Selected History of Early Childhood Care and Education

A glimpse into a chronological journey of the lives and ideas of educationalists that have globally influenced the field of early childhood care and education (ECCE) is a necessary step for all educators. To better understand today’s practices as well as today’s errors, misunderstandings, and reinventions, this necessary time travel will offer the reader an international perspective on the sources of multiple concepts in the field of ECCE. By being exposed to the sometimes contentious and messy field of early childhood education, educators and early childhood scholars can consider the ideas and practices that best fit their current time, context, culture, and place. Once introduced to historical ideas and principles of practice in the field of early childhood education, readers can identify the roots of core concepts that are applied today in the education of the very young. Early childhood scholars and practitioners are advocating and fighting to be more valued by policy, governments, and the society as whole, and this ages-long struggle can be supported by the strong voices of the past. The biographical writings in this article will offer the reader only a glimpse into those efforts, a peek at the extreme activism of some and fight until death of others. In the last section, Comparative Studies, the reader will discover a network of connections between ideas, philosophies, practice, and experiences of thinkers from different times and different parts of the world. This network of ideas, if studied and qualitatively summarized, will support beginner educators to crystalize their own views and form their own teaching philosophy. This article contains a General Overviews chapter and one with Academic Articles that will warm up the reader by presenting overarching images of the tumultuous history of ECCE. Next is a chapter on the International History of Early Childhood Care and Education. The article continues with a chronological succession of thinkers who have built and strengthened the foundation of education in general, and of early childhood care and education in particular. They are introduced through their own voices and then analyzed by followers and critics. The selection of thinkers is far from being comprehensive and is based on their globally arching influence. Most of the thinkers proposed change, and some implemented reforms that are still viable today. They have all lived, to a degree, a Sisyphean effort to convince a world of adults that children matter more than previously thought. These past and present practitioners and theorists had tried to convince the world that children are not unfinished human beings, but competent and complex at every age. A surprising element of the historical insight will be the contemporary feel of some ideas that date back hundreds of years.

2021 ◽  
pp. 30-41
Author(s):  
Nancy Van Groll ◽  
Kathleen Kummen

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed vulnerabilities, tensions, and possibilities in the Canadian early childhood education and care system. This paper experiments with the metaphor of fermentation to critically reflect on the ways we, as ECEC postsecondary instructors, were challenged in upholding our pedagogical commitments. Through retrospective analysis of emails, meeting notes, and other personal communications, we examine and describe how our work and pedagogical thinking with students has been contaminated by COVID-19. We highlight the need to refigure relationships to the troubling events and reconceptualize contamination as a potent opportunity to pedagogically ferment practices in the postsecondary classroom through which living and learning well can flourish.


Author(s):  
Claire Davison ◽  
Linda Mitchell

Much of the public discussion of early childhood education policies has focused on particular policy initiatives, rather than considering more broadly what should be the role of the state in relation to young children’s education and upbringing. The roles that the state chooses to play are political decisions that are influenced by constructions of childhood and preferred policy approaches. In turn, these policy approaches help shape the nature of early childhood education. This article analyses changing models of state responsibility for New Zealand kindergartens to highlight their repercussions on kindergartens and the wider early childhood education sector. It argues that the state needs to take a supportive and responsible role in provision of early childhood care and education, to support a move away from a market model, and to resolve inequities in children’s access and teacher employment conditions that continue to beset the sector. The article ends by setting the discussion within an international context and suggesting policy challenges for early childhood education in New Zealand.


2020 ◽  
pp. 56-64
Author(s):  
Rachael Floom ◽  
Melanie Janzen

Imagine a world full of human beings existing to and for themselves alone, insensitive and removed from the social and natural world. Here we contemplate child-centeredness, a discourse used liberally in the realm of early childhood education and yet rarely considered critically. Drawing from Gert Biesta, we will explore the ways in which the notion of a child-centred curriculum positions the child as an egological being and thus minimizes the child’s relationships with others and the world in which they exist. We hope to provoke considerations of how we might reconceptualize curricula to foster children’s understanding of their broader existence.


