Master of Education (Early Childhood Education)

This course explores children, families and the contexts in which they live. You will explore a range of aspects that influence the values and beliefs that are held as important within diverse family constructs, as well as the profound effects those can have on the life experiences of children.   In this course, you will examine the ways culture and society shape relationships within families. A critical appraisal of literature, both from New Zealand and internationally, enables you to consider your own beliefs and values about children, their families and the wider community.  You will reflect on what family means to you, and in turn how your values shape your perspectives of family and the relationships that are formed within an early childhood education context.

Authentic leadership is a holistic concept that takes into account the whole person, including their emotions, spirituality, and sense of self. The notion of authentic leadership has recently become increasingly popular, since it promotes having a clear moral purpose and is driven by core values and beliefs. In this course you need to critically engage with the course literature to help construct your notion of being an authentic leader, since being authentic implies being fully engaged and present, and most importantly, being yourself. Realising one’s authenticity is essential in early childhood education, since leaders are constantly making decisions that are guided not only by one’s own personal values and beliefs, but also by professional codes of conduct and standards. To further complicate this process, such decisions must be made in consideration of the particular context, which may actually constrain or enable one’s claim to being authentic. Being an authentic leader in early childhood education implies having a strong commitment to high quality professional practices.

In this course you will explore concepts of communities of learning in early childhood education from the situated perspectives of teachers, student teachers, children and their family and whānau. This course establishes the theoretical concepts and the underlying principles and values that support a social learning approach. We look at empirical examples of communities of learning with teachers and children, and examine a number of key constructs which contribute to social learning theory.

In this course you will acquire the tools and techniques to effectively read, evaluate and design your own research. This course focusses on the application of a range of research methods to answer meaningful questions of early childhood theory and practice. Through your engagement with research, both as a consumer/reader and producer, you will develop an understanding of the value of research to inform and reflect on practice.

There are three threads woven into this course. These are personal arts experience, theoretical perspectives and educational research. You will reflect on your cultural identity within your personal engagement with one of the arts, consider arts education in the early childhood sector through involvement in research and critically discuss arts education theories. The selection of an individual pathway through dance, drama, music-sound arts or visual arts is encouraged. This personal arts-making journey and reflective process occurs alongside the observation and analysis of an infant’s, toddler’s or young child’s arts learning within an early childhood setting.

This course examines the practical roles and responsibilities of an effective manager in an early childhood education context. In this course, you will study aspects of early childhood education service management, finances and legislative obligations, through the lens of values-based decision making. Managing an early childhood education service is complex and involves working with children, colleagues, family/whānau, the community and governmental agencies. Individuals who work together well, will enhance outcomes for all concerned. This course provides you with information and perspectives across a range of areas that you will encounter as a manager.  You are encouraged to focus on your personal and professional values and vision, as these relate to the everyday practical application and operations of being an effective manager.

Undertaking a Dissertation provides students with an opportunity to do original in-depth research at postgraduate level. The dissertation is a scholarly piece of written work that reports on the findings of a theoretical, practical or empirical investigation into a defined area of early childhood education. Students will engage in a supervised investigation of a topic of their interest. Students are expected to be self-directed in their studies and to produce an account of their research that equates to internationally recognised standards.

The provision of this course furthermore acknowledges that postgraduate students contribute their own knowledge and experiences to the program and that the breadth of their studies will engage research that is relevant to early childhood education communities. 

Undertaking a postgraduate Thesis provides students with an opportunity to do original in-depth research under supervision. Students undertake scholarly supervised research of an academic, theoretical, professional or applied nature in the field of early childhood education. Approval of the topic is subject to the availability of suitable supervision. Students will engage in a supervised investigation of a topic of their interest relating to early childhood education. Students are expected to be self-directed in their studies and to produce an account of their research that equates to internationally recognised standards.

The provision of this course furthermore acknowledges that postgraduate students contribute their own knowledge and experiences to the program and that the breadth of their studies will engage research that is relevant to the field of early childhood education

Undertaking a postgraduate Thesis provides students with an opportunity to do original in-depth research under supervision. Students undertake scholarly supervised research of an academic, theoretical, professional or applied nature in the field of early childhood education. Approval of the topic is subject to the availability of suitable supervision.

Students will engage in a supervised investigation of a topic of their interest relating to early childhood education. Students are expected to be self-directed in their studies and to produce an account of their research that equates to internationally recognised standards.

The provision of this course furthermore acknowledges that postgraduate students contribute their own knowledge and experiences to the program and that the breadth of their studies will engage research that is relevant to the field of early childhood education

The focus of this course is ethics in early childhood education. Ethics is framed as belonging to both the professional and personal realms. For the individual teacher, the resolution of these sometimes disparate realms, is critical for one’s own sense of integrity. A critical aspect of this course is in terms of gaining an overview of ethics from a philosophical perspective, discussing the shift from a Universalist to a Particularistic perspective. We then examine the construct of the Ethics of Care, which recognises that teachers are intrinsically implicated in their relationships with the learners, families/whānau and other members of the team. This course recognises that teachers of young children are constantly faced with ethical decisions in often complex, fluid and dynamic environments. We explore relatively recent constructs in early childhood discourse, including the ethics of care that promotes the role of the professional teacher in the construction of meaningful and pedagogically based ‘caring’ relationships. We engage with children’s rights as represented by the United Nations and you are encouraged to select an area of ethical concern to explore further, either domestically or globally. This encourages you to develop the skills and knowledge to envision yourself as an active and transformative practitioner who is empowered to make informed changes. The aim is for you to develop a deeper insight into the complexity and challenges of developing your ethical self.

This course is designed to make a difference to student’s interpersonal engagement with other adults. You explore the nature of effective relationships, how understanding is created in action and interaction, and the personal and collective limitations that may be placed on your participation with others.  Examination of theoretical frameworks relative to interconnectedness and interpersonal engagement, such as systems thinking, complexity theory, and ecological systems will also be considered. The course has relevance to people in supervisory, management and adult teaching roles.  The principles and frameworks discussed in this course can be applied in a range of contexts and in particular in adult education, management, leadership and mentoring contexts.  Those contexts are not seen as teacher-led situations but as dynamic relationships between the people involved. A critical component of the course is the personal learning and professional practice in the lives of the course participants.  You are be encouraged to develop a narrative from your self-studies and, analyse and evaluate your understanding and participation in effective relationships.  The context, which is a gathering of adults in interactive relationships with one another, also provides you with reflective opportunities to understand yourselves individually and collectively. As the course is informed by learning principles such as problem based and authentic learning activities, the nature of some study events is facilitated by participants with the assistance of the course lecturer.

This is a placeholder course that allows the College to develop new courses, often as a result of individual or group research around a specific area of interest. Once the course is developed, we able to first run it as a pilot course, allowing for ongoing improvements before it is finalised as part of our qualification provisions, whereupon it is given a formal title that reflects the subject matter.

The Directed Study provides students with an opportunity to define a topic of interest that they wish to study in-depth in the field of early childhood education. The provision of this course acknowledges that postgraduate students contribute their own knowledge and experiences in a postgraduate program, and benefit from the opportunity to engage in guided investigations of their particular interests. In addition, the opportunity to define and study a topic of interest acknowledges the breadth of research that is relevant to the field of early childhood education.