Japanese children's experiences in Aotearoa New Zealand early childhood education and care settings
Aotearoa New Zealand is now regarded as a superdiverse country. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings in Aotearoa New Zealand reflect this diversity presenting challenges and complex situations for children and adults to navigate. However, there is a paucity of research in this area, along with understanding the experiences of children from ethnic minorities, including Japanese. This study investigated Japanese children’s experiences in New Zealand ECEC contexts and explored how these children responded to and negotiated situations that are culturally challenging in their ECEC settings.
Using a qualitative multiple-case study approach, I focused on five Japanese children in separate ECEC settings across New Zealand. Data was gathered through observing each child, interviewing their parents and teachers/educators, and analysing national and international frameworks that are part of the broader context in which ECEC settings are located. Rogoff’s three foci of analysis (2003) were used to analyse the children’s experiences from multiple perspectives including personal, interpersonal, and cultural-institutional. I also drew on concepts from critical multicultural perspectives as a way of interrogating the position of children in a minority group – i.e., Japanese – in a predominantly Western and bicultural education system.
The findings suggest that Japanese children experienced complex cultural situations that created challenges and influenced their choice of cultural identities while negotiating their sense of belonging in their ECEC communities. Furthermore, the findings suggest that there are multiple ways of being Japanese. The children’s identities were largely fluid and changed in response to the current situation and the opportunities and challenges it afforded. I argue that the Japanese concept of Ibasho – referring to the place where people can be themselves – was crucial to understanding shifts in the children’s sense of belonging and in their expressions of identity.
My study contributes to understanding the diversity of Japanese children’s experiences in New Zealand ECEC centres. It signals the importance of avoiding overgeneralizations of ethnic identities and the need for teachers to be supported in their work in superdiverse settings.