A New Debate About Children and Childhood. Could it Make a Difference to Early Childhood Pedagogy and Policy?

<p>The study analyses constructions of childhood within early childhood education pedagogy and policy in New Zealand. Constructions are evaluated against criteria for an education based on a concept of the "child as citizen" and children's rights. Qualitative research methods were used. Constructions of childhood in pedagogy were examined through analysis of pedagogical documentation and discussions of teachers who met together over a year within a teachers' network. The teachers' aims were to base their practice on notions of the "child as citizen" and extend their thinking and practice from this basis. Constructions of childhood in policy were studied within two arenas: focus groups of government officials and representatives of early childhood organisations who met to discuss key issues in early childhood education policy; and early childhood education policy documents and commentary produced during the period 2000-2007. The analytic approach enabled an evaluation to be made of how children were represented within policy and practice, and the implications of constructions of childhood which would lead to democratic citizenship. Constructions of childhood were found to be dominant influences on thinking about early childhood pedagogy and policy, and were associated with views about the purposes and breadth of early childhood education; the roles of teachers, children, families, community and the government; and favoured pedagogical and policy approaches. I argued that organisational cultures exert a pervasive influence on participants' assumptions and values. Three main areas where policy could be developed to better support democratic citizenship were identified. First, citizenry rights should be established as a predominant goal for policy as it is for pedagogy. Where policy and pedagogical goals are integrated, both can work together to reinforce each other. One contention is that the process of making meaning of beliefs and critiquing them within collective forums can enable participants to contemplate what the child as citizen means conceptually and in practice and policy, and in this way incorporate the beliefs into the ways children are treated in these domains. Secondly, I argued for inquiry into the nature of early childhood education provision that we want in New Zealand society and within communities. Institutional thinking can raise barriers to envisaging new forms of provision that cater well for all children, and contribute to a wide range of outcomes, including dispositions for participating in a democratic society, support for families, social cohesiveness and community building. A third challenge is for policy frameworks to support teaching and learning. Action research approaches with support from a professional development adviser were shown to enable teachers to explore the value base of their pedagogy and experiment with change. Although such approaches are being supported by some Ministry of Education initiatives in New Zealand, working conditions are not conducive to these approaches in many early childhood settings. I have argued that structures are needed to support debate in pedagogy and policy and enable all parties, including parents, to participate in it. A new debate could enable different voices to be heard and new possibilities constructed for early childhood services as sites for building a democratic society.</p>

A New Debate About Children and Childhood. Could it Make a Difference to Early Childhood Pedagogy and Policy?

<p>The study analyses constructions of childhood within early childhood education pedagogy and policy in New Zealand. Constructions are evaluated against criteria for an education based on a concept of the "child as citizen" and children's rights. Qualitative research methods were used. Constructions of childhood in pedagogy were examined through analysis of pedagogical documentation and discussions of teachers who met together over a year within a teachers' network. The teachers' aims were to base their practice on notions of the "child as citizen" and extend their thinking and practice from this basis. Constructions of childhood in policy were studied within two arenas: focus groups of government officials and representatives of early childhood organisations who met to discuss key issues in early childhood education policy; and early childhood education policy documents and commentary produced during the period 2000-2007. The analytic approach enabled an evaluation to be made of how children were represented within policy and practice, and the implications of constructions of childhood which would lead to democratic citizenship. Constructions of childhood were found to be dominant influences on thinking about early childhood pedagogy and policy, and were associated with views about the purposes and breadth of early childhood education; the roles of teachers, children, families, community and the government; and favoured pedagogical and policy approaches. I argued that organisational cultures exert a pervasive influence on participants' assumptions and values. Three main areas where policy could be developed to better support democratic citizenship were identified. First, citizenry rights should be established as a predominant goal for policy as it is for pedagogy. Where policy and pedagogical goals are integrated, both can work together to reinforce each other. One contention is that the process of making meaning of beliefs and critiquing them within collective forums can enable participants to contemplate what the child as citizen means conceptually and in practice and policy, and in this way incorporate the beliefs into the ways children are treated in these domains. Secondly, I argued for inquiry into the nature of early childhood education provision that we want in New Zealand society and within communities. Institutional thinking can raise barriers to envisaging new forms of provision that cater well for all children, and contribute to a wide range of outcomes, including dispositions for participating in a democratic society, support for families, social cohesiveness and community building. A third challenge is for policy frameworks to support teaching and learning. Action research approaches with support from a professional development adviser were shown to enable teachers to explore the value base of their pedagogy and experiment with change. Although such approaches are being supported by some Ministry of Education initiatives in New Zealand, working conditions are not conducive to these approaches in many early childhood settings. I have argued that structures are needed to support debate in pedagogy and policy and enable all parties, including parents, to participate in it. A new debate could enable different voices to be heard and new possibilities constructed for early childhood services as sites for building a democratic society.</p>

