The Capability Approach and Early Childhood Education Curricula

Understanding Inclusive Early Childhood Education: A Capability Approach

Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood ◽

10.2304/ciec.2012.13.4.290 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 290-299 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Kathryn Underwood ◽

Angela Valeo ◽

Rebecca Wood

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Early Childhood Education ◽

Young Children ◽

Inclusive Education ◽

Children With Disabilities ◽

Capability Approach ◽

Social Needs ◽

Education Practice ◽

Childhood Education ◽

The Capability Approach

This article explores the application of current discourse in inclusive education, particularly the capability approach and its utility in early childhood education. The article highlights the tensions between a rights-based discourse that informs inclusive education practice and the right for children to have early intervention. Structural approaches to supporting children with disabilities are examined. These structural approaches are evaluated using the framework developed using the capability approach. The article aims to ease some of the tensions that arise from differing philosophical approaches to education for young children, and to provide a framework for addressing the developmental and social needs of young children with disabilities.

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Early childhood educational curricula: implications of the capability approach

Capability-Promoting Policies ◽

10.1332/policypress/9781447334316.003.0013 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Antoanneta Potsi

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Early Childhood Education ◽

Curriculum Development ◽

Capability Approach ◽

Human Capabilities ◽

Childhood Education ◽

Policy Frameworks ◽

Academic Content ◽

Instrumental View ◽

The Capability Approach

This chapter examines the potential of the capability approach as a framework of normative aims for early childhood education (ECE) curricula. More specifically, it considers Martha Nussbaum's list of basic human capabilities, developed as a relatively definite standard of minimal justice and as the minimum entitlements a person should have, as an adequate frame for capability-promoting policy in ECE and especially in curriculum development. Nussbaum's basic human capabilities are deeply rooted in the normative principles that govern ECE and care and contrast with the reductionist and instrumental view of the ECE curriculum that prevails within contemporary policy frameworks. The chapter argues that a capability-promoting curriculum could help us better understand what is worth seeking for its own sake without lacking academic content.

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The moral dimensions of assessment in early childhood education

Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood ◽

10.1177/1463949118778021 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 19 (2) ◽

pp. 154-166

Author(s):

Cary A Buzzelli

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Early Childhood Education ◽

Capability Approach ◽

Moral Practice ◽

Childhood Education ◽

Technical Practice ◽

Children’S Agency ◽

Opportunities For Learning ◽

Moral Dimensions ◽

Learner’S Perspective

This article conceptualizes assessment in early childhood education as a moral practice using Amartya Sen’s capability approach and Thomas A Schwandt’s practical hermeneutic approach to assessment and evaluation. After describing the moral connection Sen makes between development and assessment, Schwandt’s conceptualization of evaluation is presented as reframing it from a technical practice to one based on practical moral knowledge, having moral significance for teachers and children. Assessment as a moral practice must be done from two perspectives: from the learner’s perspective to assess children’s agency in guiding their own learning, and from the environment’s perspective to assess the opportunities for learning afforded children by the environment. Balancing assessment from these two perspectives is a moral challenge for teachers. The final section examines the recent work by Margaret Carr and Jennifer Keys Adair, who offer new approaches to assessment in early childhood that incorporate methods consistent with the capability approach and Schwandt. The goal of the article is to outline a moral practice of assessment in early childhood education.

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Early-Childhood Education for the Developmentally Delayed: Diagnosis, Intervention, and Evaluation

Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools ◽

10.1044/0161-1461.1002.81 ◽

1979 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 81-92

Author(s):

Susan Freedman Gilbert

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Early Childhood Education ◽

School Children ◽

Developmental Delays ◽

Delayed Diagnosis ◽

Language Impairments ◽

Developmentally Delayed ◽

Speech And Language ◽

Childhood Education

This paper describes the referral, diagnostic, interventive, and evaluative procedures used in a self-contained, behaviorally oriented, noncategorical program for pre-school children with speech and language impairments and other developmental delays.

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