bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Making Sense of a New Curriculum Text within Competing Discourses and Complex Contexts
Authors: Kable Elizabeth
Published: November 2005

The article discusses a study investigating how a group of teachers in Queensland, Australia made sense of the first systemically developed preschool curriculum guidelines. The study was informed by aspects of critical and post-structuralist theory and data examined included transcripts of conversations with teachers and official documents. The study showed that teachers constructed contradictory interpretations of the new curriculum text. They perceived the guidelines as both endorsing existing beliefs and practices and creating new expectations for practice. Teachers' interpretations reflected the competing discourses, agendas and power relations that shaped their views about curriculum and the production of the curriculum guidelines. The study highlighted that the preschool curriculum is negotiated within complex and unstable discourses and power relations. Understanding the complexities that shape curriculum can help educators to monitor reflexively the positive and negative impact of curriculum reform on teachers' practice.
An Alternate Approach to Studying Beliefs about Developmentally Appropriate Practices
Authors: Ernest James M.
Published: November 2005

Due to the predominance of positivism in the twentieth century, many researchers have been trained to use traditional research methods. The use of these methods determines how research questions are framed, data are collected, results are analyzed, and hence, what conclusions are drawn. This article uses the concept of developmentally appropriate practices to explore some of the limitations of traditional research methods and to describe an alternate method of research that has been found to be useful in explicating subjective phenomena. This method, known as Q-methodology, has been used in such diverse fields as political science, communication science, medicine, psychiatry, psychology, sociology, and linguistics, but has received little attention in education. The method has developed over a period of 65 years and takes into account cultural and contextual factors when providing multiple stories or narratives about an issue.
Cross-Cultural Infant Care and Issues of Equity and Social Justice
Authors: Gonzalez-Mena Janet
Published: November 2005

Intact identities of children, not of the dominant culture, is both a goal and an issue of equity and social justice. Identity development of some children can be compromised in cross cultural care if they are immersed in the dominant culture. Culturally sensitive care is a preventative strategy for early childhood professionals to use in order to keep these children rooted in their culture and attached to their families.
Addressing Educational Inequity for Urban Indigenous Students
Authors: Cronin Rebecca
Published: November 2005

This colloquium outlines some of the background issues that affect the schooling experience for Indigenous students in Australia. It discusses the importance of each of the issues to raise the level of awareness about them. In this way, it is hoped that teachers will be sensitised to their importance and incorporate a consideration of them in their programmes for young children.
Constructions of Head Start as an Organization: Views from the Field
Authors: Lubeck Sally , Kezar Adrianna
Published: November 2005

Head Start is the American anti-poverty program that, over time, has served more than 18 million children. For this article, the authors culled interviews with Head Start staff members across seven grantee agencies to explore how people talk about the organization and invest it with meaning. They illustrate how the varying discursive constructions (e.g. metaphors and ‘frames’) staff members employ are similar to interpretative frames that have been used by organizational theorists over the last century (structural or rational/formal, organic, human resources, etc.) It is argued that alternative frames are useful for understanding how we construct and are constructed by the social fields in which we operate, and for imagining new possibilities for organizational life.
A Study of Pre-School Teachers' Thoughts about Computer-Assisted Instruction
Authors: Bayhan Pinar , Olgun Pinar , Yelland Nicola J.
Published: November 2005

In this research, pre-school teachers' thoughts about computer-assisted instruction, and the positions of pre-schools regarding the use of computers are studied. The sample of the study consisted of 22 managers and 111 pre-school teachers in 22 schools in Ankara, Turkey. A questionnaire was given to the teachers. A ‘General Information Form’ was also given to managers in order to determine the extent of the use of computers in pre-schools. Fisher chi-square and chi-square statistical techniques were used to analyse the data. A significant difference between the teachers' education levels and the use of computers in pre-school was found. The view that there are negative effects of computers on children's social development was found. The perception that computer-assisted instruction is a luxury in pre-schools in Turkey was also found.
Developmentally Appropriate Technology in Early Childhood: ‘video Conferencing’
Authors: Siraj-Blatchford John , Siraj-Blatchford Iram
Published: November 2005

