Contemporary Issues in
Early Childhood

ISSN 1463-9491

Volume 4 Number 1 2003

CONTENTS

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

Editorial, pages 1‑2
Sue Novinger & Leigh O’Brien. Beyond ‘Boring, Meaningless Shit’ in the Academy: early childhood teacher educators under the regulatory gaze, pages 3‑31
Lyn Fasoli. Reading Photographs of Young Children: looking at practices, pages 32‑47
Joy Goodfellow. Practical Wisdom in Professional Practice: the person in the process, pages 48‑63
Marilyn Fleer. Early Childhood Education as an Evolving ‘Community of Practice’ or as Lived ‘Social Reproduction’: researching the ‘taken-for-granted’, pages 64‑79
Reesa Sorin. Validating Young Children’s Feelings and Experiences of Fear, pages 80‑89
COLLOQUIA
Yasmine Joy Fauzee. In the Eyes of a Child – Behind the Wire: education for children in mandatory detention in Australia, pages 90‑95
Pamela A. Schulze. Mobilization Toward What Must Be: a call to action on behalf of refugee children, pages 96‑100
Joanne Tortorici Luna. To Seek Refuge: the plight of the child, pages 101‑105
BOOK REVIEWS
Early Childhood Education: postcolonial perspectives from India (Radhika Viruru), reviewed by Julie Kaomea, page 106
Teaching the Primary Curriculum (Jane Johnston, Mark Chater & Derek Bell, Eds), reviewed by Jill Ferris, page 108 VIEW FULL TEXT

Editorial

This issue of CIEC presents a wide range of topics that cut across all aspects of early childhood education. From concerns about the treatment of children as refugees to considering children’s experiences of fear, the practical wisdom of teachers, and ways of ‘reading’ photographs of children, a theme running through most of the articles, colloquia and book reviews, is the consideration of perspectives other than accepted or dominant understandings. Readers are urged to look more deeply at how children and those who work with children are positioned and the ways in which we could see things differently. For example, in a spirited piece, Sue Novinger and Leigh O’Brien initiate a call to action for all those who work in early childhood teacher education to move ‘Beyond “boring, meaningless shit” in the academy’. Suggestions are made for how teacher educators can resist certain practices of the academy and, with colleagues, work to reduce time wasted through having to jump through bureaucratic hoops. Lyn Fasoli challenges some of the taken-for-granted ways in which photographs of children are interpreted, and offers some thoughtful alternative interpretations of photographs of children exploring an art gallery. This article introduces readers to a body of literature that they may not have encountered before.

The compelling aspect of practical wisdom of early childhood teachers is the focus of the article by Joy Goodfellow. Joy links this to the low status of the professional and the idea that public and professional recognition is needed of the hidden dimensions of early childhood practice. In the next article, Marilyn Fleer identifies some ‘taken-for-granted’ ‘Western’ cultural practices associated with early childhood education and contrasts these with practices from other cultures. She asks why these practices have become dominant and excluded others, and what children may be missing as a result. The final article in this issue considers children’s feelings and experiences of fear, again challenging common-sense assumptions and traditionally accepted understandings about children’s fear. Reesa Sorin identifies and examines terms and phrases that adults tend to use when responding to children who express fear, in view of the consequences that such use might have.

The colloquia address the controversial topic of children who are refugees and the ways in which they have been treated in recent incidents. Perspectives from Pamela Schulze and Joanne Tortorici Luna in the USA and Yasmine Fauzee in Australia draw on examples that exemplify the need for more acceptable approaches to this political and media ‘hot potato’. The war between the USA and Iraq has probably made more children and their families refugees.

The book reviews continue to question accepted practices, with Julie Kaomea reviewing Early Childhood Education: postcolonial perspectives from India (Viruru, 2001). Cultural perspectives from India are offered and readers are encouraged to reflect on what Viruru describes, and how such reflection might enhance their own cultural practices. Jill Ferris responds to a book from the United Kingdom, Teaching the Primary Curriculum (Johnston, Chater & Bell, 2002) that addresses the primary curriculum and the current pressures that confront it. All areas of the curriculum are considered and the introductory chapter suggests that educational knowledge outcomes are so highly valued by educational authorities that student understanding, attitudes and skill may have been sacrificed.

Sue Grieshaber and Katrina Weier

Beyond ‘Boring, Meaningless Shit’ in the Academy: early childhood teacher educators under the regulatory gaze

SUE NOVINGER SUNY Brockport, USA LEIGH O’BRIEN Nazareth College, Rochester, USA

In the USA, many young children are being subjected to a largely irrelevant, fragmented, meaningless curriculum in the name of school reform and meeting state and/or national standards; it is the authors’ view that teacher educators also increasingly have to endure the same. The authors use their own recent experiences with licensing and accrediting bodies, the New York State Department of Education and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education respectively, to argue that everyone is being subjected to a disempowering, regulatory (and potentially punitive) gaze in the name of higher standards. Drawing on their own and others’ stories, they raise some issues to ponder, as well as posit possible courses of action linked to the notion of teachers as social justice activists. They address why resistance to the standards movement is so crucial, and share their ideas regarding the forms their resistance has taken and might take in the future. They try to articulate a hopeful path of possibility despite the very real costs that challenging the nearly monolithic power structure brings, and encourage other early childhood teacher educators to join in resisting the ‘regulatory gaze’.

