ABSTRACT
The early childhood curriculum is a complex field of interrelationships between teachers and children, content and pedagogy, and what takes place in early learning sites and larger social contexts. Given its complexity, theory is at the heart of the early childhood curriculum. As Pinar, Reynolds, Slattery, and Taubman (1996) argue, contemporary views of curriculum are about understanding the sociocultural and political dimensions of knowledge production, not the technical development and implementation of a course of study. The field’s earliest efforts at curriculum were rooted in philosophies concerning
the relations between the young child and larger bodies of knowledge (Williams, 1992). In our attempts to be recognized and accepted as a profession, most of the 20th century has involved us using theories of child development and learning to advocate what content and pedagogy should constitute appropriate programs for young children. However, a number of scholars since the early 1990s (e.g. Grieshaber & Cannella, 2001; Kessler & Swadener, 1992; Yelland, 2010) have pushed back against psychological theory as the source of curriculum for young children. Many of these scholars have turned to critical theories drawn from philosophy, sociology, and cultural studies to examine the politics of the curriculum, particularly the assumed benign impacts of developmentally appropriate practice (e.g. Hatch et al., 2002; Lubeck 1998). For these critical theorists, the curriculum becomes a site where children and staff question relations of power and work together to transform society in local and contextualized ways (MacNaughton, 2005). This chapter is an introduction to critical theories and their application to early
childhood curriculum. We begin with a review of the work that has been conducted using critical theories to investigate and question taken-for-granted early
childhood practices. In doing so we highlight what makes a theory critical and show how some theoretical orientations have been applied to the early childhood curriculum. The focus then shifts from a review to an examination of some of the most recent efforts to trouble and remake early childhood curriculum. We suggest that these newer forms of critical theorizing, in their efforts to dismantle the logic of dualisms inherent in Western thought (e.g. male/female, adult/child, theory/practice), help toward understanding how curriculum has the potential to be transformative. This chapter concludes by reasserting the importance of critical theory for contemporary early childhood practice.
