Indian teachers and environmental identity in Aotearoa New Zealand early childhood education

Abstract

The Aotearoa New Zealand early childhood education (ECE) landscape is becoming increasingly multicultural, in particular with a significant number of migrant Indian teachers working in the field. This paper explores the potential role of environmental identity as migrant Indian ECE teachers navigate between the Indian and New Zealand cultures, wherein the environment may hold different meanings and place in these two cultural systems. The natural environment holds a special place in Aotearoa New Zealand’s cultural systems and is an integral part of the national identity. It can be argued that early childhood environmental education is important, and is already playing a part, in developing children’s environmental identity across the country. In facilitating this, teachers’ environmental identities can be equally important, especially in the case of migrant teachers, whose identities are influenced by different cultural systems. Our interest is in the environmental identities of migrant Indian teachers’ given their growing numbers in Aotearoa New Zealand ECE.