scholarly journals Troubled Pedagogies and COVID-19: Fermenting New Relationships and Practices in Early Childhood Care and Education

2021 ◽  
pp. 30-41
Author(s):  
Nancy Van Groll ◽  
Kathleen Kummen
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Retrospective Analysis ◽  
Personal Communications ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Early Childhood Care ◽  
Childhood Care ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
Care System

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.

scholarly journals The role of the State in Early Childhood Care and Education: Kindergartens as a Case Study of Changing Relationships

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Davison ◽  
Linda Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
The State ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Employment Conditions ◽  
Early Childhood Care ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Childhood Care

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.

scholarly journals “Who Would Bother Getting a Degree When You Would Be on the Exact Same Pay and Conditions . . .?” Professionalism and the Problem With Qualifications in Early Childhood Education and Care: An Irish Perspective

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 215824402110318
Author(s):  
Ayooluwa Oke ◽  
Judith E. Butler ◽  
Cian O’Neill
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Social Welfare Services ◽  
Childhood Care ◽  
Highly Skilled ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
Impact Of Technology ◽  
The Impact

Although the literature is replete with research that indicates the importance of qualified and highly skilled practitioners in the provision of quality Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), challenges to the retention of highly skilled graduates and the establishment of a professional ECEC workforce persist. This study investigates the barriers that hinder practitioners from obtaining higher level ECEC qualifications. It presents findings from the perspectives of practitioners ( n = 18) participating in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Scheme using semi-structured interviews. This article is part of a doctoral study with practitioners and parents on quality in ECEC and the impact of technology on quality practice. Importantly, this article presents findings from the practitioner interviews as they relate to the barriers faced by practitioners in obtaining higher level qualifications. Findings indicate that practitioners value the role of qualifications in the provision of quality practice. Despite this, findings suggest that the likelihood of obtaining an ECEC degree is largely dependent on the practitioner’s financial situation. For example, in the absence of appropriate pay scales and occupational profiles, practitioners are forced to avail of social welfare services.

scholarly journals Ethnography in Early Childhood Education

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Ritchie
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Early Childhood Care ◽  
Time Sensitivity ◽  
Childhood Care

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.

scholarly journals Early childhood education in the outdoors in Aotearoa New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Alcock ◽  
Jenny Ritchie
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Outdoor Education ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Care ◽  
Childhood Care ◽  
Forest Schools ◽  
Early Childhood Settings

© 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).

scholarly journals Early childhood education in the outdoors in Aotearoa New Zealand

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Alcock ◽  
Jenny Ritchie
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Outdoor Education ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Care ◽  
Childhood Care ◽  
Forest Schools ◽  
Early Childhood Settings

© 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).

‘Investing’ in early childhood education and care in Aotearoa New Zealand: Noddings’ ethics of care and the politics of care within the Social Investment approach to governance

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 335-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Delaune
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Ethics Of Care ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Childhood Care ◽  
The Social ◽  
Education And Care

This article draws from Nel Noddings’ ethics of care as a basis for analysing the political effects of the burgeoning Social Investment approach to governance in Aotearoa New Zealand. To assess the effects of the Social Investment paradigm of governance in relation to early childhood care and education, this article commences with an historical analysis of the relationships between the concepts of ‘care’ and ‘education’ through the history of Aotearoa New Zealand in relation to early childhood education and care. Following this, the burgeoning Social Investment paradigm will be charted. Then, the major principles of Noddings’ ethics of care are outlined and utilised to scrutinise current and potential effects the Social Investment paradigm will have on early childhood education and care and the discourses of ‘care’ and ‘education’. Foucauldian theories augment Noddings’ theories to highlight the bio-politics of care.

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