ABSTRACT
The field of early childhood education and care (ECEC) is something of a paradox: on the one hand, as acknowledged in the Introduction and further explored in Chapter 1, there is increasing understanding within research and government policy that early childhood is one of the most important times in a child’s life. Yet Early Childhood Practitioners (ECPs) are not accorded the kind of respect, value and acknowledgement within official discourse that might be expected as dedicated professionals, educators and guides for children through their early, most crucial years. ECPs have been traditionally read, in official discourse, through a reductionist lens, where they are just practitioners, just play partners, just childcare options. This chapter considers literatures that explore alternative perspectives of Early Years (EY) pedagogy and the implications of these for the role and status of the ECP. Drawing on Deleuzio-Guattarian philosophical metaphors of rhizomes and nomads, and employing postmodern, post-structural and feminist pedagogic lenses, this chapter (re)positions the ECP as a multifaceted, complex and knowledgeable educator.
