scholarly journals Towards the marketization of early childhood education and care? Recent developments in Sweden and the United Kingdom

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingela Naumann
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Market Model ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
The Uk

Extensive public debate is being waged across mature welfare states as to whether social services are best provided by the state or the market. This article examines developments in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) policy in Sweden and the United Kingdom, identifying trends towards marketization and universalization of ECEC that suggest a complex picture of competing policy logics and goals in the restructuring of welfare states. This article first discusses two models of early-years provision, the market model, and the universal model, outlining underlying assumptions, tensions, and implications of market and state provision of ECEC. A comparison of recent reforms in Sweden and the UK highlights how similar ideas and trends play out differently in different national contexts. In Sweden an integrated public ‘educare' programme gradually developed over time, and market mechanisms introduced in the 1990s have so far had limited effect on the system overall. In the UK ideas about universal early childhood education became influential as part of a new social-investment agenda in the 1990s but have, owing to their restricted implementation, not fundamentally altered the existing childcare market. Historical policy trajectories continue to matter, yet tensions and incoherencies between policies can open spaces for change.

Nannies, Migration and Early Childhood Education and Care

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Adamson
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Migration Policy ◽  
Family Day Care ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Standard Work ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
And Migration

Once considered the preserve of the wealthy, nanny care has grown in response to changes in the labour market, including the rising number of mothers with young children, and increases in non-standard work patterns. This book examines the place of in-home childcare, commonly referred to as care by nannies, in Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada since the 1970s. In contrast to childminding or family day care provided in the home of the carer, in-home care takes place in the child’s home. The research extends beyond the early childhood education and care domain to consider how migration policy facilitates the provision of childcare in the private home. New empirical research is presented about in-home childcare in Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada, three countries where governments are pursuing new ways to support the recruitment of in-home childcare workers through funding, regulation and migration. The compelling policy story that emerges illustrates the implications of different mechanisms for facilitating in-home childcare - for families and for care workers. It proposes that these differences are shaped by both structural and normative understandings about appropriate forms of care that cut across gender, class/socioeconomic status and race/migration. Overall, it argues that greater attention needs to be given to the way childcare work in the private home is situated across ECEC and migration policy.

scholarly journals The Curriculum of Early Childhood Education: Indonesia and United Kingdom

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 62
Author(s):  
Saddam Husein
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
The Body ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Library Research ◽  
Curriculum Structure ◽  
The Uk

This paper aims to investigate the curriculum of early childhood education in Indonesia and the United Kingdom (UK) and how they pertain to each other. Library research was conducted to gather information intended. The findings confirm that the curriculum of early childhood education in Indonesia applies curriculum 2013 which consists of aspect development of curriculum structure, and the learning process with a scientific approach. While the UK applies the curriculum according to the statutory Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework which recognizes the importance of play and a balance of adult-led and child-initiated activities. Moreover, there is a basic difference between these two curriculum aspects, which Indonesia includes the religious and moral values to the body of the curriculum, while the UK does not. However, both Indonesia and UK are closely similar which promotes a balance between the development of academic and literacy skills, socio-emotional development, and creative and physical development.

scholarly journals Is infant belonging observable? A path through the maze

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 404-416
Author(s):  
Jane M Selby ◽  
Benjamin S Bradley ◽  
Jennifer Sumsion ◽  
Matthew Stapleton ◽  
Linda J Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Infants And Toddlers ◽  
Quality Outcomes ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Learning Framework ◽  
Video Recordings ◽  
Education And Care

This article evaluates the concept of infant ‘belonging’, central to several national curricula for early childhood education and care. Here, the authors focus on Australia’s Early Years Learning Framework. Four different meanings attach to ‘belonging’ in the Early Years Learning Framework, the primary being sociopolitical. However, ‘a sense of belonging’ is also proposed as something that should be observable and demonstrable in infants and toddlers – such demonstration being held up as one of the keys to quality outcomes in early childhood education and care. The Early Years Learning Framework endows belonging with two contrasting meanings when applied to infants. The first, the authors call ‘marked belonging’, and it refers to the infant’s exclusion from or inclusion in defined groups of others. The second, the authors provisionally call ‘unmarked’ belonging. Differences between these two meanings of infant belonging are explored by describing two contrasting observational vignettes from video recordings of infants in early childhood education and care. The authors conclude that ‘belonging’ is not a helpful way to refer to, or empirically demonstrate, an infant’s mundane comfort or ‘unmarked’ agentive ease in shared early childhood education and care settings. A better way to conceptualise and research this would be through the prism of infants’ proven capacity to participate in groups.

scholarly journals Leadership in early childhood education: The case for pedagogical praxis

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioanna Palaiologou ◽  
Trevor Male
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Ideological Struggle ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
Curriculum Reforms ◽  
Predominately Female ◽  
Teacher Status

In this conceptual article, the authors examine the context of early childhood education and care in England and the underpinning predominant ideologies to explore how these impact on the framing of leadership. The English context entails several contradictions (antinomies) at ontological, epistemological and axiological levels, and is heavily influenced by an ideological struggle concerning the value of play within the sector as opposed to a climate of child performativity. Moreover, the predominately female workforce (a factor itself) has faced relentless changes in terms of qualifications and curriculum reforms in recent years. With the introduction of the graduate leader qualification (Early Years Teacher Status), a vast body of research has been seeking to conceptualise what leadership means for early childhood education and care. In this article, the authors argue that these attempts are helpful and contribute to this discourse of leadership, but it needs to be thought of not only abstractly, but also practically. Thus, the authors conclude, the (re)conceptualisation of leadership should locate it as pedagogical praxis after evaluating the inherent deep dispositions of leaders in conjunction with their history, surrounding culture and subjective perspectives/realities.

scholarly journals Partnerships in Early Childhood Education and Care: Empowering Parents or Empowering Practitioners

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Rouse
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Professional Status ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Practice Model ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Learning Framework ◽  
Education And Care

Research acknowledges that outcomes for young children are enhanced when effective partnerships are developed between educators and families. The Australian Early Years Learning Framework provides direction for the professional practice of early childhood educators by acknowledging the importance of educators working in partnership with families. In the Victorian state-based early years framework, family-centred practice has been included as the practice model. Family-centred practice has as its core a philosophy of professionals supporting the empowerment of parents as active decision makers for their child. The early childhood education and care sector in Australia, however, is made up of a workforce which is largely perceived as being undervalued as a profession. This raises questions as to the capacity of these educators to support the empowerment of parents when they themselves are coming from a position of disempowerment due to their professional status. This article reports on findings from a small-scale study of childhood educators working in a long day-care setting which aimed to identify perceptions of the partnerships that exist between themselves and parents. In the course of the investigation, it became evident that some of educators felt disempowered in the relationships that exist with some families.

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