Download or read book Critical Examinations of Quality in Early Education and Care written by Gaile Sloan Cannella and published by Childhood Studies. This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The chapters in this book have two goals: One provide the reader with an opportunity to engage with some of the problems that result from putting forward 'quality' as a dominant construct, and second to generate conversations and locations from diverse knowledges and multiple ways of being that could lead to the rethinking of quality.
Download or read book Critical Issues in Early Childhood Teacher Education written by Miranda Lin and published by IAP. This book was released on 2020-06-01 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years there have been significant changes in education across the globe, largely as a result of changing demographics, technological developments, and increased globalization. Relatedly, the changing needs of societies and families, along with new research findings, provide new directions in early childhood education. Consequently, early childhood teachers today are faced with higher and more complex expectations to help ensure that their students achieve their full potential. Such expectations suggest that early childhood teachers should be professionals who are able to draw on a robust knowledge base in making educational decisions. It follows that teacher education programs should develop and implement innovative programs that can potentially enhance the quality of our future teachers. An awareness of pressing issues in the field of early childhood teacher education led the editors to develop this volume. The chapters in these two volumes bring together scholars from across the US and the globe who are interested in improving the quality of early childhood teacher education. The chapters present their experiences, perspectives, and lessons learned as they addressed some of the challenging issues concerning the education and preparation of future early childhood teachers. The various issues and perspectives from different states in the US or countries across the globe provide insights into current issues and dilemmas facing the field. The contributions of these scholars should inform the discourse on early childhood teacher education and help those who work with preservice teachers improve the quality of their work.
Download or read book An Equal Start written by Gambaro, Ludovica and published by Policy Press. This book was released on 2014-01-29 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Early education and care has become a central policy area in many countries. As services expand rapidly, it is crucial to examine whether children from disadvantaged backgrounds receive provision of the highest possible quality. In this original, topical book, leading experts from eight countries examine how early education and care is organised, funded and regulated in their countries. Bringing together recent statistical evidence, the book gives an up-to-date picture of access to services by different groups, providing rich insights on how policies play out in practice, and the extent to which they help or hinder disadvantaged children to receive high quality provision. An equal start? reveals the common tensions and complexities countries face in ensuring that early education and care is affordable, accessible and of high quality. Its critical examination of the potential for better policies ensures that An equal start? will be of interest to academic readers as well as policy makers and practitioners.
Download or read book Childhoods in More Just Worlds written by Timothy Kinard and published by Myers Education Press. This book was released on 2021-10-29 with total page 504 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A 2023 SPE Outstanding Book Honorable Mention Those who are younger continue to be objects of injustice and inequity; those who are younger, people of color, females, and human beings living in poverty have never been included in equitable performances of justice, care, respect, and fairness. The authors in this international volume use existing social values and institutions--and the strengths of these varied perspectives--to address justice in ways that have not previously been considered. The aim is to create more just worlds for those who are young--as well as for the rest of us. The first set of chapters, Bodies, Beings, and Relations in More Just Worlds, place at the forefront the lives of those who are younger who are commonly situated in positions of invisibility, disqualification, and even erasure. In the second section, Performances of Care and Education for More Just Worlds, the authors acknowledge that needed (re)conceptualizations of those who are younger, along with appreciation for human diversity and entanglements between the so-called human and nonhuman worlds, are the foundations for more just care and education environments. From the critique of neoliberal reform discourses to reconceptualizing human relations with nonhuman animal and material worlds, care and learning environments are rethought. The set of chapters in the final section, Stir of Echoes: 20th Century Childhoods in the 21st, take-up the 20th century critical concerns with constructions of “child” that have dominated and continue to govern perspectives imposed on those who are younger. Suggestions for becoming-with those who are younger through resources like reconceptualist scholarship, Black and Indigenous Studies, and various posthuman perspectives are provided throughout. Whatever the emphasis or focus of a section or chapter, throughout the volume is the recognition that dominant discourses (e.g. neoliberal capitalism, conservativism, progressivism, human exceptionalism) and the policies they create (and that facilitate them), influence possibilities for, and limitations to, more just childhood worlds. Therefore, each section includes chapters that address these complex discourses and policy issues. The reader is invited to engage with these complexities, to become-with the various texts, and to generate unthought possibilities for childhoods in more just worlds. Perfect for courses such as: Curriculum Theory │ Multicultural Education │ Cultural Knowledge of Teachers and Teaching │ Sociocultural Foundations │ Anthropology of Education │ Identity, Agency, and Education │ Race and Ethnic Relations in Schools │ Philosophical Foundations of Education │ Educational Epistemologies │ Theorizing and Researching Teaching and Learning │ Qualitative Research in Education: Paradigms, Theories, and Exemplars │ Epistemologies and Theories in Multicultural and Equity Studies │ Curricular Approaches to Multicultural and Equity Studies in Education │ Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (3) │ Multicultural and Global Perspectives in Teaching and Learning │ Teaching for Social Justice │ Diversity and Equity in Education │ 21st Century Childhood Curriculum │ Childhood and Globalization
