32^nd  International

Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education Conference

Te Kura Ākau Taitoka University of Otago College of Education

Ōtepoti Dunedin, Aotearoa New Zealand

November 20-24, 2026

Localising ECE:

Powerful children, families, languages, and cultures at the centre of ECE

Kohikohia ngā kākano, whakaritea te pārekereke, kia puāwai ngā hua

Gather the seeds, prepare the seedbed carefully, and you will be gifted with an abundance of food

Call for proposals

The views and perspectives of children, teachers, families, and communities are powerful. Much of the work of RECE has been and continues to celebrate and prioritise their ways of being and knowing and to keep them central to what occurs in early childhood care and education settings.  Learning personalised to local interests, knowledge, and issues creates opportunities for unexpected connections, development of sustained, authentic relationships, and fosters a sense of community and belonging (Manning et al, 2020). The 2026 RECE conference applies these ideas with a focus on the local land and lived experiences in/of the South Island of Aotearoa, Te Wai Pounamu, in Ōtepoti Dunedin.

The curriculum framework of Aotearoa New Zealand, Te Whāriki: He Whāriki Mātauranga mō ngā Mokopuna o Aotearoa (Ministry of Education, 1996/2017) resonates with these central themes of RECE. Key themes of Te Whāriki include:

• A bicultural framework born from te ao Māori that prioritises Māori principles and values where children are considered as empowered taoka (treasures) from the ancestors.
• The capacity of each ECE setting to weave, with children and families, their own local curriculum by drawing on aspirations and learning priorities of hapū, iwi, and community.
• A sustained commitment, through Te Tiriti o Waitangi/The Treaty of Waitangi, to uphold and support indigenous Māori language, knowledge, and culture through authentic partnership.
• Children’s own languages, cultures, identities, and ways of being and knowing being valued and supported.
• All children having access to te reo me kā tikaka Māori (Māori language and practices) throughout their everyday early childhood experiences.

Putting these tenets into action requires teachers to work in collaboration.

While these tenets are unique to Te Whāriki, they can be seen as one example for localised curriculum honoring lived experiences, land, and water for other home spaces. Each collaboration will be unique, reflecting the situated aspirations and interests of those involved, the contexts of their lives, and circumstances. The views, perspectives, and priorities of children, families, and communities are empowered and prioritised throughout such collaborative endeavours as children, families and teachers come together for shared learning, furthering connections to their greater community (Holdom & Page, 2022; Manning et al, 2020). These intimate relationships offer possibilities for working together to share knowledges and actions addressing issues of colonisation and environmental sustainability (Berger, 2024; Manning et al, 2020; Penetito, 2009).

Therefore, we invite you to join us for this year’s RECE conference “Localising ECE: Powerful children, families, languages, and cultures at the centre of ECE”. 

However, these collaborations are also happening in a global context dominated by discourses and policies seeking to further marginalise many children and families and in a social/political climate where ECE is framed in terms of neoliberal/human capitalism discourses of economics, standardisations homogenizing populations, and globalisations (Roberts-Holmes & Moss, 2021; Mitchell et al, 2025). It thus becomes increasingly important to come together to share how research, practices, policies and advocacies can address these impacts and put empowered children, families, and local communities at the centre of early childhood care and education.

We invite scholars, activists, teachers, and others to share their related work and what it means to prioritise the languages, cultures and identities of the children, families, and cultures in and through ECE.  Post-colonial, post-structural and other critical perspectives that engage with but are not limited by the following, will be considered:

●      Honouring, Integration and Revitalisation of Indigenous knowledges

●      Relational pedagogies of belonging and community

●      Collective solidarity

●      Challenging standardisations, globalisation and associated homogenising discourses

●      Bringing together local politics to create global collectives

●      Migration, mobility, and the impact on Indigeneity

●      Other work consistent with the goals of RECE

Proposal Submission Guidelines

The deadline for submissions is April 1, 2026.

