My doctoral research concerned implementing bicultural curriculum in mainstream early childhood centres in Aotearoa New Zealand. While I explored these ideas from an appreciative inquiry standpoint, some troubling aspects related to the notion of biculturalism occurred. In this article, definitions of biculturalism are examined, as is the relationship between bilingualism and biculturalism, as well as the growing move to replace power sharing implied by biculturalism, with multiculturalism.  In addition to perusing the literature, data were collected through a survey of 76 early childhood respondents, in 2003.  Generally, respondents had a positive definition of biculturalism.  However, when considering whether bicultural practices were a positive expression or not academic literature was divided.  What was interesting in Aotearoa New Zealand was overall those promoting biculturalism were Pākehā and those opposed were Māori.  One conclusion I draw is that the term Tiriti-based better captures the intention of partnership than biculturalism.

This study reports on a four-year project to embed academic literacy within one core course of a Bachelor of Education program. It involves an interdisciplinary collaboration between learning advisors, as literacy specialists, and lecturers, as subject specialists. It examines their roles and responsibilities and lecturers' perspectives when handing over the teaching of academic literacy to them. Data encompasses interviews with lecturers, meeting notes, and cohort statistics about assessment grades. Discourse analysis with theory from Systemic Functional Linguistics identifies the shifting contributions of the collaborators and how lecturers evaluate their experiences. Findings suggest that handover is smooth when it is done gradually and involves intensive prior collaboration. However, the contrasting views of the lecturers raise questions about what is optimal for students. Although limited, data indicates that reductions in resubmission rates and students achieving in the minimal passing range cooccur with the addition of mini videos about reading and writing critically.

AN IMPORTANT ESSENCE IN becoming bicultural and bilingual is for additional languages to be learnt early on. This article is based on an infant and toddler case study within my doctoral research to discover how practitioners with this age group incorporate the bicultural curriculum into their teaching. The methodology was action development which is a synthesis of appreciative inquiry and action research. The findings show that the early childhood practitioners had strategies to support and encourage the implementation of the bicultural curriculum with children less than two years of age. Working as team, modelling both te reo Māori and English, enabled the children to begin their bicultural journey. Practitioners using the appreciative approach built on their strengths to grow in confidence. This research is important for practitioners working with babies to ensure they have the possibilities to develop cognitively and linguistically through learning additional cultures and languages.

Calls for enhancing the digital interface for teaching and learning within tertiary institutions have played out in one School of Education, with variable results. Online learning tasks were added in 2018 to regular classes to provide more flexibility for student engagement. A team of lecturers developed a questionnaire for students to be completed after the first semester pilot. Data and findings indicated that one-third of students identified online learning as an enhancement to their learning. A second survey was conducted one year later to assess changes made and analyse the longer-term impacts. During the COVID-19 lockdown, fully online pedagogy was required; anecdotal observation indicated an improvement in satisfaction and engagement, but perhaps only because online was the only way possible to complete assessments. The conclusion contains recommendations and a cautionary tale, when introducing online learning across existing courses.

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