Skip to main content

Infant and toddler pedagogies 

 

This resource shares qualities of Mana enhancing pedagogies for kaiako and leaders. 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.

Adult and two children sitting together outside playing with chalk

Pedagogy, in its simplest form, refers to the approach or method of teaching and learning. With an increasing number of infants and toddlers attending early childhood settings, there has been an emphasis on understanding effective teaching and learning for these very young children outside their home environments.   

There is growing recognition that implementing high-quality infant-toddler pedagogy relies upon sufficient resourcing, appropriate regulations, and workforce support. This support includes access to professional learning and development focused on effective infant-toddler pedagogy, and building strong, nurturing relationships with infants and toddlers. Rather than one ‘ideal’ infant-toddler pedagogy, there are diverse pedagogies that reflect culturally nuanced and contextually specific interpretations and enactments within different learning environments. 

Research emphasises the specialised nature of high-quality infant-toddler pedagogy, which is characterised by collaboration with families and the promotion of mana-enhancing, responsive, and reciprocal interactions between children and their caregivers. These findings align with the principles of Te Whāriki, which are Whakamana | Empowerment, Kotahitanga | Holistic development, Whānau tangata | Family and community, Ngā hononga | Relationships. 

Mana enhancing relational pedagogies include qualities of:  

  • Respect  
  • Compassion  
  • Listening  
  • Affectionate touch  
  • Slowing down  
  • Cultural responsiveness
  • Reflection   

Respect is a central theme throughout Te Whāriki, highlighted in discussion of respectful relationships with people, places, and things, and in respecting children’s rights and diversity. Respectful practices with infants and toddlers in early childhood settings can vary widely and can be informed by a range of cultural perspectives and approaches. It is important to recognise that ‘respect’ can be understood and practised in different ways. 

Dr Emmi Pikler’s work and philosophy and Magda Gerber's Educaring® approach are examples of respectful pedagogies, which shape understandings of infant-toddler pedagogy in Aotearoa. In these types of pedagogies, kaiako prioritise respect by considering each child as an individual with rights and freedoms, inviting their engagement and seeking agreement before any action. They slow down intentionally, offer choices, and observe peacefully to understand and support children's needs without unnecessary intervention. Magda Gerber (2002) emphasised, "We not only respect babies, we demonstrate our respect every time we interact with them. Respecting a child means treating even the youngest infant as a human being, not an object" (p. 1).  

A pedagogy of respect aims to nurture each child’s sense of safety and security, fostering their self-confidence and trust in their own capabilities. Magda Gerber’s (2002) work outlines the following guiding principles for enacting respect with infants and toddlers:  

  • Trust in the child to be an initiator, explorer, and learner  
  • Involve the child in all caregiving activities to make them an active participant rather than a passive recipient  
  • Provide an environment that is physically safe, mentally stimulating, and emotionally supportive  
  • Ensure uninterrupted playtime and space for free movement  
  • Grant the child freedom to explore and interact with peers  
  • Observe the child sensitively to understand their needs  
  • Maintain consistency and establish clear boundaries and expectations.
 | 

Respect   

Developing respectful relationships with infants and toddlers   

This Education Hub resource draws on the work of Pennie Brownlee to encourage adults to reflect on what shows respect to infants and toddlers in ECE settings:  

Developing respectful relations with infants and toddlers (theeducationhub.org.nz) 

Compassion   

Compassionate pedagogies for children's emotionally intense experiences  

This video presentation by Gloria Quinones (Monash University, Australia) examines the role of compassionate pedagogies in relation to children’s emotionally intense experiences in early childhood education: 

Gloria Quiñones - Compassionate pedagogies for children's emotionally intense experiences (Youtube.com) 

Listening   

Hearing the voices of babies  

Caroline Guard (University of Roehampton, United Kingdom) led a doctoral ethnographic research project examined how the voices of babies are made visible during close dialogic interactions with early childhood educators. examined how the voices of babies enrolled in early childhood settings are made visible during close dialogic interactions with early childhood educators.  

