46th Annual Conference, 10-12 July 2009, Auckland
‘Ahakoa iti, he pounamu’
Respecting our youngest citizens
The NZCA 2009 Annual Conference and AGM took place at the SkyCity Convention Centre, Auckland on 10-12 July 2009. We would like to thank all those who attended.
Conference photos are now available
Conference presentations are now available
Inspirational keynote speakers for our 2009 conference included -
Hon Anne Tolley MP
Minister of Education
Anne Tolley is MP for East Coast; a large and diverse electorate which stretches from Gisborne, around East Cape and through to the Whakatane plains.
Anne was first elected to parliament on the National Party list in 1999, and was appointed Spokesperson on Women's Affairs and Early Childhood. In 2005 she returned to parliament and was elected Junior Whip, and given the Child, Youth and Family portfolio. Anne remains passionate about securing a healthy & secure environment for children, youth and families, and campaigns strongly against family violence and child abuse.
In 2006 Anne was elected Senior Whip, the first woman to hold the position in the National Party. In 2008 she took over the Education portfolio. Anne Tolley was re-elected as MP for East Coast in the 2008 General Election, with an increased majority, and was appointed Minister of Education, Minister for Tertiary Education, and Minister responsible for ERO.
Anne lives in Gisborne with her husband, and has three adult children. Anne is a former Hawkes Bay Regional Councillor, a Napier City Councillor and was the Deputy Mayor of Napier City. Before entering parliament Anne was an active Rotarian, served on the Napier Girls' High Board of Trustees, and was a Trustee of the Hawkes Bay Community Law Centre.
Dr Waiora Port
Dr Waiora Port, (Te Aupouri [Ngāti Pinaki], Te Rarawa [Ngāti Maroki]), Auckland, a respected Kuia with long-standing community knowledge of Māori health issues. Waiora was awarded her PhD in 2007 after investigating the cultural and spiritual issues around DNA testing for Māori with a genetic predisposition to cancer.
Waiora Port is of Te Aupouri and Te Rarawa iwi affiliation. She was born in Auckland in 1932 and for the first eight years of her life lived in the Far North. She began her education at Ahipara Native School in 1937 and in 1940 her parents moved back to Auckland.
Her strong ambition to teach began the first day she attended school in Ahipara in 1937.
Waiora began her teaching career as a probationary assistant at Richmond Road School in 1953. Her belief that her main job was to raise her children saw her leave Richmond Road School to do this and when her 5 daughters were all at school she returned to teaching in 1973. In 1985 she began the first bi-lingual unit at Richmond Road School, and in 1988-1991 was the Supervisor-Kaiako of Ritimana Kohanga Reo where she continues to remain involved some 24 years later.
She attended the University of Auckland part-time and was awarded her BA in 1992. Her thesis for her MA was on Waehape (Clubfoot). She was later invited by the Director of Genetic Services to study for her PhD in Molecular Medicine/Māori and Pacific Health, DNA testing for Cancer Susceptibility: The needs of Māori. She is still employed part-time by the Auckland District Health Board (ADHB) as Kai Arataki (Cultural Advisor) to Northern Regional Genetic Services.
Waiora has served on many advisory committees such as the Kaunihera Kaumātua of ADHB, ACART, Toi Te Tai Ao: The Bioethics Council, Te Hau Mihi Atu, and is called on in an advisory capacity in many research projects which involve Māori.
Abstract
I shall approach citizenship obliquely by talking about my experience beginning in the thirties of the 20th Century, growing up as a Māori female and in poverty. Citizenship was not a term we used much but as I look back for me, it was second class citizenship.
Let me tell you about my journey which has been through all levels of education as pupil, student and primary-teacher, later as a mother, grandmother and even later as a university student.
I would like to make some comparisons using the journey of my youngest daughter born in the late 60's and three mokopuna who all began secondary school this year 2009.
The discussion will be: How does their journey compare with mine? What changes have there been? What does the future hold for your mokopuna and mine? 
Anne Meade, CNZM, QSO, PhD
Anne Meade is an education consultant specialising in research and writing focused on early childhood education.
Anne was appointed the Director of the NZ Council for Educational Research from 1992 to 1998, and was a Fulbright Senior Scholar in 1999. A second edition of her book on schema learning called Thinking Children was published last year.
Anne has been the convenor of two major government working groups developing long-term policy for early childhood education in New Zealand, in 1988 and in 2001. She is about to complete her contract as Research Leader for the Early Childhood Education Centres of Innovation.
