Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
ISSN 1463-9491

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

Editorial

http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/ciec.2011.12.3.196

The phrase ‘Use your words’ is a well-known refrain for many in early childhood education. The first article in this issue should cause readers to stop and think because it questions the use of this phrase. Jolyn Blank & Jenifer Schneider explore the language practices associated with the ‘apology ritual’ used by one teacher when faced with conflict between children in the classroom. In the scenario described, the authors suggest that conflict is positioned as destructive. They show how the requirement of ‘using words’ paradoxically situates the language of conflict as a conflict resolution convention. Characteristics of Destructive and Constructive Conflict are identified, with the latter an alternate approach that capitalises on the cognitive challenges of conflict. Blank & Schneider conclude that a constructive approach to conflict has ‘great power to support authentic learning in ways that value the relationship between cognition and affect, yet that potential is untapped when conflict resolution is constructed as assigning blame and coercing apology’ (p. 210).

The second article in this issue (‘Avoiding Recolonisation in Early Childhood: promoting local values as mediators in the spread of globalisation’) comes from Emma Pearson, who confronts matters of globalisation in Hong Kong and the educational reforms that have occurred there since 1997, when the British withdrew and the Special Administrative Region was established. Pearson makes a case for recognising the influence of European-American modes of thinking, and as part of the title indicates, avoiding the possibility of recolonisation. To Pearson, one way of preventing recolonisation is the resolute consideration of local values in both policy and practice.

Parental involvement in early childhood education is a phenomenon that has been researched internationally. The article by Merfat Fayez, Saed A. Sabah and Enaam Abu Rudwan investigates both the school- and home-based involvement practices of parents of children attending kindergarten in the city of Zarqa, Jordan. Data were gathered using a questionnaire that sought demographic information as well as information about parents’ socioeconomic level, and the level of parental education. As little research of this kind has occurred in Jordan, the results are instructive for learning about type of involvement that currently occurs and ways of increasing the involvement of parents in kindergartens.

The idea of parent education moves to another dimension with Ulrika Widding’s ideas about parent education as a governing strategy and an integral part of lifelong education. Widding asks: what makes good parents (according to the government); a good childhood; and do parents know that they are being constructed as self-regulating and lifelong learners? Widding claims that the government has an ideal version of parenthood, which is constrained by particular combinations of gender, social class, race or ethnicity, and sexuality, so that the ‘good parent seems to be the white, heterosexual, middle-class mother in a relationship’ (p. 256). This contradicts the Swedish government’s policy of supporting parents as it excludes those not positioned as ‘good’ parents and ‘desirable’ children. Widding suggests that the very existence of parent programs indicates that parenting (and therefore childhood) is constructed as potentially problematic and in need of correction.

The recent emphasis on educational play and learning outcomes in early childhood curriculum documents internationally has provided a challenge for many in the field. Marilyn Fleer provides insight (‘‘Conceptual Play’: foregrounding imagination and cognition during concept formation in early years education) into the ways in which imagination and cognition can work together in play-based programs to support children’s concept formation. Fleer draws on a number of cultural-historical theorists to introduce a new theory of play called ‘conceptual play’, which, she says, will help teachers to work more conceptually with children in play-based programs. Recent debate has identified conflicting ideas about adult and curriculum generated play experiences as opposed to those that are child-initiated (see Wood, 2009). In conceptual play, teachers are active in leading conceptual development but children’s agency is recognised. Fleer highlights the importance of conceptual development for cognition in the early years and beyond.

Danielle Twigg offers insight into children’s lived experiences of how their visual artwork is displayed in classrooms. In challenging traditional views of display, Twigg urges readers to consider children’s rights and undertake decision-making processes with them as part of the process of displaying visual artworks. This can be achieved by sensitive interactions with children, which Twigg says can result in a more positive artistic learning experience. The value lies in enhancing teachers’ understandings of the purpose and impact of displaying children’s artwork.

The final article in this issue (‘A Question of Gender-Sensitive Pedagogy: discourses in pedagogical guidelines’) focuses on gender equity. Ingrid Karlson and Maria Simonsson undertook a Foucault-inspired discourse analysis of two documents that provide guidelines about gender equity in Swedish preschools. They identified three discourses from the documents: one about preschool institutions, one about gender and equity, and one about gender-pedagogical discourse.

This issue concludes with a colloquium and a book review. In the colloquium, Dana Frantz Bentley writes about the identity of a teacher-researcher in being ‘banished from the classroom’. She reflects on the qualifications of early childhood educators and contemplates the position of the overqualified early childhood educator. Allison Henward reviews Engaging Play, edited by Liz Brooker and Susan Edwards (2010) and published by Open University Press. We hope you enjoy this issue!