Download or read book Early Childhood Assessment written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2008-12-21 with total page 501 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The assessment of young children's development and learning has recently taken on new importance. Private and government organizations are developing programs to enhance the school readiness of all young children, especially children from economically disadvantaged homes and communities and children with special needs. Well-planned and effective assessment can inform teaching and program improvement, and contribute to better outcomes for children. This book affirms that assessments can make crucial contributions to the improvement of children's well-being, but only if they are well designed, implemented effectively, developed in the context of systematic planning, and are interpreted and used appropriately. Otherwise, assessment of children and programs can have negative consequences for both. The value of assessments therefore requires fundamental attention to their purpose and the design of the larger systems in which they are used. Early Childhood Assessment addresses these issues by identifying the important outcomes for children from birth to age 5 and the quality and purposes of different techniques and instruments for developmental assessments.
Download or read book EBOOK Quality in Early Childhood Services An International Perspective written by Helen Penn and published by McGraw-Hill Education (UK). This book was released on 2011-01-16 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines how quality and good practice in early childhood education and care (ECEC) is interpreted and implemented in a variety of settings and circumstances. Drawing on her experience of research and policy making in a wide variety of countries, the author considers the variety of rationales that inform services for early childhood education and care. Services are organized, financed and delivered in many different ways across the world. The policies that have been adopted by governments, and the resources which are made available for implementing them, have shaped practice. On the one hand there are complex ideas about what children should be learning and how they should be learning. These ideas about curriculum and the training of teachers and carers may differ radically between countries. On the other hand policies have been prompted by the need to reconcile family and work obligations and to provide childcare to support working mothers, irrespective of educational concerns. The notions of economic competition and parental choice have led to the growth of private for-profit childcare services which promote a particular view of quality and achievement. Above all, growing inequality within countries, and between rich and poor countries, have undermined attempts to provide good quality services. In an unfair world, the impact of any services is likely to be distorted. The book charts the many different approaches to understanding and measuring quality and gives an exceptionally well-informed overview.
Download or read book The Wiley Handbook of Early Childhood Care and Education written by Christopher P. Brown and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2019-04-23 with total page 760 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essential resource to the issues surrounding childhood care and education with contributions from noted experts The Wiley Handbook of Early Childhood Care and Education is a comprehensive resource that offers a review of the historical aspects, best practices, and the future directions of the field. With contributions from noted experts in the field, the book contains 30 interdisciplinary essays that explore in-depth the central issues of early childhood care and education. The handbook presents a benchmark reference to the basic knowledge, effective approaches to use with young children, curriculum design, professional development, current policies, and other critical information. The expert contributors address the myriad complex policy and practice issues that are most relevant today. The essays provide insight into topics such as child development and diversity, the sociocultural process of child development, the importance of the home environment in the lives of young children, early childhood special education, teaching and learning literacy, and much more. This important resource: Presents a comprehensive synopsis of the major components of the field of early childhood care and education Contains contributions from leading scholars, researchers, and experts in the field Offers the foundational knowledge and practices for working with young children Puts the focus on how early childhood works and presents an understanding of culture as a foundational component of both child development and early childhood education Written for academic scholars, researchers, advocates, policymakers, and students of early childhood care and education, The Wiley Handbook of Early Childhood Care and Education is a comprehensive resource to the major issues for dealing with childhood care and education with contributions from noted scholars in the field.
