scholarly journals Kindergarten in Ontario – An Exceptional Case of a Publicly Funded Early Childhood Education Since 1883

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danuta Wloka
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Learning ◽  
Exceptional Case ◽  
Publicly Funded ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Early Childhood Care ◽  
Childhood Care ◽  
History Of ◽  
Full Day ◽  
Fernand Braudel

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.

Selected History of Early Childhood Care and Education

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
International Perspective ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Current Time ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Early Childhood Care ◽  
Childhood Care ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

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.

scholarly journals Qualities for early childhood care and education in an age of increasing superdiversity and decreasing biodiversity

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Ritchie
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Dominant Culture ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Attitudes And Practices ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Care ◽  
Childhood Care ◽  
Climate Crisis ◽  
Opening Up

© 2016, © The Author(s) 2016. In this article it is argued that notions of ‘quality’ in early childhood education have been captured by neo-liberal discourses. These discourses perpetuate the western, individualistic, normativising and exploitative attitudes and practices that are contributing to the climate crisis currently imperilling our planet. Educators may inadvertently perpetuate this situation, or they can instead consciously challenge this dominant culture, opening up spaces of divergence. Via a sequence of short scenarios or stories based within the early childhood care and education context of Aotearoa (New Zealand), readers are invited to consider alternative conceptualisations, drawing on post-humanist and Indigenous theorising, which focus on fostering dispositional qualities that holistically engage intra-actively with(in) children’s worlds.

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 Social, cultural, and ecological justice in the age the Anthropocene: A New Zealand early childhood care and education perspective

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Ritchie
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Ethical Responsibility ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Care ◽  
Childhood Care ◽  
Pedagogy Of Place

Abstract Educators have an ethical responsibility to uphold the wellbeing of the children, families and communities that they serve. This commitment becomes even more pressing as we move into the era of the Anthropocene, where human induced climate changes are disrupting the planet’s systems, threatening the survival of not only humans, but of eco-systems and the earth’s biodiversity. This paper draws upon examples from Aotearoa (New Zealand) to demonstrate ways in which a critical pedagogy of place informed by local traditional knowledges can inform early childhood education whilst also enhancing dispositions of empathy towards self and others, including more-than-human others.

‘The Greatest of Equalisers’: A Critical Review of International Organisations’ Views on Early Childhood Care and Education

2013 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 451-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRISTIAN MORABITO ◽  
MICHEL VANDENBROECK ◽  
RUDI ROOSE
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
International Organisations ◽  
Political Dissent ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Disadvantaged Children ◽  
Playing Field ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
Early Childhood Care ◽  
Childhood Care ◽  
Common Opinion

AbstractThere is a large consensus among international organisations (e.g., United Nations and the World Bank) in considering Early Childhood Care and Education a prominent policy to equalise opportunities. Moreover, it is common opinion that interventions in early childhood aiming at equalising ‘opportunities’ rather than ‘outcomes’ will overcome political dissent. These two claims draw upon a particular interpretation of the work of contemporary egalitarian philosophers, as well as a number of studies in both developed and developing countries, finding higher benefits for disadvantaged children. Despite the tradition of analysing welfare provision from an equality perspective, the shift towards early childhood education as an equality policy has not yet fully been analysed. We critically examine the consensus advocated by international organisations regarding Early Childhood Care and Education as key to ‘levelling the playing field’ and suggest that the first claim (early childhood as greatest equaliser) should be considered with caution. We also argue that the alleged consensus on this claim may lead to a depoliticisation of social policy.

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.

Language strategies for “Early Childhood Education”? Newspeak and He Taonga te Tamaiti

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-14
Author(s):  
Andrew Gibbons ◽  
Marek Tesar ◽  
And Pasley ◽  
Georgina Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Early Learning ◽  
Learning System ◽  
George Orwell ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Childhood Care ◽  
Language Strategies

The early learning action plan 2019–2029, He Taonga te Tamaiti / Every Child a Taonga, ushers in a new era of thinking about the governance of early childhood education (ECE). The policy language has changed, with a shift from “early childhood education” to the “early learning system”. This article starts from the concern that if a teacher was to search through the action plan and note where the phrases “early childhood”, “early childhood education”, or “early childhood care and education”, “early learning”, “early learning services”, “early learning provision”, and “early learning system” occur, they would begin to paint a landscape of the way in which the language of governance has been changing in ECE. In this article we ask: What does this shift in language mean for the early childhood sector? To interrogate this question, we will explore elements of the language of the plan, and question the discourse of several key changes. We begin with a turn to the theorisation of government through language via the work of George Orwell, which align with Michel Foucault’s concept of governmentality, which informs ECE theory for policy, research, and practice, and how particular ways of thinking are produced in and by the dominant discourses of ECE.

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 Social, cultural, and ecological justice in the age of the Anthropocene: A New Zealand early childhood care and education perspective.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Ritchie
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Ethical Responsibility ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Care ◽  
Childhood Care ◽  
Pedagogy Of Place

© 2016 by Jenny Ritchie. Educators have an ethical responsibility to uphold the wellbeing of the children, families and communities that they serve. This commitment becomes even more pressing as we move into the era of the Anthropocene, where human induced climate changes are disrupting the planet's systems, threatening the survival of not only humans, but of eco-systems and the earth's biodiversity. This paper draws upon examples from Aotearoa (New Zealand) to demonstrate ways in which a critical pedagogy of place informed by local traditional knowledges can inform early childhood education whilst also enhancing dispositions of empathy towards self and others, including more-than-human others.

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