The early years of life are fast gaining prominence around the world. It is well documented that investment in early childhood results in exceptionally high returns in multiple arenas; greater than those resulting from enterprise focused on later periods in people’s lives. This book presents current early years research that reflects the transdisciplinary nature of childhood. The first in the Children and Childhoods series, this volume examines multiple perspectives, places and practices that constitute early childhood. The many facets of how children and childhoods are seen, where they are enacted and how they are played out are explained through explorations of playgrounds, hospitals, museums, child care centres and other locations. Similarly diverse are the methodologies that underpin these investigations. Children, practitioners, families and researchers all contribute to this cornucopia of children and childhoods.
The SAGE Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood Studies navigates our understanding of the historical, political, social and cultural dimensions of childhood. Transdisciplinary and transnational in content and scope, the Encyclopedia both reflects and enables the wide range of approaches, fields and understandings that have been brought to bear on the ever-transforming problem of the "child" over the last four decades This four-volume encyclopedia covers a wide range of themes and topics, including: Social Constructions of Childhood Children’s Rights Politics/Representations/Geographies Child-specific Research Methods Histories of Childhood/Transnational Childhoods Sociology/Anthropology of Childhood Theories and Theorists Key Concepts This interdisciplinary encyclopedia will be of interest to students and researchers in: Childhood Studies Sociology/Anthropology Psychology/Education Social Welfare Cultural Studies/Gender Studies/Disabilty Studies
Learn how exemplary countries are dealing with the challenges and joys of advancing the development of their youngest citizens. In this book, Sharon Lynn Kagan and her contributors systematically examine how six diverse countries go about envisioning, designing, and implementing their services to young children and their families. The Early Advantage 1 sheds light on new and exciting approaches to early childhood education and care (ECEC) that are contributing to the quality, equity, efficiency, and sustainability of services for young children. Brimming with fresh insights, the text provides concrete examples of successfully implemented strategies and methods that warrant attention from other countries wishing to improve their early childhood services. The 2-year comparative analysis upon which this volume is based was made possible with funding and support from the National Center on Education and the Economy’s (NCEE) Center on International Education Benchmarking. Book Features: Presents groundbreaking approaches to early childhood policy, practice, and service delivery from around the globe. Based on contributions from leading scholars and policymakers from six countries: Australia, England, Finland, Hong Kong, Korea, and Singapore. Acknowledges the important role of culture in shaping the quality and array of services afforded to young children. Uses rigorous research that includes common designs, vetted protocols, and repeated validations. Includes detailed country fact sheets with data on demographics, governmental expenditures, staff qualifications, mandated monitoring systems, and more. Is part of NCEE’s research into the 9 Building Blocks for a World-Class Education System. Contributors: Rebecca Bull, co-principal investigator, Singapore. Alfredo Bautista, contributing author, Singapore. Lily Fritz, contributing author, England. Bridget Healey, contributing author, Australia. Sharon Lynn Kagan, principal investigator, U.S. Kristiina Kumpulainen, co-principal investigator, Finland. Eva Landsberg, contributing author, National Center for Children and Families, U.S. Carrie Lau, contributing author, Hong Kong. Mugyeong Moon, co-principal investigator, Republic of Korea. Grace Murkett, contributing author, England. Tom Peachey, contributing author, Australia. Nirmala Rao, co-principal investigator, Hong Kong. Kathy Sylva, co-principal investigator, England. Collette Tayler, co-principal investigator, Australia.
This book is a powerful portrayal of class inequalities in the United States. It contains insightful analysis of the processes through which inequality is reproduced, and it frankly engages with methodological and analytic dilemmas usually glossed over in academic texts.
Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. This provides a critical foundation for lifelong progress, and the adults who provide for the care and the education of young children bear a great responsibility for their health, development, and learning. Despite the fact that they share the same objective - to nurture young children and secure their future success - the various practitioners who contribute to the care and the education of children from birth through age 8 are not acknowledged as a workforce unified by the common knowledge and competencies needed to do their jobs well. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. This report examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems. This book then makes recommendations to improve the quality of professional practice and the practice environment for care and education professionals. These detailed recommendations create a blueprint for action that builds on a unifying foundation of child development and early learning, shared knowledge and competencies for care and education professionals, and principles for effective professional learning. Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 offers guidance on system changes to improve the quality of professional practice, specific actions to improve professional learning systems and workforce development, and research to continue to build the knowledge base in ways that will directly advance and inform future actions. The recommendations of this book provide an opportunity to improve the quality of the care and the education that children receive, and ultimately improve outcomes for children.
A paradigm-shifting model of parenting children in two homes from an internationally recognized expert. A researcher, therapist, and mediator, Robert Emery, Ph.D., details a new approach to sharing custody with children in two homes. Huge numbers of children are affected by separation, divorce, cohabitation breakups, and childbearing outside of marriage. These children have two homes. But their parents have only one chance to protect their childhood. Building on his 2004 book The Truth About Children and Divorce and a strong evidence base, including his own research, Emery explains that a parenting plan that lasts a lifetime is one that grows and changes along with children’s—and families’—developing needs. Parents can and should work together to renegotiate schedules to best meet the changing needs of children from infancy through young adult life. Divided into chapters that address the specific needs of children as they grow up, Emery: • Introduces his Hierarchy of Children’s Needs in Divorce • Provides specific advice for successful parenting, starting with infancy and reaching into emerging adulthood • Advocates for joint custody but notes that children do not count minutes and neither should parents • Highlights that there is only one “side” for parents to take in divorce: the children’s side Himself the father of five children, one from his first marriage, Emery brings a rare combination of personal and professional insight and guidance for every parent raising a child in two homes.