Download or read book Diversity and Difference in Childhood Issues for Theory and Practice written by Kerry Robinson and published by McGraw-Hill Education (UK). This book was released on 2017-01-16 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Educators and community-based professionals are often required to work with children and families from a range of diverse backgrounds. The second edition of this popular book goes beyond simplistic definitions of diversity, encouraging a much broader understanding and helping childhood educators and community-based professionals develop a critical disposition towards assumptions about children and childhood in relation to diversity, difference and social justice. As well as drawing on research, the book gives an overview of relevant contemporary social theories, including poststructuralism, cultural studies, critical theory, postcolonialism, critical ‘race’ theory, feminist perspectives and queer theory. It interrogates practice and explores opportunities and strategies for creating a more equitable environment, whilst covering key issues impacting on children’s lives, including: globalization, neoliberalism, new racisms, immigration, Indigeneity, refugees, homophobia, heterosexism and constructions of childhood. Each chapter provides an overview of the area of discussion, a focus on the implications for practice, and recommended readings. Providing insight into how social justice practices in childhood education and community-based service delivery can make a real difference in the lives of children, their families and communities, this is key reading for early childhood and primary educators, community-based professionals, university students and researchers. “This thoughtful, topical book addresses a considerable range of diversity issues relevant to teacher educators, their students, and other professionals who work with children and their families within and beyond Australia. Indigenous issues including language maintenance and revival have particular relevance within postcolonial nation states. Other issues of international relevance include: identities and retention of community languages, gender equity, childhood and sexuality, poverty and inequalities, and related policies. The writing is critical, scholarly, and engaging. This timely second edition draws on the authors’ longstanding teacher education experiences, and their most recent research, to revisit the challenges of diversity and difference in children’s lives”. Dr Valerie N. Podmore, former associate professor, Faculty of Education and Social Work, the University of Auckland, New Zealand “The second edition of Robinson and Jones Díaz’s Diversity and Difference in Childhood is a thoroughly welcome addition to my list of key texts for students of early childhood and childhood studies. It provides a means from the outset for educating undergraduate students from within critical postmodern and post structural perspectives – thus orienting their views of and actions within their future professions towards critical and equitable practices that value difference rather than treat is as a problem to be solved. Furthermore, for practitioners who find themselves questioning modernist constructions of children, development, difference, diversity and their work, the book provides a thorough grounding in frameworks and tools that will help them re-theorise what they are doing whilst simultaneously supporting them towards positive change.” Alexandra C. Gunn, Associate Dean (Teacher Education), University of Otago College of Education, New Zealand “This is the 21st century early childhood education text. Diversity and Difference in Childhood provides early childhood educators and scholars a powerful space for asking social justice questions in a profoundly innovative way. Diversity and difference in childhood is not a 'traditional' early childhood conversation. As the authors appropriately suggest, this book is for educators to challenge taken for granted knowledges/practices and to take “personal and professional risks for social justice”. Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw, Ph.D., Professor, School of Child and Youth Care, University of Victoria, Canada “This new edition of Diversity and Difference is both important and timely. There is a new urgency to some emerging childhood issues, including those associated with childhood sexuality, and a distinct lack of critical resources to inform the debate. This book helps fill this gap. Undertaking a major revision and incorporating new material, the authors have ensured the book’s continued relevance and renewed significance in the very dynamic context of childhood studies. The book makes an important contribution to resourcing explorations of the many difficult and complex issues associated with childhood in a globalised yet differentiated world. Readers will find the new theoretical resources and additional chapters that have been included give the book a sense of enhanced rigour and its depth and breadth of coverage make it an ideal resource for a wide variety of interests and perspectives.” Christine Woodrow, Associate Professor and Senior Researcher, the Centre for Educational Research, Western Sydney University, Australia
Download or read book Feminism s in Early Childhood written by Kylie Smith and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-04-26 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This unique book brings together international scholars from around the globe to examine how different feminist theories are being used in early childhood research, policy and pedagogy. The array of feminist discourses captured by the authors offer contextualised possibilities for disrupting dominant patriarchal beliefs and producing change. The authors address and challenge how early childhood experiences, institutions and practices produce gendered effects across and within diverse contexts and demonstrate how feminism(s) in action can be used to reconceptualise research methods, government policy, children’s learning, teaching practice and educational resources. In this way, the book contributes to creating new knowledge connections and community alliances in the global effort to end gender-based inequalities across local and global communities.
