Early Childhood Education in the United States is rife with contradictions, critique and innovation. It is a time when a status quo - characterized by systemic, historic discrimination; teacher de-professionalization; 'teaching to the test'; and attacks on funding - is challenged by new technologies, new literacies and transformative and critical perspectives and practices that defy assumptions and biases to create cutting-edge, diverse instantiations of Early Childhood Education for children, families, and teachers. This volume, based on a special issue of the Early Years journal written in 2016 before the new administration announced its policies, aims to generate conversations about developments in Early Childhood Education, situated within classist/racist/linguicist and neoliberal contexts, and to analyze critically where we are, where we might go and what we might do. It is also an opportunity to share counter-narratives to the dominant narratives promulgated by many, convinced that narrow, destructive norms of appropriate practice, standards, and accountability, as well as the curtailed achievement of children of Color, those from low income communities, and emergent bilinguals are 'common sense'. These counter-narratives - some about transformational projects that have generated innovative perspectives and practices, and some detailing critical analyses and projects that go beyond to explore issues of power - contest education that disprivileges some children and families while advocating education that is child- and family-centered, culturally relevant and sustaining, equitable and democratic. Our hope is that this work creates a 'space of dialogue and human action' needed even more urgently today. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Early Years journal.

In this volume, the editors aim to offer a timely focus on preschool bilingual education in the 21st century by drawing attention to the following trends: (1) the diversity of language models and their hybrid, dynamic and flexible nature; (2) the complexities of children's linguistic backgrounds; (3) children's, parents' and teachers' agencies in interaction; and (4) early bilingual development and education as contextually embedded. Given the complexity of providing a global and comprehensive view of these trends in just one issue, the selection of studies included here seeks to offer insightful consideration of these trends using a range of qualitative and quantitative methods. The contributors explore the trends in different socio-cultural and national contexts in five countries: Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Israel and Singapore. The book highlights the need on the one hand to examine early bilingual education within specific socio-cultural contexts, and on the other to search for its universal features. It aims to promote the field of preschool bilingual education as a unique research domain by illustrating its distinctiveness. Last but not least, the studies presented here have a significant contribution to make in the light of the growing interest of policy-makers, ethno-linguistic community leaders, practitioners and researchers in early bilingual development and education. This book was originally published as a special issue of International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.

Educating Young Children in WPA Nursery Schools, the first full-length national study of the WPA nursery school program, helps to explain why universal preschool remains an elusive goal. This book argues that program success in operating nursery schools throughout the United States during the Great Depression was an important New Deal achievement. By highlighting the program's strengths-its ideals, its curriculum, and its community outreach-the author offers a blueprint for creating a universal preschool program that benefits both children and their families. This volume uncovers the forgotten perspective of WPA nursery school leaders and highlights the program's innovative curriculum for young children by incorporating both extensive archival research and neglected sources.

The educational provision for early years is growing and changing across many parts of the world, not least in the UK. While this book leans heavily on the mounting literature on early child development in its broadest sense - physically, emotionally, linguistically - its central focus lies squarely on the growth of children's scientific thinking and activities. Written by educators, this book is based both on formal educational research and professional practice-in-action. The authors describe children's science concept development; their curiosity-driven exploration; emergent ecological literacy; their learning through science play; the assessment of early learning; the role of parents and practitioners within early education contexts; and some question the very basis of the science being taught. Illustrations and examples of practice are not confined to the UK, though the messages to be derived from each chapter have application way beyond the immediate context. This book was originally published as a special issue of Early Child Development and Care.

This book synthesizes concepts, findings, and best practices for a complete guide to planning, implementing, and evaluating social and emotional education (SEE) programs. Emphasizing "caught" as well as taught lessons, it offers a whole-school framework for SEE, with content, rationales, assessment tools, and age-appropriate strategies. Interventions are also included for use across subjects, to engage learners and assist students with behavioral and emotional difficulties. And the lessons travel beyond the classroom, involving the whole school, families and communities. Key areas of coverage include: How SEE can be taught and assessed as a core competence. Classroom and whole school frameworks to enhance SEE. Examples of targeted interventions for at-risk students. Techniques for enlisting parents and communities in supporting SEE. A complete online set of SEE class and homework activities. Social and Emotional Education in Primary School is an essential resource for scientist-practitioners, educators, and other professionals as well as researchers and graduate students in special and general education, child and school psychology, educational psychology, social work, positive psychology, and family-related fields.

