Contemporary Issues in
Early Childhood

ISSN 1463-9491

Volume 1 Number 2 2000

CONTENTS [click on author's name for abstract and full text]

Editorial 115–117
Jackie Marsh. Teletubby Tales: popular culture in the early years language and literacy curriculum, 119–133
Michele J. Leiminer & Carolyn D. Baker. A Child’s Say in Parent–Teacher Talk at the Pre-school: doing conversation analytic research in early childhood settings, 135–152
Heather Anne De Lair & Eric Erwin. Working Perspectives within Feminism and Early Childhood Education, 153–170
Julia Gillen. Listening to Young Children Talking on the Telephone: a reassessment of Vygotsky’s notion of ‘egocentric speech’, 171–184
Vivien Harris. A Unique Pedagogical Project Contextualised within a Children’s Art Exhibition, 185–199
NOTES FROM THE CLASSROOM
Carole Basile & Cameron White. Environmental Literacy: providing an interdisciplinary context for young children, 201–208
COLLOQUIUM
Mindy Blaise Ochsner. Gendered Make-up, 209–213
Gaile S. Cannella . Critical and Feminist Reconstructions of Early Childhood Education: continuing the conversations, 215–221
Stephen Wright. Why Reggio Emilia Doesn’t Exist: a response to Richard Johnson, 223–226
Frances Rofrano. A Response to ‘Colonialism and Cargo Cults in Early Childhood Education: does Reggio Emilia really exist?’ (Johnson, 1999), 227–230
BOOK REVIEWS
Beyond Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care: post-modern perspectives (Gunilla Dahlberg, Peter Moss & Alan Pence), reviewed by Gordon Tait, 231–232 VIEW FULL TEXT
Understanding Quantitative and Qualitative Research in Early Childhood Education (William L. Goodwin & Laura D. Goodwin), reviewed by Kerryann Walsh, 233–234 VIEW FULL TEXT
Making a Place for Pleasure in Early Childhood Education (J.J. Tobin, ed.), reviewed by Lilian Mullane, 234–238 VIEW FULL TEXT
Call for Papers – special issue, 239

Editorial

When we published Volume 1, Number 1 of Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood we had just over 1500 subscribers on the database and this has steadily risen to over 2500 in the interim. These numbers reflect the growing interest in the field, as well as the new medium, and the curiosity in alternative perspectives in the discipline.

During 1999 we attended four different conferences at which we had the opportunity to present our research and to hear about the research of others. The first conference, held in Warwick, England, was attended by delegates from over 25 different countries and gave a distinct international perspective to a range of issues in early childhood education. Keynote speakers came from a variety of countries, including Venezuela, New Zealand, England and the USA. Delegates were reminded that the focus of activity in many countries varies according to factors such as population demographics, geography, socio-economic conditions and goals for education.

The second conference was the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), which was held in Montreal, Canada. There are two Special Interest Groups (SIG) for early childhood educators who are members of the association and/or who attend the meeting. The Critical Perspectives on Early Childhood Education SIG held its second meeting in Montreal, and the large number who attended signified the heightened attention being afforded to alternative perspectives in the discipline by those who wish to engage in critical discussion of issues pertaining to young children and their social and family contexts. The quality of research presented in the second SIG, Early Education and Child Development, was indicative of the depth of inquiry in the field, and the range of topics was considerable and enlightening. A summary of some of the issues and views expressed by members of the panel for the Critical Perspectives group is one of the colloquia that we have in this issue and we invite your comments in response to their views.

The third conference was held in Columbus, Ohio, USA and was the eighth Interdisciplinary Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education conference. In 1999 this conference returned to the Midwest of the USA (close to its birthplace) after being held in Honolulu in 1998. Participants came together for a few days of intensive networking, debating issues and responding to others’ ideas through a focus on politics, identity and practice.

