Early Years Pioneers in Context ─ Their Lives, Lasting Influence and Impact on Practice Today

This accessible text provides an international study of critical educational leaders who established the foundation for Early Childhood Education across continents in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It places each pioneer within the time and culture in which they lived to help the reader understand how theories and knowledge about early years education and care have evolved over time.

Early Years Pioneers in Context traces key themes such as play, child-initiated learning, working with parents, scaffolding children’s learning and the environment, enabling students to reflect on the differences and similarities between the pioneers and understand their contribution to practice today. Pioneers covered include:

• Frederick Froebel;
• Elizabeth Peabody;
• Susan Blow;
• Rudolf Steiner;
• Margaret McMillan;
• Maria Montessori
• Susan Isaacs;
• Loris Malaguzzi.

Featuring student integration tasks to help the reader link key ideas to their own practice, this will be essential reading for early years students on undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses.

Pam Jarvis is Senior Lecturer at Leeds Trinity University and an Open University associate, supporting education and child development students on a wide range of programmes at undergraduate, masters and doctoral level.

Louise Swiniarski is a Professor Emerita in the School of Education at Salem State University, Massachusetts, USA, where she currently directs the Northeast Global Education Center to promote global literacy in Massachusetts’ schools and educators’ professional development programs.

Wendy Holland is involved the mentoring, training and assessing of Early Years Teachers at Bradford College, UK. She is also currently working in the Teaching, Health and Care sector at Bradford College developing and producing modules for the BA (Hons) in Early Years Studies.