This article presents the findings of a pilot study of video conferencing, provided as a free-play activity for 4 year-olds in three early childhood settings. The work was carried out in two primary school classes and continued in a local authority nursery. The authors conclude that application of this technology may be justified in terms of developing children's awareness and understanding of the technology itself, but that no evidence was found in this first trial to suggest any developmental gains that went beyond this. The findings suggested that the technology in itself is unlikely to provide a means by which children could develop their initial ‘theory of mind’. However, this novel use of technology may have a valuable educational role to play, and this deserves further study. It may well be that closed-circuit television systems may be applied to encourage reinforcement and, with adult support, to encourage further learning and development.
Electronic Exaggerations and Virtual Worries: Mapping Research of Computer Games Relevant to the Understanding of Children's Game Play
Authors: Linderoth Jonas , Lantz-Andersson Annika , Lindström Berner
Published: November 2005

There can be no doubt that computer games are artefacts with an increasing importance for our culture. Game design is one of the prime movers for the development of information technology and is leading the way for other sectors. Computer games have brought us cultural activities that were technically impossible before. We now have the possibility to manipulate and interact with people from all over the world in a virtual game space constituted of realistic photographic images. These new activities have created some uneasiness among educators, researchers, designers and parents who have raised a variety of arguments about the effects of computer games on childhood. Many have strong beliefs that the use of computer games can contribute to different aspects of children's development. On the other hand, there is an even stronger anxiety that computer games have negative social and cognitive effects on children. Even though this means that there is a clear need for research on the issue of computer games as a part of contemporary childhood, academic study in this area has been divided, with fragments of knowledge scattered over a wide field of different discourses and traditions. In this article, the authors seek to summarise and discuss some of the studies and theoretical arguments about children and computer games. In order to do this, they outline and sketch some of the different empirical findings and research traditions that they find relevant for the understanding of computer games as a part of childhood. The purpose of this is to contribute with an overview that can be utilised as a resource for educators, parents, designers and others who deal with matters concerning children and computer games.
Cross-Cultural Reactions to Using Computers in the Early Childhood Education Classroom
Authors: Castellani John , Tsantis Linda
Published: November 2005

The purpose of this study was to explore teacher and student use of KIDWARE as an integrated element throughout a countywide summer enrichment program. In particular, the intent of this research study was to look specifically at how elementary school English as a Second Language (ESOL) teachers and students used the KIDWARE program. This study was conducted under the assumption that technology has the capacity to allow students to work in authentic environments and create meanings based on their understanding of the teaching and learning task, and that computer software constitutes a human artifact and as such expresses the culture of its creators. This study was designed to engage with such software and to explore how it was used in an early childhood setting for ESOL learners.
New Ways with Technology in the Twenty-First Century
Authors: Hawthorne Sue
Published: November 2005

In recent years, schools have been presented with the challenge to integrate the use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in the classroom. This challenge places many demands on schools and classrooms, teachers and students. Teachers develop strategies to enable them to cope with the many changes required of them, both in their thinking about teaching and learning and in their ability to use software and hardware. Schools and teachers often reflect on their practices and consider how best to connect teaching and learning with the use of learning technologies. This colloquium shares the journey of one early childhood teacher and describes the processes related to integration of learning technologies into classroom practices.
Making the Invisible Visible: Gay and Lesbian Issues in Early Childhood Education
Authors: Robinson Kerry H.
Published: November 2005

This article, based on empirical qualitative data gained from a survey and interviews with a group of early childhood educators, argues for the inclusion of sexual differences, or more specifically, gay and lesbian equity issues, in approaches to anti-bias. The article examines the discourses that prevail in the field, that perpetuate the perceived irrelevance, invisibility and exclusion of lesbian and gay issues in early childhood settings and education generally. The discussion focuses on several main areas, including: the prevalence of the dominant discourses of childhood and sexuality that intersect to constitute sexuality as irrelevant to children; the pervasiveness of the discourse of compulsory heterosexuality and the assumed absence of gay and lesbian families in settings; or the assumed absence of significant gay and lesbian adults in children's lives; the presence of homophobia and heterosexism in early childhood settings; and the perceived irrelevance of broader social, political and economic issues to the ‘child's world’. This article highlights some crucial issues for practice and policy development in the area of anti-bias education concerned with sexual differences.
To Seek Refuge: The Plight of the Child
Authors: Luna Joanne Tortorici
Published: November 2005

The predicament faced by refugees is ancient. To be hunted, homeless, and unwelcome is an experience that has been shared by groups of persecuted people across the ages. This article describes issues pertinent to children who are refugees, with recommendations for addressing their special needs. Suggestions for assistance include helping refugee communities become active in identifying and solving their own problems; supporting comprehensive programs rather than focusing on resolving individual symptoms; and providing services oriented toward strengthening, rather than replacing the family as a primary support system for children.
Reading Photographs of Young Children: Looking at Practices
Authors: Fasoli Lyn
Published: November 2005