In July, Australian early childhood educators travelled to Darwin in the Northern Territory for the annual conference of the Australian Early Childhood Association. The theme was Children at the Top and keynote speakers included Dr Allison James, one of the authors of Theorizing Childhood (A. James, C. Jenks & A. Prout [Cambridge: Blackwell, 1998]), who joined a number of scholars and practitioners, all of whom were concerned with providing effective contexts and services for young children and their families.

In talking with the myriad of people that we have encountered over the year, both personally and virtually, we are continually impressed by the quality of the discourse and articulation of ideas that we hear. The second issue of the journal reflects a sample of this communication and again highlights the variety within the discipline, which gives it a unique character and quality.

In the first article Jackie Marsh presents her research with young children in the United Kingdom, where she used the popular culture of the children to provide contexts for literacy experiences from a variety of cultural backgrounds. Jackie makes the case that popular culture can provide contexts for meaningful literacy experiences and in doing so gives children from marginalised groups cultural capital. Her examples of a literacy event with the Teletubbies provide an interesting insight and alternative perspective on the use of popular culture in educational contexts.

Michele Leiminer & Carolyn Baker analyse how a child actively participates in a home–pre-school communication in a pre-school setting. They use a conversation analytic perspective to interrogate the three-way parent–teacher–child conversation. The analysis provides an understanding of the ways in which participants collaboratively construct and produce ‘the competent pre-school child’ and ‘the competent conversational member’ in and through their talk. It also examines how the teacher’s version of social order is challenged by the child in the conversation.

Heather De Lair & Eric Erwin combine to present their experiences of working together as teacher and teacher educator to create a model for feminist-based early childhood practice. The authors argue for greater inclusion of ideas from feminist theory and philosophy in early childhood education. This article provides practical examples of how the model operated over a number of years and at the same time draws on relevant theoretical perspectives.

The article by Julia Gillen provides a reassessment of Vygotsky’s notion of egocentric speech through an example of a young child’s telephone conversation. Julia presents a detailed account of the differences between the Piagetian and Vygotskian versions of egocentric speech, drawing on some little known work of Vygotsky’s that became available to the West only recently. This analysis shows that dominant contemporary understandings of Vygotsky’s notion of egocentric speech have been privileged over the role of egocentric speech in expression of the imagination.

Vivien Harris describes a unique pedagogical project within the context of a children’s art exhibition. Vivien explores the learning interchanges between children and her tertiary students provoked by the creation and display of three-dimensional constructions. Her research constitutes an example of constructivism in action and provides a context for exploring Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences. Additionally, it provides a narrative for exploring new ways of engagement with learning for early childhood students who will be the caregivers of children in the new millennium.

Carole Basile & Cameron White describe an approach to environmental education in Notes from the Classroom. They outline the benefits of developing a programme which considers environmental education, in which children are engaged in learning opportunities that connect to their lives and interests. The article includes examples which highlight that environmental literacy is particularly appropriate for emphasising the world beyond the classroom, for developing depth of understanding and content knowledge, and opportunities to use higher order thinking skills.

The colloquia in this issue are particularly significant. As mentioned earlier, they include a sample of the panel contribution from the AERA SIG group and a presentation by Mindy Ochsner which was included in the Early Education and Child Development SIG. Additionally, we have responses from both sides of the world to the Reggio Emilia article by Richard Johnson, which was published in the first issue. One is from Stephen Wright, who is an early childhood educator from New South Wales in Australia, and the other from Frances Rofrano, a childcare worker in Manhattan, New York, USA. This is particularly important for us, as we are keen for Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood to be a forum for discussion of significant ideas and events in the discipline. We encourage your continued contribution in ways such as these.

Finally, we include three book reviews of texts which deal with different topics in the field. These are research methodologies, quality programmes and a text which explores the topic of pleasure in the context of early childhood education.

