Global Education Review (Mercy College, New York)
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Lost in Meaning: Validation of Understandings of Inclusive Education in Different Languages and Cultural Contexts
Full text linkThe term “inclusive education” has become a frequently used keyword for research due to the aim of achieving inclusivity in education and society. The term is used and translated in and across global documents that shape national policy and research as well as international research. The popularity, but also the emergency of, inclusion thus yields to international research that takes place in a multilingual context. However, this goes beyond the ability to speak such languages or translate research findings correctly. In this article, we will discuss the barriers toward translating “inclusive education” as a challenging concept across different languages and cultures. As an increasingly popular concept, “inclusion” is encountered as the topic of several studies from multiple disciplines. Transferring the meaning of “inclusion” can be challenging due to the global usage of the concept in several contexts. However, there are challenges even when the issue is confined to the educational context. This article will tackle the ways used to validate the translation based on three cases derived from three studies, respectively, international research set in multiple country contexts, research translating sign languages into written language, and multilingual research in a national context. The first case will focus on the barriers due to the cultural discrepancies between written and sign languages by concentrating on the pragmatic usages of “inclusive education” in Deaf culture in Austria, while the second case examines translingual processes while conducting research on “inclusive education” within the collaboration of Austria and Thailand and presenting research findings in native languages and English. The third case will tackle multilingual and multicultural research on “inclusive education” conducted with migrants in Austria
Enduring lessons from a forgotten Froebelian foot soldier in Aotearoa-New Zealand: Miss Isabel Little (1876-1937)
No full textMiss Isabel Little was a Scottish infant teacher who immigrated to New Zealand in 1912. She was described as a “Froebel trained Scot from Edinburgh” and known around Wellington education circles for her “modern methods”. In contrast to known Froebelian pioneers, Miss Little’s historical footprint is light but the few glimpses yield insights useful to consider in current times. Miss Little is described in this article as a forgotten Froebelian foot soldier who, like others were the mainstay of a kindergarten movement that transformed the early education of children. Individual and collective advocacy, as demonstrated by Miss Little a century ago, are evident in current times. The political and pedagogical context of early years education has changed in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) but there are still battles to be won. Coinciding with the consequences of COVID-19 in 2020 was the government’s intended roll-out of He Taonga te Tamaiti – Early learning action plan 2019-2029, creating calls for a strategic rethink: to hasten rather than slow down its implementation. Connecting these stories, past and present, was accidental as they collided into the space of the author’s life during a stern lockdown that mainly halted the virus at the border. More broadly they epitomize the stretch and potency of Froebelian principles across centuries and places
Enhancing Teacher Awareness and Professionalism through Prolonged Critical Reflection: Influences of Socializing Forces on Educational Beliefs and Practice
Full text linkA graduate course in curriculum and instruction was utilized as an intervention to enhance teacher awareness about their teaching practice. The researchers employed a purposeful and prolonged critical reflection approach for graduate students, who are also teachers, over a 15-week period. The teachers juxtaposed their prior experiences against a frame of educational philosophies. The researchers found that prolonged critical reflection about educational philosophies and associated approaches increased teacher ability to discern and disentangle their teaching dispositions from their teaching practices and articulate these distinctions. Additional significant outcomes included teachers questioning of socializing forces that influence their instruction, prompting action and agency. Similarly, teachers commented about gaining increased open-mindedness and a willingness to transform schools. Triangulation of data corpuses that included journal reflections/blogs, field notes, and assignments revealed four salient phases associated with their enhanced awareness and transformation: (1) Uncertainty, (2) Development and Growth, (3) Realization and Agency, and (4) Self-Characterization associated with this critical reflection process
Nature, Nurture and the Space Between: Lessons from Froebel for the Early Years
Full text linkIn this article, we engage with a question that has occupied the professional, policy, and popular discourse on education and socialization: are a child’s development potential and outcomes contingent on innate abilities (“nature”) or environment (“nurture”) (Plomin, DeFries, & Fulker, 1988; Stiles, 2011; Tabery, 2014; Marley-Payne, 2021)? We explore what a Froebelian perspective can add to this question and how it can be translated into an early years context, focusing on its relevance for policy-making, supporting practitioners, and children’s rights. There is ample neuroscientific evidence (e.g., Miller and Jones, 2014) that it never was a clear-cut dichotomy; both forces interact, with the role of the adult as a key moderating variable between the two. For educators, the question thus becomes what these insights mean for our role in supporting child wellbeing and development. We consider the question through a Froebelian lens, starting with an analysis of Froebel’s own writings and the assemblages of his pedagogy to show the relevance of his approach in supporting practitioners in their role as mediators of the nature/nurture balance. The theoretical discussion is contextualized in contemporary Scottish Early Years policy and practice, highlighting untapped potential in an environment receptive to Froebelian ideals. We offer three propositions for how the engagement with Froebel’s vision can guide those working in the Early Years, and how we frame their interaction with children’s ecosystem. In conclusion, we argue for a more nuanced engagement with the nature/nurture debate, in particular in Early Years policy: rather than focusing on a false dichotomy of nature versus nurture, the article calls for a Froebelian reframing of our perspective on the Early Years.
