Promoting kaitiakitanga using picturebooks

Kaitiakitanga is promoted in the revised curriculum document Te Whāriki—He Whāriki Mātauranga mō ngā Mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early Childhood Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2017). The authors give primacy to the Māori worldview of sustainable living through engaging with, and protecting, the natural environment. This article reports on a picturebook research project designed to support teachers to explore kaitiakitanga with young children in early childhood education settings. Two Aotearoa New Zealand picturebooks are featured, curriculum links are proposed, and feedback from a small sample of teachers about the picturebooks and curriculum links is reported. Picturebooks are powerful teaching tools and can provoke learning across the curriculum, as this research highlights.