Reconsidering the Role of Play in Early Childhood: Towards Social Justice and Equity-a compilation of current play research in early childhood education and care-challenges, disrupts, and reexamines conventional perspectives on play. By highlighting powerful and provocative studies from around the world that attend to the complexities and diverse contexts of children's play, the issues of social justice and equity related to play are made visible. This body of work is framed by the phenomenological viewpoint that presumes equity is best confronted and improved through developing an expanded understanding of play in its multiple variations and dimensions. The play studies explore the potential and troubles of play in teaching and learning, children's agency in play, the actual spaces where children play, and different perspectives of play based on identity and culture. The editors invite readers to use the research as an inspiration to reconsider their conceptions of play and to take action to work for a world where all children have access to play. This book was originally published as a special issue of Early Child Development and Care.

The Literacy of Play and Innovation provides a portrait of what innovative education looks like from a literacy perspective. Through an in-depth case study of a "maker" school's innovative design-in particular, of four early childhood educator's classrooms-this book demonstrates that children's inspiration, curiosity, and creativity is a direct result of the school environment. Presenting a unique, data-driven model of literacy, play, and innovation taking the maker movement beyond STEM education, this book helps readers understand literacy learning through making and the creative approaches embedded in early literacy classroom practices.

Drawing on the latest research into how young children learn, this book considers how early years practitioners can best meet the needs of children with English as an Additional Language. It examines the factors that influence children's learning including parents and the family, the environment, health and well-being, curriculum, play and relationships and aims to challenge misconceptions, assumptions and stereotypes. Featuring case studies and reflective questions, the chapters explore a range of important topics including: Language learning for children with EAL The historical concept and modern reconceptualisation of EAL How to develop and use Culturally Appropriate Pedagogy Regulation and performativity and their implications for children with EAL Leading learning for children with EAL Meeting the Needs of Young Children with English as an Additional Language is essential reading for students and practitioners wanting to promote an inclusive culture where different languages, cultures and religions are accepted and celebrated.

This book offers a close and detailed account of the emergent and creative pedagogies of children learning together in a small, not-for-profit preschool, and the entangled becomings of their carers as well as the researcher-artist-author. The mutually affecting and inseparable realities of the 'material' and the 'discursive' are made visible through lively and sensual pedagogical invention by a group of five-year olds in the inner-city preschool which is located in Johannesburg, South Africa. These small, local stories are recognized in their emergence with global geopolitical realities. The author makes a valuable contribution to post-qualitative research through the use of visual research methods and non-representational approaches to working with knowledge. The book draws on the constantly evolving practices of Philosophy for Children (P4C) and Reggio Emilia both as pedagogical tools and as research methods. Photographs and stills from video footage provide a sense of the relatively modest material environment of the school. The book celebrates the considerable richness of the involvement of the children and the enormous possibilities offered by the world both inside and outside of the classroom when an enquiry-led art-based pedagogy is followed. Drawings and other products created by the children in the study offer valuable insight into the depth and complexity of their engagement with their worlds, both individual and collaborative.

Many learning options are possible in education, from traditional to blended/hybrid to fully online. Of the three delivery formats, the blended mode, which involves the fusion of online and traditional face-to-face instruction and learning activities, is considered to have the greatest potential to provide the best learning environment. As blended learning continues to evolve and expand, it is important that information regarding what constitutes the ideal combination of online and traditional pedagogical strategies in blended education and at all levels is illuminated and shared. Emerging Techniques and Applications for Blended Learning in K-20 Classrooms is an academic publication that focuses on pedagogical strategies and technologies that have been successfully employed by educators in blended instruction. In addition, the student outcomes from the use of these techniques are presented. Covering a wide range of topics such as gamification, civic education, and critical thinking, this book is essential for academicians, administrators, educators, instructors, researchers, instructional designers, curriculum developers, principals, early childhood educators, higher education faculty, and students.

Early childhood is a time of wonder, excitement, adventure and learning. A time to experience social relations and friendships, and all of the emotions involved. The joy, and the excitement - of creating a common world with friends. A world of 'what if' and 'as if' moments that are accepted and built together, or rejected - leading to frustration, sadness and exclusion - the darker side of friendship. In this book, cultural-historical concepts are used to analyse the everyday lives of children. Inspired by contemporary ideas about moral imagination, Collaborative Pathways to Friendship in Early Childhood theorises friendship as a concept. Traditionally, studies about friendship in early childhood focus on relations built in educational settings. As a point of difference, Dr Adams and Dr Quinones introduce the conditions that are created for, with, and by young children as they move between everyday family life, and transition into education settings. Through narratives of internationally mobile families moving into Malaysia and established families in Mexico, varying perspectives of children, parents, teachers and principals are presented - culminating in a holistic understanding of friendship in early childhood. Providing insight into varied perspectives and processes involved when young children enter into friendships, this book will be of interest to researchers, post graduate students and teacher educators specialising in early childhood education, child psychology or social work.

