The Making of Global Citizens: Traces of Cosmopolitanism in the New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum, Te Whāriki

Abstract

The first New Zealand early childhood curriculum framework, Te Whāriki, was published in 1996. Te Whāriki presents quality in early childhood education as productive of a particular type of child. In this article the author argues that Te Whāriki is not about ‘best practice’ but about producing the ideal child. This child emerged at a time when New Zealand was deeply entangled in neo-liberal visions of globalisation. The type of child embedded in New Zealand's early childhood curriculum has the potential to affirm neo-liberal visions of the future global subject.