Contemporary Issues in
Early Childhood

ISSN 1463-9491

Volume 10 Number 2 2009

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

Editorial, pages 90‑91
Ellen Beate Hansen Sandseter. Children’s Expressions of Exhilaration and Fear in Risky Play, pages 92‑106
Glenda Anthony & Margaret Walshaw. Mathematics Education in the Early Years: building bridges, pages 107‑121
Ann-Marie Markström. The Parent–Teacher Conference in the Swedish Preschool: a study of an ongoing process as a ‘pocket of local order’, pages 122‑132
Kerry Purdue. Barriers to and Facilitators of Inclusion for Children with Disabilities in Early Childhood Education, pages 133‑143
Sheila Degotardi & Emma Pearson. Relationship Theory in the Nursery: attachment and beyond, pages 144‑155
Michelle Ortlipp. Shaping Conduct and Bridling Passions: governing practicum supervisors’ practice of assessment, pages 156‑167
Margaret Stuart. ‘Crossing the Rubicon’: strategic planning or neo-biopower? A Critique of the Language of New Zealand’s Early Childhood Strategic Plan, pages 168‑181

COLLOQUIUM
Danné E. Davis & Minsun Shin. The Lives of Sesame Street: the impact of foreclosures on young children and families, pages 182‑184

BOOK REVIEWS doi:10.2304/ciec.2009.10.2.185 VIEW FULL TEXT
Doing Action Research in Early Childhood Studies: a step by step guide (Glenda MacNaughton & Patrick Hughes), reviewed by Louise Phillips, pages 185‑187
Connecting with Children: developing working relationships (Pam Foley & Stephen Leverett, Eds), reviewed by Melinda G. Miller, pages 187‑190

Editorial

doi:10.2304/ciec.2009.10.2.90

This second issue of Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood for 2009 retains the customary international perspective with a total of seven articles coming from New Zealand, Sweden, Norway and Australia, and covers topics that range from play to mathematics and parent–teacher conferences. In the first article, Ellen Sandseter takes readers through an exploration of how children experience different kinds of risky play. Video observations from two preschools in Norway are used to investigate the emotions that children feel when involved in risky play; with both pure fear and pure exhilaration experienced, often at the same time. Sandseter makes a strong argument that risk taking is an important part of children’s play and that children should be able to engage in play that challenges them and that suits their individual ‘sense of risk and urge for exhilaration’. In some countries, health and safety regulations restrict what might be thought of as risky play, so it is refreshing to read an article that provides insight into children’s emotional responses to risky play and the enjoyment that children experience from such play.

Another area of early childhood education that has presented challenges for practitioners is mathematics. It seems that many of those who work in the field are much more comfortable with encouraging the development of language and literacy than mathematics, and this may well reflect their own early experiences with mathematics. In the second article, Glenda Anthony & Margaret Walshaw not only highlight the significance of mathematics in the early years, but they also signal the importance of mathematical content knowledge for early childhood practitioners. They identify people, relationships, pedagogical practices and learning environments as key factors in enhancing the development of young children’s mathematical abilities. But the crux of their argument is that the sector stands to benefit considerably from projects about mathematics pedagogy that span the preschool and early school educational settings.

The article from Ann-Marie Markström explores the complexity of the construction of parent–teacher conferences in two Swedish preschools. Time, space, routines and artefacts are important parts of how conferences are constructed, and the talk that occurs at conferences is governed by the expectations associated with social practices and the form that is to be completed. Markström develops the idea of the parent–teacher conference as a ‘pocket of local order’, claiming that the official space for conferences has expanded, resulting in a blurring of the boundary between home and preschool.

The inclusion of children with disabilities in early childhood education is the topic of the article by Kerry Purdue. Although New Zealand has strong policies and well-developed legislation to support the inclusion of children with disabilities, Purdue examines policies and practices that facilitate inclusion as well as barriers that prevent inclusion occurring. Analysis of data leads to four implications of research findings, which prove instructive for those wanting to achieve more inclusive practices for children and families.

One of the goals of Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood is to bring alternative perspectives to the field. In their article, Sheila Degotardi & Emma Pearson move beyond attachment as a sole approach to understanding infants and their relationships with others. They do not abandon attachment theory completely, but suggest, among other things, that a more dynamic approach to understanding infants’ relationships is needed – one that accords a significant role to infants themselves and recognises the complexity as well as the sophistication of relationships with and among infants.

