Infant and toddler educare: A challenge to neoliberalism

Abstract

We contend that the conventions, practices and philosophies underpinning working with infants and toddlers provide an alternative way of viewing early childhood work, and such a perspective may well help to challenge the ‘wicked problem’ of neoliberalism. It is in this context that we propose that a deeper understanding of the perspectives of those professionals working with our youngest children in a range of different countries may inform a wider resistance to neoliberalism across all of early childhood. We seek, in this article, to share the voices of early childhood professionals reflecting on the manner in which they understand work with infants and toddlers, and how this relates to their understanding of issues related to education and care. We hope this exploration will lead us into further refining our argument that infant and toddler pedagogy has the potential to challenge the hegemony of neoliberalism in early childhood. Our dream is to steer early childhood away from the tyranny of standardisation, accountability and economic rationality into a space where children are valued for being, where individuality and diversity flourish, where learning academics is one (relatively unimportant) element amongst many others and where relationships and participation (and dare we say, happiness) reign supreme.

Resisting Neoliberalism: Professionalisation of Early Childhood Education and Care

“…Given that school teaching is perceived as being more valued and as having more status than early childhood employment, it is not surprising that many ECP acquiesce to the education-discourse positioning of their work [46]. At the same time, the elements of early childhood work not commonly accepted as part of the education discourse, particularly work with babies and toddlers are at risk of being lost should professionalisation be pursued solely through the education discourse [6]. It is therefore heartening to note that alternative discourses are being explored through initiatives such as the Nurturing Care Framework [69] that may gain prominence across nations in the future.…”

“…Accordingly, attempts to professionalise the sector prevail, in the expectation that professional status will result in enhanced quality of service delivery, and improvements in the conditions of employment, pay and status of those delivering these services [5][6][7][8]. However, the very diversity of contexts in which early childhood services are developed across nations impedes the evolution of the sector as a profession.…”

Everyday literacy practices: Normalising the school literate child

“…Notwithstanding, framing ECCE as an instrument for school readiness has become a universal feature for literacy practices, both in South Africa and internationally (Brown 2015;Brown, Barry & Ku 2021;Lemphane & Prinsloo 2014;Martin & Ebrahim 2016;Moss 2019;Sims et al 2018). Within the South African context, an example of this is the National Early Learning Development Standards (NELDS), a curriculum related policy initiative which focuses on the educational needs of children from birth-to-4 year of age and contains validated age-specific indicators focusing on what children should know and be able to do within a specific developmental domain (Department of Basic Education 2009).…”

From “Barbaric” to “Knowing”: Disrupting teaching to resignify “Toddler”

“…Also, I acknowledge that the notion of “toddler” that I will further deconstruct is representative of a particularly anglicized perspective, relatively widespread in societal discourses across the US and other English-oriented societies of the minority world. I am in no way making assumptions of universality here as other cultures and knowledges have different ways of seeing and constructing this period of life coming after the first year, as well as differing notions of care and education (Ebrahim, 2019; Sims et al, 2018). Also, in my calling attention to pervasive discourses, I am not neglecting the crucial work that has been done in the field of early childhood care and education that presents infants and toddlers as capable, participatory subjects (e.g.…”