This article is a methodological reflection on the use of photographs in research with young children. As a basis for discussion, it uses research photographs that were collected as part of a critical interpretative case study of young children's learning during excursions to an art gallery. Data collected for this study also included transcripts of children's talk, drawings they made and work undertaken later at the children's pre-school. This article discusses the methodological use of photographs as ‘visual data’. A sociocultural framework for analysis is offered for its potential to reveal new ways to interpret photographs of young children participating in research.
Practical Wisdom in Professional Practice: The Person in the Process
Authors: Goodfellow Joy
Published: November 2005

Recent reviews of the status and standing of early childhood teachers in Australia indicate high attrition, low retention and low morale within the profession. A contributing factor may be the lack of professional and public recognition of the expert knowledge held by practitioners. The extent of this phenomenon was investigated through a mapping exercise. Data were gained from two sources — the National Childcare Accreditation Council's revised Quality Improvement and Accreditation System for long day care centres and advertised position descriptions for early childhood teachers/directors. These data sources, while providing some insight into the nature of early childhood teachers' work, showed that the hidden dimensions of professional practice are largely ignored in such public documents. The findings suggest that little recognition is currently being given to practical wisdom — the professional's capacity to make sound judgement in the use of personal/professional, theoretical, and practical knowledge. If early childhood teachers and the community at large are to value and truly appreciate the nature of the early childhood professional's work, then that work must be carefully documented and promoted. The article concludes by suggesting that the development of professional portfolios may be a strategy that could be used to more effectively represent and honour the nature of teachers' work and provide insight into the practical wisdom of professional practice.
In the Eyes of a Child — Behind the Wire: Education for Children in Mandatory Detention in Australia
Authors: Fauzee Yasmine Joy
Published: November 2005

Public concern for the well-being of children held in detention in Australia has been revealed through a National Inquiry. Evidence indicates that children are detrimentally affected by the detention environment on many levels. The discussion here focuses on the question of education. A ‘dual strategic approach’ is advocated, which calls for the urgent needs of children to be met within a context of concerted measures to end mandatory detention.
Within the Borderlands: Beginning Early Childhood Teachers in Primary Schools
Authors: Britt Clare , Sumsion Jennifer
Published: November 2005

This article presents findings from a study undertaken by a pre-service early childhood teacher, that investigated the experiences of four beginning early childhood qualified teachers in primary school settings. The study explored the metaphors that these teachers used when describing their lived experience stories and analysed what these metaphors indicated about the discourses the teachers perceived were available to them, and where they had chosen to situate themselves within these discourses. Throughout the article, the metaphor of ‘border crossings' is used to highlight the focus within much of the literature on the difference and separation between early childhood and primary education. Data were generated through in-depth, open-ended interviews, a group discussion, visual representations and written material. The thematic recurrences and discursive positionings within the metaphors and narratives of the participants were deconstructed and critically analysed using a framework of feminist post-structuralism. In particular, this article explores the discursive positionings related to the teachers' movement within the borderland of early childhood education and primary education. It argues that early childhood teachers in primary schools are operating within an exciting space — an intersection between early childhood education and primary education. Rather than focusing on the difference and separation between these points, the focus shifts to working toward creating points of overlap, of connection — a shared borderland between early childhood education and primary education.
Dark, Dark and Darker: Negotiations of Identity in an Early Childhood Setting
Authors: Skattebol Jen
Published: November 2005

The importance of curriculum frameworks that emphasise social justice and counter the development of prejudice have been widely discussed in early childhood literature and inform the pedagogies in many early childhood settings. This article draws on some practitioner inquiry set in an inner-city long day care centre. As a group of educators, the practitioners (including the author) drew on ‘popular’ interpretations of developmental and anti-bias discourses to interact with young children around issues of identity. The author examines the way ‘identity’ is constructed as a (fixed) site of affirmation in these interpretations of curriculum. By drawing on post-colonial and post-structural theory, the author adopts a focus on the ways material differences between people were constructed and affirmed. This ‘post-colonial’ reading of the data reveals the constraining effects of curriculum frameworks for both staff and children at the centre. The author shows how the children strategically deployed a variety of identity constructs to slip through the gaps created by tensions between and within the developmental discourses and the advocacy discourses in operation. Finally, the implications of viewing ‘identity’ as a pedagogical site for negotiation rather than as a site of affirmation are discussed.
Governing Early Childhood Education through Play
Authors: Ailwood Jo
Published: November 2005