Proposals can only be submitted to the online portal through the RECE website:http://receinternational.org beginning on (or near) February 28, 2026 . Proposals will be reviewed by our international program committee and volunteer reviewers.

Your name may appear on only one submission, in order to promote broad participation in the conference.

Types of Sessions

The 2026 RECE conference will include three types of sessions. Each session will be scheduled for a 90-minute time slot. All sessions can be presented in-person or on-line:

1.     Themed panels. Themed panels combine several papers by a self-organized group of presenters under a common theme. The panel papers relate to each other and encourage connection across individual presentations.

2.     Individual papers. Individual papers will be programmed within sessions where authors present their papers for 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes audience discussion.

3.     Themed interactive or experimental sessions.RECE welcomes additional modes of presentation and scholarly engagement. A themed interactive or experimental session could focus on areas of activism, pedagogies, and current issues in early childhood for which “stand and deliver presentations” are not as well suited.

Please include the following in your proposal:

●      Names, affiliations, addresses, and e‐mail addresses of all presenters

●      Brief title, capturing the primary focus, concern, or topic of the session/paper

●      A one-line summary of the session/paper

●      3-5 keywords

●      Indication of session type (themed panel, individual paper or themed interactive or experimental session)

●      Indication of whether the session will be delivered in person or on-line. If on-line indicate your time zone.

●      Indication of provisions for involving audience participation, and format (PowerPoint, etc.)

●      Indicate if you want this proposal to be part of the Indigenous Caucus strand (which will be identifiably ‘Indigenous’ in the RECE conference proceedings)

●      Abstract for inclusion in the conference program (100 word maximum)

●      Brief description including the theoretical grounding of the session/paper, and its relevance to the theme of the conference (500 words maximum without references)

All proposals must be submitted as a Word document and strictly adhere to the word count limitations.

You will be notified of the outcome of your proposal no later than May 29, 2026.

Further questions?

If you have any questions about this call for proposals or the theme of the RECE conference, please contact the Program Chairs Lucinda Heimer (heimerl@uww.edu) and Katrin Macha (macha@inaberlin.org).

If you have any questions about visa related to invitation letters for presenters and attendees at the RECE conference, please contact Sonya Gaches (sonya.gaches@otago.ac.nz).

Interested in being a reviewer?

If you are interested in being a proposal reviewer for the RECE 2026 conference, please contact Lucinda Heimer or Katrin Macha.

References

Berger, I. (2024). Introduction. In I. Berger (Ed.) Intimately Situated Stories of Place: Activating Place-Centered Pedagogies in Early Childhood Education. (pp. 1-15). Palgrave Macmillan.

Holdom, J. & Page, C. (2022). Building a localised curriculum in partnerships with parents, whānau and tamariki through shared interests and identities. He Kupu, 7(2), 3-11.

Manning, R., Hetet-Owen, L., Puketapu, T., Puketapu, H., Manning, J. (2020). Tangata whenuatanga: Reflections on how place-based education approaches may assist kaiako enhance Triti/Treaty relationships in local communities.  In, A. C. Gunn, N. Surtees, D. Gordon-Burns & K. Purdue (eds.) Te aotūroa tātaki: Inclusive early childhood education.  Perspectives on inclusion, social justice, and equity from Aotearoa New Zealand (2nd ed.), (pp.54-71). NZCER Press.

Mitchell, L., Botes, V., & Kamenarac, O. (2025). Early childhood education as a public good: Challenges and possibilities. Early Childhood Folio, 29(2), 8–14. https://doi.org/10.18296/ecf.1158

Roberts-Holmes, G. & Moss, P. (2020). Neoliberalism and Early Childhood Education: Market, Imaginaries and Governance.  Routledge.

New Zealand Ministry of Education (1996, 2017). Te Whāriki: He Whāriki mātauranga mō ngā Mokopuna o Aotearoa Early Childhood Curriculum

Penetito, W. (2009). Place-Based Education: Catering for Curriculum, culture and community. New Zealand Annual Review of Education, 18, 5-29.