scholarly journals Sámi children as thought herders: philosophy of death and storytelling as radical hope in early childhood education

2021 ◽  
pp. 147821032110314
Author(s):  
Viktor Johansson
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Children's Play ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Indigenous Philosophy ◽  
Children’S Play ◽  
North Sweden ◽  
Traditional Stories

This article follows a story played out by children at a Sámi early childhood centre in north Sweden. It does so by reflecting on the children’s story as a form of Critical Indigenous Philosophy. In particular it explores what it could mean for a child to be a philosopher in a Sámi context by developing the concept of jurddavázzi, or thought herder, in conversation with Wittgenstein’s method of ‘leading’, and Cavell’s of ‘shepherding’, ‘words back from their metaphysical to their everyday use’. The children’s play story – involving themes of death, struggles with natural surroundings, and interconnectivity through seeing life in nature – is read in relation to questions about traditional stories raised in the poetry of the Sámi poet, artist and philosopher, Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, or Áillohaš. The article ends by discussing how the children’s invitation to follow their story can be seen as a decolonizing pedagogical gesture of the child that requires a particular kind of philosophical listening by the teacher or adult. The article is in its style an attempt to demonstrate a form of philosophical storytelling the children are engaged in.

scholarly journals Rethinking Play, Diversity and Belonging in Early Childhood Education

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 226-243
Author(s):  
Sonja ARNDT
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Cultural Difference ◽  
Subject Formation ◽  
Children's Play ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Children’S Play ◽  
The Subject

We might say that children’s play is the foundation of all learning. Often play is recognized as integral to childhood, but children’s abilities to engage in play are complex and these complexities can be easily overlooked. This paper elevates children’s play as critical for their learning, particularly in support of their sense of belonging. The paper argues for an openness to the complexities of children’s play as a crucial practice of their cultural identity, through a critical conceptualization of some of the nuances and uncertainties of children’s subject formation. Drawing on concerns of cultural difference in early childhood education, Julia Kristeva’s foreigner lens and her theory on the subject in process are used to theorise children’s play as an ongoing process of belonging. Through the notions of the semiotic, abjection, love and revolt, the notion of the subject in process is elaborated to reconceptualize play as also in-process and ongoing. Rethinking play as a vital process within the sometimes difficult, often unpredictable experiences of becoming part of a centre community is elevated as crucial for a sense of belonging in early childhood education.

Nature by Default in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue Elliott ◽  
Tracy Young
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Education For Sustainability ◽  
Children's Play ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Children’S Play ◽  
Transformative Engagement ◽  
Historical Antecedents

AbstractThis essay critiques the relevance of historical antecedents about children's play in nature and how these historical and political mechanisms create cultural rovoked by Taylor's (2013) exploration of the pervasive influence of romanticised images of innocent children in nature and our own experiences of never-ending ‘nice’ stories about young children in nature, here we trouble how nature experiences may or may not preclude children's meaningful and agentic participation in sustainability. We question is engagement with nature, a tangible and easily accessible approach in early childhood education (ECE) promoting a ‘nature by default paradigm’ and potentially thwarting a fuller transformative engagement with sustainability. Thus, we argue the case for shifting our frames beyond idealised romanticised notions and human–nature dualisms to a ‘common worlds’ (Haraway, 2008; Latour, 2004; Taylor, 2013) frame guided by collectivist understandings within connective life worlds. Such a shift requires a significant recasting of ethical human–nature understandings and relationships in ECE.

scholarly journals Making “Cuts” with a Holstein Cow in Early Childhood Education and Care: The Joys of Representation

2020 ◽  
pp. 53-66
Author(s):  
Teresa K. Aslanian ◽  
Anna Rigmor Moxnes
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Relational Ontology ◽  
Children's Play ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Holstein Cow ◽  
Children’S Play ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
Care Practices ◽  
Livestock Rearing

This article explores children’s play with representations of animals, specifically the Holstein cow, as noninnocent care practices in the context of early childhood education and care environments. We use Barad’s relational ontology and Chaudhuri’s concept of zooësis to activate a temporal diffractive analysis of memory stories about children’s play with cows in ECEC read through facts from past, present, and future livestock-rearing practices. We connect the joy of playing with representations of nonhuman animals to the responsibility associated with multispecies lives, and to care as the production of flourishing.

scholarly journals Associations between Children’s Risky Play and ECEC Outdoor Play Spaces and Materials

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 3354
Author(s):  
Ellen Beate Hansen Sandseter ◽  
Ole Johan Sando ◽  
Rasmus Kleppe
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Outdoor Play ◽  
Children's Play ◽  
Functional Play ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
Risky Play ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Play Materials

Children spend a large amount of time each day in early childhood education and care (ECEC) institutions, and the ECEC play environments are important for children’s play opportunities. This includes children’s opportunities to engage in risky play. This study examined the relationship between the outdoor play environment and the occurrence of children’s risky play in ECEC institutions. Children (n = 80) were observed in two-minute sequences during periods of the day when they were free to choose what to do. The data consists of 935 randomly recorded two-minute videos, which were coded second by second for several categories of risky play as well as where and with what materials the play occurred. Results revealed that risky play (all categories in total) was positively associated with fixed equipment for functional play, nature and other fixed structures, while analysis of play materials showed that risky play was positively associated with wheeled toys. The results can support practitioners in developing their outdoor areas to provide varied and exciting play opportunities.

scholarly journals INTERAÇÕES E BRINCADEIRAS COMO METODOLOGIA DE INCLUSÃO NA EDUCAÇÃO INFANTIL

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Circe Mara Marques ◽  
Luciana Bicca ◽  
Luiza Inês Kaim ◽  
Marli Aparecida da Silva ◽  
Thaís de Oliveira ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Public School ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Santa Catarina ◽  
Children's Play ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
West Region ◽  
Education Class ◽  
Education School

Este artigo trata da inclusão na educação infantil. O objetivo foi conhecer os modos de interações entre crianças com e sem deficiência na escola de educação infantil. A pesquisa se constituiu em um estudo de caso e os dados foram produzidos a partir de observações em uma escola pública, localizada no oeste catarinense. Os participantes pertencem a uma turma de educação infantil, constituída por 22 crianças de 4 anos de idade, sendo uma delas com deficiência. Os resultados mostraram que as crianças protagonizam movimentos inclusivos em seus contextos de brincadeiras. Nesse sentido, entende-se a brincadeira como uma potente metodologia inclusiva na infância. Palavras-chave: Educação Infantil. Inclusão. Brincar. ABSTRACT: This article deals about children’s social inclusion in early childhood education. The objective was to know the ways of interactions between children with and without disability at early childhood education school. The research was constituted in a case’s study and the data were produced from observations in a public school, located in Santa Catarina west region. The participating children belong to a childhood education class, constituted by 22 children with 4 years old, one of them with a disability. The results showed that children lead inclusive movements in their play contexts. In this sense, we understand the children’s play as a powerful inclusive methodology in childhood. Keywords: Early Childhood Education. Inclusion. Play.

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