In this seminal volume, leading authorities strategize about how to create early childhood systems that transcend politics and economics to serve the needs of all young children. The authors offer different interpretations of the nature of early childhood systems, discuss the elements necessary to support their development, and examine how effectiveness can be assessed. With a combination of cutting-edge scholarship and practical examples of systems-building efforts taking place in the field, this book provides the foundation educators and policymakers need to take important steps toward developing more conceptually integrated approaches to early childhood care, education, and comprehensive services. Book Features: Provides the only up-to-date, comprehensive examination of early childhood systems.Considers new efforts to expand services, improve quality, maximize resources, and reduce inequities in early childhood.Offers a forum for the field to come together to frame a set of cogent recommendations for the future. Contributors: Kimberly Boller, Andrew Brodsky, Charles Bruner, Dean Clifford, Julia Coffman, Jeanine Coleman, Harriet Dichter, Sangree Froelicher, Eugene García, Stacie Goffin, Jodi Hardin, Karen Hill Scott, Janice Gruendel, Marilou Hyson, Amy Kershaw, Lisa G. Klein, Denise Mauzy, Geoffrey Nagle, Karen Ponder, Ann Reale, Sue Russell, Diana Schaack, Helene M. Stebbins, Jennifer M. Stedron, Kate Tarrant, Kathy R. Thornburg, Kathryn Tout, Fasaha Traylor, Jessica Vick Whittaker Sharon Lynn Kagan is the Virginia and Leonard Marx Professor of Early Childhood and Family Policy and Co-Director of the National Center for Children and Families at Teachers College, Columbia University. Kristie Kauerz is the program director for PreK-3rd Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE). “A veritable encyclopedia of ideas on early childhood system building.” —Barbara T. Bowman,Irving B. Harris Professor of Child Development, Erikson Institute “The key to successful change is continued development of the frames of reference. Both editors have respected the past, listened to the implementers, and provided a context for moving forward. Like efforts to build systems of child development, which we must now link to growth in specific children we know by name, the book ends with robust examples of the work in progress. Sharon Lynn Kagan and Kristie Kauerz don't just talk about the work, they participate in the creation of change.” —Sherri Killins, Ed.D, Commissioner, Department of Early Education and Care, Massachusetts
"This book is unusually rewarding in that its author has pulled off the rare trick of providing deep philosophical and theoretical underpinnings to a comprehensive reconsideration of childhood. Priscilla Alderson deploys Bhaskar's 'dialectical critical realism' to excellent effect, illuminating not only our understanding of the presence, and absence, of children in our lives and discourses, but also the field of childhood studies. It is rare that such an integrated text is accomplished and I look forward to the planned second volume. This is a work that should facilitate a rethinking of childhood for the new century." Graham Scrambler, Professor of Medical Sociology at University College London. Childhoods Real and Imagined explores and charts the relation of dialectical critical realist concepts to many aspects of childhood. By demonstrating their relevance and value to each other, Alderson presents an introductory guide to applied critical realism for researchers, lecturers and students. Each chapter summarises key themes from several academic disciplines and policy areas, combining adults’ and children’s reported views and experiences and filtering these through a critical realist analysis. The four main chapters deal with the more personal aspects of childhood in relation to the body, interpersonal relations, social structures, and the person, soul or self. The second volume will widen the scope to include the impact on children and young people of present policies relating to ecology, economics, ideas of social evolution or progress, and ethics. Each chapter demonstrates how children are an integral part of the whole of society and are often especially affected by policies and events. Through developing the dialectical critical realist analysis of childhood and youth Childhoods Real and Imagined will be of great interest to critical realists and childhood researchers and policy advisers.
For all that is known about the depth and breadth of African American history, we still understand surprisingly little about the lives of African American children, particularly those affected by northern emancipation. But hidden in institutional records, school primers and penmanship books, biographical sketches, and unpublished documents is a rich archive that reveals the social and affective worlds of northern Black children. Drawing evidence from the urban centers of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, Crystal Webster's innovative research yields a powerful new history of African American childhood before the Civil War. Webster argues that young African Americans were frequently left outside the nineteenth century's emerging constructions of both race and childhood. They were marginalized in the development of schooling, ignored in debates over child labor, and presumed to lack the inherent innocence ascribed to white children. But Webster shows that Black children nevertheless carved out physical and social space for play, for learning, and for their own aspirations. Reading her sources against the grain, Webster reveals a complex reality for antebellum Black children. Lacking societal status, they nevertheless found meaningful agency as historical actors, making the most of the limited freedoms and possibilities they enjoyed.
This go-to guide for educators helping children who have experienced trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) provides accessible information paired with practical, adaptable strategies.
