The Routledge Reader in Early Childhood Education [Paperback]

Early childhood education has always provoked passionate feelings amongst stakeholders at all levels, from practitioners working with children and families in pre-school and school settings, to advisers, managers, politicians, and academics

The purpose of this reader is to examine change, transformation and continuity, and to present indicative scholarship in relation to five key themes:

theoretical perspectives on learning

curriculum and pedagogy

play

policy

professionalism and research methods

Within each theme, the readings have been chosen to exemplify national and international perspectives and trends. This is not to present a homogenised view of early childhood provision and services across cultural contexts; rather the intention is to take a critical perspective on past, present and future directions, and to identify some of the challenges, dilemmas and contradictions posed in research and scholarship.

Introduction: Contestation, Transformation and Re-Conceptualisation in Early Childhood Education  Theme 1: Theoretical Perspectives on Learning, Curriculum and Pedagogy  1. Introduction From Play in the Infants' School E.R. Boyce, Methuen, 1946  2. Fleer, M. (2006) The Cultural Construction of Child Development: Creating Institutional and Cultutral Intersubjectivity. International Journal of Early Years Education, 14(2), 127-140  3. Soler, J & Miller, L. (2003) The Struggle for Early Childhood Curricula: A Comparison of the English Foundation Stage Curriculum, Te Whariki and Reggio Emilia, The International Journal of Early Years Education, Vol.11, No. 1, (Taylor and Francis)  4. Brooker, L(2003), Learning How to Learn : Parental Ethnotheories and Young Childrens Preparation for School, The International Journal of Early Years Education