ABSTRACT
This chapter draws upon narrative research from Aotearoa that is informed by te ao Maori, a Maori worldview. Maori include mountains, rivers, oceans, and trees as ancestors and spiritual guardians and care deeply and actively for the whanaunga. The chapter offers some examples of the dynamics of relationships between children, elders, and the earth in traditional Maori childrearing contexts as well as in more early childhood care and education paradigms. Elders had a key role in relation to child-rearing, which was an intergenerational, collective responsibility, shared by older siblings, both female and male, and elders of both genders. The Kohanga Reo movement, is a national Maori immersion early childhood program focused on sustaining Maori language and traditions. The chapter presents research published in a report to the funder, the New Zealand Teaching and Learning Research Initiative.
