ABSTRACT
Early childhood education has always provoked passionate feelings amongst stakeholders at all levels, from practitioners working with children and families in pre-school and school settings, to advisers, managers, politicians, and academics
The purpose of this reader is to examine change, transformation and continuity, and to present indicative scholarship in relation to five key themes:
theoretical perspectives on learning
curriculum and pedagogy
play
policy
professionalism and research methods
Within each theme, the readings have been chosen to exemplify national and international perspectives and trends. This is not to present a homogenised view of early childhood provision and services across cultural contexts; rather the intention is to take a critical perspective on past, present and future directions, and to identify some of the challenges, dilemmas and contradictions posed in research and scholarship.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter |18 pages
Introduction
part Theme I|63 pages
Theoretical perspectives on learning, curriculum and pedagogy
chapter Chapter 1|16 pages
Play in the Infants’ School
chapter Chapter 2|16 pages
The cultural construction of child development
chapter Chapter 3|14 pages
The struggle for early childhood curricula
chapter Chapter 4|15 pages
Learning how to learn
part Theme II|77 pages
Play: Advances in theory and practice
part Theme III|89 pages
Policy generation and implementation
chapter Chapter 9|14 pages
Governance of early childhood education and care
chapter Chapter 11|16 pages
The ‘childcare champion’? New Labour, social justice and the childcare market
part Theme IV|34 pages
Professionalism and professionalisation
chapter Chapter 14|14 pages
Professionalism and performativity
part Theme V|45 pages
Research methods: Agency and voice