Beliefs About Toddler’s Learning in Child Care Programs in Australia

Sociocultural theory typically views learning as embedded within the culture, leading to culture specifi c beliefs about what learning is and what learning processes are to be valued (Rogoff, 1990, 2003). According to Edwards (2003), this is a transformative perspective of sociocultural theory. It is not concerned with the cognitive processes that accompany knowledge and is critical of individual knowledge construction. Rather, the transformative perspective foregrounds historical and cultural aspects in which language constitutes reality and is a pre-condition for thought and a form of social action (Young & Collin, 2004). Essentially, the transformative perspective of sociocultural theory foregrounds the signifi cance of cultural experiences for learning.