By Angel Chan
copyright ChildForum

As New Zealand has opened its doors more to immigrants from all over the world, early childhood services are experiencing significant growth in the enrolment of immigrant children. Many immigrant children and parents have learning and parenting styles different from ‘New Zealanders’, posing challenges to early childhood teachers working within the NZ early childhood system.

In this article Angel Chan draws on research that has identified some experiences that are common amongst immigrant parents and children. This information can be used by professionals to lift the effectiveness of early education for immigrant children.

Common experiences

As an early childhood teacher educator who often visits early childhood centres in Auckland and as an immigrant who came to New Zealand over 10 years ago with a toddler who required early childhood education in a foreign country, I am aware of the anxiety experienced by immigrant parents and their children, as well as the challenges immigrant families posed to teachers.

But before this article continues, I wish to give a caution. Please note that immigrants cannot, and should not, be viewed as being a homogenous group; immigrants have diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Therefore the ideas I discuss in this article should not be regarded as necessarily applicable to every immigrant family.     

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