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.
This book explores international perspectives on quality improvement within the field of early childhood education and care. Many countries and governments are focusing on preschool quality as a way to improve entrenched inequalities and reduce social disadvantage and segregation: this book draws together various global case studies to showcase how different countries tackle aspects of quality improvement. The concept of quality is understood in different ways both culturally and contextually, and the implementation of measures to improve quality will differ from country to country. The book draws together case studies from numerous contexts to showcase various ways of working with aspects of quality improvement. Sharing important insights into policy and practice, this book guides a shared understanding of the complex nature of quality improvement within early childhood education and care.
The first volume in this Early Childhood Education and Care in the 21st Century: International Teaching, Family and Policy Perspectives miniseries provides a snapshot of early childhood education and care from 19 different countries around the world. The intention is to provide a description for the policy and provision for young children and their families in each of the unique contemporary contexts. The selection of countries includes every continent in the world to provide variety across cultures, socio-economic status, location, population and other unique factors. Some chapters also share the development and history of early childhood in their country, including economic and political transitions that lead to changes in early childhood provision and policy. The book provides essential takeaways for early childhood educators, researchers, early childhood organisations, policy makers and those interested to know more about early childhood education within an international perspective.
This book provides significant information regarding the policies and provisions for early childhood teacher education programs in universities in fourteen different countries. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) is expanding rapidly across the globe with unprecedented numbers of children attending EC centres, requiring the investment in educators to provide good quality ECEC. Yet, there is an inconsistent approach to early childhood teacher preparation and the quality of existing programs is not known. Each country’s contributing author/s is/are well known in their field for their in-depth knowledge of early childhood teacher education programs including content, structure, and professional experience that works within the scope of policy and registration agencies. The chapters address the current situation of staffing—shortage or oversupply—of early childhood teachers in their country. The book informs policy regarding content of early childhood teacher preparation programs and provides evidence of current courses across many under-represented countries throughout the world. It makes a significant contribution to understanding the environment for early childhood teacher programs.
This book explores the relationships between theory, policy and practice in early childhood services. Although primarily focused on the UK, it draws on contributions from Europe and further afield to explore the strengths and limitations of present practices and suggests ways in which new initiatives might be developed. The book considers six interlinked themes: How do young children learn? What assumptions are made about children as learners? What should young children be learning? What is an appropriate approach to curriculum for young children? Where should young children learn? What arrangements are made for them? What kinds of spaces do children inhabit? Who should help them learn? What role do adults take in supporting children's learning? Children as participants and knowledgeable persons. What contribution can children themselves make to the plans that are made for them? Developing practice - how does practice, particularly embedded practice, change or develop? The book will be important reading for students undertaking courses in early childhood studies, early years education, social policy and child welfare as well as academics, researchers and policymakers in these fields.
Recognizing the various ecological contexts that support children’s development while amplifying voices from across the globe, this book challenges narrow interpretations of quality and best practice. Each author offers a unique perspective on issues germane to the field of early childhood education: perceptions of children, curriculum, teacher education, and play-based learning. An innovative, timely, and much-needed contribution, this book represents an inclusive collection of theoretical and cultural knowledge, as well as research. Such a diverse multicentric lens opens new intellectual pathways for authentic, reciprocal knowledge exchange, while ensuring that a reimagining of early childhood education remains at the core of our teaching practice, scholarship, and activism. This book invites everyone to imagine, to dare to believe, to hope, and to act—in the interests of children, in the interests of communities and families, and in the moral precepts of equity, inclusion and justice.
This international handbook gives a comprehensive overview of findings from longstanding and contemporary research, theory, and practices in early childhood education in the Northern and Southern hemispheres. The first volume of the handbook addresses theory, methodology, and the research activities and research needs of particular regions. The second volume examines in detail innovations and longstanding programs, curriculum and assessment, and conceptions and research into child, family and communities. The two volumes of this handbook address the current theory, methodologies and research needs of specific countries and provide insight into existing global similarities in early childhood practices. By paying special attention to what is happening in the larger world contexts, the volumes provide a representative overview of early childhood education practices and research, and redress the current North-South imbalance of published work on the subject.
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.
This book challenges received wisdom and the tendency to reduce philosophical issues of value to purely technical issues of measurement and management.
The key aims of early childhood education and care (ECEC) are to offer children from all social backgrounds a good start in their lives, to support parenting as well as families’ workforce participation, and, thereby, to sustainably strengthen the national economy over current and future generations. High-quality ECEC has been shown to improve child outcomes and be a buffer against developmental risk factors. For these reasons, governments, ECEC providers, and researchers are placing an increasing focus on the frameworks and systems that underpin quality as well as the measures that assess quality. At the same time, however, research on ECEC as a multidisciplinary endeavor has shown that the aims and benefits of high-quality ECEC can only be reached when all stakeholders’ needs are acknowledged and sufficiently met. For example, recent evidence suggests that the acceptability and social validity of quality assessment and improvement methods are contested among some stakeholders, and thus, the sustainability of these quality efforts may be in doubt. New challenges also include the ever-changing nature and circumstances affecting ECEC stakeholders, for example, the greater flows of refugee families and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. This Frontiers Research Topic will contribute to an updated knowledge base in order to inform governments, providers, and the scientific community about best practices and new solutions for conceptualizing, measuring, and improving ECEC quality. The aim of the proposed Research Topic is to generate a worldwide kaleidoscope of research studies that explore and discuss models for gathering the perspectives of multiple stakeholders and considering the meaningfulness of stakeholder views for conceptualizing, assessing, and improving quality in ECEC. We believe that greater attention needs to be given to the diversity of stakeholders who are invested in ECEC, including government regulatory authorities, service providers, educators, families, communities, and children. We also believe that wide-ranging stakeholder input will generate innovative methods for assessing and improving quality that keep pace with our rapidly changing information society. Two further foci are set on ECEC practices: (1.) that support participation, diversity, and inclusion of all children and families and (2.) that are suitable for developing countries and diverse populations within countries. In this, the focus is not only on best practices but also on the limitations of practices. In soliciting research articles on ECEC stakeholder perspectives, we describe stakeholders as inclusive of government/non-government regulatory agencies, service providers, teachers and caregivers, families, communities, and children. Themes of interest include but are not limited to: • Assessment of quality in ECEC, including self-assessment approaches; • The design of and use of quality frameworks in ECEC; • Effects of quality and of quality improvement on children and families; • Drivers and indicators of quality improvement; • Acceptance and sustainability of quality efforts among ECEC stakeholders; • Policy expectations of quality rating and improvement systems (e.g., funding policy); • The role of teacher and caregiver professionalization; • All types of center-based and home-based ECEC. We are interested both in quantitative and qualitative research designs as well as in mixed-methods research. Cross-sectional, longitudinal, (quasi-)experimental and case study designs are welcome. The following article types are welcome: original research, empirical studies, systematic reviews, community case studies, policy briefs articles, and brief research reports.
