Seeing through the metaphor: The OECD quality toolbox for early childhood

Semiotica ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 (212) ◽  
pp. 97-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Farquhar ◽  
Peter Fitzsimons
Keyword(s):  
International Economic ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Education Policy ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Creative Play ◽  
Government Education ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
Selection Of

AbstractThis paper explores the idea of metaphor as a persuasive device, using as an example a recent OECD publication purporting to be a quality toolbox for early childhood education and care. Leaving aside the problematic notion of quality, we argue that there is a serious problem with the idea of education as something that can be done with a toolbox, particularly in the formative stages of young children’s education. We suggest that the OECD selection of the toolbox as a metaphor is a way of inserting international economic imperatives into local government education policy, in ways that the citizenry is not aware of. As with any metaphor for education, the selection highlights some aspects while hiding others, a concealment that can’t be exposed by intensifying one’s gaze without a change in perspective. To examine the extent of what remains hidden by the toolbox, we engage in creative play with some different metaphors for education, arguing that particular metaphors may serve to obfuscate rather than clarify, an artifice that is not acceptable from a body as influential and far-reaching as the OECD.

scholarly journals Bilingual children as policy agents: Language policy and education policy in minority language medium Early Childhood Education and Care

Multilingua ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mari Bergroth ◽  
Åsa Palviainen
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Education Policy ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Free Play ◽  
National Language ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Education And Care

AbstractThe current study examines bilingual children as language policy agents in the interplay between official language policy and education policy at three Swedish-medium preschools in Finland. For this purpose we monitored nine Finnish-Swedish bilingual children aged 3 to 5 years for 18 months. The preschools were located in three different parts of Finland, in milieux with varying degrees of language dominance. The children were video recorded during their normal daytime routines in early childhood education and care. Three types of communicative situations were analyzed: an educator-led small group activity, free play with friends, and an activity in which one child was playing alone. Representative dialogs were selected to illustrate the children’s agency in constructing and enacting bilingual and/or monolingual language policies. Our analysis shows, firstly, that official national language policies can be enacted in different ways depending on the wider practice structures of the site; and, secondly, that each bilingual child has a unique agency and an active role in the construction of not only the monolingual policy but also a bilingual policy within the frames of early childhood education and care.

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.

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.

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