Play serves as a significant nodal point in the discursive relations of early childhood education. The aim of this article is to ask how play has come to appear so necessary to early childhood educational settings and how this perceived necessity governs the behaviour of both adults and young children. To do this the author make use of concepts provided through Foucault's notion of governmentality, or the conduct of conduct. The article begins with a thematic overview of some of the dominant discourses of play. It then considers some critiques of play discourses in early childhood education. Following this, it considers how play has been produced as a technology of governmentality in early childhood educational settings.
Young Pupils' Responses to Adult Works of Art
Authors: Savva Andri
Published: November 2005

Art educators have asserted that, in order to develop curricula that use adult works of art, it is necessary to understand how children perceive and respond to art objects. Although ‘art’ is not included in the early years national curriculum of Cyprus, curriculum resource books encourage the introduction of adult artworks in nursery schools. This exploratory study was designed to gather information regarding young children's (aged 4–5 years) responses to adult paintings. An open-ended interview procedure was used. Three reproductions of paintings of different artistic styles were selected: a realistic, a semi-realistic and an abstract. The sample included 25 children selected randomly from 12 public nursery schools of Cyprus. The findings suggest that artworks are an important part of children's educational experiences, if approaches and methods that are compatible with their perceptual abilities are used. The study identified some relevant factors underlying young children's responses to artworks and provides recommendations to enhance children's learning in art.
‘This is Your Class’: Theorizing What Syllabi Say about Relationships between Instructors and Students in Early Childhood Teacher Education Classrooms
Authors: Theilheimer Rachel , Cahill Betsy
Published: November 2005

In this article the authors discuss the relationships in college classrooms from the perspective of feminist teaching. With attention to power dynamics, they analyzed 17 early childhood course syllabi in order to elucidate those relationships. The authors present examples from the syllabi of course content, class experiences, and syllabus language that demonstrate how students presumably will acquire knowledge of early childhood education, of themselves and others, and of the professor. The authors found that the way in which professors write about their teaching in their syllabi serves to build relationships between themselves and their students. Yet tensions remain to be continually negotiated, tensions between the roles of gatekeeper and coach, between challenge and comfort, and between the social expectations that professors and students hold of themselves and each other.
Childcare — Human Services or Education: A Genealogical Approach
Authors: MacFarlane Kym , Lewis Trish
Published: November 2005

This article examines the implications of a ‘problem of the present’. It explores the potential conflicts and fragmentation that may arise as a result of divisions in the interpretation of the metanarrative of child development within the two disciplines of education and human services. Childcare in Australia is strongly driven by this metanarrative and already some providers in this country use developmental discourse as a way of de-emphasising the educational aspects of the work. These providers use the focus on child development as an argument to keep qualifications in the field at a minimum level. This has impacted on teachers in childcare, making it difficult for them to obtain recognition and adequate remuneration for their skills. In this article there is a particular focus on how childcare is situated in Australia and an examination of the constant struggle to ensure it remains a part of the educational context. The authors question the practicality of continuing this struggle given the particular historical context, societal position, and industrial situation in this country. It is argued that it is possible for childcare to maintain substantial links with educational discourse while still developing a strong identity of its own.
An Emergent Curriculum in China: Collaborative Tolerance
Authors: Farrell Lynn
Published: November 2005

The concept for the piloting of a contemporary early childhood kindergarten in China was visualised by the chief executive officer of TMC Academy, Dr Chin, in July 2002 when he participated in a Singaporean-led mission to Liaoning Province in China. Shenyang Creative Kindergarten is the result of that concept. It opened for children in September 2003 and had an official opening in April 2004. Two experienced directors, one a native English speaker and the other a native Chinese speaker, lead the kindergarten. Both directors work full-time. The English-speaking director manages and coordinates the educational program while the Chinese-speaking director manages the local, bureaucratic, and administrative needs of the kindergarten. The licensing requirements, renovation of the building, employment of staff, curriculum development, and establishment of physical environments and operational systems were established through the joint collaboration of both directors. This colloquium is a brief narrative of the journey undertaken to date. The journey has been satisfying, rewarding, frustrating, and challenging but the best interests of the child have always been at the heart of the decisions made. It has been a reflective and insightful experience and the team of directors is looking forward to the future and to ongoing change.
The Children's Education Project: Tham Hin Refugee Camp, Thailand
Authors: Olesen Mavis L.
Published: November 2005