Author(s):  
Jenny Ritchie

Ethnography is a qualitative methodology worthy of consideration for application in studies within the field of early childhood education. The long-term, immersive, relational nature of ethnography enables rich, detailed descriptions of the complex interactions occurring, and ongoing engagement with children, families, and teachers provides the opportunity for co-analysis of the meanings that underlie the observed activities and interrelationships. The foremost source of data for ethnographic research is the regular writing of in-depth fieldnotes over a lengthy period of time, which may be supplemented by photographs, videos, interviews, focus group discussions, and analysis of relevant documents. Issues to be considered by those intending to conduct ethnographic research in early childhood care and education settings include: their availability to be immersed in the site that is the focus of the study, on a regular basis over a long period of time; sensitivity to power dynamics between adults and children and to cultural differences; the ethical issues pertaining to gaining and maintain young children’s informed consent; and collaborating with participants, including young children, in co-analyzing the meanings underlying the data gathered. The ethnographic researcher in an early childhood care and education setting can attend to such issues through an ongoing receptivity to the messages, including body language, of participants, along with a commitment to self-reflexivity on an ongoing basis. The nuanced, culturally located understandings that are gleaned by ethnographic researchers offer potential for such research to inform policymakers in relation to delivering conditions that will enable teachers to offer high-quality, culturally responsive early childhood care and education pedagogies and programs.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Alcock ◽  
Jenny Ritchie

© 2018, Outdoor Education Australia. Early childhood care and education services in Aotearoa New Zealand drew initially on the Fröbelian model of the kindergarten or ‘children’s garden’. Later models such as the Kōhanga Reo movement, the highly respected curriculum Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa, and the Enviroschools programme are grounded in te ao Māori, Māori worldviews, that feature a strong connectedness to place, and a deep sense of a spiritual inter-relationship with the land, mountains, rivers, and oceans. This article considers how the imported Scandinavian/European/UK models of ‘forest schools’ might fit within this context. To illustrate early childhood education in the outdoors in Aotearoa (New Zealand) we draw upon research conducted in early childhood settings in this country that illuminates children’s experience in the outdoors. We draw upon critical early childhood scholarship to theorise this situation of forest schools emerging in Aotearoa, along with influences from the forest school movement evident in existing New Zealand early childhood services. The article suggests that traditional Indigenous Māori worldviews and knowledges give meaning and contextualised authenticity to ‘forest schools’ approaches in early childhood education in Aotearoa (New Zealand).


Author(s):  
Danuta Wloka

Ontario has the distinction of having the longest and the richest history of public kindergarten in Canada. Ontario’s kindergarten is an exception in the field of publicly funded early childhood care and education in Canada, where the care and education of preschool-aged children has not been recognized as the government’s responsibility. This article traces the development of Ontario’s public kindergarten from its inception in 1883 to the current Full-Day Early Learning–Kindergarten Program. It identifies the evolving characteristics of kindergarten, trends, and paradigmatic changes in the analyzed period by using a longue durée approach as per Fernand Braudel. It explores the context of each historical phase of Ontario’s kindergarten development, the intersection of political agendas, ideologies, and economic and pragmatic considerations that were impacting kindergarten policies.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Alcock ◽  
Jenny Ritchie

© 2018, Outdoor Education Australia. Early childhood care and education services in Aotearoa New Zealand drew initially on the Fröbelian model of the kindergarten or ‘children’s garden’. Later models such as the Kōhanga Reo movement, the highly respected curriculum Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa, and the Enviroschools programme are grounded in te ao Māori, Māori worldviews, that feature a strong connectedness to place, and a deep sense of a spiritual inter-relationship with the land, mountains, rivers, and oceans. This article considers how the imported Scandinavian/European/UK models of ‘forest schools’ might fit within this context. To illustrate early childhood education in the outdoors in Aotearoa (New Zealand) we draw upon research conducted in early childhood settings in this country that illuminates children’s experience in the outdoors. We draw upon critical early childhood scholarship to theorise this situation of forest schools emerging in Aotearoa, along with influences from the forest school movement evident in existing New Zealand early childhood services. The article suggests that traditional Indigenous Māori worldviews and knowledges give meaning and contextualised authenticity to ‘forest schools’ approaches in early childhood education in Aotearoa (New Zealand).