Bringing together authors from a range of academic disciplines and research backgrounds - united as standard-bearers for the child's right to play - and set against a backdrop evoking play's critical essence, this book documents the rise and fall of an explosive period of political interest in play in the UK. Has the withdrawal of so much state funding damaged the playwork profession forever? Has the battle for recognition of the significance of play in child development been lost? Why is children's happiness always so low on the agendas of our politicians? The invaluable contributions in this book identify the lessons learned, and the opportunities that may be available to those determined to maintain the struggle for a greater recognition of the importance of children's play in an era defined by the oppressive politics of austerity. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Play.

Scientific Influences on Early Childhood Education offers a new framework for examining the diverse scientific perspectives that shape early childhood education. As the field takes on an increasing role in addressing children's educational, developmental, and environmental needs, it is critical to more fully understand and appreciate the diverse scientific roots of contemporary early childhood education. This edited collection brings together leading researchers to explain and unpack perspectives that are not often associated with early childhood education, yet have made significant contributions to its development and evolution. Essential reading for anyone working with young children, this critical and insightful text illuminates the connections between our social values, science, and research in the field.

Scientific Influences on Early Childhood Education offers a new framework for examining the diverse scientific perspectives that shape early childhood education. As the field takes on an increasing role in addressing children's educational, developmental, and environmental needs, it is critical to more fully understand and appreciate the diverse scientific roots of contemporary early childhood education. This edited collection brings together leading researchers to explain and unpack perspectives that are not often associated with early childhood education, yet have made significant contributions to its development and evolution. Essential reading for anyone working with young children, this critical and insightful text illuminates the connections between our social values, science, and research in the field.

Become a better advocate-for your students, for your coworkers, and for yourself-with the valuable strategies in this accessible guidebook. Written with a candid and humorous style, this tool kit reinforces why effective early childhood education matters and the positive impact an effective advocate can have on a child's classroom experience. Chapters explore how to explain and support best practices, build relationships with students and families, speak up for English language learners and students with exceptionalities, reduce coworker conflict and negativity, and reach out for the help you need. Equipping readers with practical takeaways and everyday examples of what advocacy in early childhood education actually looks like, Advocacy for Early Childhood Educators is perfect for teachers, coaches, and anyone seeking effective strategies to become a relentless advocate for their students, for each other, and for themselves.

This book is based on the notion that there are many ways in which mathematics learning can be achieved for students and that not all of them are focused on the mathematics classroom. It explores the foundational numeracy principles of the non-mathematical subject areas and aligns these to the Australian numeracy-learning continuum. It demonstrates, in detail, the extent to which numeracy competencies underpin successful learning in all the subject areas of the curricula. It validates a focus of developing numeracy competencies through learning in the arts, science and other discipline areas with which school students to engage with in order develop holistically, but which are not subjected to national assessment practices. It is developed around the notion of 'praxis', putting theory into practice in order to respond to the urgent need for students to be supported in their efforts to increase their numeracy capabilities in a world where extensive amounts of new information are often presented in graphical or data based formats. Additionally, it offers perspectives on developing all students' capacities to become numerate in school contexts and presents inclusive, differentiated lesson examples as an alternative way of exploring numeracy in the context of teaching and learning in real-world classroom contexts.

Attainment and Executive Functioning in the Early Years combines knowledge and understanding from research with operational skills from practice in the early years. It presents the development of a sense of self which occurs between birth and five years, the effect of adverse childhood experiences, and the link to executive functioning in adulthood. The book supports the development of expertise which can be applied to enhance inclusive pedagogy, to nurture attainment and to contribute to life-long learning. It explores practice approaches which support children to gain a sense of self, to recognise the needs of others and to achieve fulfilment by operating with purpose. Research is accessed to gain knowledge and understanding of the complex processes which result in a demonstration of executive functioning in childhood. Attainment and Executive Functioning in the Early Years will be of great interest to academics, researchers and post-graduate students in the fields of early years' care, and education. It will also appeal to those working within children's services.

Are children the passive recipients of influence from their parents and from society? Is their development determined by their genes and their neurons, or do they have the capacity to think about and influence their own lives and the world around them? How does their interaction with their social and material worlds support or hinder agency? Are children agents, and what do we mean by agency? Children as Agents in Their Worlds aims to answer these questions through a critical psychological and relational approach, while referencing and critiquing a wide range of perspectives from other disciplines including sociology, anthropology and education. Greene and Nixon review the pioneering work of scholars of childhood studies and current post-human theories of agency and offer a developmental perspective on the emergence of the sense of agency and the exercise of agency in children. They discuss key themes including agency in families, agency within the school context and with peers, and children as agents in the wider public sphere. They explore agency and diversity, examining sex, age, genetic inheritance and contextual sources of difference, such as social class and geographical location. Offering a stronger theoretical base for research and policy, through a synthesis of both psychological and relational theories, Children as Agents in Their Worlds will be essential reading for students and professionals in developmental psychology, sociology and anthropology, as well as education, childhood studies, children's rights and related fields.

