Philosophy of Early Childhood Education

Philosophy of Early Childhood Education: Transforming Narratives provides an insightful reflection on some contemporary issues and theories underpinning early childhood education. The essays in this volume penned by an international group of educators are both critical and transformative, offering new insights on the practices and policies within early childhood education.

• Provides a critical reflection on some current issues within early childhood education
• Offers perspectives outside traditional narratives of early childhood
• Encourages the emergence of new paradigms for early childhood education
• Promotes the value of difference, perspective, and "otherness"
• Features an international field of contributors from diverse geographical boundaries

Editorial (Michael A. Peters, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign).

Introduction (Sandy Farquhar, University of Aukland) and Peter Fitzsimons, University of Aukland).

1. Meetings Across the Paradigmatic Divide (Peter Moss, Institute of Education, University of London).

2. The Gift Paradigm in Early Childhood Education (Genevieve Vaughan, Austin, Texas and Eila Estola, University of Oulu).

3. Conceptions of the Self in Early Childhood: Territorializing identities (Liselott Borgnon, Institute of Education, Stockholm).

4. Deconstructing and Transgressing the Theory – Practice dichotomy in early childhood education (Hillevi Lenz Taguchi, Institute of Education, Stockholm).

5. In Early Childhood: What's language about? (Liane Mozère).

6. The Politics of Processes and Products in Education: An early childhood metanarrative crisis? (Andrew Gibbons, New Zealand Tertiary College, Aukland).

7. (Re)Positioning the Child in the Policy/Politics of Early Childhood (Christine Woodrow, University of Western Sydney and Frances Press, Charles Sturt University).

Notes on Contributors.

Index.

“All the contributors challenge traditional ways of thinking about early childhood. Drawing on many postmodern thinkers such as Foucault, Derrida, Deleuze, Guattari, and Lyotard, they suggest some of the limitations that have emerged from the developmental emphasis that sees children as becoming, rather than being.” (CHOICE, March 2009) Sandy Farquhar is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She is currently lecturing in early childhood curriculum and professional studies.

Peter Fitzsimons has, at various times, been a teacher, professional musician, radio journalist, factory manager, harassed parent, and an educational management consultant. He was also recently awarded a PhD for his work on Nietzsche and Education.

Since well before the Enlightenment theorists have been philosophizing about how best to educate children. Across the Western world intensified government involvement suggests that the arena of early childhood education has taken on greater social, political, and economic significance. Philosophy of Early Childhood Education: Transforming Narratives offers a sobering and insightful critical analysis of the many competing and conflicting theories of early childhood education.

Within the spirit of open-ended debate – and through a series of unfolding narratives – contributing authors offer their unique perspectives on early childhood education to stimulate discussion, enliven debate, and stretch the philosophical parameters of early childhood discourse. A diverse range of educators – from the United States, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and across mainland Europe – provides readers with an ‘intellectual smorgasbord’ of the latest philosophical issues in early childhood education. Exposure to such a broad range of viewpoints will help early childhood theorists and practitioners navigate their way through the complexities of contemporary early childhood education.

"Positioning political, feminist, and historical analysis of early childhood education within academia has been a hard fought campaign. It is now urgently necessary to reflect upon the implications of the mainstreaming of early childhood in policy and pedagogy. The readings in this monograph provide signposts towards new constructions of early childhood education with a fresh frame for advocacy."
–Helen May, University of Otago College of Education

"Opens the door to new ways of imagining philosophy, knowledge, and the new paradigms of theory and research in early childhood education, with different critical perspectives related to philosophies of knowledge and power. The contributors, leading researchers from a variety of countries, illustrate how different critical and post-structural philosophical ideas interrogate current policies and practices."
–Marianne Bloch, University of Wisconsin-Madison