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Alcock ◽  
Jenny Ritchie

© 2018, Outdoor Education Australia. Early childhood care and education services in Aotearoa New Zealand drew initially on the Fröbelian model of the kindergarten or ‘children’s garden’. Later models such as the Kōhanga Reo movement, the highly respected curriculum Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa, and the Enviroschools programme are grounded in te ao Māori, Māori worldviews, that feature a strong connectedness to place, and a deep sense of a spiritual inter-relationship with the land, mountains, rivers, and oceans. This article considers how the imported Scandinavian/European/UK models of ‘forest schools’ might fit within this context. To illustrate early childhood education in the outdoors in Aotearoa (New Zealand) we draw upon research conducted in early childhood settings in this country that illuminates children’s experience in the outdoors. We draw upon critical early childhood scholarship to theorise this situation of forest schools emerging in Aotearoa, along with influences from the forest school movement evident in existing New Zealand early childhood services. The article suggests that traditional Indigenous Māori worldviews and knowledges give meaning and contextualised authenticity to ‘forest schools’ approaches in early childhood education in Aotearoa (New Zealand).


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 296-309
Author(s):  
Aisyah Nur Atika ◽  
Khutobah ◽  
Misno ◽  
Haidor ◽  
Lutfi Ariefianto ◽  
...  