Download or read book Resisting the Kinder Race written by Christopher P. Brown and published by Teachers College Press. This book was released on 2021 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kindergarten has changed. Many believe that it no longer reflects a nurturing environment but, instead, has become a race for children to learn skills so they are ready for the academic achievement tests that they will take continuously throughout their time in school. Resisting the Kinder-Race examines how the race came about, why it must change, and how all stakeholders in the early childhood and elementary school communities must take part in the reform process. The author draws on his own research to consider how the Kinder-Race might be reimagined through more democratic principles of schooling. Brown offers both practical and political strategies that can alter the day-to-day practices of the kindergarten classroom and the policies that currently define PreK–12 education in the United States. This resource will help readers see kindergarten as an educational environment that expands the learning of every child. Book Features: Provides an in-depth glimpse into a typical day in the Kinder-Race.Examines how kindergarten devolved from a garden that nurtures children into a race that dashes them from skill to skill.Brings together what are often siloed conversations among stakeholder groups.Highlights how kindergarten is now primarily defined through an economic lens and how this framing of learning, earning, and consuming might be rethought. Employs varied conceptual frameworks to investigate how stakeholders across different levels of public education make sense of the changed kindergarten.Illuminates the complexity of what is occurring in today’s kindergarten and puts forward practical and achievable ideas for change.
Download or read book Relationships with Families in Early Childhood Education and Care written by Joanne Lehrer and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-07-13 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Relationships with Families in Early Childhood Education and Care radically challenges the role assigned to parents in neoliberal discussions of early childhood education and care, and presents new ways of thinking about relationships with families. With contributions from international early childhood scholars and practitioners, this book includes outlooks of practitioners, families and children, particularly about the meanings they assign to relationships. Bringing together key understandings about how parent-partnerships can be understood, this book provides innovative examples of how to enact democratic partnerships with parents in diverse contexts. Relationships with Families in Early Childhood Education and Care is an ideal text for ECEC practitioners and policy makers, trainers, graduate students and researchers.
Download or read book Educating for Social Justice in Early Childhood written by Shirley A. Kessler and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-09-10 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bringing together scholarship and examples from practice, this book explores ways in which early childhood curriculum – including classroom practices and community contexts – can more actively engage with a range of social justice issues, democratic principles and anti-oppressive practices. Featuring a stellar list of expert contributors, the chapters in this volume present a cross-section of contemporary issues in childhood education. The text highlights the voices of children, teachers and families as they reflect on everyday experiences related to issues of social justice, inclusion and oppression, as well as ways young children and their teachers engage in activism. Chapters explore curriculum and programs that address justice issues, particularly educating for democracy, and culminate in a focus on the future, offering examples of resistance and visions of hope and possibility. Designed for practitioners, graduate students and researchers in early childhood, this book challenges readers to explore the ways in which early childhood education is – and can be – engaging with social justice and democratic practices.
Download or read book Disrupting and Countering Deficits in Early Childhood Education written by Fikile Nxumalo and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-08-15 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This powerful edited collection disrupts the deficit-oriented discourses that currently frame the field of early childhood education (ECE) and illuminates avenues for critique and opportunities for change. Researchers from across the globe offer their insight and expertise in challenging the logic within ECE that often frames children and their families through gaps, risks, and deficits across such issues as poverty, language, developmental psychology, teaching, and learning. Chapters propose practical responses to these manufactured crises and advocate for democratic practices and policies that enable ECE programs to build on the wealth of cultural and personal knowledge children and families bring to the early learning process. Moving beyond a dependence on deficits, this book offers opportunities for scholars, researchers, and students to consider their practices in early education and develop their understanding of what it means to be an educator who seeks to support all children.