In 1997, twelve Karen Burmese teachers brought a Vision Paper to the Tham Hin refugee camp in Thailand. The teachers had recently written this Paper after much consultation with their Mergui-Tavoy villagers, students, leaders, and school dropouts. Over the following five years teams developed a project outlining 10 steps to educational reform, which any village in Burma could use to reform its school system. This article discusses the background to the project and issues related to it.
Issues of Preschool Parental Education in Hong Kong in the Twenty-First Century
Authors: Chan Christine Mei Sheung
Published: November 2005

This article is concerned with parental involvement and participation in preschool education in Hong Kong. Based on the experience gained from a parental education programme, it is argued that three issues are crucial in the development of parental education: (1) an ecological approach to recognise the nature of parental education; (2) parental involvement as an indicator of school performance; and (3) training teachers or relevant professionals to work with parents from diverse families. In response to the changing nature of families' and children's growth and development in Hong Kong, preschool parental education in the twenty-first century has a special mission and vision regarding parental involvement and participation. This article indicates that the empowerment issue of parents and teachers has evidently been addressed by a belief in the notion of ‘people participation for development and improvement’.
Komatsudani Then and Now: Continuity and Change in a Japanese Preschool
Authors: Tobin Joseph , Karasawa Mayumi , Hsueh Yeh
Published: November 2005

In this article the reflections of the teachers and directors of Komatsudani Hoikuen (‘day-care center’) on a video the authors recently made at their preschool are used to explore processes of continuity and change in Japanese preschool education over the course of a generation. The social changes that are associated with changing preschool practices in Japan include: a falling birth rate, women's changing attitudes about marriage and work, the social isolation of families, a putative decline in the quality of parenting, and a prevailing mood of national pessimism that is closely tied to a long period of economic decline. These factors are discussed in relation to Komatsudani's minimalist approach to curriculum, to its strategy for dealing with children's disputes, and to its development of a system of older children helping with the care of infants and toddlers.
Narratives of Experience: How Culture Matters to Children's Development
Authors: Chan Esther Y.M.
Published: November 2005

The focus of this study was to explore the relationship between culture and children's development, and to suggest that inquiry into narratives is a way of understanding how children live and develop in a cultural sense. The article begins by inquiring into the nature of culture in the Hong Kong context and explaining the ways in which it might affect children's development. The second part of the article reviews both Chinese and Western theories, and examines what philosophers and child psychologists have attempted to explain and debate regarding children's development. This inquiry addresses the relationship between culture and various contexts of development (e.g. family, school, and religion) because it is believed that both culture and contexts of development impact on a child's way of thinking and behaving.
Child-Rearing Practices in a Selected Sample of Parents with Children in Childcare in Singapore
Authors: Ebbeck Marjory , Gokhale Neelima
Published: November 2005

This article reports on a study based on interviews with 40 parents in Singapore. The study examined parents' views about their children's development and learning, and how these were or were not congruent with the views and practices of the childcare centre the children were attending. Findings showed that, although there were some similarities, there was a great variety of differences between practices at home and at the centre. Differences were apparent in discipline and expected levels of self-help skills. The term ‘behaviour management’ is not well known in Singapore, hence the use of the word ‘discipline’ in the study. The study recommends that increased parent participation at the centre could resolve some of the perceived differences.
Filipino Mothers' Beliefs about Parenting: A Question of Independence
Authors: Schulze Pamela A.
Published: November 2005

The author discusses research on Filipino mothers' socialization goals and beliefs about the role of other adults in disciplining their children. The results reveal that Filipinos have a collectivistic orientation, but that they nevertheless encourage independence in their children. The implications of these results are discussed in light of the current debate about the usefulness of individualism and collectivism as a heuristic for interpreting cultural differences.
Building Inclusive Communities in Early Childhood Education: Diverse Perspectives from Aotearoa/New Zealand
Authors: Gunn Alexandra C. , Child Coralanne , Madden Barbara , Purdue Kerry , Surtees Nicola , Thurlow Bronwyn , Todd Paula
Published: November 2005