You can read a three-page summary of the key findings from the research at the Froebel Trust website: 

Hearing the voices of babies in baby-educator interactions in Early Childhood Settings (froebel.org.uk) (PDF 161 KB). 

Listening to children for child-centred practice  

This webpage summarises key insights from a webinar by Professor Marek Tesar (University of Auckland) and Vicki Hargraves that explored the importance of incorporating young children’s voices into curriculum design and implementation, and the benefits this can have for children, teachers, and practice: 

Listening to children for child-centred practice (theeducationhub.org.nz) 

Affectionate touch  

The power of touch  

The following video draws on the work of Tiffany Field at the Touch Research Institute (Mailman Center for Child Development, University of Miami) in the United States to explain the importance of affectionate touch for very young children. The video, with support materials for teachers, is available at: 

The Power of Touch (pbslearningmedia.org) 

Archives from the Touch Research Institute are available at:  

Touch Research Institute (Archives) (miami.edu) 

Slowing down 

Slow pedagogy - making time for children's learning and development  

This following video from the Froebel Trust (United Kingdom) YouTube channel shares the work of Alison Clark on slow pedagogy and the beneficial effects it can have for young children: 

Slow pedagogy - making time for children's learning and development (youtube.com) 

Cultural responsiveness  

Principles for culturally responsive teaching in early childhood education  

The following Education Hub resource by Dr Vicki Hargraves summarises key principles of culturally responsive pedagogy in early childhood settings and the benefits this can have for children, teachers, and families: 

Principles for culturally responsive teaching in early childhood education (theeducationhub.org.nz) 

Critical reflection  

Critical reflection in practice  

The following video from the  Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) provides insights from service learning into what a collaborative reflective practice can look like in early learning settings. 

Critical reflection in practice (youtube.com) 

Cekaite, A. & Bergnehr, D. (2018) Affectionate touch and care: Embodied intimacy, compassion and control in early childhood education. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 26(6), 940-955.

Clark, A. (2023). Slow knowledge and the unhurried child: Time for slow pedagogies in early childhood education. Routledge.

Degotardi, S., Davis, B. & Fordham, L. "Infant and Toddler Pedagogy." Oxford Bibliographies in "Education." Ed. S. Faircloth. Oxford University Press, 27 October, 2022.

Gerber, M. (2002). Dear parent: Caring for infants with respect (J. Weaver, Ed., 2nd ed., illustrated, revised). Pasadena: Resources for Infant Educarers (RIE).  

Gerber, M., & Johnson, A. (1998). Your self-confident baby. John Wiley & Sons.  

Lombardi, C., Bladen, A., Foley, M. T., Galante-DeAngelis, M., Larrabee, K., & Robinson, J. (2023). Promoting reflective practice in an infant and early childhood training program. Infant Mental Health Journal, 44(4), 451-465.

Quinones, G. & Cooper, M. (2023). Infant–toddler teachers' compassionate pedagogies for emotionally intense experiences. Early Years, 43(4-5), 712-728.

Rameka, L., Glasgow, A. & Fitzgerald, M. (2016). Our voices: Culturally responsive, contextually located infant and toddler caregiving. Early Childhood Folio, 20(2), 3-9. 

Rinaldi, C. (2006). In dialogue with Reggio Emilia: Listening, researching and learning. Routledge.

Strauss, C., Lever Taylor, B., Gu, J., Kuyken, W., Baer, R., Jones, F., & Cavanagh, K. (2016). What is compassion, and how can we measure it? A review of definitions and measures. Clinical Psychology Review, 4, 15-27. 

Taggart, G. (2019). Early childhood education: From maternal care to social compassion. In G. Barton and S. Garvis (Eds.), Compassion and empathy in educational contexts (213–230). Palgrave Macmillan.

Kua kite rānei koe?

About this resource

Research emphasises the specialised nature of high-quality infant-toddler pedagogy, which is characterised by collaboration with families and the promotion of mana-enhancing, responsive, and reciprocal interactions between children and their caregivers. This resource shares qualities of Mana enhancing pedagogies for kaiako and leaders.  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.

Ngā rawa kei tēnei rauemi: