Interrogating ‘Belonging’ in Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia

Abstract

In this article, the authors interrogate the use of 'belonging' in Belonging, Being and Becoming: the Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (EYLF), Australia's first national curriculum for early childhood education and care settings and, from the authors' interrogation, possibilities are offered for thinking about and working with the EYLF in critical and transformative ways. In order to scaffold their interrogation, the authors develop a cartography of understandings of belonging drawn from diverse disciplinary and theoretical perspectives. The cartography highlights multiple, interconnected dimensions (ways of belonging) and analytical axes (dynamics and politics of belonging). The analysis indicates direct or implicit reference in the EYLF to many dimensions of belonging, but an apparent silence about the politics of belonging. The authors argue that the silences should not be interpreted as apolitical, but rather as a strategic response to political pressures shaping the EYLF's development.

Contribution of speech/language difficulties to health-related quality-of-life in Australian children: a longitudinal analysis

“…One example of universal supports is the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF), a national framework for early childhood curriculum. The framework pertains to early childhood services delivered to children from birth to school entry and includes range of learning outcome areas (including communication) and guidelines for attainment in these areas (Sumsion et al, 2009) Associations between SaLD and HRQoL found in this research support the use of HRQoL measures in speech-language pathology, prioritisation and outcome measurement.…”

Pursuing Better Childhoods and Futures through Curriculum: Utopian Visions in the Development of Australia's Early Years Learning Framework

“…Within the National Reform Agenda, reforms to early childhood education and care were 'fast-tracked', in part because of their perceived redemptive appeal (Sumsion et al, 2009). Shortly after taking office, Rudd (2008) made the long-awaited, historic and highly symbolic 'Apology to Australia's Indigenous Peoples'.…”

“…The Framework, in turn, was to become an integral component of a new National Quality Standard that early childhood services would be required to meet to be eligible for government funding. As co-leader (Author 1) and member (Author 2) of the consortium of academics, consultants, peak bodies, employer organisations and practitioners (the Consortium) awarded the tender to work with the Council of Australian Governments to write the Framework, we were embroiled in intense negotiations throughout the scant nine months (September 2008 to May 2009) of its development (Sumsion et al, 2009).…”

“…From this perspective, the Fact Sheet's focus on children's learning and development (Excerpt 8) -on becoming rather than being (Lee, 2001) and on young children as 'learner-citizens' (Millei, 2011) -could possibly reflect a strategic decision to pursue transformation within familiar, existing structures and dominant global discourses, rather than by pitting 'a strength of vision against the grain' (Williams, 1978, p. 208). In contrast, despite the constraints within which they were obligated to operate, Consortium members contracted to develop the Framework continued to openly pursue transformative visions grounded in critiques of existing structures, a strong commitment to social justice and hopes for more radical change than envisaged by policy makers in the initial Discussion Paper (Excerpt 1; Sumsion et al, 2009).…”

“…Lines of flight disrupt binaries and segmentations, sweeping us away across familiar thresholds towards unknown, unforeseen destinations (Deleuze & Parnet, 2006). Although political constraints limited what it was possible to include in the Framework itself (Sumsion et al, 2009;Millei & Sumsion, 2011), the excerpts, and the wider data corpus from which they are drawn, provide glimpses of several possible lines of flight. For example, we read into Parliamentary Secretary McKew's comment that an emphasis on children's involvement in fostering social inclusion is unremarkable (Excerpt 3) an opportunity to pursue more radical visions of social justice than the Framework might seem to imply, on the proviso that they appear commonplace.…”