Leadership

Here in Aotearoa, mentoring in early childhood education isn’t optional. The Teaching Council  says every service must provide an...

We all know teaching isn’t something you just do. Great teaching takes time, reflection, and the kind of conversations that challenge us to see things differently.

What are meetings, really? On paper, they're structured gatherings intended to facilitate communication, collaboration, and...

Not all great teachers make great leaders — and that’s okay. In early childhood education, leadership requires more than experience. It calls for reflection, courage, connection, and the willingness to grow. This blog explores what strong, heart-led leadership really looks like in ECE, and how we can better support those stepping into these essential roles.

There’s something we don’t say often enough in early childhood education: "The quality of a child’s learning environment is only ever as strong as the people in it." And right now, the people—our teachers—are carrying too much, with too little. I speak to kaiako every week who are passionate, intelligent, and deeply committed to tamariki. But behind their dedication is exhaustion. There’s pressure to meet documentation demands. To meet standards. To support children’s beha

In early childhood education, we wear many hats—teacher, guide, listener, caregiver, curriculum designer, emotional anchor—and yet, too often, we wear them without enough support ourselves. At HeartLead NZ, we believe that the wellbeing and capability of teachers is the heartbeat of high-quality early learning. When kaiako feel empowered, understood, and resourced, they are able to show up fully for children—creating spaces of warmth, curiosity, and deep learning.