Download or read book The SAGE Handbook of Early Childhood Policy written by Linda Miller and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2017-07-30 with total page 763 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent authoritative evidence suggests that an estimated 200 million children under five fail to achieve their developmental potential due to factors including poor health and nutrition and the lack of stable high quality care. A significant number of the world’s children today lack the basic rights to health, development and protection. In light of such statistics, early childhood services for young children have expanded around the world. The SAGE Handbook of Early Childhood Policy draws critical attention to policy in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) its relationship to service provision and its impact on the lives of children and families. The perspectives of leading academics and researchers from Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Australasia and Asia have been arranged around five key themes: Part 1: The Relationship Between Research, Policy And Practice: Country Case Studies Part 2: Equitable Early Childhood Services: Intervention to Improve Children’s Life Chances Part 3: Extending Practice: The Role of Early Childhood Services In Family Support Part 4: Participation, Rights and Diversity Part 5: Future Directions for Early Childhood Policy This handbook is essential reading for practitioners, stakeholders and others committed to working within early years services to achieve an awareness of policy and its implications for services and practice.
Download or read book The SAGE Handbook of Global Childhoods written by Nicola J. Yelland and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2021-09-08 with total page 704 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Handbook explores the multidisciplinary field of childhood studies through a uniquely global lens. It focuses on enquiries and investigations into the everyday lives of young children in the age range of birth to 8 years of age, giving space to their voices and involving interrogations about the various aspect of their lives. This Handbook engages with the interdisciplinary field of childhood studies, education, cultural studies, ethnography, and philosophy, with contributions from scholars from across the globe who have focused their work on the complexities of childhoods in contemporary times. By considering a range of epistemologies, ontologies and perspectives to present the contemporary & systematic research on the topic from a wide range of academics and authors in the field, this Handbook provides a significant contribution to the international dialogue of Global Childhoods. Part 1: Global Childhoods Part 2: Researching Global Childhoods Part 3: Contemporary Childhoods Part 4: Pedagogies and Practice Part 5: Creating Communities for Global Children
Download or read book International Perspectives on Modern Developments in Early Childhood Education written by Huertas-Abril, Cristina A. and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2020-06-26 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through different approaches like toys and play, children explore and know the rules and symbols of their communities and recreate roles and situations that reflect their sociocultural and 21st century plurilingual world. As a result, they learn how to subordinate desires to social rules, cooperate with others willingly, and engage in socially appropriate behavior. When they are evaluated together psychologically, there is a current need for action to increase the amount and quality of play provided to children. Since discrepancies are observed between urban and rural areas, as well as among different cultures, there is also a need for a research initiative where cultures can learn and take advantage of the experiences of each other. International Perspectives on Modern Developments in Early Childhood Education is an essential scholarly publication that identifies ways of intertwining key areas of early childhood education, including international approaches, intercultural education, bilingual/plurilingual education, and the role of play and toys as means for meaningful intercultural and multilingual learning. By incorporating a view of different cultures, societies, languages, and educational experiences in early childhood education, this volume provides data for international and intercultural exchange for the benefit of children. Highlighting a range of topics such as educational systems, play therapy, and games, this book is ideal for early childhood teachers, educators, academicians, researchers, professionals, psychologists, sociologists, and students.
Download or read book Continuity in Children s Worlds written by Melissa M. Jozwiak and published by Teachers College Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Offers hope through its rich and abundant examples of teachers, parents, and others who care for young children mindfully taking the time to address issues of continuity in everyday life.” —From the Foreword by Beth Blue Swadener, Arizona State University “After reading this book, it is not possible to think about these ideas simplistically again.” —Virginia Casper, Bank Street College of Education “This examination gives voice to an important but often unexamined issue in early childhood education.” —Christopher P. Brown, The University of Texas at Austin Children’s experiences when they transition from home to school, from classroom to classroom, and from school to school raise issues of continuity that permeate every aspect of early childhood education. This book uses practitioner stories to investigate beliefs about continuity and discontinuity and how these beliefs are enacted in contexts for young children from birth to age 8. The authors examine a range of continuities and discontinuities, including the experiences children, teachers, and families have with programs; the interactions between families and schools; and the ways in which programs and schools relate to one another. They also raise questions about primary caregiving, cultural responsiveness, assessment practices, and congruity between institutions. Discussions of each story include the authors’ interpretations, references to relevant theory, questions for reflection, and implications for intentional and thoughtful practice. Book Features: Represents the first comprehensive volume to unpack the complex topic of continuity. Provides a critical analysis of continuity based on real stories from practitioners and parents.\ Illuminates the work of early childhood educators on the individual, group, organizational, and systems levels. Encourages readers to carefully consider their roles as educators of young children.