Reading Photographs of Young Children: looking at practices

LYN FASOLI Northern Territory University, Darwin, Australia

This article is a methodological reflection on the use of photographs in research with young children. As a basis for discussion, it uses research photographs that were collected as part of a critical interpretative case study of young children’s learning during excursions to an art gallery. Data collected for this study also included transcripts of children’s talk, drawings they made and work undertaken later at the children’s pre-school. This article discusses the methodological use of photographs as ‘visual data’. A sociocultural framework for analysis is offered for its potential to reveal new ways to interpret photographs of young children participating in research.

Practical Wisdom in Professional Practice: the person in the process

JOY GOODFELLOW University of Western Sydney, Australia

Recent reviews of the status and standing of early childhood teachers in Australia indicate high attrition, low retention and low morale within the profession. A contributing factor may be the lack of professional and public recognition of the expert knowledge held by practitioners. The extent of this phenomenon was investigated through a mapping exercise. Data were gained from two sources – the National Childcare Accreditation Council’s revised Quality Improvement and Accreditation System for long day care centres and advertised position descriptions for early childhood teachers/directors. These data sources, while providing some insight into the nature of early childhood teachers’ work, showed that the hidden dimensions of professional practice are largely ignored in such public documents. The findings suggest that little recognition is currently being given to practical wisdom – the professional’s capacity to make sound judgement in the use of personal/professional, theoretical, and practical knowledge. If early childhood teachers and the community at large are to value and truly appreciate the nature of the early childhood professional’s work, then that work must be carefully documented and promoted. The article concludes by suggesting that the development of professional portfolios may be a strategy that could be used to more effectively represent and honour the nature of teachers’ work and provide insight into the practical wisdom of professional practice.

Early Childhood Education as an Evolving ‘Community of Practice’ or as Lived ‘Social Reproduction’: researching the ‘taken-for-granted’

MARILYN FLEER Monash University, Frankston, Australia

Early childhood education within many English-speaking countries has evolved routines, practices, rituals, artefacts, symbols, conventions, stories and histories. In effect, practices have become traditions that have been named and reified, evolving a specialist discourse. What has become valued within the profession of early childhood education is essentially a Western view of childhood. Documents abound with statements on what is constituted as ‘good’ practice or ‘quality’ practice or even ‘best’ practice. But for whom is this practice best? This article examines early childhood education from a ‘communities of practice’ perspective, drawing upon the work of Goncu, Rogoff and Wenger to shed light on the levels of agency inherent in the profession.

Validating Young Children’s Feelings and Experiences of Fear

REESA SORIN James Cook University, Cairns, Australia

Children experience a wide range of emotions, from happiness and excitement to anger and disgust. When children are happy, their caregivers encourage their expression of happiness and often join in to share this emotion with them. Yet when they are angry, afraid or disgusted, often children are encouraged to suppress or change their emotions. This is particularly true of the emotion of fear. While parents and caregivers currently employ a variety of strategies to respond to fear in young children, some of these methods may be positioning children in ways that increase their fears or invalidate their feelings of fear altogether. Well-intentioned parents and caregivers may be unaware of the effect that messages such as ‘there’s nothing to be afraid of’ or ‘don’t worry, you’re safe with me’, could have on children. This article examines a range of adult responses to children’s fears and the effectiveness of these responses.

In the Eyes of a Child – behind the wire: education for children in mandatory detention in Australia

YASMINE JOY FAUZEE RMIT University, Australia

Public concern for the well-being of children held in detention in Australia has been revealed through a National Inquiry. Evidence indicates that children are detrimentally affected by the detention environment on many levels. The discussion here focuses on the question of education. A ‘dual strategic approach’ is advocated, which calls for the urgent needs of children to be met within a context of concerted measures to end mandatory detention.

Mobilization toward What Must Be: a call to action on behalf of refugee children

PAMELA A. SCHULZE University of Akron, USA

Much has been written about the plight of refugee children and families. The authors of these articles generally make a case for greater involvement by the international community on behalf of refugee children. All too often, these eloquent and moving calls to action fall on deaf ears. In particular, this author argues that academics in the field of child development, who tend to be socialized to define and debate issues rather than act on them, are often slow to act on issues of concern. In this colloquium, the author provides several examples of ways that professionals in early childhood can help to promote the healthy development of refugee children, and she advocates for all of us to take on this responsibility, as it is consistent with our professional, personal, and moral obligation to promote the developmental well-being of all young children.

To Seek Refuge: the plight of the child

JOANNE TORTORICI LUNA California State University, Long Beach, USA

The predicament faced by refugees is ancient. To be hunted, homeless, and unwelcome is an experience that has been shared by groups of persecuted people across the ages. This article describes issues pertinent to children who are refugees, with recommendations for addressing their special needs. Suggestions for assistance include helping refugee communities become active in identifying and solving their own problems; supporting comprehensive programs rather than focusing on resolving individual symptoms; and providing services oriented toward strengthening, rather than replacing the family as a primary support system for children.

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