Keeping with the theme of drawing on alternative perspectives, two articles in this issue use ideas from Foucault to critique aspects of the work of practicum supervisors (Ortlipp) and the language used in a New Zealand policy document (Stuart). Michelle Ortlipp analyses how tertiary supervisors are positioned when visiting early childhood teacher education students for the purpose of assessing their practicum experience. She shows how they are able to ‘work the system’, concealing their subjective judgment by using technical administrative procedures to present logical and rational assessments that make themselves look professional and objective. In a different use of Foucault, Margaret Stuart traces the use of the term ‘strategy’ by applying Foucault’s genealogical approach. She uses organisational studies as an example of the way in which ‘strategy’ has moved to education, specifically to policy documents such as the New Zealand Pathways to the Future: a ten-year strategic plan for early childhood education. She shows that one of the problems is that the term retains vestiges of the original meaning as it relates to business yet is applied to education.

In this issue we have one colloquium from Danné E. Davis & Minsun Shin: ‘The Lives of Sesame Street: the impact of foreclosures on young children and families’. Davis & Shin consider the effects of the subprime financial crisis in the USA on families and children. Two book reviews complete this issue. Louise Phillips considers Doing Action Research in Early Childhood Studies: a step by step guide (2009), which is written by Glenda Mac Naughton & Patrick Hughes. Melinda Miller reviews a book edited by Pam Foley & Stephen Leverett called Connecting with Children: developing working relationships (2008).

We hope you enjoy this issue.

Sue Grieshaber & Lynn Wilss
Queensland University of Technology,
Brisbane, Australia

Children’s Expressions of Exhilaration and Fear in Risky Play

ELLEN BEATE HANSEN SANDSETER Department of Physical Education, Queen Maud University College of Early Childhood Education (DMMH), Trondheim, Norway

doi:10.2304/ciec.2009.10.2.92

Children naturally seek and conduct exciting forms of play that involve a risk of physical injury (risky play). Even though several prior studies give descriptions of risky play, none of them deeply explore children’s expressions of how they experience different kinds of risky play. This study aims to do that. The results from video observations of children’s risky play in two Norwegian preschools reveal that children experience several emotions, expressed bodily, facially, and verbally, while engaging in risky play. Their experiences include both pure exhilaration and pure fear, and quite often both emotions are present at the same time. The findings also indicate that one of the main aspects of risky play is to keep the exhilaration bordering on the feeling of pure fear; but if pure fear occurs, the play ends with withdrawal. Suggested implications of the study are that risk taking should be acknowledged as an important part of children’s play, and that children should be able to engage in challenging play adjusted to their individual sense of risk and urge for exhilaration.

Mathematics Education in the Early Years: building bridges

GLENDA ANTHONY & MARGARET WALSHAW College of Education, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

doi:10.2304/ciec.2009.10.2.107

Aligned with the enhanced international commitment to early childhood education, recognition of the importance of providing young children with opportunities to develop mathematical understandings and skills is increasing. While there is much research about effective mathematics pedagogy in the school sector, less research activity is evident within the early childhood sector. Focused on people, relationships and the learning environment, this article draws on a synthesis of research on effective pedagogical practices to describe effective learning communities that can enhance the development of young children’s mathematical identities and competencies. Concerned that the wider synthesis noted limited cross-sector collaboration within the mathematics education community, this article aims to act as a bridge for researchers currently working within the preschool and school sectors. The authors argue that understandings of effective pedagogies that enhance young children’s mathematics learning will benefit from more cross-sector research studies.

The Parent–Teacher Conference in the Swedish Preschool: a study of an ongoing process as a ‘pocket of local order’

ANN-MARIE MARKSTRÖM Department of Social and Welfare Studies, Linköping University, Sweden

doi:10.2304/ciec.2009.10.2.122

This article explores the construction of parent–teacher conferences in the Swedish preschool and focuses on processes that construct and maintain these meetings. The analysis draws upon an ethnographic study in two preschools and the empirical material consists of 11 audiotaped parent–teacher conferences and observations of everyday activities related to them. By using empirical data from a wider context than the specific speech event, it is possible to gain knowledge about the complexity of the construction of parent–teacher conferences. Using the concept of a ‘pocket of local order’, it is argued that parent–teacher conferences are practices which consist of a large number of activities linked to resources and restrictions that can be interpreted as an imperative to the participants to conduct talks in preschool and at home, to fill in forms and then use these activities in the conference. In addition, parents and teachers, as well as children, contribute to the construction and maintenance of the pocket of local order, i.e. activities that can be interpreted as an imperative to the actors to reach institutional goals.