Sue Grieshaber
Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

Reference
Wood, E. (2009) Conceptualising a Pedagogy of Play: international perspectives from theory, policy and practice, in D. Kuschner (Ed.) From Children to Red Hatters®: diverse images and issues of play. Play & Culture Studies, vol. 8, pp. 166‑189. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.

‘Use Your Words:’ reconsidering the language of conflict in the early years

JOLYN BLANK & JENIFER JASINSKI SCHNEIDER Department of Childhood Education and Literacy Studies, University of South Florida, Tampa, USA

http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/ciec.2011.12.3.198

This article explores the nature of classroom conflict as language practice. The authors describe the enactment of conflict events in one kindergarten classroom and analyze the events in order to identify the language practices teachers use, considering teachers’ desires for language use in relation to conflict and exploring the nature of the interplay between what is said to be desired and the implicit messages of the lived experience of conflict. The authors describe the nature of conflict events as apology ritual and suggest that this practice is reflective of a way of framing conflict as destructive, illustrating the way in which the notion of ‘using words’ situates the language of conflict as a This article explores the nature of classroom conflict as language practice. The authors describe the enactment of conflict events in one kindergarten classroom and analyze the events in order to identify the language practices teachers use, considering teachers’ desires for language use in relation to conflict and exploring the nature of the interplay between what is said to be desired and the implicit messages of the lived experience of conflict. The authors describe the nature of conflict events as apology ritual and suggest that this practice is reflective of a way of framing conflict as destructive, illustrating the way in which the notion of ‘using words’ situates the language of conflict as a conflict resolution convention. They argue that there are complex and contradictory underlying assumptions at play in conflict events and position them within larger school discipline and developmentally appropriate practice discourses. Finally, they close the article with a consideration of alternative perspectives on classroom conflict events.

Avoiding Recolonisation in Early Childhood: promoting local values as mediators in the spread of globalisation

EMMA PEARSON Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Institute of Education, Universiti Brunei Darussalam

http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/ciec.2011.12.3.212

This article seeks to draw attention to ways in which culturally based values and practices can and should influence implementation of globalised approaches to early childhood education and care across diverse contexts. Recent discussions have drawn attention to complexities associated with assimilation of globalised notions across diverse cultural contexts. This article is situated within such discussions, highlighting patterns of differentiation in the spread of globalisation across aspects of policy and practice. The article’s position is that wider promotion of such patterns, as processes through which local values might mediate the impact of globalisation on early childhood services, will support avoidance of global ‘recolonisation’ of policy and practice. To illustrate, the article draws on examples from Hong Kong, where wide-ranging educational reforms were implemented following withdrawal of the British colonial government in 1997. A range of mixed responses to the reforms has prompted valuable discussions around challenges associated with framing educational development around globalised ideals. These responses are taken as a basis from which to suggest that, while governments across the globe may share a commitment to key goals for early childhood, local values can and should inform approaches to achieving such goals at the level of everyday practice.

‘Conceptual Play’: foregrounding imagination and cognition during concept formation in early years education

MARILYN FLEER Faculty of Education, Monash University, Frankston, Victoria, Australia

http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/ciec.2011.12.3.224

The international trend to increase the cognitive achievement of early childhood children has generated a need for better understanding how concept formation occurs within play-based programs. Yet the theories of play for supporting early childhood professionals were originally not conceptualized with this need in mind. In this article, concepts from cultural-historical theory are used to theorise how imagination and cognition can work together in play-based programs to support concept formation. This article theorises at a psychological level how both cognition and imagination work in unity and develop in complexity, with imagination acting as the bridge between play and learning. A dialectical view of imagination and cognition is foregrounded, and through this a new theory of play, named as conceptual play, is introduced. It is argued that conceptual play will help teachers to work more conceptually with children in their play-based programs.