We have again attempted to collate a variety of articles that serve to illustrate some of the ways in which traditional practice is being discussed and challenged within the field. They continue the trend of including diverse, eclectic and exciting contributions, which we hope will stimulate your interest and agitate your minds into communicating with others in our discipline.
Susan J. Grieshaber & Nicola J. Yelland

Teletubby Tales: popular culture in the early years language and literacy curriculum

JACKIE MARSH University of Sheffield, United Kingdom

The aim of the study reported in this article was to explore the potential that popular culture has for motivating young children to engage in literacy and oracy practices in the early years. Pre-school settings and schools regularly fail to take account of children’s popular cultural interests in their development of curriculum content. Literacy practices in most nurseries and schools are located within dominant cultural discourses and in the case of many industrialised societies, this means that the curriculum usually reflects the cultural norms of white middle-class communities. In an attempt to disrupt these dominant discourses, literacy activities related to the television programme Teletubbies were introduced into two nurseries in England. Data were gathered using field notes, photographs and interviews. The article discusses how the incorporation of popular cultural texts into the curriculum provided motivation and excitement for many children, some of whom were not usually willing members of the ‘literacy club’.

A Child’s Say in Parent–Teacher Talk at the Pre-school: doing conversation analytic research in early childhood settings

MICHELE J. LEIMINER & CAROLYN D. BAKER Graduate School of Education, University of Queensland, Australia

In this article the authors analyse how one child actively participates in a particular occasion of home–pre-school communication conducted in a pre-school setting. A conversation analytic perspective is adopted to analyse the three-way parent–teacher–child conversation. This instance shows how a child becomes a speaker in the talk rather than being only a topic of talk between adults. The analysis provides an understanding of how the participants collaboratively construct and produce ‘the competent pre-school child’ and ‘the competent conversational member’ in, and through, their talk. It also examines how the teacher’s version of social order is challenged by the child in the conversation. In addition, by proceeding from a distinctly different theoretical perspective, that of conversation analysis, it is possible to show how qualitative research can provide new understandings of an important dimension of early childhood practice.

Working Perspectives within Feminism and Early Childhood Education

HEATHER ANNE DE LAIR University of New Mexico, USA
ERIC ERWIN Orleans-Essex North Supervisory Union, Early Childhood Programs, Newport, USA

The authors describe a model for feminist-based early childhood practice from two perspectives: the classroom teacher and the teacher educator. Using examples from their own work, the authors outline the assumptions and the principles which guide their work with children and adults. Implications for the field are discussed.

Listening to Young Children Talking on the Telephone: a reassessment of Vygotsky’s notion of ‘egocentric speech’

JULIA GILLEN Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom

In this article the author explores aspects of young children’s private speech, examining characteristics of their development of discourse knowledge in utterances that are not directed to actual conversants. Two routes are taken, which the author tries to interlink without seeking a hard and fast juncture. The first is a study of what children are doing when they talk into a toy telephone, with reference to a transcript taken from empirical research. Knowledge of the essential structure of telephone discourse is displayed, as are emotional motivations behind the construction of pretence talk. The second is the notion of ‘egocentric speech’ as coined by Piaget and developed, within his sociocultural perspective to language acquisition, by Vygotsky. The author argues that dominant contemporary presentations of Vygotsky’s notion of ‘egocentric speech’ tend to stress the self-regulatory or planning function at the expense of its role in expression of the imagination. The two discussions come together in the suggestion that the deployment of the imagination in reassembling sociocultural knowledge for the creation of pretence play, sometimes expressed in private speech, can be a significant factor in the exercise of discourse competencies for young children.

A Unique Pedagogical Project Contextualised within a Children’s Art Exhibition

VIVIEN HARRIS University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia

Interactions in learning between young children and early childhood student teachers, in a context outside the usual practicum, are reported in this article. The context is a children’s art exhibition, in which over 280 artworks of children aged between 17 months and 6 years were exhibited. The project focuses on the mediation of thinking and creative expression between children and early childhood students, around three-dimensional works of art, which generated cross-modal artistic expression in both groups. Students visiting the exhibition were guided by their lecturer in a story-making process, prompted by children’s symbolic expressions. The aim was to exemplify a pedagogical process in which children’s thinking could be accessed, and then further mediated through story-drama. These stories, and other artworks, were then shared with children back in their early childhood programmes to stimulate further thinking, creativity, and representation across a range of symbolic languages – construction, music-making, dance and pretence. The ‘partnership in thinking’ between children and students thus occurred without face-to-face interactions, but through their symbolic communications. Hence, the art exhibition provided a stimulus and context for integrated learning exchanges between children and early childhood student teachers. This represents a creative pedagogical framework which exemplifies partnerships in action, and a Vygotskian approach to adult and child pedagogy.