Dr. Gabriella Püspöki
Paediatrician, Deputy Director, Emmi Pikler International Public Foundation, Pikler Institute Foster Home, Training and Research Center
Dr. Gabriella Püspöki was born in Budapest in 1939. Dr Püspöki’s mother was a medical doctor, whom she credits for her interest in people’s wellbeing.
Dr Püspöki studied in Budapest for a medical doctor degree and her first job was in the paediatric department of a small country-town hospital.
In 1966 Dr Püspöki returned to the capital to take up a position at the Pikler Institute. During her first twenty years she worked in the residential nursery under the founder and then director, Dr. Emmi Pikler. She had the opportunity to study and learn directly from Dr Pikler whom she considers to be the greatest influence on her professional life.
Dr Püspöki is currently the Deputy Director of the Pikler Institute. She has twin daughters and four grandchildren who live close to Budapest.
Dr Püspöki comes to New Zealand for the first time for the 46th Annual NZCA conference.
Keynote Abstract
Dr Püspöki's keynote presentation is titled Well-proved ideas, new tasks and new experiences in the Pikler Institute. Dr. Pikler was a famous Hungarian paediatrician who created a new ideology of infant-toddler development based on the acceptation of the child’s capacity for the free movement and play activity. Dr. Pikler was a family doctor in Budapest, before World War II and supported young children to keep them physically healthy, active, curious about the world, in close connection with their parents and capable to be both independent and self confident.
In 1946 Dr. Pikler founded a residential nursery and worked to provide an environment were children could undergo the normal development of their personality. Dr. Pikler's practices became the methodological basis for Hungarian residential nurseries. The Pikler Institute's ideology is still up-to-date over half a century later.
Corine Rivalland
Lecturer, Early Childhood, Monash University, Australia
Corine's PHD studies have looked into the experiences of children from migrant communities and how they adapt to their host society.
Corine has many years of experience in the early childhood field. Her research interests are in social justice, diversity and teacher education. Corine's keynote will be particularly relevant to the New Zelaland context, as it will cover the negotiation of cultural meaning between new immigrant families and the early childhood professionals working in childcare.
Keynote Abstract
Australia has a rich and complex migration history. Childcare institutions play an important role in the resettlement experiences of migrant families and in the identity development of migrant children with a culture different from the host society. The importance of maintaining continuity and stability between the home culture and the culture of educational and care institutions has been well researched (Gonzalez-Mena, 2001, Rogoff, 2003). This keynote explores some of the results of a larger study, which looked into the practice of cultural negotiation between new migrant families and early childhood professionals using childcare institutions.
Titled of featured workshop
Corine will be leading a workshop titled - 'They form part of the community from the first day - exclusionary practices through the sameness approach.'
Dr Meaola Amituanai-Toloa Ph.D
Ph.D, Associate Dean, Pasifika, Associate Director, Woolf Fisher Research Centre, Lecturer, School of Arts, Literacies and Languages, Faculty of Education, University of Auckland
Dr Meaola Amituanai-Toloa is Associate Dean Pasifika at the Faculty of Education, the University of Auckland. She is also an Associate Director at the Woolf Fisher Research Centre and a lecturer at the School of Arts, Languages and Literacies at the Faculty. She is primary teacher trained.
Her Masters study examined Samoan pedagogy in the context of supporting reading at home. Building on that, her PhD study focused on the reading comprehension achievement in English of Samoan students in bilingual and mainstream settings and particularly Samoan comprehension for Samoan students in Samoan bilingual contexts. Her research interests are driven by a desire to see Pasifika students achieve at the same level as other students for a better and hopeful future. Her particular interests are bilingual and biliteracy, language development, and family practices. Her work has seen her present widely nationally and internationally.
Keynote abstract
"Sao fa'alalelei: "Before you were born I knew you: Respecting the Born and the Unborn". Early Childhood Education is intensely promoted as one of the most crucial aspects of educational change. This is because it is in the early years of a child that the foundation of all things life, including language, culture and ways of knowing and ways of acting, are taught, nurtured, shaped, encouraged and treasured. However, as crucial as early childhood education is, while change might be seen to involve a simple process, change comes only when we begin to understand the value placed on our youngest citizens. This paper argues that this understanding develops respect out of which emerges love. Perhaps then we can all say, "Sao fa'alalelei".
Anne Milne
Principal Te Whanau o Tupuranga & Clover Park Middle School
- Thought-provoking seminars from our keynote speakers
- Maori and Pasifika focused workshops
- Member networking sessions
- Early childhood marketplace showcasing the very best suppliers to the ECE sector
- Our not-to-be-missed three course gala dinner and dance.