162 research outputs found
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Critical reflections on care and dyadic relationships in a toddler group
Full text linkAuthors explore role and status of care in a toddler classroom and ways dyadic relationships between children and their educator mirror care processes. Specifically, they investigated the care, and the characteristics of the dyadic relationships established by the educators with the children, with the aim to understand the values of care being played out in the practices that sustained them and their role in the development of the children\u27s emancipation, here understood as the process of growing in autonomy and power over their lives. The case study was conducted in a class of children aged two to three years old. Class was part of a nursery school located in the Greek municipality of Ioannina. Data was collected through non-participant observation, using field notes. Results have revealed that care experiences offered by early childhood educators to toddlers represent important contexts for children´s early affective and autonomy development. Educators become a figure of subsidiary secure attachment, particularly during stressful situations and these care experiences. The dyads established between the child and the educator in care situations strengthen safe attachments if the adult respects the children´s bodies, rhythms, necessities, and interests. These safe relationships benefit all children, including those who experience social problems at home. Children could develop negative expectations and fear about interpersonal relationships and conflictive behaviors of all kinds if established relationships with them are hostile. Results indicate that secure attachments are formed only when educators empower children. In that sense, results highlight that education and care are strongly interrelated
Philosophical foundations for anti-racist early education: A Mediterranean perspective
Full text linkThis article examines anti-racist early childhood education and care (ECEC) in the Mediterranean, a region marked by diverse histories, cultures, languages, and migration patterns. These dynamics shape access, curriculum, language policy, and belonging from the earliest years. Drawing on Fanon, Freire, hooks, Ladson-Billings, West, and Braudel’s longue durée perspective, the study introduces a conceptual framework based on four interconnected tenets: critical consciousness, empathy, cultural affirmation, and participatory community learning. Greece, Italy, Malta, and selected North African countries were purposefully selected as illustrative - not comprehensive - examples to showcase contrasting histories, linguistic and cultural diversity, and policy environments. Comparative analysis across these country sections informs regionally relevant policy priorities, showing how the framework can generate actionable strategies for embedding anti-racist, culturally affirming practice across Mediterranean contexts. Mapping each case to the framework reveals promising practices and persistent gaps, as well as the influence of historical legacies, policy landscapes, and socio-political realities on local enactments. This insight demonstrates the framework’s dual utility: (i) as an analytical lens for evaluating existing practices, (ii) and as a generative guide for creating locally responsive, culturally sustaining anti-racist pedagogies. The analysis advances debates on linguistic justice, identity, and inclusion, highlighting language as both a barrier and a lever for equity. By integrating theory, practice, and policy, the article calls for moving anti-racism from aspiration to embedded practice through sustained investment in teacher education, high-quality ECEC provision, inclusive curricula, effective community partnerships, and context-sensitive policy. Anchored in love, justice, and historical consciousness, the framework positions Mediterranean ECEC as transformative for equity, solidarity, and cultural renewal
South Korean early childhood educators’ perceptions of North Korean defectors and unification education
Full text linkThis study investigates South Korean early childhood educators’ perceptions of North Korean defectors, their national identity, reunification, and unification education (UE) to provide some suggestions for an effective integrated education between the children of the two Koreas and related teacher education. Fourteen educators participated in this research in which qualitative semi-structured interviews were employed. Key findings included that most educators regarded North Koreans as the ‘Same Korean race’, with the exception of young educators in their 20s, whose view was that North Koreans are not a member of the Korean people. In addition, the participants felt there were ideological, cultural, language, and economic differences between them and North Korean defectors and their children. Some participants argued that UE for young children is not inherently ineffective due to a lack of understanding of the concept of unification. Alternately, some educators addressed North and South Korean UE through multicultural educational approaches. Recommendations are made for the application of UE via multicultural education approaches at government level, in the class and teacher training
Policy reform in Israel: Perceptions of Arab Palestinian kindergarten teachers
Full text linkThe research investigated the perceptions of kindergarten teachers in Arab Palestinian society concerning the contribution of the latest Israeli government education reform entitled the "New Horizons" reform to provide additional material enabling assessment of the reform\u27s efficacy and attainment of its goals in Arab Palestinian kindergartens. Previous studies have shown inconsistent results concerning the benefits of the reform and indicated that educators had both positive and negative views concerning its different elements. A qualitative research study gathered data from semi-structured interviews with 16 Arab Palestinian kindergarten teachers. The findings indicated that the teachers were dissatisfied with the reform, indicating different negative aspects of the reform: burdensome work, intensive work, and lack of autonomy for the teachers, unsuitability of the programs for the kindergarten\u27s workday and its structure. Although teachers indicated that the reform had a positive influence on the children\u27s achievements and their progress, it also generated pressure on the teachers. The research findings clarify the way in which the reform is seen by these Arab Palestinian kindergarten teachers and points to the need for further studies, which will investigate kindergarten teachers\u27 work in the local and global context
Racism is old-fashioned, antiracism is modern: An error occurred while checking for an antiracism system update!