Inclusive education is premised upon notions of fairness, rights, and social justice — arguably central aspirations of early childhood education in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Inclusive early childhood settings are ones in which diversity is valued and where everyone's contribution is equitable. However, there remain questions about the extent to which this vision is being realised. This article looks critically at the impact of language and actions on diverse groups in early childhood education and discusses subtleties in experiences of ‘difference’. The authors interrogate diversity and consider inclusion from their research and personal perspectives of sexualities, disability, gender, biculturalism, multi-ethnic diversity, and class. As advocates for inclusive policy and pedagogy, the authors draw on their own and others' research and experience to explore diverse perspectives of inclusion. In so doing, the authors are able to examine exclusionary and inclusionary practices, and consider the impact that their language and actions can have on individuals and groups with whom they work. Consequently, the authors are able to give some suggestions about how inclusive communities in early childhood education might be created.
Teaching Practices in Taiwan's Education for Young Children: Complexity and Ambiguity of Developmentally Appropriate Practices and/or Developmentally Inappropriate Practices
Authors: Hsieh Ming-Fang
Published: November 2005

This study aims to examine the implementation and application of the revised guidelines for developmentally appropriate practice in the care and education of young children in Taiwan. Child-centered philosophy was introduced to Taiwan 30 years ago, but numerous research studies report that Taiwanese early childhood teachers often encounter tensions between unstructured teaching styles and traditional culture values, such as the hierarchical social structure and emphasis on academic achievement. In order to examine the complexity of teaching practices, four Taiwanese early childhood education teachers from different backgrounds were interviewed, and their teaching practices were systematically described and sorted according to the guidelines for developmentally appropriate and inappropriate practices. The results showed that teaching practices were more of a continuous than a dichotomous process. Some of the classroom practices of Taiwanese early childhood education teachers contained both developmentally appropriate and inappropriate practices, whereas other teachers' performances, which are not described in the developmentally appropriate practice guidelines but can be commonly seen in Taiwanese classrooms, were not easy to identify as either developmentally appropriate or inappropriate. The author proposes a need to explore the essences of culturally appropriate practices for Taiwanese children.
Reflecting on Early Literacy Development in the Context of Vanuatu
Authors: Hughes Desma
Published: November 2005

A low level of literacy development plagues many parts of the Pacific region despite the fact that parents are very keen for their children to become literate in order to embrace the modern world. Issues concerning early education and the attainment of literacy are still a challenge in the Pacific. In order to understand the reasons for the low rates of literacy, a comprehensive overview of the context of the family, preschool, school, and country, including the government services, is given in this article. Vanuatu is used as an example of the experience of many Pacific Island countries.
Subject Knowledge in Early Childhood Curriculum and Pedagogy: Beliefs and Practices
Authors: Hedges Helen , Cullen Joy
Published: November 2005

The concept of ‘subjects' has posed a philosophical dilemma and polarised debate within early childhood education. Consequently, little attention has been paid to teachers' and children's subject knowledge and the role these might play in early childhood curriculum and pedagogy to extend and enhance children's learning. This article reports on a study that explored beliefs and practices about subject knowledge in one kindergarten in New Zealand. The study's findings are analysed from two contrasting perspectives: categories of teacher knowledge and sociocultural theory. The article argues that a contemporary sociocultural view of knowledge has potential within the existing philosophy underpinning early childhood curriculum and pedagogy to recognise and strengthen the position of subject knowledge. Implications for curriculum, pedagogy and teacher education are discussed.
Moral Reflections from a Primary Classroom: One Teacher's Perspective
Authors: Buzzelli Cary A.
Published: November 2005

Teaching is by nature a complex activity filled with ambiguities and dilemmas. Teaching also is fundamentally a moral activity, making the dilemmas and ambiguities both pedagogical and moral in nature. This article describes one teacher's reflections on her efforts to resolve the dilemmas and ambiguities presented to her by the competing values of her school system and her own values as a teacher in a multi-age primary class. As a participant observer in her classroom over the course of one school year, the author examined how she addressed the moral ambiguities and dilemmas of the competing demands. These demands were exemplified in the way she taught mathematics and language arts lessons. The differences in the role she played in each lesson were subtle, but indicative of different values and beliefs about teaching and learning and, importantly, came to be seen by her as reflecting a moral stance. By reflecting upon the moral nature of the differences as they emerged, she re-examined her fundamental beliefs and values about teaching.
Teacher Talk about and around Sexuality in Early Childhood Education: Deciphering an Unwritten Code
Authors: Surtees Nicola
Published: November 2005

This article highlights initial findings from a qualitative research study in Aotearoa/New Zealand exploring the discursive production of children's sexuality in early childhood education. The article draws attention to teacher talk about and around sexuality. Drawing from heteronormative, developmentalist and biological discourses and discourses of children as asexual and innocent, this article shows that such talk acts to normalize or minimize children. Teacher resistance towards and silencing of sexuality, the functions the silences serve and the ways in which silences mark the borders of ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’ are uncovered. The article suggests that the marking of borders jeopardizes teacher acknowledgement and celebration of difference and diversity. Gaps between the rhetoric of celebrating difference and diversity and the reality of practice are emphasized.
‘You Need to Know How to Play Safe’: Children's Experiences of Starting School
Authors: Dockett Sue , Perry Bob
Published: November 2005

