Early childhood education in New Zealand includes the education of children from birth until entry into school. A national early childhood curriculum is expected to support the partnership between Maori people and the Crown established by the Treaty of Waitangi. This paper discusses the development of some national guidelines for early childhood education, "Te Whariki", and their relationship to the national school curriculum. National curriculum reform was initiated in the late 1980s to improve the quality of education and thereby ensure the future successful participation by young people in formal education, the economy, and in New Zealand society. The development of guidelines for a national curriculum to improve the quality of early childhood education was part of this process of reform, although the early childhood curriculum guidelines are not actually part of the national school curriculum framework. Four key principles were identified as integral to early childhood education: empowering children, holistic development, relationship with family and community, and responsive, reciprocal relationships with people, places, and things. Five development aims were identified as fundamental to children: well-being, belonging, contributing, communicating, and exploring. The developers of Te Whariki had the difficult task of ensuring a degree of consistency with the school curriculum without jeopardizing the integrity of an early childhood curriculum. This raised issues about the place of learning objectives and assessment and evaluation in early childhood education. (Contains 14 references.) (SD)