This book makes a defence of compassion as an essential and significant quality that should be at the heart of the education of young people. It provides a careful exploration of what compassion means; how it is relevant to the various relationships among students, teachers, and the wider community; and the particular pedagogical processes that can and might develop compassion. Understanding and justifying compassion as a virtue, this book argues that compassion is a virtue central to all human relationships from the familial, to the communal and to the global. It will be of interest to academics, research and students of education.

This text provides a comprehensive analysis of historical archives, letters, and primary sources to offer unique insight into how Froebel's pedagogy of kindergarten and play has been understood, interpreted, and modified throughout history and in particular, as a consequence of it's adoption in the US. Tracing the development, modification, and global spread of the kindergarten movement, this volume demonstrates the far-reaching impacts of Froebel's work, and asks how far contemporary understandings of the kindergarten pedagogy reflect the educationalist's original intentions. Recognizing that Froebel's pedagogy has at times been simplified or misunderstood, the book tackles issues caused by translation, or transfer to non-German speaking countries such as the US, and so demonstrates how and why contemporary research and Froebelian practice is in the danger of diverging from the original ideas expressed in Froebel's work. By returning to original documents produced by Froebel, Wasmuth traces various interpretations, and explains how and why some of these understandings established themselves in the context of US Early Childhood Education, whilst others did not. This insightful text will be of great interest to graduate and postgraduate students, researchers, academics, professionals and policy makers in the fields of early childhood education, history of education, Philosophy of Education and Teacher Education.

This book brings together innovative work happening in childhood research across disciplinary boundaries and across the world. It focuses specifically on the most cutting-edge, innovative methodological approaches in the study of children's use and learning with digital technologies and children's experiences of key 21st century trends (e.g. immigration or multiculturalism). A true effort is made to have dialogues across diverse fields and contested fields of research (including educational psychology, post-humanist literacy, narrative approaches, developmental approaches).The book is a comprehensive survey of methods in the field of children's technologies. The volume is a substantive and strategic collection of international approaches to early childhood and technologies. The authors reflect on what works and what doesn't work in relation to specific innovative research methods.

Today's Youth, Tomorrow's Leaders is for parents, teachers, caregivers, directors, educators, administrators and all who work with children to encourage learning. This book has examples of effective practices in early childhood education from different countries worldwide. This book will emphasize the different ways that adults can make difference in the lives of children so that today's children will be well nurtured and will become effective citizens in future. The structure of the book is adapted to the new Early Childhood Common Core. The book has case studies, illustrations, pictures, and tables to help the readers. Each chapter will also have a summary at the end with discussion questions.

Are children the passive recipients of influence from their parents and from society? Is their development determined by their genes and their neurons, or do they have the capacity to think about and influence their own lives and the world around them? How does their interaction with their social and material worlds support or hinder agency? Are children agents, and what do we mean by agency? Children as Agents in Their Worlds aims to answer these questions through a critical psychological and relational approach, while referencing and critiquing a wide range of perspectives from other disciplines including sociology, anthropology and education. Greene and Nixon review the pioneering work of scholars of childhood studies and current post-human theories of agency and offer a developmental perspective on the emergence of the sense of agency and the exercise of agency in children. They discuss key themes including agency in families, agency within the school context and with peers, and children as agents in the wider public sphere. They explore agency and diversity, examining sex, age, genetic inheritance and contextual sources of difference, such as social class and geographical location. Offering a stronger theoretical base for research and policy, through a synthesis of both psychological and relational theories, Children as Agents in Their Worlds will be essential reading for students and professionals in developmental psychology, sociology and anthropology, as well as education, childhood studies, children's rights and related fields.

Promoting Well-Being in the Pre-School Years provides evidence-based research and real-life strategies that support social and emotional development and well-being for children aged 3-5 years. It places emphasis on nurturing social emotional competence through purposeful scaffolding activities and how these can be used by children and families to create a harmonious platform for building resilience and positive relationships with family and the community. Drawing on principles from Positive Psychology and Positive Education, it is illustrated throughout with examples of sustainable practice in diverse, global settings. Key topics explored include: Contemporary well-being concepts, including 'grit', 'growth mindset' and 'gratitude', as well as 'classic' constructs such as coping and self-efficacy The attitudes and skills that need to be developed to ensure that young children flourish Cognitive and sociocultural perspectives complemented by neuroscience and epigenetics Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in the early years curriculum Using visual tools - the Early Years Coping Cards How we measure young children's coping The relationship between coping, stress and mental health Recognition of the importance of parents' own coping skills How partnerships with communities can improve children's SEL. Promoting Well-Being in the Pre-School Years shows how we can support young children to develop an understanding of what it means to be happy and to flourish as a socially responsible member of the family and wider community. It is essential reading for teachers, parents and professionals who work with young children, as well as academics in child development.