ABSTRACT
The age of quality is upon us. But ‘quality’ itself is not a neutral word. It is a socially constructed concept, with very particular meanings, produced through what we refer to as ‘the discourse of quality’. In this chapter, we deconstruct this discourse, look for its origins and analyse its application to the early childhood field where it has become a dominant discursive regime. It seems to us that the discourse of quality can be understood as a product of Enlightenment thinking, and modernity’s zest for order and mastery. As such, it views the world through a modernist lens, and complements modernist constructions of the young child and early childhood institution. The language of quality is also the language of the early childhood institution as producer of pre-specified outcomes and the child as empty vessel, to be prepared to learn and for school, and to be helped on his or her journey of development.
