The aim of this study was to explore the different ways in which a number of Chilean stakeholders conceptualise professionalism within Early Childhood Education (ECE). In a context where neo-liberal narratives are increasingly dominating the field and the recent standardisation of the educators' professional role is being implemented and monitored, this research constitutes a critical and alternative viewpoint, analysing the situation as a whole, and creating dialogues between key actors. Semi-structured interviews and document analysis were undertaken to gather insights from SLC relevant national ECE institutions, forty-nine training institutions and eleven early childhood educators working in centres serving children from socioeconomically deprived areas. Adopting a postmodern approach to grounded theory (situational analysis), participants' discourses of professionalism were located, mapped and compared, together with a diversity of identified elements, human, and non-human actors. Professionalism was conceptualised as relational and highly situated by the majority of stakeholders, in contrast to the rather individual and decontextualised definition identified in the National Standards, which essentially expected from professional educators the master of a pre-specified pedagogical and disciplinary knowledge-base. Ethical values and attitudes such as reflective thinking, initiative and positive disposition towards learning were expected by training institutions, whereas educators themselves generally understood their role as a compensatory effort to provide children with the affection and emotional support perceived absent in their homes and communities. An educative role with children's families is also recognised as one of their responsibilities. Narrow positions, stereotypes and prejudices emerged between the stakeholders as conflicting issues. These were illustrated through the creation of dialogues using representative text bites, evidencing the urgent need for an ongoing real dialogue amongst educators, teacher educators, policy-makers and other relevant actors, which could contribute to the breaking down of fixed images, challenge relationships of power, and open up spaces for constructing new, as yet, unimagined meanings of being an early childhood professional in Chile.

This PhD by Published Work dissertation provides a summary of a programme of research on the theme of listening to young participant perspectives. It is based on twelve core publications during the period 2001 to 2011. The selected publications are composed of a single authored book (Clark, 2010b); two joint-authored books (Clark and Moss, 2001; Clarka nd Moss, 2005); five peer-reviewed journal articles (Clark, 2005a; 2010a; 2010c; 2011a; 2011b) two book chapters (Clark, 2005b; Clark, 2005c) and two co-authored pieces (Moss, Clark, and Kjørholt, 2005; Clark and Percy-Smith, 2006). These texts have been chosen to demonstrate the development of this research under the following headings: establishing the paradigm; conceptural and critical analysis; extending methodologies and new research landscapes.

The research study considers insights and challenges to listening to young children’s voices in a pre-school in England. The study was motivated by the political and social agendas which assert the fundamental involvement of young children as active decision-makers in all aspects of their lives (for example, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989 and the Children Act 2004). The researcher aimed for participatory research with the children and staff to explore effective ways in which young children’s communications might be supported through the co-creation of their early years curriculum. The intention was to focus on ‘tools’ and techniques that might support children’s voices which were gaining attention in the academic literature (for example, the Mosaic Approach introduced by Alison Clark and Peter Moss). As a recent early years practitioner at the pre-school, the researcher offers a frank view of the potential complexities of implementing such participatory research. The researcher took an innovative, flexible and highly reflective stance to adapting the research approach in response to the challenges to establishing participation that emerged, using a postmodern framework to assist meaning-making. A substantive finding was that although the ‘tools’ and techniques opened a significant space for beginning to listen to children’s voices, it was the constructions of the underpinning relationships that offered the most potential (and the greatest challenge) for genuinely participating with and hearing children. The study concluded a focus on the latter is paramount for children to be accorded their rights as active decision-makers.

The Early Childhood Education and Care policy (ECEC) document published in Malta in 2006 regulates national early childhood education. Concerns have been raised as to whether this policy adequately represents major stakeholders in the field. The aim of this thesis was to ascertain the relationship between the ECEC document and the voices of children, parents and early years practitioners (EYP), if any. Subject to a disparity being found, a secondary aim was to use reconceptualist principles to make recommendations towards modifying aspects of this policy. Data pertaining to the views of stakeholders in Maltese early childhood education were collected from children, parents and EYP. The setting was three local primary schools and the subject was the participants' views of early childhood education in Malta. Circle time methodology was used for data collection with children. Focus groups and in-depth interviews were used to collect data from parents and EYP respectively. The participants' voices were elicited from the data using grounded theory approach. The ECEC document was analyzed using principles from Critical Discourse Analysis. Findings from child participants were then juxtaposed against aspects of the ECEC document. The main findings of this work included children's concerns about their experience of early years education, the failure of grown-ups to listen, issues of friendship and camaraderie at school and play. Parents expressed concerns about most things digital, the disneyfication of childhood and a perceived deterioration of traditional values. EYP stressed their exclusion from participation and educational gazing. Juxtaposition of the ECEC with the concerns of children demonstrated a considerable mismatch between the concerns of children and the text of the policy. A framework of recommendations, termed child-appropriate practice, was formulated in an attempt to readdress this. In conclusion, this work demonstrated a tenuous relationship between participants and the ECEC with poor representation of the voices and agency of primary stakeholders. Child-Appropriate Practice may ameliorate aspects of early childhood education in Malta, but additional research in the field is necessary.

