Re-Situating Canadian Early Childhood Education

This book presents research exploring the potential for postfoundational theories to revitalize discussions in early childhood education. In the past two decades, postfoundation theories (e.g., postmodern, poststructural, feminist, postcolonial, etc.) have revolutionized the field of early childhood education, but at the same time, little has been written about the value and potential of this movement within the context of Canada. Postfoundational theories have the potential to disrupt normalizing early childhood education discourses that create and maintain social inequities, and to respect differences and diversities. Given the importance of diversity in Canada, it seems relevant to explore further how postfoundational theories might transform early childhood education.

Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw is Professor and Coordinator of the Early Years Specialization in the School of Child and Youth Care at the University of Victoria. She has written extensively on the history of child care in Canada; the experiences of young children and early childhood educators in early childhood settings; and posthumanist, poststructural, postcolonial, and anti-racist feminist perspectives in early childhood education. She is editor of Flows, Rhythms and Intensities in Early Childhood Curriculum (Peter Lang, 2011), and co-editor of the journal Canadian Children.
Larry Prochner is Professor of Early Childhood Education and Chair of the Department of Elementary Education in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta. He is author of A History of Early Childhood Education in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and co-editor of Recent Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Care in Canada.