Respect for Early Childhood Education: Editorial

Murray, Jane

doi:10.1080/09669760.2020.1715540

International Journal of Early Years Education

2020

DOI: 10.1080/09669760.2020.1715540

|View full text |Cite

Respect for Early Childhood Education: Editorial

Jane Murray

Help me understand this report

Search citation statements

Order By: Relevance

Paper Sections

Select...

Citation Types

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Year Published

2020

2023

Publication Types

Select...

Article2

Relationship

Self Cite0

Independent2

Authors

Journals

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 8 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…By paying considerable attention to literacy, numeracy and self-regulation they are concerned that it will add to existing pressures to standardise young children's preschools who will be currently be experiencing very different learning contexts. Jane Murray (2020) in the opening editorial of the year for this journal drew attention to the limiting definitions of school readiness that focus on a limited range of skills with limited appreciation of how they interconnected with early experiences. There is an assumption contained within some views of school readiness that presenting preschool children with more school-like activities will help them to be more successful when they do start school (Anning 2010).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A growing interest in early childhood’s contribution to school readiness

Needham

Ülküer²

2020

International Journal of Early Years Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

's report on equality and education published in the mid-1960s (Coleman 1966) made a blunt statement that children, especially the 'non-white children' in the USA were not enjoying equal opportunities in education, as they were not coming to school 'ready'. Reading the report now, the race and class bias in system is very apparent; it sought to compensate for the perceived social-cultural-economic characteristics of the home and family environment that was emphasised as playing a decisive role in children's school achievement. The report concluded that in order for children to succeed in school, they needed to be prepared through preschool programmes, such as Head Start. The longitudinal success of Head Start in the USA reported by Weikart in the 1990s presented findings about the long-term situation for children who had participated in early education programmes (Gilford 2013). It showed improved school outcomes, improved career prospects, reduced social and health interventions in later life. This inspired many nations to invest more into early interventions and early childhood education, acquired a role, to 'prepare' children for school in order to help them succeed. With greater investment has come increased scrutiny, control and revised expectations of quality in early education. SureStart initiated in the UK in the late 1990s was an example of such political and pedagogical response towards achieving equality of education through early childhood education (Needham and Anning 2017). The longitudinal research legacy of both of these programmes emphasised the importance of the home learning environment together with access to a preschool pedagogy that balances both adult-lead and child-lead, play-based learning (Schweinhart 2013; Sylva et al. 2010). Nevertheless, the neoliberal political legacies in the USA, UK and elsewhere often prefer to extend more school-like experiences to children aged five and under (Sahlberg 2015; Moss and Urban 2020). Encouraged by research, many nations have committed to the idea that children who attend Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) are more likely to be successful when they start school than those who do not (OECD 2012, 2017). Children's readiness for school is frequently cited among governments' motives for this investment in the early years sector. 'How children are prepared for school?' continues to be a keenly debated political question in international forums where early child development seems to be increasingly perceived as a preparation for primary school (United Nations 2015). The Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), and Goal 4.2 in particular (United Nations 2015) establish Early Childhood Education (ECE) as a global target in order 'to prepare' children for school and to ensure that they are ready as well as able to 'learn', calling for at least one year of preschool education to be compulsory for all children in all member states. UNICEF (2019) advocates the impact of quality pre-primary education on completion rates and more successful progress in l...

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A growing interest in early childhood’s contribution to school readiness

Needham

Ülküer²

2020

International Journal of Early Years Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Local Geographic Variations in Children’s School Readiness - A Multilevel Analysis of the Development Gaps in England

Purdam,

Troncoso,

Morales-Gomez

et al. 2023

Child Ind Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The educational attainment levels of children in state-funded schools in England are lower than in many countries with comparable levels of economic development. There are also striking differences at the local level across England. To understand these differences it is important to examine children’s development in their early years. This research uses multilevel analysis of the National Pupil Database to investigate child development at ages 4 and 5 years old at the individual, school and local levels including within a case study urban area. Child development is assessed using teachers’ observations to measure what is termed School Readiness. This is based on a child’s communication, literacy and numeracy skills and their physical, personal and social development. The findings reveal substantial differences in School Readiness at the individual, school and local area levels including in terms of sex, ethnic background, age in the school year, welfare benefit entitlement and local area income deprivation level. Such differences are also evident across the separate Early Learning Goals that are used to assess School Readiness. Between local areas children with similar backgrounds can vary considerably in their likelihood of being categorised as School Ready. Many children face multiple disadvantages as a consequence of different interlinked factors including where they live. The gap in the levels of School Readiness has long-term implications for the individuals themselves and for society more widely. Whilst increasing the levels of School Readiness is a key target in the UK Government’s Levelling Up policy, tackling the stark inequalities will take considerable investment, highly targeted support and engagement across the home and school learning environments.

show abstract

scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.

Contact Info

hi@scite.ai

10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614

Henderson, NV 89052, USA

Blog Terms and Conditions API Terms Privacy Policy Contact Cookie Preferences Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information

Made with 💙 for researchers

Part of the Research Solutions Family.

Respect for Early Childhood Education: Editorial

Cited by 2 publications

References 8 publications

A growing interest in early childhood’s contribution to school readiness

A growing interest in early childhood’s contribution to school readiness

Local Geographic Variations in Children’s School Readiness - A Multilevel Analysis of the Development Gaps in England

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About