Talanoa, vā and picturebook pedagogy to support Pacific identities in a kindergarten setting

Abstract

It is important that children see themselves in the picturebooks that are available to them in their early childhood education [ECE] settings (Adam & Barratt-Pugh, 2021). Pacific picturebooks create spaces for meaningful conversations and emergent curriculum related to the identities, cultures and languages of Pacific families and whānau in the ECE setting.  Using a Talanoa-vā approach, the researchers worked alongside teachers in a Pacific kindergarten to observe how they and the children interacted with picturebooks featuring Pacific communities and languages. Three vignettes were created typifying the variety of ways in which teachers and children connected with the picturebooks and each other to make links to the ‘funds of knowledge’ and ‘cultural capital’ of Pacific learners and their families. Many of our findings about the affordances of Pacific picturebooks connect with Te Whāriki (MoE, 2017) and Tapasā (MoE, 2018) which together provide the framework for culturally responsive pedagogy for Pacific learners in ECE settings.