The spiritual strengths of young children

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Nye
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Present Moment ◽  
Connotative Meaning ◽  
Psychological Theories ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
Relational Consciousness ◽  
Imaginative Play ◽  
Existential Issues

This chapter outlines childhood’s spiritual strengths and needs. Psychological theories and empirical research suggest that spiritual capacity is a natural condition of early childhood, arising in everyday experience. Contemporary scholarship identifies key strengths that underpin childhood spirituality. These include children’s heightened sensitivity to non-verbal, embodied, and emotional ways of knowing, and a less dominating verbal and intellectual approach to experience. This privileges children’s spiritual capacity for ‘relational consciousness’, and is evident in attention to mystery, delight, despair, wonder, the present moment, a sense of place, and connotative meaning-making. Without sensitive approaches to nurture in education and care, these capacities are vulnerable to erosion. Four areas of spiritual need are proposed: for child-led listening, for adult presence and humility, for space (physical, emotional, and auditory), and a need for imaginative play. Together, these can provide safe ways to explore the profound existential issues common in even the youngest children.

Early Childhood Corner: Mathematical Concepts Come Alive in Pre-K and Kindergarten Classrooms

2006 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 226-231
Author(s):  
Lynn L. Huber ◽  
Rosalyn S. Lenhoff
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Correct Answer ◽  
Current Practice ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Mathematical Tasks ◽  
Mathematical Concepts ◽  
Children’S Learning ◽  
Multiple Ways Of Knowing

What do you think of when you are asked to explain how children learn mathematics? Do you visualize algorithms, workbooks, accurate calculations, solitary effort, and one correct answer? Or do you visualize problem solving, multiple ways of knowing, meaning making, working with peers, many possible responses, and numerous ways to represent? Current practice often seems to reflect the first view. Many teachers see themselves as information givers whose goal is to have everyone arrive at the same answer in the same way. However, research on children's learning clearly supports the second view, in which teachers see themselves as facilitators who guide students to think and solve problems on their own, discuss their ideas with peers, and represent solutions in various ways (Bredekamp and Copple 1997; Kamii 2000; Marcon 1994, 2002). As facilitators, teachers focus on meaningful mathematical tasks, develop rich environments, create opportunities for learners to collaborate, and encourage learners to talk and write about the mathematics learned (Van de Walle 2004).

Interactive acculturation of Turkish-Belgian parents and children in Flanders: A case study of Beringen

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 417-428
Author(s):  
Özgün Ünver ◽  
Ides Nicaise
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Maternal Employment ◽  
Domain Specificity ◽  
Specific Context ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Parents And Children ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Town

This article tackles the relationship between Turkish-Belgian families with the Flemish society, within the specific context of their experiences with early childhood education and care (ECEC) system in Flanders. Our findings are based on a focus group with mothers in the town of Beringen. The intercultural dimension of the relationships between these families and ECEC services is discussed using the Interactive Acculturation Model (IAM). The acculturation patterns are discussed under three main headlines: language acquisition, social interaction and maternal employment. Within the context of IAM, our findings point to some degree of separationism of Turkish-Belgian families, while they perceive the Flemish majority to have an assimilationist attitude. This combination suggests a conflictual type of interaction. However, both parties also display some traits of integrationism, which points to the domain-specificity of interactive acculturation.

Social Investment and Childcare Expansion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margarita León
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Perfect Match ◽  
Preschool Education ◽  
Conceptual Level ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Education And Care

The chapter first examines at a conceptual level the links between theories of social investment and childcare expansion. Although ‘the perfect match’ between the two is often taken for granted in the specialized literature as well as in policy papers, it is here argued that a more nuance approach that ‘unpacks’ this relationship is needed. The chapter will then look for elements of variation in early childhood education and care (ECEC) expansion. Despite an increase in spending over the last two decades in many European and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, wide variation still exists in the way in which ECEC develops. A trade-off is often observed between coverage and quality of provision. A crucial dividing line that determines, to a large extent, the quality of provision in ECEC is the increasing differentiation between preschool education for children aged 3 and above and childcare for younger children.

scholarly journals Professionalisation of early childhood education and care practitioners: Working conditions in Ireland

2021 ◽  
pp. 146394912110101
Author(s):  
Geraldine Mooney Simmie ◽  
Dawn Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Women Workers ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Performance Management ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
The State ◽  
Developmental Needs ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Education And Care

The last decade has revealed a global (re)configuring of the relationships between the state, society and educational settings in the direction of systems of performance management. In this article, the authors conduct a critical feminist inquiry into this changing relationship in relation to the professionalisation of early childhood education and care practitioners in Ireland, with a focus on dilemmatic contradictions between the policy reform ensemble and practitioners’ reported working conditions in a doctoral study. The critique draws from the politics of power and education, and gendered and classed subjectivities, and allows the authors to theorise early childhood education and care professionalisation in alternative emancipatory ways for democratic pedagogy rather than a limited performativity. The findings reveal the state (re)configured as a central command centre with an over-reliance on surveillance, alongside deficits of responsibility for public interest values in relation to the working conditions of early childhood education and care workers, who are mostly part-time ‘pink-collar’ women workers in precarious roles. The study has implications that go beyond Ireland for the professionalisation of early childhood education and care workers and meeting the early developmental needs of young children.

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