UCOL kaimahi research brings early childhood kaiako wellbeing into national focus post-pandemic

Research published by a UCOL Early Childhood Education (ECE) kaimahi has revealed the lasting wellbeing impacts of the COVID‑19 pandemic on ECE kaiako (teachers).

The study by Natalie Tunnell, Lecturer - Bachelor of Teaching (ECE), highlights the need for systemic change to better support those working with the country’s youngest learners.

Tunnell says she took the opportunity to complete the research as part of her Master of Education, which focused on the lived experiences of 12 ECE kaiako from two ECE teaching teams during the global pandemic. Her research has recently been published in Early Education, a journal that focuses on advancing the field of early years education in Aotearoa New Zealand.

“I used Sir Mason Durie’s Te Whare Tapa Whā model as a holistic wellbeing framework. The study revealed widespread and enduring impacts across physical, mental and emotional, social, spiritual and environmental dimensions of kaiako health, and showed fractures that occurred during the pandemic and continue to reverberate through today’s ECE landscape.”

The findings emphasised how quickly the emotional wellbeing of kaiako deteriorated amid policy instability, limited resourcing, and ongoing crisis management, which Tunnell says suggests the need for systemic approaches that address policy stability, adequate resourcing, and workplace conditions.

“This would allow kaiako to focus on meaningful relational and educational work rather than constant crisis management. This information asserts that kaiako working conditions are tamariki learning conditions, and the two are deeply interconnected and inseparable.”

Connection to the natural environment was of high importance, as was greater professional recognition, fair pay, and acknowledgement of ECE as an essential service supporting families, communities and the wider economy.

“Restrictions from accessing familiar places including rivers for reflection, bush tracks for clearing mental fog, and beaches for emotional reset, highlighted the fundamental role that natural environments play in sustaining wellbeing.

“Many of us now rely on ECE services to maintain employment. ECE is no longer a nice to have, but a national necessity and human right. These findings remain as urgent today as during the pandemic's immediate aftermath,” says Tunnell.

Tunnell hopes the findings provide pandemic insights for future practice and highlight the need for ECE kaiako wellbeing initiatives as part of a future investment into the sector.

“These stories remind us that supporting kaiako wellbeing is not just about individual recovery from crisis, it is about building sustainable foundations for an education system that can serve kaiako, tamariki, and whānau with the manaakitanga and excellence they deserve.”