early childhood and compulsory education reconceptualising the relationship contesting early childhood

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What should be the relationship between early childhood and compulsory education? What can they learn from one another and by working together? The rapid expansion of early childhood education and care means that most children in affluent countries now have several years at pre-school before compulsory education. This raises an important question about the relationship between the two. Whilst it's widely assumed that the former should prepare children for the latter, there are alternatives. This book contests the 'readying for school' relationship as neither self-evident nor unproblematic; and explores some alternative relationships, including a strong and equal partnership and the vision of a meeting place. In this ground-breaking book, Professor Peter Moss discusses the issue with leading early childhood figures - from Belgium, France, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the United States -who bring very different perspectives to this contentious relationship. The book starts with an extended essay by Peter Moss, to which the other contributors are invited to respond critically, as well as offering their own thinking about the relationship between early childhood and compulsory education, both their current understandings and suggestions on future directions. Students, researchers and academics in the field of early childhood education will find this an insightful and timely text. But so too will their peers in compulsory education, since the book time and again raises searching questions about pedagogical purpose and practice in this sector.

The early childhood services of Reggio Emilia in Northern Italy has gained worldwide interest and admiration. Drawing on the 'Reggio approach', and others, this book explores the ethical and political dimensions of early childhood services and argues the importance of these dimensions at a time when they are often reduced to technical and managerial projects, without informed consideration for what is best for the child. Extending and developing the ideas raised in Beyond Quality in Early Childhood Care and Education the successful team of authors make a wide range of complex material accessible to readers who may have little knowledge of the various important and relevant areas within philosophy, ethics, or politics, covering subjects such as: post-structural thinkers and their perspectives the history and practice of early childhood work in Reggio Emilia globalization, technological change, poverty, and environmental degradation ethical and political perspectives relevant to early childhood services from Foucault and Deleuze, to Beck, Bauman and Rose. This book presents essential ideas, theories and debates to an international audience. Those who would find this particularly useful are practitioners, trainers, students, researchers, policymakers and anyone with an interest in early childhood education.

Taking a broad approach, Beyond Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care relates issues of early childhood to the sociology of childhood, philosophy, ethics, political science and other fields and to an analysis of the world we live in today. It places these issues in a global context and draws on work from Canada, Sweden and Italy, including the world famous nurseries in Reggio Emilia. Working with postmodern ideas, this book questions the search to define and measure quality in the early childhood field and its tendency to reduce philosophical issues of value to purely technical and managerial issues of expert knowledge and measurement. With a brand new Preface to this classic text, the authors argue that there are other ways than the 'discourse of quality' for understanding and evaluating early childhood pedagogical work and relate these to alternative ways of understanding early childhood itself and the purposes of early childhood institutions.

Early childhood education and care is a major policy issue for national governments and international organisations. This book contests two stories, both infused by neoliberal thinking, that dominate early childhood policy making today - ‘the story of quality and high returns’ and ‘the story of markets’, stories that promise high returns on investment if only the right technologies are applied to children and the perfection of a system based on competition and individual choice. But there are alternative stories and this book tells one: a ‘story of democracy, experimentation and potentiality’ in which early childhood centres are public spaces and public resources, places where democracy and experimentation are fundamental values, community workshops for realising the potentiality of citizens. This story calls for transformative change but offers a real utopia, both viable and achievable. The book discusses some of the conditions needed for the story’s enactment and shows what it means in practice in a chapter about project work contributed by a Swedish preschool teacher. Critical but hopeful, this book is an important contribution to resisting the dictatorship of no alternative and renewing a democratic politics of early childhood education. It is essential reading for students and teachers, researchers and other academics, and for all other concerned citizens.

<I>Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Care and Education is a foundational text, which presents contemporary theories and debates about early education and child care in many nations. The authors selected are leading contributors in discussions about critical early childhood studies over the past twenty years; the editors are long-time scholars in the reconceptualizing early childhood movement. Audiences include students in graduate courses focused on early childhood and primary education, critical cultural studies of childhood, critical curriculum studies and critical theories that have been contested and debated and drawn from over the course of two decades.<BR> The book is filled with recent scholarship by leading authors in the reconceptualization and rethinking of childhood studies and early childhood fields, who discuss foundational debates, new imaginaries in theory and practice and activist scholarship. A must-read for graduate students and professionals interested in beginning or continuing critical interrogations of current early childhood policy and reforms globally.

This collection, edited by leaders in the field of early childhood and multicultural education, is a valuable resource for those studying and working with young children. Chapters emphasize the relationship between theory, research, and practice, and provide illustrations of equitable and inclusive practices that move us toward social justice in the critical field of early childhood education. Drawing from the current literature on ability, class, culture, ethnicity, gender, languages, race, and sexual orientation, the book presents a forward-looking account of how diversity could improve the educational experience of children from birth to grade three.

This book explores the effect of temperament on educational experiences and shows readers how individual temperaments of students and teachers influence behavior and achievement.

For the past 20 years, a range of scholars, educators, and cultural workers have examined dominant discourses of «childhood» using critical, feminist, and other postmodern perspectives. Located in a variety of disciplines, these poststructural, deconstructive, and even postcolonial critiques have challenged everything from notions of the universal child, to adult/child dualisms, to deterministic developmental theory. The purpose of this volume is to acknowledge the profound contributions of that large body of literature, while demonstrating the ways that critical analyses can be used to generate avenues/actions that increase possibilities for social justice for those who are younger while, at the same time, avoiding determinism. In this time of globalization, hyper-capitalism, and discourses that would control and disqualify through constructions like accountability, we believe that projects such as this are of utmost importance. The volume is divided into four major sections to reflect the multiplicity of human voices and perspectives (section I), contemporary circumstances and dominant discourses within which we all attempt to function (sections II and III), and the generation of new possibilities for constructing relationships together (section IV). Finally, a voice from the «heart» within a «reconceptualist» social science agenda for early childhood studies is presented.

How does early years policy impact on practitioners, children, settings and families? What are the implications of current policy for the future? How can early years professionals shape and craft practice in ways that genuinely focus on the needs of children and families, rather than the interests of policy makers? This exciting new text explores the changing context and increasing importance of early years policy. It takes a broad look at policy developments and shows how these have affected children, settings, parents and the early years workforce. Divided into two parts, the first examines theoretical perspectives and sets out the early years policy context, looking at issues surrounding accountability, international influences on policy and the Early Years Foundation Stage. The second half of the book directly shows how policy has influenced practice, and considers: the upskilling of the workforce and the impact of this on practitioners; the development of the learning environment including outdoor provision; sustained shared thinking and its link to high quality learning and teaching; the impact of policy on parents. Offering a fresh perspective on early years policy, this timely textbook will be essential reading for students on undergraduate and postgraduate Early Years and Childhood Studies courses and those working towards Early Years Teacher status.

This second edition of Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education and Care is a foundational text that presents contemporary theories, debates, and political concerns regarding early education and child care around the globe.

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