Children have long been ‘objects of inquiry’, that is, research has been ‘done’ on children. Research into starting school is but one example, where children have been observed, tested and assessed at various points, as a means of evaluating their adjustment to the school environment. The Starting School Research Project aims to record and report the realities of life for children as they start school through their engagement in the research process. It aims to find out from them, what starting school is like for children and, based on this, how what is done within transition programs can be improved. This aim recognises children as experts on their own lives, and acknowledges that adults often have a limited understanding of children's lives and experiences. This article highlights children's expertise about their own experiences and expectations as they start school. It draws upon children's conversations, drawings, and photographs to describe their understandings and experiences.
Creating Opportunities
Authors: Brown Christopher
Published: November 2005

In this age of greater accountability, local school districts within the USA increasingly use summer school programs as an intervention service to provide students who have failed to meet classroom, district, or state performance requirements with the opportunity to ‘catch up’. Although such programs attempt to provide varying types of educational experiences to improve the student's academic performance, teachers continue to inscribe the expectations and language of schooling. Through examining the actions of Steven, a student diagnosed with attention deficit disorder in a summer intervention program, the author contends that his teachers' adherence to the norms of schooling prevent Steven from engaging in the school classroom in a meaningful way. Steven's teachers read his carnivalistic actions as part of his deviant behavior rather than as a critique of how even the summer curriculum fails to meet his learning needs.
Contexts, Collaboration, and Cultural Tools: A Sociocultural Perspective on Researching Children's Thinking
Authors: Robbins Jill
Published: November 2005

Sociocultural theorists recognise that cognition is not an individual construction, but is distributed across people as they participate in culturally relevant activities. Thus, rather than being a universal skill, thinking is very much contextually specific, guided by others, and mediated by particular cultural tools and artefacts. Yet there is a tendency in research focusing on cognition in young children to examine thinking and understanding as though they occur in a vacuum, separate from the kinds of activities, experiences, artefacts, and people in and with which they participate. This article, drawing on the work of Vygotsky, Rogoff, Wertsch, Göncü, John-Steiner, and others, will discuss how consideration of the important factors of contexts, collaboration, and cultural tools can present a far more dynamic and rich view of young children's thinking than some more traditional methods of research.
Insider/Outsider Belongings: Traversing the Borders of Whiteness in Early Childhood
Authors: Skattebol Jen
Published: November 2005

The power associated with identities is frequently negotiated within children's narratives and play scripts. When children engage in text production, they dispute and mediate their interpersonal and ideological relations. In this article, the author outlines an understanding of ‘whiteness' as a form of power or capital that is accumulated through certain social practices and a feature of children's social worlds. In this framework, the practices of whiteness that maintain hegemonic power rely on subtle expressions of an established sense of entitlement and governmental power. These expressions operate in collusion with the occasional use of racist epithets. Data collected in teacher research are read through this theoretical lens to reveal how the practice of ‘whiteness' may be seen to operate in children's shared narratives and in pedagogical interventions. Under scrutiny are a number of interactions including a jointly constructed ‘autobiography’ that contains all the typical elements of a young child's heroic fantasies: home alone, able to recognise danger, the child outwits, outmanoeuvres and overpowers the baddie. The narratives function as a technology of race and of whiteness in particular. The children are intensely engaged with each other's social imaginaries, and one of the remarkable features of these interactions is a propensity for resistance shown by the children as they dispute their identity positioning within the storylines.
Preparing French School Teachers by Means of the Science of Education (1883–1914)
Authors: Gautherin Jacqueline
Published: November 2005

At the end of the nineteenth century, in France, the Ecoles Normales were in charge of the training of all future school teachers and delivered to them a basic knowledge in the different school subjects, as well as a practical preparation. A new academic discipline, called Science of Education, was created in 1883 at the Sorbonne by the republican reformers of schools, in order to train the future teachers and to prepare them to teach civics and non-religious morals. This was extended to all the universities but two at the beginning of the twentieth century. As the new discipline could not be grounded on a previous branch of knowledge, it was dominated exclusively by professors of philosophy, and because it was not recognised as a ‘real’ discipline, most of these professors tried to get rid of it. Thus, most of the lectures became rather general, abstract, philosophical reflections on education and human nature. A small number of them turned into general abstract sociological considerations or, occasionally, psychological knowledge. In both cases, they were oriented towards a long-lasting theoretical conception of university training.
Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in Europe: A Challenge for Educational Research and Practice
Authors: Gogolin Ingrid
Published: November 2005

