Late Unitec lecturer’s final contribution to early childhood learning published

A new book looking at child-led inquiring learning in an Aotearoa New Zealand context has been released.

“Children’s inquiry in early childhood education in Aotearoa New Zealand” was co-authored by Unitec senior lecturer Helen Wrightson who sadly passed away in October last year.

Ms Wrightson and MIT’s Jo Perry were part of six-person research group studying the topic for three years.

Helen, who started at Unitec in 2010, was a leader in visual arts education and a strong advocate for the rights of the child to be curious. Determined not to be defined or defeated by her own cancer diagnosis, she continued to work on her doctorate which was conferred posthumously in April 2025.

Her research adding to the field of visual arts experience in early childhood providing teaching concepts in visual arts provision.

1. Six early childhood education centres throughout the country were part of the research project. (Image: p151, Chapter 6)

Child-led inquiring learning is when the child actively finds things out for themselves rather than being taught by a teacher. The teacher, in this approach to learning, is more of a facilitator asking questions and provoking thinking from the child.

From the book’s Introduction: “Children are born inquirers. They come into the world with an innate desire to make sense of the world around them.”

There has been research around the world on the topic, but this is first time it has been published from a local perspective says Jo Perry.

“This is the Aotearoa story. It’s very bicultural. It comes from the perspective that children are capable and confident people. They can do it themselves,” she says.

The study was a result of researching six early childhood centres around the motu that have adopted this type of learning. It found that kaiako (teachers) have woven together international influences with local theories, values and Te Whariki (A Bicultutural curriculum framework for Early Childhood Education).

These included Māori concepts like kaitiakitanga (safeguarding the future of the earth) and explored the history of local whenua (land).

2. The stylised taniwha which features on the book’s front cover.

An example of this is the stylised taniwha as the cover picture on the book which was an artist’s response to the inquiry happening at Pakuranga Baptist Kindergarten, Auckland.

Ms Perry says she changed her approach to pedagogy when she came across inquiry learning.

“I thought, ‘gosh, that’s exciting’. The first thing you do is listen to the children. What are they talking to each other about? What questions are they asking? And then you kind of slide in with questions.”

“So, tell me about what that is, rather than saying, ‘oh, that looks like a flower’. Children have ways of making sense of the world and the ways that they can explain the world. We call these working theories, and they’re always testing those working theories.”

“For example: Why is the grass green? Well, it’s green because the fairies come every night and paint it green”. How can we test that? How do we know? So, then they can ask their own questions. They can lead their own learning and come to their own conclusions.”

Tactile learning and exploring local spaces are key themes that run through the book. The final chapter explores a framework for establishing an inquiry approach to children’s learning.

3. The teacher is a facilitator in child-led inquiring learning. (Image: p153, Chapter 6)

Jo Perry’s research interests are the relationships between the process of teaching and learning, educational technologies, teaching in the 21^st century and research pedagogies.

Dr Sarah Probine, who was at MIT until 2024 and is now at AUT University, led the research project. The rest of the team included Yo Heta-Lensen, who was also at Unitec before moving to AUT University, Fi McAlevey and Joanne Alderson from Open Polytechnic and Rachel Burke from the University of Waikato.

The book was partially funded by the MIT Research Fund. Kylie Smith, MIT’s Head of Education was thanked in the acknowledgements section of the book.

Ms Smith says: “The research project, culminating in this beautiful book, is a testament to the collaborative effort, drive and shared passion for young children’s learning by a group of teachers and educators from across the motu. Pitched at the practitioner, this book will be highly relevant to anyone working with children and we look forward to sharing this with our initial teacher education students.”