A Pedagogy of Care: Moving beyond the Margins of Managing Work and Minding Babies

The image of a carer "minding" babies and toddlers has been transformed with the professionalisation of care in early childhood education and care (ECEC) services in Aotearoa/New Zealand. This occurred with the introduction of the national early childhood curriculum, "Te Wha-riki", in 1996 (Ministry of Education, 1996). Another key influence is the 10 year strategic plan to improve quality, introduced in 2002 (Ministry of Education, 2002) requiring that from 2007, 50 per cent of teachers in all teacher-led early childhood services would be qualified and registered, with the goal of 100 per cent by 2012 (recently changed to 50 per cent for infant-toddler teachers). The author proposes that this shift to an educational framework means early childhood professionals with infants and toddlers should consider their identity as a "teacher" rather than a "caregiver", and articulate a pedagogy of care.