He Taonga te Tamaiti, Every Child a Taonga: Early Learning Action Plan 2019–2029 (Ministry of Education, 2019) presents goals directed towards strengthening quality provision in early childhood education (ECE) in Aotearoa New Zealand, including actions needed to attract and retain a diverse range of kaiako in the sector. Because “Kaiako are the key resource in any ECE service” (Ministry of Education, 2017, p. 59), they must feel safe, included, valued, and respected within early learning services and have good working conditions. We surveyed early childhood kaiako to find out more about the barriers to and facilitators of inclusion and equity in the workplace for diverse kaiako. The findings show that more can and should be done at all levels to support and protect the rights, wellbeing, belonging, mana, and needs of diverse kaiako in ECE.

Aotearoa New Zealand is a bicultural nation with a superdiverse society, a feature which presents opportunities and challenges for our early childhood education (ECE) sector (Chan & Ritchie, 2020). A primary challenge within the sector is achieving, in accordance with the partnership, protection and participation principles of te Tiriti o Waitangi and the Treaty of Waitangi, equitable educational outcomes for Māori tamariki (children) as well as for tamariki from the many other minority groups attending ECE services. An important over-arching policy initiative in this regard is growing and sustaining a quality ECE teacher workforce that reflects and represents Aotearoa New Zealand’s increasingly diverse society (Ministry of Education, 2019). Research evidence suggests that such a workforce can make a positive contribution to ensuring more equitable educational environments for diverse tamariki, their whānau (family and extended family) and their communities. Our study investigated barriers to and facilitators of attracting diverse kaiako (teacher) to ECE in Aotearoa New Zealand and retaining them once there. Although our research showed some positive developments in this regard, it also indicates much work is still needed to ensure our ECE teacher workforce and workplaces are representative of and inclusive towards diversity. We hope this research and its recommendations will create further discussion and reflection around the opportunities and challenges still ahead of us in working towards a world-class inclusive ECE education system for all (New Zealand Government, 2019).