Contemporary Issues in
Early Childhood

ISSN 1463-9491

Volume 10 Number 3 2009

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

SPECIAL ISSUE
Examining a Lifeworld: early childhood policy in practice
Guest Editors: SHARON RYAN & ELIZABETH GRAUE

Sharon Ryan & Elizabeth Graue. Editorial. Examining a Lifeworld: early childhood policy in practice, pages 190‑193 doi:10.2304/ciec.2009.10.3.190 VIEW FULL TEXT
Kathryn Bown, Jennifer Sumsion & Frances Press. Influences on Politicians’ Decision Making for Early Childhood Education and Care Policy: what do we know? What don’t we know?, pages 194‑217
Tamara Glupczynski Spencer. Complicating What it Means to ‘Struggle’: one young child’s experience with a mandated literacy initiative, pages 218‑231
Patricia Bowens McCarthy & Elsa-Sofia Morote. The Link between Investment in Early Childhood Preschools and High School Graduation Rates for African American Males in the United States of America, pages 232‑239
Christopher P. Brown. Confronting the Contradictions: a case study of early childhood teacher development in neoliberal times, pages 240‑259

Response to articles by
Bown et al, Spencer, Bowens McCarthy & Morote, and Brown
Frances O’Connell Rust. Building Bridges between Early Childhood Educators and Education Policy Makers, pages 260‑262 doi:10.2304/ciec.2009.10.3.260 VIEW FULL TEXT

Gail Yuen & Susan Grieshaber. Parents’ Choice of Early Childhood Education Services in Hong Kong: a pilot study about vouchers, pages 263‑279
Zsuzsa Millei & Robert Imre. The Problems with Using the Concept of ‘Citizenship’ in Early Years Policy, pages 280‑290
David V. Ruffolo. Queering Child/hood Policies: Canadian examples and perspectives, pages 291‑308

Response to articles by
Yuen & Grieshaber, Millei & Imre, and Ruffolo
Rebecca S. New. ECE Policies (and Policy Debates) as Sociocultural Mirror, pages 309‑311 doi:10.2304/ciec.2009.10.3.309 VIEW FULL TEXT

BOOK REVIEWS
Making Sense of Every Child Matters: multi-professional practice guidance (Richard Barker, Ed.), reviewed by Sarah Hosken, pages 312‑313
Managing Early Childhood Settings (A. Robbins & S. Callan, Eds), reviewed by Megan Gibson, pages 313‑314 doi:10.2304/ciec.2009.10.3.312 VIEW FULL TEXT

Influences on Politicians’ Decision Making for Early Childhood Education and Care Policy: what do we know? What don’t we know?

KATHRYN BOWN, JENNIFER SUMSION & FRANCES PRESS Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, Australia

doi:10.2304/ciec.2009.10.3.194

Politicians play a key role in determining policy content and outcomes for early childhood education and care (ECEC). As a result, the quality of formal ECEC provisions for children rests considerably on the policy decisions of politicians. Despite direct and indirect effects of politicians’ policy decisions for the ECEC field, few studies explore influences on politicians’ policy decisions, and fewer still pertain to ECEC. In light of the significant gap in the research investigating how and why politicians make the decisions that they do, the authors present a case for a research agenda to investigate politicians’ policy decision-making processes in ECEC. A review of the literature pertaining to influences on political decision making reveals some possible influences on politicians’ decision making generally, but not for ECEC policy specifically. Using the policy sphere of ECEC to illustrate the complexities of social policy development and implementation in a democratic political system, the authors put forward a conceptualisation of policy that generates a wide range of questions to inform the development of a research agenda. They conclude with a discussion of the possible implications that a research agenda investigating politicians’ policy decisions in ECEC might have for the early childhood field.

Complicating What it Means to ‘Struggle’: one young child’s experience with a mandated literacy initiative

TAMARA GLUPCZYNSKI SPENCER College of Education and Human Services, Montclair State University, USA

doi:10.2304/ciec.2009.10.3.218

In this article, the author explores the implementation of the K-3 Reading First initiative and its recommendation for scientifically based reading curricula. During a time of high-stakes testing and accountability, this policy has emphasized a skills-based approach to reading and placed importance on scripted teaching models. Using data from a qualitative study in a public school in New York City, the author draws on the experiences of one young child to see how the standardization of early literacy curriculum shaped his school-based literacy practices.

