What if we spent less time fighting change, and more time building what’s right for learners?
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Presentation to the Early Childhood Council conference in Rotorua - focusing on the current demands on educators, including from things like AI, and how a shift to focus on things that align with our passion and philosophical beliefs will be more beneficial to ourselves and our students than resistance and fighting change
What if we spent less time fighting change, and more time building what’s right for learners?
- 1. Inspiring the next generation of leaders, thinkers and problem-solvers What Lights Our Fire? Creating hopeful futures for our tamariki Derek Wenmoth www.futuremakers.nz
- 2. What is the most important thing you would wish for for your child as they grow up? • To have a secure, well-paying job – able to support themselves and their family financially. • To be kind, respectful, and caring – showing empathy and treating others well. • To contribute positively to society – making a difference in their community or the wider world. • To be happy, healthy, and well – enjoying life with a strong sense of physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. • To be well-educated and qualified – achieving recognised credentials or higher education.
- 3. Photo by Wesley Hilario on Unsplash Imagine • It’s the year 2000. • You’ve just booked a taxi via a landline to go on a holiday after buying physical tickets from a travel agent. • Once you get to wherever you’re going, you cling to a map like flotation devices. • You take photos using fragile film that then has to be carted to chemists or photo labs to be printed to actually see. • Friday nights mean stressful dashes to Video Ezy and then the sour disappointment of finding the VHS you wanted was out. • If you want to access the internet, it means having to listen to the wail of dial-up and then waiting. So much waiting.
- 5. Evidence... Nearly a quarter of children aged 8-12 report having used generative AI, with the most used tool being ChatGPT. 22% of children reported using a generative AI tool, 72% reporting using it once a month or more. 24% of female children reporting using generative AI compared to 19% of male children. 58% who use generative AI reporting using ChatGPT. This is followed by Gemini at 33%, and My AI by Snapchat at 27%. 78% with additional learner needs using ChatGPT 53% without additional learning needs using ChatGPT Alan Turing Institute(2024), particularly in their recent publication Understanding the impacts of generative AI on children and young people (2024)
- 6. Current use of AI by ECE Educators • Observation Analysis: Upload notes or transcripts from observations and have AI suggest possible developmental milestones, learning dispositions, or curriculum strands that might apply. • Portfolio Drafting: Draft learning story narratives from bullet points, ready for teacher refinement. • Child Progress Summaries: Generate termly progress summaries by synthesising multiple learning stories, observations, and assessment notes. • Curriculum-Aligned Ideas: Suggest play-based activities that target specific Te Whāriki strands or learning outcomes, with adaptations for different age groups or abilities. • Policy Drafting: Help draft or update centre policies in clear, accessible language, ready for compliance checks. • Plain Language Summaries: Turn professional jargon into family-friendly explanations of learning and development. • Multilingual Communication: Translate newsletters, invitations, or learning stories for families with diverse languages at home. • Personalised Updates: Help write warm, individualised messages about a child’s week, maintaining tone and warmth while saving time. • Scenario Planning: Roleplay difficult conversations with parents or team members to build confidence and communication skills.
- 7. Scenario Planning Roleplay difficult conversations with parents or team members to build confidence and communication skills. https://nimodemo.com/futuremakers
- 8. What might be next? - Agnetic AI: These agents can perform enterprise-related tasks independently without human intervention. - Neuromorphic Computing: computation that mimics the architecture and functionality of the human brain. - Synthetic Media: platforms that feature content created exclusively with the help of AI. - Micro LLMs: models are tailored for environments where computational resources, storage or energy consumption is constrained - Spatial Computing: If different platforms can interact within hybrid systems, then the symbiosis of advanced computer systems (VR, AR, AI and IoT) with humans is called "spatial computing.” - Ambient invisible intelligence: refers to the seamless integration of advanced AI and computing technologies into our environment, operating in the background to enhance our lives without requiring active input or even visible presence. Https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbestechcouncil/2025/02/03/top-10-technology-trends-for-2025/
- 9. What are the Risks? • Privacy • Data Security • Misinformation • Surveillance
- 10. Evidence 56% of children and young people have encountered deepfake content 15% have seen it shared or created by a friend. 34% feel confident in identifying misinformation online, 43% believe it’s important to verify information before sharing it. 70% are uncomfortable with how their data is collected and used, 55% still provide sensitive personal information to access online platforms. 82% are uncomfortable with their photos or videos being used to train AI models, 66% dislike companies predicting their behaviours based on personal data. UNICEF Australia's A Generation Online (2025)
- 11. Living in “Garbage time” The crisis of hope https://futuremakers.nz/2025/04/12/living-in-garbage-time/
- 12. Hope is defined as the perceived capability to derive pathways to desired goals, and motivate oneself via agency thinking to use those pathways. Education as Hope Building Hope Theory: Rainbows in the Mind, C. R. Snyder, Pages 249-275
- 13. Evidence • 35% of children say using an AI chatbot feels like talking to a friend • 25% would rather talk to an AI than a real person • 23% say they have no one else to talk to • 26% of vulnerable children are using chatbots designed without safeguards Me, Myself and AI research: Understanding and safeguarding children’s use of AI chatbots (Released 14 July 2025), Internet Matters report
- 14. Do we find ourselves constantly pulling weeds, or are we also nurturing what we want to grow? Agency is key… To have choices and the ability to act on those choices
- 15. Constant pushback drains us — and dims our purpose
- 16. Evidence • Teacher Shortages: shortage of qualified early childhood teachers, which is partly attributed to low pay and high workloads. Increased stress and burnout among existing teachers • Funding Issues: centres struggling to meet operating costs and provide competitive salaries. • Quality and Regulation: compliance burdens, a lack of incentives for high-quality services to expand, and inadequate pressure on low-quality providers to improve. • Health and Safety: impact of deregulation and inadequate staffing levels. Changes to regulations, such as reducing the frequency of checks on sleeping infants • Curriculum and Learning: need for curriculum design to better meet the diverse needs of children.
- 17. HOWEVER… Small, positive shifts can spark big change. Constant pushback drains us — and dims our purpose
- 18. Where to start? • 1991 • Vietnam • Save the Children • 65% children malnourished • Mandate: “sort it!” • Results required in 6 months https://positivedeviance.org/case-studies-all/2018/4/16/the-vietnam-story-25-years-later
- 19. Positive Deviance • Feeding their children even when they had diarrhoea • Giving them multiple smaller meals rather than two big ones • Adding ‘leftover’ sweet potato greens to meals. Though loaded with micronutrients, they were traditionally thought unsuitable for young children and thrown away • Collecting small shrimp and crabs found in the paddy fields – rich in protein and minerals – and including them in their family’s diet • Avoiding food waste by actively feeding their children rather than setting the food down in front of them https://positivedeviance.org/case-studies-all/2018/4/16/the-vietnam-story-25-years-later
- 20. What will you act on... • Do an energy audit this week. What’s fuelling your fire? What’s draining it? What one thing could you stop doing — and what one thing could you start — that would give more oxygen to the work that matters most? • Gather around the fire. Who are your people? Set aside time to dream together — not just plan or solve problems, but ask “What do we want to grow?” and “What does good look like for our learners, staff, and communities?” • Choose one act of Positive Deviance. What’s already working in your school or context that could be shared, scaled, or celebrated? Start there. • Share your spark. I’d love to hear what’s energising you — or where you’re choosing to redirect your energy. Leave a comment, share this post, or start a conversation with someone who needs to hear it. Let’s fan these flames together.
- 21. Focus on what fuels you, not just what fills your calendar