(Re)connecting pedagogies: Examining the links between Froebelian and Common Worlds approaches to environmental learning
Full text linkThe purpose of this theoretical paper is to examine the links between the philosophical underpinnings of Froebelian pedagogy (where pedagogy is understood as the basis on which early childhood practices are developed) and the pedagogy of a recent movement in environmental education for young children; the Common Worlds Research Collective. Current concerns about environmental damage highlight the importance of finding ways of engaging children with environmental concerns without placing them in untenable positions as “planet savers.” The global reach of the pedagogies under discussion make them valuable platforms for promoting ecological education in the Early Years. Using levels of pedagogical discourse put forward by Le Grange (2018) – ultimate premises, platform-principles and practice – the paper examines the relationship between Froebelian thinking and the Common Worlds approach. Through a discussion of the common philosophical underpinnings, views of children’s agency and relationship with the natural world, I will argue that the Common Worlds’ critique of pedagogy based on Froebel’s thinking and call for a new pedagogy for young children is based on an incomplete reading of Froebel’s nature pedagogy, and does not pay sufficient attention to the common grounds on which these pedagogical approaches are based- namely a view of the world as being infinitely connected and the role of education as a means of supporting children to understand their connections with the world as it is, and how they can engage with it ethically.
Finding Froebel: National and Cross-National Pedagogical Paths in Froebelian Early Childhood Education
Full text linkThis editorial for special issue part 1 on the pedagogy of Friedrich Froebel situates the articles in the context of the Global Education Reform Movement. It highlights the contributions made to contemporary research and practice in early childhood education, and advancing understanding of a Froebelian approach
What does it mean to be a Froebelian in the 21st century? : An Essay
Full text linkWhat does it mean to be a Froebelian in the 21st century? It is not a new question but one that is more urgent than ever. Not only since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic but for years, young children and their well-being have been thrust aside, and Early Childhood Education and Care worldwide has been treated as subordinate. The Global Education Reform Movement (GERM) has negatively impacted early childhood education over the last decades, and these tendencies have only exacerbated during the pandemic. This essay centers around what it means to be a Froebelian and what role Froebelian thinking can play in the 21st century. The focus is on the questions and not the answers. The essay asks what it does and what it does not mean to be a Froebelian in the 21st century. It finishes by reflecting on the role that Froebelian thinking can play today to advocate for young children’s well-being in a post-pandemic world by resisting current GERM thinking and developing alternatives
Revitalizing a Humanizing Vision: Contesting GERM Policies with Froebel
Full text linkFor early childhood educators, few individuals have more historical significance than Friedrich Froebel. Froebelian approaches traveled across the Atlantic and inspired early childhood educators in the United States during the progressive era. Although early childhood professionals in the United States still celebrate the inventor of kindergarten, his vision for early education is inevitably altered when it is interpreted within alternative linguistic, cultural and historical contexts. Authored within this American context, this article aims to recognize Froebel’s unique and contributions to early childhood education. The article has three parts. First, we resituate Froebel within his original context considering the other influential educational theorists and philosophers in 19th century Europe. We contrast continental, human science pedagogy with the many-sided progressive educational movement in the United States. Secondly, we imagine Froebel in dialogue with a contemporary director of an American early childhood center. This dialogue puts Froebel’s philosophy of education in reciprocity with contemporary discourses of policy and practice. We advance an American interpretation of Froebel that considers him much more than a precursor to progressive education. We suggest Froebel provides a uniquely humanizing perspective that is desperately needed within conditions currently dominated by GERM policies.  
Learning and Teaching in a Neoliberal Era: The Tensions of Engaging in Froebelian-Informed Pedagogy while Encountering Quality Standards
Full text linkContemporary Froebelian-inspired early childhood education in the United States is challenged by government regulation and accreditation requirements that have arisen alongside neoliberalism in education. Using Critical Policy Analysis and case study examples from a preschool in Atlanta, Georgia, this paper examines the influence of neoliberalism on school readiness discourse, parental expectations for children’s education, and teacher preparation programs in early childhood education. For early childhood centers that are inspired by Friedrich Froebel’s philosophies of teaching and learning, remaining true to his vision of development and education is increasingly challenged by neoliberal regimes that reify accountability, assessment, and competition. Possibilities for resistance to the neoliberal ideology that regulates early childhood education are described and contextualized by Froebel’s writings
Discipline Policy Reform: A Review of Oakland USD following an OCR Investigation
Full text linkResearch demonstrates harmful effects of disparate discipline practices on outcomes for students of color. The Office of Civil Rights (OCR), under the Obama administration, significantly increased investigations under the mandate of Title VI. In this study, we examine OCR’s investigation of Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) to establish the district’s response following findings of disproportionality for African American students. Current OUSD discipline data indicates persistent discipline disparities remain, yet OUSD has undertaken significant reform initiatives. These initiatives include establishing Restorative Justice programs, an African American Male Achievement Program (AAMA), and extensive internal review and revision of data collection practices for disciplinary incidents. Our findings indicate that challenges to this disciplinary reform effort include data quality, training, and the district’s continuing commitment to reform following the conclusion of OCR oversight