Debates on early childhood policies and practices : global snapshots of pedagogical thinking and encounters / edited by Theodora Papatheodorou.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Papatheodorou, Theodora, 1953-

James Hosmer Penniman Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Early childhood education--Cross-cultural studies.

Early childhood education.

Child development--Cross-cultural studies.

Child development.

Genre:

Cross-cultural studies.

Physical Description:

xxv, 230 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Routledge, 2012.

Summary:

Globally, early years policies and documents have set out aspirational outcomes and benefits for children, their families and the wider society. These policies have emphasized the place of early childhood provision within the wider global agenda, by tackling inequality and disadvantage early on in children's lives. However, these strategies have also raised further debates regarding the way they have informed and shaped curricula frameworks and pedagogical approaches.

The international team of contributors to this book argues that if these issues are not explicitly acknowledged, understood, critiqued and negotiated, emerging policies and documents may potentially lead to the disadvantaging, marginalizing and even pathologising of certain childhoods.

Divided into two parts, the volume demonstrates the dialectic nature of both policy and practice. The chapters in this wide-ranging text:

explore and articulate the philosophical premises and values that underpin current early childhood policy, curricula and pedagogies;

explicitly acknowledge and articulate some of the potential conflicts and challenges they present;

provide examples of divergent and creative pedagogical thinking;

highlight opportunities for enabling pedagogical cultures and encounters.

Debates on Early Childhood Policies and Practices is aimed at a wide readership including academics and researchers in early years education, policy makers, undergraduate and postgraduate students, practitioners and early childhood professionals. Book jacket.

Contents:

Contents note continued: pt. II Early childhood practice: enabling pedagogical cultures and encounters

10.The Japanese and Western views of nature: beyond cultural incommensurability / Manabu Sumida

11.Integrating dance and visual arts in Taiwanese early childhood education / Shu-Ying Liu

12.Working theories and learning dispositions in early childhood education: perspectives from New Zealand / Keryn Davis

13.Early childhood inclusion initiatives in Greece / Athina Kammenou

14.Promoting emotional well-being or mental health in England? What's the difference? / Anita Soni

15.Engaging `hard-to-reach' families: a view from the literature / Gill Boag-Munroe

16.A relational pedagogy in community-based early childhood development in South Africa / Peter Rule

17.`Architexture': reading the early years environment / Gill Boag-Munroe.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the James Hosmer Penniman Book Fund.

ISBN:

041569101X

9780415691000

0415691001

9780415691017

9780203157954

0203157958

OCLC:

727702654

Publisher Number:

99949478756