The Link between Investment in Early Childhood Preschools and High School Graduation Rates for African American Males in the United States of America

PATRICIA BOWENS McCARTHY Educational Consultant, Islandia, New York, USA
ELSA-SOFIA MOROTE Dowling College, Oakdale, New York USA

doi:10.2304/ciec.2009.10.3.232

This article reports the investigation of the extent to which US preschool federal funding (Head Start) and the preschool enrollment of African American males (aged three to five) affected the high school graduation rates of this population (aged 14 to 19). The authors found that a link exists between preschool enrollment and the high school graduation rate of this population. They also found a link between Head Start funding and the high school graduation rate for this group.

Confronting the Contradictions: a case study of early childhood teacher development in neoliberal times

CHRISTOPHER P. BROWN University of Texas at Austin, USA

doi:10.2304/ciec.2009.10.3.240

As neoliberal polices that emphasize governing the modern state through market-based principles expand across the globe, they are altering the training of early childhood teacher candidates. This creates a range of challenges for those teacher educators who are critical of this reform process. This article presents an instrumental case study that examined the impact of neoliberal education reforms on the development of a sample of early education teacher candidates. Analyzing this case of teacher development offers teacher educators the opportunity to consider the practical and critical steps they might take to better prepare their candidates for these reforms. Doing so will help teacher candidates develop early learning experiences for their children that teach them to become engaged democratic citizens rather than compliant consumers within the neoliberal state.

Parents’ Choice of Early Childhood Education Services in Hong Kong: a pilot study about vouchers

GAIL YUEN Department of Early Childhood Education, Hong Kong Institute of Education
SUSAN GRIESHABER School of Early Childhood, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, Australia

doi:10.2304/ciec.2009.10.3.263

The introduction of a voucher scheme for early childhood education in Hong Kong has resulted in significant changes in the field. This article reports data from a pilot study that aimed at understanding better how parents chose an early childhood education service following the introduction of a voucher scheme in Hong Kong. Eighty-six Chinese parents with children aged three participated in interviews and focus group discussions. This group of parents had just undergone the process of selecting a kindergarten or nursery for their children for the school year 2007‑2008. The participants were from a range of socioeconomic circumstances and educational levels who had selected non-profit-making kindergartens and nurseries in public and private housing estates. The results showed that what parents looked for in their choice of service closely matched how they defined quality. Moreover, their views on quality greatly resembled the specific notion of quality that the recent reform policy has been heavily promoting. The findings point to the complex interactions among policy, choice, and practices of early childhood education. The new voucher scheme is intensifying the governing of both the self and the field, the impact of which is worrisome.

The Problems with Using the Concept of ‘Citizenship’ in Early Years Policy

ZSUZSA MILLEI School of Education, University of Newcastle, Australia
ROBERT IMRE School of Economics, Politics and Tourism, University of Newcastle, Australia

doi:10.2304/ciec.2009.10.3.280

Early years policy increasingly uses the concept of ‘citizenship’ in relation to children in Australia and worldwide. This concept is used as a taken-for-granted idea; however, there is no singularly agreed-upon answer to the question of what ‘citizenship’ means when used in relation to children, and what practical considerations it carries both for policymaking and for implementation. This article introduces theoretical ideas of ‘citizenship’ from the field of political theory in order to begin a discussion on how we imagine and might imagine children as citizens in policy discourses. Some conceptualisations of children as citizens are also discussed and questioned as starting points to consider in regard to the use of the notion of children as citizens in policy and practice.

Queering Child/hood Policies: Canadian examples and perspectives

DAVID V. RUFFOLO School of Early Childhood Education, Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

doi:10.2304/ciec.2009.10.3.291

This article examines how notions of ‘child’ and ‘childhood’ are produced in relation to recent early childhood policies in Ontario, Canada. It centers on an ongoing shift from Foucauldian disciplinary societies to Deleuzian control societies where it is argued that early childhood subjects (researchers, students, educators, administrators, and parents) are becoming less confined to specific spaces and tasks and are more controlled by the flows of knowledge, information, and communication. Current public policy debates are used to explore how early childhood education (ece) is becoming increasingly aligned with neoliberal calls for privatization, corporatization, and marketization. For instance, evidence-based practices and quality control indicators are quickly replacing developmental norms that have traditionally normalized and abnormalized children. The consequences of these transformations are examined using queer theory as a critical lens to explore how the identities of ECE subjects are deeply implicated in social, cultural, political, and economic factors – influences that are changing as a result of the shift from discipline to control.

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