Full text linkThis small-scale phenomenological study investigates the paradoxes inherent in anti-racism work within UK schools, Early Years, and Childhood settings, especially following the global resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement after the murder of George Floyd in 2020. Applying a Critical Race Theory and Critical Whiteness Studies lens, the study explores the experiences of Anti-Racist School Award leaders navigating significant challenges in predominantly white staff environments across England. Data were comprehensively gathered through an anonymous online survey (n=25), in-depth interviews (n=12), written reflections on interview transcripts (n=5), and a focus group examining key emerging themes (n=6). Findings highlight how racism is often perceived as an old-fashioned phenomenon external to contemporary schooling, while anti-racism is framed as a progressive, modern endeavour. This temporal framing, coupled with persistent white ignorance and institutional inertia, hinders deep structural change and reinforces whiteness as the default operating system within education. Critiquing the limitations of performative anti-racism, the article calls for a more sustained, systemic approach to dismantling racial inequities. It advocates for mandatory racial literacy training for all staff, embedding anti-racist frameworks into curriculum development and leadership structures, and establishing accountability measures to assess long-term progress beyond mere recognition or awards. Without such fundamental shifts, anti-racism risks becoming an uninstalled ‘system update’, leaving the structures of racial injustice intact
Reimagining professional identity: Early childhood educators amid California policy shifts
Full text linkEarly Childhood Education is undergoing structural transformation in California with the expansion of Universal Transitional Kindergarten and the PK-3 Early Childhood Eduction Specialist Credential. While these policies aim to professionalize the field, they risk reinforcing historical inequities by prioritizing TK-12 centric credentialing over community-rooted expertise. This study explores how ECE practitioners navigate, resist, and reimagine their professional identities amid these systemic shifts. Grounded in Critical Feminist Theory and conceptualized through Intersectionality and Community Cultural Wealth, this research employs Critical Phenomenology Research to illuminate the lived experiences of ECE practitioners with specialized early childhood expertise. Findings reveal three key themes: (1) Reclaiming Professional Identity, (2) Resisting Systemic Marginalization, and (3) Envisioning Transformative Leadership. The study calls for equity-driven professionalization, advocating for credentialing pathways that affirm lived experience and community-based knowledge, contributing to critical dialogues on workforce equity, educational sovereignty, and the future of early learnin
Anti-racist pedagogy in early years and childhood settings
Full text linkThe idea for this Thematic Issue on Anti-Racist Pedagogy in Early Years and Childhood Settings emerged after an inspiring conference titled “Cha(lle)nging Childhoods: Reimagine Childhood in Uncertainty and Inequality” (ConferenceCES, Istanbul, June 2024) organised by the Journal of Childhood, Education & Society. In our discussions as scholar-activists, we felt a deep need to hear from academics and practitioners around the world - to better understand what is happening on the ground, and to collectively consider how we might challenge racist education systems across different contexts
Organizing digital competence development in preschools: Professionals’ insights from three Swedish municipalities
Full text linkThis article contributes to the understanding of how digital competence development (DCD) for preschool educators is organized across three Swedish municipalities, focusing on communal preschools and drawing on participants’ experiences. With a case study approach, the research addresses the growing need for DCD to integrate digital technology into pedagogy in preschool. Continuing professional development like this can be initiated and shaped through various methods, including formal education, courses, and programs. Another often more efficient approach is to support and enhance continuous, day-to-day learning in the workplace. However, in-depth research on such workplace learning and practice is lacking despite ongoing debates on digital tool use in early childhood education. Fifteen interviews with operational developers, development leaders, principals, and information and communication technology (ICT) educators serve as the basis for this study. Billet\u27s