A history of visual art education in early childhood in New Zealand: Looking backwards to go forwards

This article presents an historical overview of early childhood education in New Zealand and examines the influences on visual art education for young children. Over the past one hundred and forty years shifts in early childhood pedagogy, diverse philosophies and beliefs about the purposes of early childhood, as well as the influence of prominent international art educators, has seen the development of a range of different approaches to visual art provision. Teacher practice in visual art education has moved from a rigid, formalized teacher-directed orientation, to a developmentally based and child-centred orientation and, finally, to one that has a strong socio-cultural orientation. By examining the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of different types of visual art programmes that have been provided in the past, early childhood practitioners have the opportunity to use this information as a basis for critiquing their own practice and to consider how it can be informed by current early childhood pedagogy.