Debates on Early Childhood Policies and Practices：Global snapshots of pedagogical thinking and encounters

Globally, Early Years policies and documents have set out aspirational outcomes and benefits for children, their families and the wider society. These policies have emphasised 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 argue that if these issues are not explicitly acknowledged, understood, critiqued and negotiated, emerging policies and documents may potentially lead to disadvantaging, marginalising and even pathologising 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 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.

Theodora Papatheodorou, PhD and MBPsS, is an early childhood educator and researcher.

Abbreviations Notes on contributors Acknowledgements Prologue Introduction: Early childhood policies and practices Theodora Papatheodorou PART I: Early childhood policies: Implications for provision and practice Chapter 01 Balancing traditions and transitions: Early childhood policy initiatives and issues in Germany Pamela Oberhuemer Chapter 02 Piracy in Policy: Children influencing early childhood curriculum in Norway Elin Eriksen Ødegaard Chapter 03 Pre-school education in Bulgaria: Achievements and challenges Rozalina Engels-Kritidis Chapter 04 Early childhood care and education in Uzbekistan Carol Aubrey Chapter 05 Emerging models for early childhood development from birth to four in South Africa Hasina Banu Ebrahim Chapter 06 Early childhood education in the Philippines: Administration and teaching practices Percyveranda A. Lubrica, Chul Woo Lee and Evelyn Angiwan Chapter 07 Early childhood curriculum, policy and pedagogy: The Nigerian Perspective Monica Odinko Chapter 08 A pedagogy for educating ‘new professionals’ Sue Callan, Michael Reed and Sharon Smith Chapter 09 Ireland: The early childhood pedagogical dilemma Florence Dinneen PART II: Early childhood practice: Enabling pedagogical cultures and encounters Chapter 10 The Japanese and Western view of nature: Beyond cultural incommensurability Manabu Sumida Chapter 11 Integrating dance and visual arts in Taiwanese early childhood education Shu-Ying Liu Chapter 12 Working theories and learning dispositions in early childhood education: Perspectives from New Zealand Sally Peters and Keryn Davis Chapter 13 The integration of young children with special needs in mainstream nursery schools Athina Kammenou Chapter 14 Promoting emotional well-being or mental health? What’s the difference? Anita Soni Chapter 15 Engaging "hard-to-reach" families: A view from the literature Gill Boag-Munroe Chapter 16 A relational pedagogy in community-based early childhood development Peter Rule Chapter 17 Architexture: reading the Early Years environment Jan Georgeson and Gill Boag-Munroe Epilogue Theodora Papatheodorou Author index Subject index