Māori leadership and early childhood educational leadership in Aotearoa: A critical literature review

Five early childhood teacher educators in Aotearoa New Zealand explored a range of literature to respond to the question: What does literature tell us about Māori leadership and how are our findings relevant to leadership in early childhood education (ECE) in Aotearoa? The process of finding and reviewing literature sources about Māori leadership led us to think critically about how Māori values, concepts, and customs have been diminished or sustained in fields such as education and business. ECE in Aotearoa is shaped by the bicultural curriculum Te Whāriki and underpinned by obligations to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Although education and leadership structures and processes in Aotearoa are overwhelmingly produced within Westernised perspectives, ECE curriculum and practice foregrounds Māori ways of knowing, being, and doing. Through the literature review process, we shared insights and critical discussions that enriched our perceptions of leadership by and for Māori, and of relevance to ECE leadership through shared values. The literature reviewed provided examples from education and business settings where Māori leadership grounded in values of whanaungatanga/reciprocal relationality originating in Māori traditional beliefs and societal structures has been sustained, remembered, and reclaimed through processes of navigating and negotiating present-day colonised contexts. Literature also provided examples of official programmes and policies that seek to acknowledge and enhance Māori leadership in education.