Set in two primary schools in Manchester, England and drawing on personal reflections, my pursuit of what it means to belong within the early years takes me through a myriad of personal stories, inner struggles, crisis points and glimpses of hope. A significant feature running through this thesis is my own biography and my own rhizomatic journey where belonging and identity oscillate with the experience of the young participants. The main philosophical underpinning is Deleuze and Guattari’s work where specifically concepts such as majoritarian/minoritarian and the rhizome, which is symbolic of both theory and research that allows for multiplicities, interconnection and fluidity, have the effects of destabilising my common sense understanding of what it means to belong. This work takes a multidisciplinary qualitative positioning to make sense of, as well as critique taken-for-granted assumptions of both researching and conceptualising belonging and identity. Drawing from art, I utilise Hellman’s notion of pentimento to illustrate the fluidity and multilayeredness of human experience as well as the complex nature of ‘seeing’ where ‘each layer mixes with the other and renders irreversible influences on our perceptions of it’ (Donald, 2004:24). I may, therefore, never come to a conclusive understanding of the ‘pure’ ‘original’ beginnings of children’s sense of belonging and identity as there are as multiple explanations as there are ways of knowing, neither will I determine the end. In this regard, ‘tracing’ pure origins of children’s belonging and identity is a futile endeavour. Rather ‘mapping’ allows for connections that are not ‘readily perceptible to the normative subjects of dominant reality’ (Lorraine, 2003:269). The purpose is not to provide definitive answers or assertions, but rather to illuminate the materialisation of belonging and identity within the early years context. It utilises observations and discussions whilst capturing the complex ways in which bodies, both human and nonhuman connect. In a minimal way, it also makes use of pictorial data to enhance the description of the geographical contexts of the two schools. This study affirms that children’s sense of belonging and identity is dynamic, always in process and, therefore, constantly mutating. This has consequences for the ways in which we activate relations with children particularly in relation to language and special educational needs. Like a mirage, attempting to pin down what it means to belong and the determination of identity remains elusive. Therefore, we are left with moments-in-time of manifestations of belonging and identity in a spectrum of infinity where ‘tracing’ the beginning is as futile as reaching out to the end. Thus, this work questions what the repercussions are in terms of these fleeting glimpses of manifestations.

No description available.

This thesis investigates how Early Years Teacher Trainees (EYTTs) support under-threes with early reading development within their daily provision. It also explores their experiences, views, perceptions and challenges of early reading. Many years, of research into the practice and pedagogy of early reading has led to copious contentious debates and reviews (Johnston and Watson, 2005; Rose Review, 2006; Wyse and Goswami, 2008; Goouch and Lambirth, 2011), resulting in an unnecessary and imperious policy investment in Systematic Synthetic Phonics (SSP) to teach reading in schools. This study suggests that this policy agenda not only influences EYTT’s views and beliefs about early reading, but also their practice with under-threes. This thesis reports the findings of a mixed methods study, which aims to explore the experiences and practices of EYTTs. Phase one consisted of a survey to understand the experiences of practitioners working with under-threes. This was followed by the second phase, which involved five qualitative interviews, two focus group workshops and Zine data to clarify and refine the earlier quantitative results, as well as to explore the practitioners’ views and experiences in more depth (Creswell, 2005). This study stresses the urgent need to support Early Years Teachers in understanding that babies must have access to high quality books and regular shared stories as part of their daily routine. Findings from this study indicate that the emphasis on school readiness (Moss, 2013) within the EYTS training is influencing practitioner’s perceptions of early reading and as such, practitioners may be failing to provide under-threes with the resources, activities and experiences needed to encourage children to engage with reading.

