ABSTRACT
This book is intended to be the starting point of a collective conversation about early childhood practice deriving from research, knowledge and experiences. It is a conversation aimed at including many participants, a space where the ideas and arguments of the book form the basis of further conversations and discussions to maintain the flexible, responsive and flowing process which is early childhood education. It is written on the assumption that the reader, student or early childhood educator is inclined towards learning more about practice and the elements that go to make up the rich, nurturing and enhancing worlds of early childhood settings. To this end the book includes an Advanced Reading List where you can find more detailed reports and articles across a wide range of topics relevant to understanding early childhood education and care. This chapter outlines in broad strokes the topics which will be dealt with in greater detail by various chapters. Throughout there are links drawn to the Irish curriculum framework, Aistear, and to contemporary understandings of how young children, including babies and toddlers, develop and learn.