The State and Level of Involvement among Jordanian Kindergarten Parents and its Relationship to Teachers’ Efforts of Outreach

MERFAT FAYEZ Queen Rania Faculty for Early Childhood, Hashemite University, Jordan
SAED A. SABAH Faculty of Educational Sciences, Hashemite University, Jordan
ENAAM ABU RUDWAN Queen Rania Faculty for Early Childhood, Hashemite University, Jordan

http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/ciec.2011.12.3.241

This study explored both the school- and home-based involvement practices of parents of children attending kindergarten in the city of Zarqa, Jordan. The study also examined the effect of some selected parental demographic variables (i.e. socioeconomic levels and levels of education) on parent involvement and the relationship between kindergarten parental involvement practices and parents’ perceptions of teachers’ efforts of outreach. Data were collected from 310 kindergarten parents using a 33-item questionnaire. Results of the study revealed that kindergarten parents involve themselves in different ways and assume different roles in their children’s education at home and school. In general, parents were more participatory in home than in the school. Furthermore, there were no significant effects of parents’ socioeconomic levels and levels of education on their home and school involvement practices. On the other hand, the results indicated a weak but significant relationship between parents’ perceptions of teachers’ efforts of outreach and both their home and school-based involvement practices. Different suggestions and recommendations for enhancing the involvement of kindergarten parents were addressed and presented based on the findings of this study.

‘Transform Your Child’s Behaviour Now’: parent education as self-help culture and lifelong learning

ULRIKA WIDDING Department of Education, Umeå University, Sweden

http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/ciec.2011.12.3.252

Parents in the Western world today are often said to feel unsure and inadequate and as a consequence there are a plethora of self-help products on the market as well as parent education programmes. This article explores the kinds of research questions that are raised by this state of affairs. The discussion is mainly based on existing studies of self-help culture as well as other studies of parents and families. One argument is that parent education, which is aimed at supporting parents to improve their parenting skills, is part of a governing strategy in a learning society. The Swedish government has an ongoing investment in parent education. This community support for parents is used as a reference point to study the ways in which parents are governed and how discourses on what constitutes a good parent or child at a government level are transformed into parent education advice and programmes. Other issues consider the importance of studies regarding how parents interpret these discourses and focus on the processes of inclusion and exclusion and the ways that some parents and children become problematic and hard to reach with regard to, for example, issues around gender, social class and ethnicity.

Look out Below (and Above)! Challenging Adult Understandings of Displaying Young Children’s Artwork

DANIELLE TWIGG School of Education and Professional Studies, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia

http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/ciec.2011.12.3.262

Children’s artwork displays are a distinct and key feature of early childhood classrooms. The artwork produced by young children in the classroom is often linked to the educational program. After the completion of the art projects, early childhood educators face the challenge of displaying the children’s artwork. With minimal research available on the ‘how to’ aspects of displaying children’s art, educators rely on traditional methods of display, such as fair and equitable representation. Based on a selection of findings from a doctoral research conducted with children between the ages of four and six, this article offers early childhood educators (and adults, generally) insight into young children’s lived experiences of the display of their own visual artwork. Discussed in this article are three key themes that were identified in the doctoral study that offer guidance towards a new method for displaying children’s artwork. These include: (1) the practices of making and displaying art cannot be separated; (2) decisions about the display of children’s visual artwork are made by adults; and (3) art experiences directly impact the lives of young children. This article asserts that adult sensitivity and acknowledgement of children’s rights are essential aspects of the decision-making process associated with displaying children’s artwork.

A Question of Gender-Sensitive Pedagogy: discourses in pedagogical guidelines

INGRID KARLSON Institution of Behavioural Sciences and Learning, Linköping University, Sweden
MARIA SIMONSSON Department of Social and Welfare Studies, Linköping University, Sweden

http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/ciec.2011.12.3.274

In this article, some of the discourses concerning ‘gender-sensitive pedagogy’ that circulate in Swedish preschools are discussed. Two guideline documents that circulate in gender- and equity-sensitive projects in preschool are investigated, and the question is asked: What gender-related messages can possibly reach preschools from the guidelines? The method is discourse analysis inspired by Michel Foucault. Three different discourses were found: the discourse of the preschool institution; the discourse of gender and/or equity; and the gender-pedagogical discourse.

Banished from the Classroom: an over-educated educator?

DANA FRANTZ BENTLEY Buckingham, Browne, and Nichols School, Cambridge, MA, USA

http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/ciec.2011.12.3.284

The identity of the teacher-researcher in an early childhood classroom is complex, weighed down with social and cultural perceptions regarding academic research and the education of young children. Certain levels of education, such as a bachelor’s or master’s degree, are considered ‘appropriate’ and are valued in early childhood educators. However, the degree of doctorate is not considered ‘appropriate’ for a teacher of early childhood, and the desire to remain in the classroom while holding this degree is often met with surprise and disapproval. What does this mean in terms of our attitudes toward early education? Do some students warrant a teacher with a doctorate while others do not? This narrative inquiry examines one ‘over-educated’ teacher’s experience of situating herself within the preschool classroom as both teacher and researcher, both insider and outsider.

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