tikanga Māori into the everyday curriculum ” (Ministry of Education, 2017, p. 12) . Whakapapa (genealogy) recognises the interconnection between the “spiritual, human, physical and environmental elements” (Smorti, Peters-Algie & Rau, 2013, p.6), and a cosmological connection to Papatūānuku (Earth Mother), Ranginui (Sky Father), and their offspring, the Atua Māori, who preside over nature domains, the beginnings of human and other life and “embedded energies and aspects that Te Ao Māori (Māori worldview) ecological principles reside” (Ritchie, et al., 2010, p.28). “ Children may express their respect for the natural world in terms of respect for Papatūānuku, Ranginui and atua Māori. Kaitiakitanga is integral to this ” (Ministry of Education, 2017, p. 46). Marsden (2003) within his writings clarifies the meaning of kaitiakitanga as “guardian, keeper, preserver, conservator, foster-parent, protector” (p. 67) and he describes the interrelatedness between humans and the planet within te ao Māori: “ Thus the resources of the earth did not belong to man, but rather, man belonged to the earth. Man as well as animal, bird, fish could harvest the bounty of mother earth’s resources but they did not own them. Man had but ‘user rights ” (Marsden, 2003, p.67). Skerrett and Ritchie (2018) argue that learning from a te ao Māori perspective early childhood centres can support current and future Māori generations to feel a deeper connection to their ancestral lands through whakapapa (genealogy), their Indigenous language and knowledges, as well as Māori concepts such as kaitiakitanga that will support all children to show care and respect for the land. Ritchie (2015) encourages educators to reflect on how Indigenous knowledges can serve both the wellbeing of the planet and humanity and describes how a critical pedagogy of place informed by Indigenous knowledge can enhance the dispositions of empathy towards self, others and more- than-human others. By understanding critical pedagogies of place through the senses of Indigenous knowledge such as sustainable practices, self-sufficiency within in a community (Bowers, 2008, cited in Ritchie, 2015), local histories and ecologies educators will support and engage children and families to create a connection to place, “whilst learning how to maintain the delicate balances that sustain life on our planet” (Greenwood, 2008, 2013, as cited in Ritchie, 2015, p. 42). A focus on Indigenous pedagogies of place, local stories and histories plays an important role in locating place, understanding the local ecologies and the Indigenous way of being, doing and knowing, which Ritchie (2013) describes as revalidating and revisiting Indigenous stories and histories. Ritchie (2014) describes the role of place pedagogies and creating strong relationships with Māori (within your learning centre and community) to support the learning of a place’s natural rhythms and ecologies, the role of local stories and ecological knowledge to foster “sustainable ways of knowing, being and doing?” (p. 50). Some examples of revisiting and revalidating Indigenous ways of being, doing and knowing Ritchie (2013) drew from a large scale study (Ritchie, et al., 2010) which included a kindergarten revitalising maramataka Māori (Māori calendar) to plan and care for their gardens, observing the seasonal changes, included karakia before eating, exploring traditional medicines (rongoā), as well as revalidating what Ritchie (2013) describes as “revalidating Indigenous time-scapes” (p. 399) through describing traditional practices practiced at this time of the year and what they as a kindergarten were doing now in the present. Sommerville (2010) describes how “Place has the potential to offer alternative storylines about who we are in the places where we live and work in an increasingly globalised world” (p. 331) and argues that when children are intimately attuned to their local places, it can offer opportunities to bridge the local to the global through seeing the connection and relativity of a local problem to wider global issues. Nelson, Pacini-Ketchabaw and Nxumalo (2018) highlight the role early childhood education has in seeking ways to acknowledge Indigenous land relationships and for educators to attain an awareness of the stories they share and which stories are not being heard. CO-HABITING To support Pentito's Indigenous place pedagogy including cohabitation and Indigenous ways of knowing and being Ritchie (2017) offers up the term 'eco- cultural literacies', which can be understood as the ability to understand the natural systems that make life on earth possible, and which can foster young children’s compassion for both humans and other’s such as mountains, rivers, insects and animals, which Ritchie (2017) argues December 2020 { 27 }