Diversity of languages and cultural backgrounds is a common reality in European societies. But European educational systems do not adapt very well to this reality. It can be observed that a linguistic and cultural background different from the respective national one serves as a means of exclusion, of prevention from equal access. The contribution offers reflections about the question, if and how the traditional notion of nation contributes to the — in a democratic society — unwelcome stratification effects for children from immigrant minorities in Europe.
The Practical and Professional Relevance of Educational Research and Pedagogical Knowledge from the Perspective of History: Reflections on the Belgian Case in its International Background
Authors: Depaepe Marc
Published: November 2005

During the past 25 years, the author has set up several research projects in the history of education. A lot of them focus on the so-called ‘educationalisation’ or ‘pedagogisation’ process, that is the increasing importance of educational phenomena (educational conceptions, mentalities and practices and their legitimation in educational research and pedagogical knowledge) in society. On the basis of such studies it is possible to draw at least partial answers to the problem of the practical and professional relevance of educational research and pedagogical knowledge in the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. Among other things, analyses of the inception of experimental research, of the change and continuity of in the ‘progressive’ area, of the social significance of the teaching profession, as well as of everyday life in ordinary schools, show an almost persistent tension between ‘rhetoric’ and ‘reality’ on the one hand, and between ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ pedagogy on the other. Tackling these kind of paradoxes is not only very helpful in qualifying the enduring attempts to improve education by research, but also in demythologising the educational past — a task to which contemporary history of education has devoted itself.
Myths of Efficiency and the School System: Observed at the Levels of Interaction, Organisation and Society
Authors: Brüsemeister Thomas
Published: November 2005

The article discusses, how the logic of the economic system — facilitated by terms like efficiency and quality management — is introduced into the educational system. The thesis is, that similar myths concerning the supposed efficiency of quality management can be differentiated according to three dimensions: to observation constellations between various audience groups at the level of society, to influencing constellations, which are established by consulting organisations (organisation level), and to negotiation constellations, in which the educational professions in schools are involved (level of interaction). Such a multi-dimensional programmeme of observation seems to be necessary, both in order to take account of the diversity and the simultaneity of particular processes in schools and their environments as they occur in the context of globalisation. Thus, it is necessary to heuristically link different theoretical explanation modules: systems theory, neo-institutionalism and theories of action. The hypothesis is postulated that myths of efficiency have similar effects in the societal audience, in organisation and in the education profession, in the form of a mutually responding resonance.
The Manipulated Consensus: Globalisation, Local Agency, and Cultural Legacies in Post-Soviet Education Reform
Authors: Silova Iveta
Published: November 2005

At the end of the 1990s, Latvian minority education reform was characterised by extensive references to Western European models, including such concepts as ‘ethnic integration,’ ‘multiculturalism,’ and ‘bilingual education.’ Focusing on the conceptual development of the idea of ‘integration’ and its interpretation in the education sphere, this article examines the process whereby Western discourses became widely accepted locally. Emphasising the existence of a ‘hybridity’ of voices in a rapidly changing political context, this article maps out different interpretations of the new discourse by Latvian- and Russian-speakers, including their attempts to resist, modify, and create new meanings of ‘integration’ in post-Soviet Latvia.
Excluding the Poor: Globalisation and Educational Systems
Authors: Orivel François
Published: November 2005

The article starts from the fact that one billion adults are illiterate world-wide, that more than 100 million children of school age are not schooled, and that the democratisation of the access to education is often only rhetorical. On the basis of available statistics it tackles successively three questions. First, who finances education and how much do they spend? Secondly, what resources or means are devoted to the education of an individual, and how can these data be evaluated. And finally, do the inequalities between individuals, social groups or nations tend to de- or increase with respect to education access. It will be shown that, for example, in developed countries like France, the social inequalities when it comes to education have widely diminished and can appear as relatively minor when compared to those affecting children from the poorest countries. At macro-economic level the ‘tendentious reduction of education systems' productivity is not valid. Schools are unequally efficient with the same means. The traditional distinction between developed and developing countries is changing, part of which is due an unequal development of developing nations. The least advanced have remained outside of the race, and the distance is increasing.