Care practices with infants and toddlers
This resource shares information about the concept of care, cultural perspectives of care and adults’ responsibilities in promoting care with infants and toddlers. It is one of six infant and toddler resources focused on quality infant and toddler care and education to support the implementation of Te Whāriki. See 'Have you seen' below to access the other resources.
The concept of care is central to infants’ and toddlers’ early learning and educational experiences. In Te Whāriki, care and education are seen as distinct but interconnected concepts. This view emphasises the concept of care as an important dimension of infant-toddler pedagogy. Care moments provide rich opportunities for learning, communication, and building relationships.
Te Whāriki encourages kaiako to see themselves as nurturers and educators who care for and about children while laying a strong foundation for children’s later years. Care is also seen as a collective responsibility, requiring kaiako to work in partnership with infants’ and toddlers’ families and communities.
Te Whāriki highlights the importance of care that is respectful of the child, unhurried in pace, and responsive to each child’s unique rhythms and cues. Flexibility is key during care moments to foster a sense of emotional security and belonging for each child.
- Perspectives of care
- Cultural perspectives of care
- Adults’ responsibilities in promoting care with infants and toddlers
- Reflective questions
The concept of “care” is an important consideration when working with infants and toddlers in early childhood settings. For teachers, this concept shapes their practice and their identity as a kaiako of very young children. Care practices with infants and toddlers involve not just physical tasks, but also greater emotional investment and closeness than working with older children.
There are differing perspectives on how to provide and enact care in infant-toddler pedagogy. Some may see care only as a series of physical tasks, separating education from care. This narrow perspective regards the child as passive and unable to participate in or contribute to their own care moments. This approach reduces the adult’s role to one of detached efficiency, where the importance of nurturing relationships and language development during these times is overlooked.
Others view care more positively as a fundamental part of the curriculum for infants and toddlers, bringing care and education together as related and inseparable. Here, the child is viewed as an active, capable learner, who is involved in their own care routines. This view recognises the child’s agency or their capacity to contribute to their own experiences. In turn, the adult engages in an interactive, relational, conversational, and reflective manner.
Finally, when care is considered an ethical stance, it becomes deeply intertwined with education, emphasising a respect for the child’s agency, mana, and dignity. The child is seen as a social partner in the routine, and the adult’s approach is understanding, inclusive, and deeply reflective.
Kaiako may not strictly adhere to a single perspective but may embody elements of all three views based on the context, their relationship with the child, their cultural values and beliefs, the theory and philosophy that guide their practice, and their working conditions.
Additionally, researchers highlight the importance of adults’ feeling cared for. In reciprocal relationships, both kaiako and child take on the roles of being the one-caring and the cared-for. In this way, kaiako and young children take on multiple identities as care-givers, care-receivers, and self-carers at different times. Toddlers taking on the role of care-giver is demonstrated when, for example, a toddler runs to a kaiako with a bandaged finger and asks what happened, while stroking the bandage. Kaiako demonstrate self-care, for example, when they ask a colleague to step in to support them with a crying infant.
Caring for the carers: Emotional labour and mindful self-compassion in EC teaching and leading
A University of Auckland webinar led by Natalie Hopper and Justine O’Hara-Gregan. Watch the webinar at:
Natalie Hopper & Justine O'Hara-Gregan: Caring for the carers (Youtube.com)
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Children’s Convention)
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Children’s Convention) sets out the rights of all children, aged 0 to 18 years, and the responsibilities of governments to ensure those rights are respected. It is often known by the abbreviation ‘UNCROC.’ The New Zealand Government signed up to the Children’s Convention in 1993.
The Children’s Convention sets out a framework of children’s rights based on what a child needs to survive, grow, participate, and reach their potential. You can read the Children’s Convention at in Engliah and te reo Māori at:
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 30th Anniversary Edition (manamokopuna.org.nz)
Mana Mokopuna also provides a summary of every right children have under the Children’s Convention:
All rights under the Children’s Convention (manamokopuna.org.nz)
UNICEF and Save the Children provide accessible language and children’s versions of the Children’s Convention. These are available at:
Child rights (unicef.org.nz)
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: The Children’s Version (savethechildren.net)
Bussey, K., Peryman, B., & Martinez, S. (2021). Respectful attuned attachment relationships and care: Facilitating connections in everyday interactions in Australian early childhood education and care settings. The First Years: Ngā Tau Tuatahi. New Zealand Journal of Infant and Toddler Education, 23(2), 23-28.
Gould, K. (2022). Contradictions in care: What kind of care counts in ECEC? The First Years: Ngā Tau Tuatahi. New Zealand Journal of Infant and Toddler Education, 24(1), 11-17.
Quiñones, G., & Cooper, M. (2021). Co-authoring care narratives through a wholeness approach. The First Years Ngā Tau Tuatahi. New Zealand Journal of Infant and Toddler Education, 23(2), 29-35.
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About this resource
Te Whāriki highlights the importance of care that is respectful of the child, unhurried in pace, and responsive to each child’s unique rhythms and cues. This resource shares information about the concept of care, cultural perspectives of care and adults’ responsibilities in promoting care with infants and toddlers. It is one of six infant and toddler resources focused on quality infant and toddler care and education to support the implementation of Te Whāriki. See 'Have you seen' above to access the other resources.