theories on workplace learning frame the analysis, studying the organizing of DCD through the interdependence between possible learning opportunities (affordances) and the influences it has on individuals’ agency (engagement) within the cases. Findings highlight that ICT educators played a pivotal role in coaching and shaping professional development, suggesting that the learning opportunities available to staff were significantly influenced by the motivation and engagement of self-driven individuals, along with principal prioritization and municipal vision. This study also shows the availability of DCD through collegial cooperation, dedicated support groups and networks. The study underscores the importance of workplace learning for enhancing preschool educators\u27 digital competence and proposes practical strategies to facilitate staff support
Parent perspectives on digital play-based early literacy-learning in marginalized communities
Full text linkThis study examined parent perspectives on digital play-based learning for early literacy development in non-formal educational settings in Pakistan and Bangladesh, where access to quality education remains limited for marginalized communities. Drawing on neo-ecological theory as a guiding framework, we conducted a qualitative focus group study in which we analysed discussions with 40 parents whose children participated in a three-month digital play-based literacy intervention implemented through community learning centres and refugee camps. The parents reported significant improvements in their children\u27s English language capabilities and digital literacies, often describing instances that reversed traditional knowledge hierarchies within families, with children teaching their parents English pronunciation and digital navigation. However, the parents simultaneously expressed concerns about traditional writing skill development and future educational transitions. The intervention affected parent–child engagement in education, with many parents reporting increased school visits and children showing a newfound enthusiasm for attending classes. Notable variations emerged between communities with different levels of prior educational access, with refugee parents in Bangladesh showing greater enthusiasm for digital interventions than those with previous exposure to conventional education. The study demonstrated how parents in marginalized communities carefully evaluated digital play through contextual lenses, and challenged simplistic narratives about technology adoption in resource-constrained environments. The parents’ perspectives highlight both the transformative potential of digital play for early literacy and the importance of contextually responsive approaches to implementing interventions
Multiculturalism and diversity are not synonymous with anti-racist education
Full text linkAcross the Australian early childhood landscape there is a tendency for educators to veil discussions about race through the lenses of diversity and multiculturalism, falling short of addressing pervasive racism. Consequently, a more focused anti-racist education model is needed given the rise of racism and ‘othering’. Within the context of this research, teaching practices utilized by participants drew primarily on discourses of multiculturalism, premised on the shared understanding that it was important to teach about differences through similarities. Participants also identified that policy documents and professional development opportunities reinforced approaches to diversity and multiculturalism that emphasized inclusion, tolerance and acceptance, rather than addressing and disrupting discourses of race and racism. Three core tenets of Critical Race Theory illuminate how an over-reliance on discourses of multiculturalism amplifies the challenges of creating and delivering curricula that explicitly name and recognize race; a prerequisite for engaging with anti-racist endeavours. Moreover, discourses of multiculturalism are synonymous with discourses of colour-blindness, which is problematic because both engender an ‘us’ and them ‘binary’. Underpinned by Eurocentric ideologies, this binary normalizes the fabrication of a colonized racialized ‘other’. Accordingly, this paper argues that in order to reimagine and realize anti-racist pedagogy in early years education we must first recognize, disrupt and decolonize how the power inherent within Eurocentric discourses operates to silence and oppress those who are perceived as the colonized, racialized ‘other’. Only then can we critically examine diversity and discourses of multiculturalism in ways that genuinely generate and sustain opportunities and spaces for anti-racist teaching and learning