Environmental Literacy: providing an interdisciplinary context for young children

CAROLE BASILE & CAMERON WHITE University of Houston, USA

This article outlines the benefits of developing a program considering environmental education in which children are engaged in learning opportunities that connect to their lives and interests. The authors contend that reform efforts generally focus on the application of content knowledge by using higher order thinking skills and encourage connections to be made with the world beyond the classroom. The article includes examples which highlight that environmental literacy is particularly appropriate for emphasizing the world beyond the classroom, for developing depth of understanding and content knowledge, and opportunities to use higher order thinking skills

Gendered Make-up

MINDY BLAISE OCHSNER Rhode Island College, Providence, USA

This article summarizes a recently completed study of gender in an urban kindergarten classroom in the USA. Using a feminist post-structuralist framework to analyze gender, this qualitative study examined how 5 and 6 year-old students socially constructed themselves as gendered beings through the heterosexual matrix. By documenting and analyzing students’ talk, actions, drawings, and writings, this investigation explored how students regulated the gendered social order of the classroom through their understandings of gender norms and ideals. Using critical discourse analysis, six gender discourses emerged, uncovering the heterosexual matrix. One of those gender discourses, labeled ‘make-up,’ is briefly discussed.

Critical and Feminist Reconstructions of Early Childhood Education: continuing the conversations

Organizer: GAILE S. CANNELLA Texas A & M University, College Station, USA

Over the past few years, several early childhood educators have engaged in both critical and feminist analyses of the dominant perspectives in early childhood education. Following the work of such scholars as William Pinar and Maxine Greene, they have called for reconceptualizations of the field. In a recent session at the American Educational Research Association conference, a large panel of early childhood educators shared their visions for reconceptualization. Four of those visions are included in this colloquium. Readers are invited to react and provide their own suggestions.

Why Reggio Emilia Doesn’t Exist: a response to Richard Johnson

STEPHEN WRIGHT

In this colloquia the author responds to Richard Johnson’s ‘Colonialism and Cargo Cults in Early Childhood Education: does Reggio Emilia really exist?’ (Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 1, pp. 61-77). The colloquia paraphrases Richard Johnson’s article, examining the metaphor of power and prestige and extending it in this textual interaction. The author argues that while Richard Johnson makes many valid points about ‘cargo cultism’ in early childhood education, he may have misread the literature on Reggio Emilia, and has failed to adequately deconstruct his own perceptions of Reggio Emilia programmes, and his own position as a member of a professional elite.

A Response to ‘Colonialism and Cargo Cults in Early Childhood Education: does Reggio Emilia really exist?’ (Johnson, 1999)

FRANCES ROFRANO

In this response, Rofrano argues that Johnson (Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 1, pp. 61–77) positioned himself implicitly within academic rationalist discourse by using formal academic language, and positioned those who support Reggio as existing outside that frame. Rofrano shows that Johnson used more informal, emotional language in his description of early childhood educators who support Reggio and in so doing perpetuated one of the discourses which he set out to critique.

CALL FOR PAPERS

The editors of Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood are planning a special issue that focuses on young children, families and early childhood services in relation to race, racism and indigenous issues.

Articles are encouraged that deal with these issues, and may include insights that focus on colonialism/post-colonialism, othering, issues of identity, difference, politics, social change etc. Intending contributors are referred to the notes on How to Contribute (see left-hand panel). Please email articles to the Editors by 30 July 2000: n.yelland@qut.edu.au
s.grieshaber@qut.edu.au

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