The challenge for rural communities to provide quality education for early childhood in Indonesia is difficult. National politics, policies, and economic and cultural conditions affect the Early Childhood Education system, and Indonesia is a large multicultural country, so, even the quality of education is difficult. This study aims to look at the quality of children's education in Pandalungan. Using qualitative methods with ethnographic design, data collection techniques using interviews, observation, and documentation. The results showed that educational institutions for children in urban areas can be categorized quite high. However, for early childhood education services in Desa Sukorambi Pandalungan, the quality is quite poor. Research suggestions are the need for follow-up related to social, economic, cultural and environmental factors at the level of Pandalungan community awareness of early childhood education. Keywords: Early Childhood, Learning Quality, Pandalungan Community References: Bernal, R., & Ramírez, S. M. (2019). Improving the quality of early childhood care at scale: The effects of “From Zero to Forever.” World Development, 118, 91–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.02.012 Bers, M. U., González-González, C., & Armas-Torres, M. B. (2019). Coding as a playground: Promoting positive learning experiences in childhood classrooms. Computers and Education, 138, 130–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2019.04.013 Biersteker, L., Dawes, A., Hendricks, L., & Tredoux, C. (2016). Center-based early childhood care and education program quality: A South African study. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 36, 334–344. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2016.01.004 Burchinal, M. (2018). Measuring Early Care and Education Quality. Child Development Perspectives, 12(1), 3–9. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12260 Church, A., & Bateman, A. (2019). Methodology and professional development: Conversation Analytic Role-play Method (CARM) for early childhood education. Journal of Pragmatics, 143(xxxx), 242–254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2019.01.022 Ciolan, L. E. (2013). Play to Learn, Learn to Play. Creating Better Opportunities for Learning in Early Childhood. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 76, 186–189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.04.096 Correia, N., Camilo, C., Aguiar, C., & Amaro, F. (2019). Children’s right to participate in early childhood education settings: A systematic review. Children and Youth Services Review, 100, 76–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.02.031 Cycyk, L. M., & Hammer, C. S. (2018). Beliefs, values, and practices of Mexican immigrant families towards language and learning in toddlerhood: Setting the foundation for early childhood education. Early Childhood Research Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2018.09.009 Dick, C. & C. (2009). The Sistematic Design Of Instruction. New Jersey: Upper Saddle River. Grindal, T., Bowne, J. B., Yoshikawa, H., Schindler, H. S., Duncan, G. J., Magnuson, K., & Shonkoff, J. P. (2016). The added impact of parenting education in early childhood education programs: A meta-analysis. Children and Youth Services Review, 70, 238–249. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2016.09.018 Herbers, J. E., Cutuli, J. J., Jacobs, E. L., Tabachnick, A. R., & Kichline, T. (2019). Early childhood risk and later adaptation: A person-centered approach using latent profiles. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 62(January), 66–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2019.01.003 Hunkin, E. (2018). Whose quality? The (mis)uses of quality reform in early childhood and education policy. Journal of Education Policy, 33(4), 443–456. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2017.1352032 Johson, J. E, & Roopnarine, J. L. (2011). Pendidikan anak usia dini dalam berbagai pendekatan. Jakarta: Kencana Prenada Media Group. Lucas, F. M. M. (2017). The Game as an Early Childhood Learning Resource for Intercultural Education. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 237(June 2016), 908–913. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2017.02.127 Atwi Suparman. (2012). Desain Intruksional Modern. Jakarta: Erlangga. Mapiare, A. (2013). Tipe-tipe Metode Riset Kualitatif Untuk Eksplanasi Sosial Budaya Dan Bimbingan Konseling. Malang: Elang Emas & Prodi Bimbingan Dan Konseling Fakultas Ilmu Pendidikan Universitas Negeri Malang. Milner, K. M., Bhopal, S., Black, M., Dua, T., Gladstone, M., Hamadani, J., … Lawn, J. E. (2019). Counting outcomes, coverage and quality for early child development programmes. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 104, S3–S12. https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2018-315430 Morrison, G. S. (2012). Dasar-dasar Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini. Jakarta: Indeks. Nutbrown, C. (2011). Key Concepts in Early Childhood Education and Care (2nd ed.). London: SAGE Publication Ltd. Perpres. Pelaksanaan Pencapaian Tujuan Pembangunan Berkelanjutan. , 6 Peraturan Presiden RI § (2017). Puspita, W. A. (2013). Multikulturalisme dalam Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini. Jurnal Ilmiah VISI P2TK PAUDNI, 8(2), 144–152. Raikes, A., Sayre, R., Davis, D., Anderson, K., Hyson, M., Seminario, E., & Burton, A. (2019). The Measuring Early Learning Quality & Outcomes initiative: purpose, process and results. Early Years, 39(4), 360–375. https://doi.org/10.1080/09575146.2019.1669142 Satrio Roefandi, P. (2019). Keluarga Pendalungan, Keluarga Berbasis Budaya Madura Atau Jawa? 10 Th Psychofest Conference, (March), 316–324. https://doi.org/10.31227/osf.io/v8g5b Stokoe, E. (2014). The Conversation Analytic Role-play Method (CARM): a method for training communication skills as an alternative to simulated role-play. Res. Lang. Soc. Interact, 47(3), 255–265. Sutarto, A. (2006). Sekilas Tentang Masyarakat Pandalungan. Jelajah Budaya 2006, 1–7. Suyadi. (2010). Psikologi Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Insan Madani. Tapscott, D. (2011). Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation Is Changing Your World. Bucharest: Publica. Wijana, W. D. (2014). Konsep-Konsep Dasar Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini. In UT. https://doi.org/10.1101/112268 Yoshikawa, H., Wuermli, A. J., Raikes, A., Kim, S., & Kabay, S. B. (2018). Toward High-Quality Early Childhood Development Programs and Policies at National Scale: Directions for Research in Global Contexts. Social Policy Report,31(1), 1–36. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2379-3988.2018.tb00091.x


2008 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 375-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah O. Ajayi

Education is the right of every child and must not be denied it for any reason. This has been the assertion of the World Summit on the state of global children, which has led to the inclusion and expansion of early childhood care and education in the global Education for All programme (EFA). As Nigeria has pledged its commitment to this, with the recent inauguration of the policy on this educational arm, this article therefore examines the situation on the ground, on the prospects, and on the problems, and gives recommendations that could make the educational programme a reality in the nation in the interest of the children.


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