Drawing on socio-cultural perspectives of literacy learning, this study investigates the contribution of early literacy practices in a Western-oriented curriculum, that were designed for a different linguistic and cultural context, to Arabic early literacy development for preschoolers in Saudi Arabia. Specifically, this study investigates the implementation of the Creative Curriculum at an institutional level and explores how the Saudi practitioners perform and interpret its literacy practices. Early literacy development for Saudi preschoolers and its link to their Saudi Arabian Islamic culture and identity is also explored. This is an ethnographic study that takes place in a Saudi Arabian preschool. Data are collected through participant observation, interviews, documents, and children’s mind maps. Study participants are six Saudi preschoolers and their mothers, two teachers, and the preschool director. Data analysis employs the thematic approach and the multi-layering method informed by a number of socio-cultural concepts as an analytical framework. This research provides evidences that children’s early literacy development is a multimodal meaning-making activity and a social practice that is embedded in their socio-cultural context. It also shows the strong link between Saudi preschoolers’ Arabic early literacy development and their Saudi Arabian Islamic culture and identity. Furthermore, the findings reveal that although a number of the adopted literacy practices appear to make a significant contribution in promoting Arabic early literacy, other literacy practices influenced by linguistic, cultural and contextual factors are adapted or transformed. The findings suggest that instead of transplanting educational curricula and early literacy pedagogies, they need to be planted and developed in the relevant context in order to assimilate the linguistic features of the Arabic language and the Saudi Arabian Islamic culture.

A socio-cultural analysis of early childhood educators’ roles in fostering peer relations: Insights from India and England. There is strong evidence that positive peer relations greatly benefit children’s social and intellectual development and hence a case for peer relationships has been made in both theory and research. However, there are growing concerns regarding the worldwide trend of ‘schoolification’ or pre-primary focus in early childhood care and education and its potential negative effects on young children’s peer relationships. These concerns are more pronounced in England and also in India given the contradictory policy and practice contexts of prescriptive curricula with undue focus on school preparation. Given the discourse of early years as restrictive contexts, the research was carried out as a qualitative multi-site case study in the Reception class of a (local) primary school in England characterized by pre-primary focus and at a philosophically ‘different’ independent school in India, based on Jiddu Krishanmurti philosophy that follows social-pedagogy model. The aim was to explore the role of early childhood professionals in fostering peer relations in cross-cultural contexts. Participants were two reception class teachers and two learning support assistants for the class from England and four early childhood practitioners’ from the Indian case study setting. The research took an ethnographic approach using participant observation and semi-structured interviews to understand the perceptions and practice of educators in fostering peer relationships in their socio cultural contexts using the socio-cultural theoretical lens of Rogoff’s three-plane analysis. Findings from both settings conclude that despite of the cultural variations, early childhood educators’ engage in caring pedagogy by mediating a given curriculum; while their overall roles are defined and refined by cultural contexts within and beyond the immediate institutional contexts. In order to recognize and appreciate the wider ecological niche, which is impacting educators’ roles, I have argued for a clear and separate ecological focus to the original personal, inter-personal and institutional planes. Drawing philosophical inspiration from Krishnamurti’s ‘To be is to be related’ and Tagore’s ‘inherent mutuality’ and combining with Fleer’s theoretical concept ‘child embedded-ness’ -the study claims to make a contribution in terms of ‘community embedded relationships’ as opposed to child-centered peer relationships and pro-offers a socio-cultural theoretical framework for conceptualizing educators’ roles in fostering peer relationships by synthesizing all the three planes.

There has been growing interest in early childhood education and care (ECEC) globally, especially with respect to the possible benefits upon child wellbeing. In China, the government also has put great efforts recently in boosting preschool centre participation nationwide. The urban-rural disparities in the ECEC development, however, are great challenges. Moreover, little is known about the quality of these centre –based preschool programmes, especially in rural areas. Accumulating evidence from studies worldwide, largely from Western countries, indicates that high quality centre-based preschool programmes can be beneficial for child wellbeing. However, the cultural context is an issue of concern. This thesis investigates the relevance of aspects of home and preschool centre environments for children's cognitive and social development at preschool, measured one year before school entry (Phase 1), and later at school entry (Phase 2). The sample included 298 children (Mean age = 69 months, 151 girls) and families clustered in 19 preschool centres from rural China. Multilevel models were applied to the hierarchical data and these multilevel analyses revealed that, less than 10% of the variations in cognitive and social outcomes at school entry were attributable to the preschool-centre differences. After accounting for selected background factors, preschool home activities were relevant to various aspects of cognitive and social development during preschool and at school entry; home activities appeared to be more relevant to social development. Positive associations were found between preschool centre quality (based on ECERS-R and ECERS-E), teachers’ qualifications and developmental outcomes both at preschool and at school entry; preschool centre experience appeared to be more relevant to cognitive development and teacher-report behaviour outcomes. In summary, while child and family background factors such as age, gender, family income and parental education are important, the extent of home activities in the preschool years and preschool centre experience may both exert an independent influence upon children's cognitive and social development before school entry. These findings highlight the importance of higher quality of preschool centre experience and a better home learning environment for child development at school entry in rural China.