How can teachers deepen their understanding of their work? How can researchers make sure their work is grounded in and responsive to community needs? In this assemblage of rich examples of partnership research in early years education, Duncan and Conner set out how early childhood teachers and researchers can work in partnerships that benefit them both. Drawing on examples of successful partnerships from Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, they tell the stories of the successes, struggles, insights, and opportunities that come from working in such partnerships. Each chapter describes its own political, social, cultural and educational contexts, identifying the importance of complementary and reciprocal expertise required to solve educational puzzles. Through skillful analysis, this volume demonstrates how collaborative research on early childhood education results in gains for educators, researchers, and children alike.

Taking the body as a locus for discussion, Rachael S. Burke and Judith Duncan argue not only that implicit cultural practices shape most of the interactions taking place in early childhood curricula and pedagogy but that many of these practices often go unnoticed or unrecognized as being pedagogy. Current scholars, inspired by Foucault, acknowledge that the body is socially and culturally produced and historically situated-it is simultaneously a part of nature and society as well as a representation of the way that nature and society can be conceived. Every natural symbol originating from the body contains and conveys a social meaning, and every culture selects its own meaning from the myriad of potential body symbolisms. Bodies as Sites of Cultural Reflection in Early Childhood Education uses empirical examples from qualitative fieldwork conducted in New Zealand and Japan to explore these theories and discuss the ways in which children's bodies represent a central focus in teachers' pedagogical discussions and create contexts for the embodiment of children's experiences in the early years.

Taking the body as a locus for discussion, Rachael S. Burke and Judith Duncan argue not only that implicit cultural practices shape most of the interactions taking place in early childhood curricula and pedagogy but that many of these practices often go unnoticed or unrecognized as being pedagogy. Current scholars, inspired by Foucault, acknowledge that the body is socially and culturally produced and historically situated-it is simultaneously a part of nature and society as well as a representation of the way that nature and society can be conceived. Every natural symbol originating from the body contains and conveys a social meaning, and every culture selects its own meaning from the myriad of potential body symbolisms. Bodies as Sites of Cultural Reflection in Early Childhood Education uses empirical examples from qualitative fieldwork conducted in New Zealand and Japan to explore these theories and discuss the ways in which children's bodies represent a central focus in teachers' pedagogical discussions and create contexts for the embodiment of children's experiences in the early years.

Duncan and Conner demonstrate how collaborative research on early childhood education results in gains for educators, researchers, and children alike. Drawing on examples of successful partnerships from Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, they set out the successes, struggles, insights, and opportunities that come from such partnerships.