Barriers to and Facilitators of Inclusion for Children with Disabilities in Early Childhood Education

KERRY PURDUE School of Mäori, Social and Cultural Studies in Education, University of Canterbury College of Education, Christchurch, New Zealand

doi:10.2304/ciec.2009.10.2.133

In the New Zealand education system, as in other countries, legislation and early childhood policy has been developed to support equity, social justice and democratic participation for children with disabilities and their families. However, despite this non-discriminatory and inclusive policy and legislative environment, some children with disabilities and their families experience exclusionary and discriminatory early childhood settings and struggle to access quality education. In this article, the author examines some of the barriers to and facilitators of inclusion for children with disabilities and their families in early childhood education. The author also suggests some changes in cultures, policies and practices that may help create early childhood settings that would see all children included.

Relationship Theory in the Nursery: attachment and beyond

SHEILA DEGOTARDI & EMMA PEARSON Institute of Early Childhood, Macquarie University, Australia

doi:10.2304/ciec.2009.10.2.144

Contemporary approaches to early childhood education widely acknowledge that young children’s relationships with others play a fundamental role in their learning and development. This article explores the construct of relationships within the context of early childhood infant programmes through an examination of the contribution and applicability of attachment theory to current understandings of the nature and consequences of young children’s relationships in these settings. A review of the sociocultural context of relationships, the infants’ role in relationship formation, and the nature of peer relationships leads to the proposal that practitioners, policy makers, and researchers need to adopt a wider, more dynamic approach to relationships that includes, but extends beyond, that afforded by attachment theory alone.

Shaping Conduct and Bridling Passions: governing practicum supervisors’ practice of assessment

MICHELLE ORTLIPP Early Childhood, School of Education, University of Ballarat, Mount Helen, Australia

doi:10.2304/ciec.2009.10.2.156

Courses preparing early childhood professionals through institutes of technical and further education utilise competency standards to guide the assessment of students during professional experience. Some universities offering early childhood teacher education courses use the term ‘competencies’ in practicum assessment forms and draw on teacher competency standards. This article explores how discourses of competence produced within positivist and liberal humanist discourses shape, guide and direct (govern) tertiary supervisors’ beliefs about and understandings of the legitimacy of their professional judgement. Tertiary supervisors take up these discourses and use them as the basis upon which they govern themselves. The author argues that one of the effects of governmentality in this instance is that tertiary supervisors regulate and silence their professional judgement and defer to discourses of scientific rationality when assessing students on practicum placements. They produce assessment strategies that enable them to hide their subjective judgement within what appears to be a logical, rational and objective assessment process and position themselves as the rational, objective assessor, and, at the same time, the fair, responsible tertiary supervisor.

‘Crossing the Rubicon’: strategic planning or neo-biopower? A Critique of the Language of New Zealand’s Early Childhood Strategic Plan

MARGARET STUART School of Education, Waikato Institute of Technology, Hamilton, New Zealand

doi:10.2304/ciec.2009.10.2.168

‘Strategy’ is a word that has had an increasing use in recent years. The discipline of organisational studies has adopted this concept to set out the primacy of good business practices, such as foretelling risk and opportunity. Government policy documents use the term where medium- and long-term goals are set out, for example, the New Zealand Ministry of Education’s Pathways to the Future. A Ten-Year Strategic Plan for Early Childhood Education. This article uses Michel Foucault’s methodology of genealogy to trace the emergence of the term ‘strategy’, its use in organisational studies, and its displacement to education, specifically early childhood education in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The study by Richard Whipp into the effectiveness of strategic planning supports the problematising of the term. The study deconstructs some naturalised truths about the image of people, of time, and of analysts’ reflexivity. It asks about the use of terms that originated in the military lexicon, such as ‘manoeuvres’, ‘strategy’, ‘target’, ‘plan’ and ‘risk’, but have slipped to that of business practices, retaining traces, however, of the original military intent. Foucault inverted the phrase that ‘politics is war by any other means’ as institutions centralised control, set up supervision of populations, and collected statistics to plot changed patterns. This article examines some of the tracery that remains in such use of governmental language, and asks if this is the most appropriate lexicon for education.

The Lives of Sesame Street: the impact of foreclosures on young children and families

DANNÉ E. DAVIS & MINSUN SHIN College of Education and Human Services, Montclair State University, USA

doi:10.2304/ciec.2009.10.2.182

While significant attention has been paid to Wall Street investors and families impacted by the current subprime mortgage crisis in the USA, the lives of Sesame Street are minimally discussed. Children and their families are enduring a variety of consequences of foreclosures. The consequences can be hugely disruptive to the approximately 2 million voiceless victims. For the youngest citizens of the USA – its children – the subprime mortgage crisis, particularly home foreclosures, is impacting school attendance, academic performance and achievement, social development and emotional well-being. The authors argue that media and political attention should also include the unintended and often unnoticed repercussions of foreclosures on young children and their education. It is also argued that educators and policy makers should create policies and develop concerted efforts to alleviate the negative impacts on young children.

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