The status of children's rights in early childhood education policy 2009

One, Sarah Te; Dalli, Carmen

doi:10.26686/nzaroe.v0i19.1557

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The data used in this article were collected as part of a multiple case study which investigated the experiences of 10 Chinese immigrant children as they started attending their first early childhood centres in New Zealand (Guo, 2010). This article focuses on the experiences of two of the children, a girl and a boy, Xiaohan and Rick, both aged around 4 years and 5 months at the start of the study.…”

Section: The Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Belonging as a force of agency: An exploration of immigrant children’s everyday life in early childhood settings

Guo

Dalli

2016

Global Studies of Childhood

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The notion of agency is being used with increasing frequency in early childhood policies, replacing traditional assumptions about young children's immaturity and their role as mere recipients of adults' arrangements. Agency is thus both an educational aspiration as well as a signifier of a strong rights-based political commitment to countering views of children as immature and incompetent. This article develops the argument that agency is inherently a sociocultural product that is driven by children's clear attempts to bond with others and to develop a sense of belonging. Using examples of the everyday experiences of two Chinese immigrant children in an early childhood centre, the article considers ways in which agency was exercised by the children in an unfamiliar sociocultural setting because they wanted to belong. Some crucial issues are highlighted for practice and policy development in the area of immigrant children's education, arguing that the shaping of early childhood education requires an attention to children's 'invisible' capabilities, needs to belong and 'small' everyday life realities.

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Section: The Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Belonging as a force of agency: An exploration of immigrant children’s everyday life in early childhood settings

Guo

Dalli

2016

Global Studies of Childhood

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“…There is relatively little research that focuses on citizenship education in ECE. However, there is increasing recognition of young children's rights and of UNCRC that position young children as active citizens (Smith et al, 2009;Te One & Dalli, 2009;Te One, 2011). According to Schulz et al (2009):…”

Section: Citizenship Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

'It's all the things'? Exploring teachers' views on the notion of 'community' in early childhood education

Hamer¹

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This thesis explores the multiple meanings of ‘community’ within early childhood education (ECE). Utilising a qualitative, interpretive approach, this exploratory case study has sought to gain an in-depth understanding of how teachers view the meaning of ‘community’ within a typical, non-community-owned ECE centre. Rogoff’s (1984, 1995) three planes of sociocultural activity (personal, interpersonal and institutional) have been utilised as a theoretical framework to more fully understand the rich context of this case study centre. Findings from this study highlight that practices of this centre primarily focus inwards on the education and care of the enrolled children and the support of their families within the ECE ‘centre community’. However, despite this, the teachers both collectively and individually also reflect a diverse range of views on the notion of ‘community’ in terms of people, place and connections, including views that look outwards to consider the child within the context of their wider social and physical world. This study concludes that there needs to be a much larger social and political discussion about the notion of ‘community’ within the wider ECE sector, including the role and provision of ECE, not only in terms of the care and education of children but within society as a whole.

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“…(Te One, 2005;Te One & Dalli, 2010). Young children are viewed as competent and able to contribute as "citizens in the here and now"(Te One, 2005, p. 32).…”

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confidence: 99%

Discourses of children's citizenship in early childhood settings: A cross-national perspective in the global context

Xu¹

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This study responds to recent calls for greater attention to young children in citizenship studies and to the shifting conceptions of young children’s citizenship. As a cross-national analysis, it contributes to a regional and global focus on, and conversations about, young children’s citizenship and pedagogical affordances in early childhood settings. It further explores the movement of global discourses of young children’s citizenship through national curriculum policies in China and Aotearoa New Zealand, and into early childhood settings where young children learn and exercise their citizenship. The research design has adopted a poststructural orientation and employed qualitative, comparative and ethnography-informed approaches. Michel Foucault’s notion of discourse, power and subject have been used as the main theoretical devices to attend to the multiple truths of children’s citizenship and power relations in early childhood settings. In addition, this research has been informed by Kuan-Hsing Chen’s (2010) Asia as Method: Toward Deimperialization, drawing attention to the cultural and historical specificity of each local context and different interpretations and practices of young children’s citizenship in China and Aotearoa New Zealand. A Foucauldian-inspired reflexive thematic analysis has been employed to interrogate (i) key curriculum documents and (ii) interviews with kindergarten teachers in both nations, the latter inspired by video-cued ethnography (Tobin et al., 1989; Tobin et al., 2009). The research findings suggest that children’s citizenship is discursively constructed in early childhood curricula as belonging and connectedness, rights and responsibilities, and development and preparation. Teacher participants in both nations pointed out that citizenship is of significant value for young children, and that kindergartens are key sites for children to enact their citizenship. Four significant ideas emerged from the research findings. First, by illuminating the cultural-historical contingency and contextual specificity of discourses in China and Aotearoa New Zealand, this study argues for a context-specific understanding of children’s citizenship that recognises the syncretism of social, cultural and historical features in different contexts. Second, children’s status and practices as citizens are problematic in both contexts, as multiple techniques of power produce child citizens as ‘docile bodies’. Third, this study offers an alternative position – negotiated citizenship – which recognises the dynamic power relations in early childhood settings, how children exercise power as citizens, and how they take up and extend the possibilities available to them. Last, this study reveals the necessity and meaningfulness of cross-cultural reflexivity in relation to early childhood education and young children’s citizenship.

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The status of children's rights in early childhood education policy 2009

Cited by 5 publications

References 24 publications

Belonging as a force of agency: An exploration of immigrant children’s everyday life in early childhood settings

Belonging as a force of agency: An exploration of immigrant children’s everyday life in early childhood settings

'It's all the things'? Exploring teachers' views on the notion of 'community' in early childhood education

Discourses of children's citizenship in early childhood settings: A cross-national perspective in the global context

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