Liz Brooker

Pamela Oberhuemer

Rod Parker-Rees

Dinah Volk

Early Childhood Education in the United States is rife with contradictions, critique and innovation. It is a time when a status quo – characterized by systemic, historic discrimination; teacher de-professionalization; 'teaching to the test'; and attacks on funding – is challenged by new technologies, new literacies and transformative and critical perspectives and practices that defy assumptions and biases to create cutting-edge, diverse instantiations of Early Childhood Education for children, families, and teachers. This volume, based on a special issue of the Early Years journal written in 2016 before the new administration announced its policies, aims to generate conversations about developments in Early Childhood Education, situated within classist/racist/linguicist and neoliberal contexts, and to analyze critically where we are, where we might go and what we might do. It is also an opportunity to share counter-narratives to the dominant narratives promulgated by many, convinced that narrow, destructive norms of appropriate practice, standards, and accountability, as well as the curtailed achievement of children of Color, those from low income communities, and emergent bilinguals are ‘common sense’. These counter-narratives – some about transformational projects that have generated innovative perspectives and practices, and some detailing critical analyses and projects that go beyond to explore issues of power – contest education that disprivileges some children and families while advocating education that is child- and family-centered, culturally relevant and sustaining, equitable and democratic. Our hope is that this work creates a 'space of dialogue and human action' needed even more urgently today. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Early Years journal.

Contemporary and Critical Perspectives

Early Childhood Education in the United States

Berry Mayall

Leena Alanen

This book breaks new ground in its theorizing of childhood within sociological concepts. Over the course of nine chapters, authors give detailed accounts of the lives of children in a range of societies, including England, sub-Saharan Africa, Northern Ireland, France, Andhra Pradesh and Finland. They describe their studies in the light of Bourdieu's key concepts - field, habitus and capital - to consider the social status of childhood, the tensions between schooling and work in the lives of children, children's relations with adults, and the pressures on childhood resulting from globalization and from the professional discourse of those adults who aim to help them. The authors are all established researchers who are committed to improving the social status and well-being of childhood, in social, economic and political worlds that too often fail to accord children respect for their human rights.

Childhood with Bourdieu

"The text is wide-ranging and discusses different approaches and examples of good practice in supporting transition, from around the world. ... Supporting Transitions in the Early Years gives early years practitioners a real insight into the theory that should underpin high quality everyday practice for everyone engaging with young children." Early Years Update Supporting Transitions in the Early Years explores the whole range of early childhood transitions, rather than simply looking at starting school or pre-school. It helps parents, practitioners, policy-makers and Early Years students at every level, to understand and support the successive transitions made by young children from birth to five. Starting from a discussion of the rapid pace of change in current societies, and children's need to acquire flexibility and resilience in adapting to change, it offers examples of transitions such as: Babies and toddlers moving into under-3s care Pre-schoolers moving into school Reception children moving into formal learning classrooms Support for the transitions of children with English as an additional language or special needs At each stage, individual case studies are discussed in relation to relevant theories of development and learning, and contemporary perspectives on children's well-being and children's rights. The international case studies offer clear examples of the ways that adults in high-quality settings can work together with parents to strengthen children's positive dispositions. The book highlights key qualities - resilience, resourcefulness and reciprocity - which adults should seek to foster in children, to facilitate their current transitions and prepare them for a future of change. The author also underlines the importance of listening to children from birth onwards, if we are to offer the kind of caring and educative environments that will best support their well-being.

EBOOK: Supporting Transitions in the Early Years

Christine Stephen

Technologies are a pervasive feature of contemporary life for adults and children. However, young children’s experiences with digital technologies are often the subject of polarised debate among parents, educators, policymakers and social commentators, particularly since the advent of tablets and smartphones changed access to the Internet and the nature of interactions with digital resources. Some are opposed to children’s engagement with digital resources, concerned that the activities they afford are not developmentally appropriate, limit physical activity and restrict the development of social skills. Others welcome digital technologies which they see as offering new and enhanced ways of learning and sharing knowledge. Despite this level of popular and policy interest in young children’s interactions with digital technologies our understanding of the influence of these technologies on playing and learning, and on the role of educators, has remained surprisingly limited. The contributions to this book fill in the gaps of our existing understanding of the field. They focus on children and families from Australia to England to Estonia, the how and why of encounters with digital technologies, the nature of digital play and questions about practice and practitioners. The book raises critical questions and offers new understandings and theoretical insights around one of the ‘hot topics’ in early years research. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Early Years journal.

Liz Brooker

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