The 'new normal' and 'new normalisations' in early childhood education policy in Aotearoa New Zealand

When New Zealand entered pandemic alert level 3 and early childhood centres were being ‘nudged’ to re-open in order to offer support for parents returning to work, the Ministry of Health advised both Early Childhood centres and parents that children were not at risk of catching or spreading the virus. Fast-forward to Level 1 and the Ministry of Health has advised that an infant, who arrived into the country from overseas together with its parents, had the virus and was in a managed quarantine. This paper discusses this apparent policy contradiction between guidelines and evidence by collecting and analysing discourses that the nation has received from government agencies regarding children and early childhood education. This paper uses these discourses to explore the 'body' of knowledge regarding childhood and early childhood education, discourses that make childhood and early childhood education possible. We then apply a range of theoretical and conceptual tools to suggest some possible conditions of early childhood education (leading up to, during, and post-Covid-19). We employ health and medical metaphors to highlight ongoing tensions for early childhood education as a patient for whom neither education nor health Ministries take sufficient responsibility. The use of a health as a metaphor additionally focuses this paper on the new ‘normal’ of early childhood education and education policy.

Theorising child well-being: Towards a framework for analysing Early Childhood Education policy in England

‘Well-being’ is increasingly used in child rights discourses and early childhood education (ECE) policy contexts as a desirable outcome for young children. In spite of its ubiquitous use, however, child well-being remains largely under-theorised, thereby contributing to implicit understandings within policy arenas. This paper contributes to attempts to address this gap by proposing a theoretical framework of child well-being. The framework is developed in stages. First, two prominent approaches to well-being are described: distributive and relational approaches. Distributive approaches are subdivided into primary goods theory and capability theory. These theories focus on differential approaches to resource distribution. Relational approaches to well-being are then considered. These focus on the intrinsic importance of the processes of well-being. Second, the concepts privileged by each of these well-being theories are further developed into a framework by reflecting on children’s rights to provision, protection and participation as promoted by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Following this, the framework is used to analyse ECE policy with a specific focus on the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum and measurement requirements. Academic literatures examining ECE policy is then reviewed to extrapolate understandings of the potential implications of this policy for young children’s well-being. The findings suggest that the EYFS theorises well-being in ways that are limited and may be limiting of young children’s well beings and doings. The associated measurement practices and curriculum goals, in particular, may undermine practice supportive of young children’s well-being.

Outlining play and playful learning in Finland and Brazil: A content analysis of early childhood education policy documents

Early childhood education and care is a current interest in many countries. Many international studies have highlighted the importance of high-quality early education environments where learning and play are integrated. Studies show that these types of learning environments have a positive impact on children’s future prospects and overall development. Critical curriculum steering documents from Finland and Brazil form the basis of this study and can similarly be shown to define the quality of these environments, as well as providing definitions of playful learning in these differing cultural contexts. A content analysis explores patterns of the cultural and pedagogical difference of definition. This descriptive comparison permitted similarities and differences between the countries with regard to play to emerge. In this article, the authors explore what these different cultural and pedagogical definitions of play and playful learning are and what they might mean. The article thus makes a methodological contribution to a broader discussion of comparative studies of national curricula in early childhood education with specific regard to children’s engagement, learning and development in and through play. The theoretical conclusions are, however, more tentative, but the authors suggest some innovative ways to conceptualise cultural and pedagogical differences in play by making an analogy with Wittgenstein’s analysis of games in his Philosophical Investigations.

“That’s just impossible in my kindergarten.” Advocating for ‘glocal' early childhood curriculum frameworks

As a result of globalization, kindergarten curriculum frameworks in Asia have been strongly influenced by Western theories, pedagogies, and values. In this article, we argue that Singapore’s Nurturing Early Learners and Hong Kong’s Kindergarten Education Curriculum Guide present key notions that are inconsistent with cultural values that are deeply rooted in these two societies. To overcome the challenges these inconsistencies trigger for teachers, principals, teacher educators, and parents, we advocate for the design of 'glocal' (global/local, explicitly hybrid) curriculum frameworks, based on principles that are culturally appropriate and socially situated. Drawing on recent research studies, we analyze current curriculum/practice gaps in relation to the notions of Child-Centeredness, Quality Interactions, Creativity and Self-Expression, and Play. In seeking the global/local balance that is needed in Singapore and Hong Kong, four alternative glocal notions are proposed: Child-Appropriateness, Pedagogical Quality, Arts Engagement, and Child-Led Activities. We conclude there is an urgent need for generating a solid corpus of local research in both jurisdictions, which should guide subsequent curriculum reforms and teacher preparation models. Our final aim is to contribute to early childhood education policy discussions in Asia, against the background of internationalization.