scholarly journals Inequality, social justice and the purpose of Early Childhood Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4-2021) ◽  
pp. 510-524
Author(s):  
Frances Press ◽  
Mandy Cooke ◽  
Leanne Gibbs ◽  
Robbie Warren
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Universal Access ◽  
Care Quality ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Doctoral Studies ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Education And Care

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) – as with education more generally – should be a central plank of a suite of social policies designed to support more socially just societies. However, universal access to ECEC in itself, will not redress inequalities. This paper draws upon reports from the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA), and data from three doctoral studies nested within the Australian Exemplary Early Childhood Educators at Work research project, to argue for attention to the quality of the early childhood system and to consider the contribution that a deeply embedded socially just purpose makes to quality.

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.

Inclusion in Early Childhood: Difference, Disability, and Social Justice

Education ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Underwood ◽  
Gillian Parekh
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Intervention ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Childhood Studies ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
School Settings ◽  
Education And Care

Inclusive education as a model of service delivery arose out of disability activism and critiques of special education. To understand inclusive education in early childhood, however, one must also engage with broader questions of difference, diversity, and social justice as they intersect with childhood studies. To that end, this article contains references that include other critical discourses on childhood and inclusivity as well as critiques of inclusive education. Inclusive education has a much deeper body of research in formal school settings than in the early years. School-based research, however, often examines social relationships and academic achievement as outcome measures. This research has established that education situated in a child’s community and home school is generally more effective than special education settings, particularly when classroom educators have access to appropriate training, resources, policies, and leadership. Schools, of course, are part of the education landscape of the early years, but they are not inclusive of the full spectrum or early years settings. The early years literature on inclusion is different in focusing more attention on development, family, and community (as described in the General Overview of Early Childhood Inclusion). A critique of early childhood education research has focused on school readiness and rehabilitation and the efficacy of early identification and early intervention. This research is largely informed by Western medical research, but this approach has led global institutions to set out priorities for early intervention without recognizing how our worldview shapes our understanding of childhood and difference. The dominant research domain, however, has also identified that family and community contexts are important. This recognition creates a fundamental difference between inclusion research in school settings and such research in early childhood education and care. Early childhood education and care has always focused on the child and their family as the recipients of services, while educational interest in the family has been viewed as a setting in which the conditions for learning are established. Support for families is at the center of early childhood inclusive practice, both because families are largely responsible for seeking out early childhood disability services and because families are critical in children’s identity. Inclusion in schools and early childhood education and care can both be understood through theories of disability, ability, and capability. In both settings, education and care have social justice aims linked not only to developmental and academic outcomes for individual children, but also to the ways that these programs reproduce inequality. Disability as a social phenomenon has its historical roots in racist and colonial practices, understood through critical race theory, that are evident today in both early childhood and school settings. Understanding the links between disableism and other forms of discrimination and oppression is critical both for teaching for social justice broadly and for better understanding of how ability, capability, and critical disability theory and childhood studies are established through practices that begin in the early years.

scholarly journals Australian Research in Early Childhood Education and Care: Insights Into the Actual; Imagining the Possible

2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 291-310
Author(s):  
Susanne Garvis ◽  
Sivanes Phillipson ◽  
Shane N. Phillipson
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
Research Perspectives ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
Teacher Aides

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) remains a priority area for public policy, internationally and in Australia. However, an analysis of empirical research published internationally up to 2008 has identified a bias toward positivist methodologies within a “scientific/psychological’ rather than educational perspective and with a focus on the interactions between preschoolers, family, and child care variables. For some researchers, this bias raises concerns that public policy in ECEC is based on limited research perspectives. This chapter examines research focusing on the Australian context and published between 2010 and 2014 to determine whether this bias exists in Australian research. We explore the quality of ECEC research to develop an overall understanding of the current situation of ECEC research in Australia. Our findings suggest that Australian research in ECEC is very dissimilar to research published internationally, especially in its reliance on qualitative paradigms and a focus on the educators (principals, teachers, and teacher aides). The strong qualitative focus may allow a diverse range of voices within the ECEC sector to be heard and identified, moving beyond traditional notions of historically marginalized individuals and communities that dominate other education research areas.

scholarly journals Space speaks: A portrait of an early childhood centre and the affordances provided by the learning environment

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-34
Author(s):  
Katrina McChesney ◽  
Jeanette Clarkin-Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Learning Environment ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Reggio Emilia ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
Early Childhood Learning

The quality of early childhood education and care fundamentally depends on teachers’ wise practice. However, the environments in which that education and care occur can influence, inform, and shape teachers’ practice, and children’s and families’ experiences. This article draws on a written “portrait” of the learning environment created at one New Zealand early childhood education (ECE) centre, capturing both physical and non-physical aspects of the environment and highlighting the affordances the environment offered to children and families/whānau. A Reggio Emilia lens is used to inform analysis of the learning environment and the associated affordances. The portrait (McChesney, 2020) and this article may support practitioners by providing a vision of what can be in terms of early childhood learning environments, and by providing a possible framework for self-review and inquiry.

Babies’ transition between family and early childhood education and care: a mosaic of discourses about quality of services

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 429-448
Author(s):  
Gabriela G. De C. Tebet ◽  
Natália Santos ◽  
Julia Costa ◽  
Bruna Lima Santos ◽  
Loani Cristina Buzo Pontes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Quality Of Services ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Education And Care

Segregation in Early Childhood Education and Care in Germany: Insights on Regional Distribution Patterns Using National Educational Studies

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1-2021) ◽  
pp. 36-56
Author(s):  
Nina Hogrebe ◽  
Anna Pomykaj ◽  
Stefan Schulder
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Regional Distribution ◽  
Distribution Patterns ◽  
Care Quality ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Educational Equality ◽  
Federal States ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Education And Care

Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) is believed to contribute to educational equality and to serve social inclusion and democracy. Segregation in day-care centres counteracts these aims but has hardly been researched in Germany so far. We describe ethnic/linguistic and social segregation at different regional levels (federal states as well as East and West Germany more generally) using data from the Early Childhood Education and Care Quality Study in the Socio-Economic Panel (K2ID-SOEP) and the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS). We find pronounced differences in distribution patterns of ECEC settings’ composition especially between West and East Germany and discuss the research implications of our findings.

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