Contemporary Issues in
Early Childhood

ISSN 1463-9491

Volume 8 Number 4 2007

CONTENTS

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

Editorial, pages 287‑288
Liz Jones & Jayne Osgood. Mapping the Fabricated Identity of Childminders: pride and prejudice, pages 289‑300
Jillian L. Fox & Carmel M. Diezmann. What Counts in Research? A Survey of Early Years’ Mathematical Research, 2000‑2005, pages 301‑312
Mary Klein. How is it that Learning Mathematics in the Early Years Can Become So Difficult? A Post-structuralist Analysis, pages 313‑319
Trisha Maynard. Forest Schools in Great Britain: an initial exploration, pages 320‑331
Lyn Fasoli & Ranu James. Researching Remote Aboriginal Children’s Services: it’s all about rules, pages 332‑343
Jane Bone, Joy Cullen & Judith Loveridge. Everyday Spirituality: an aspect of the holistic curriculum in action, pages 344‑354

COLLOQUIUM
Gail W.K. Yuen. Vouchers in Hong Kong: a new milestone of early childhood education?, pages 355‑357

BOOK REVIEWS VIEW FULL TEXT
Love’s Return: psychoanalytic essays on childhood, teaching and learning (Gail M. Boldt & Paula M. Salvio, Eds), reviewed by
Derek Bunyard, pages 358‑359
Inclusion in the Early Years: critical analyses and enabling narratives (C. Nutbrown & P. Clough), reviewed by
Susan M. Benner, pages 360‑362
Leadership in Early Childhood (Jillian Rodd), reviewed by
Louise Hard, pages 362‑365
doi: 10.2304/ciec.2007.8.4.362

Editorial

doi: 10.2304/ciec.2007.8.4.287

VIEW FULL TEXT | BACK TO CONTENTS LIST

The final issue for 2007 marks the culmination of another successful year for Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood. This is in no small part due to those who submit articles, review papers, and write book reviews, and to the continued support of many of our hard-working editorial board members. We would also like to acknowledge the valuable support of Professor Ann Farrell, Head, School of Early Childhood, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia, during 2007. Without this, aspects of producing the journal would be quite a challenge. In addition, we thank the following people who have reviewed for the journal during 2007 and hope that you are able to continue to support us in the future.

2007 Reviewers

While the quality of care continues to be a hot topic in early childhood education, just how those who care for children come to be identified by society is the focus of the first article by Liz Jones & Jayne Osgood. Jones & Osgood take up the complex issue of childminders in the United Kingdom, and through a genealogical analysis from the 1970s to the mid 1980s come to an understanding of how childminders are both praised and disparaged.

The second and third articles are about mathematics and both are from Australia. ‘What Counts in Research? A survey of early years’ mathematical research, 2000‑2005’ by Jillian Fox & Carmel Diezmann provides an insightful look at what is being published in early childhood mathematics, the age range of children in the publications, and the content areas covered. The conclusions drawn by Fox & Diezmann are instructive and highlight specific areas where further research is needed with young children. On a similar theme, Mary Klein calls for more research about mathematics in the early years, particularly how it is that young learners become disinterested and therefore disengaged from mathematics so early in life. In ‘How is it that Learning in Mathematics in the Early Years Can Become So Difficult? A post-structuralist analysis’, Klein attributes part of the problem to traditional practices and reluctance to move with the times.

In the fourth article, Trisha Maynard reports on an initial exploration of ‘Forest Schools in Great Britain’. The concept of Forest Schools has been borrowed from Denmark and tried in Somerset after concern about the decline in opportunities for children to play outdoors. Maynard provides data from three Forest School workers to show that the concept has a close fit with traditional ideas about early childhood education, as well as consistency with recent curriculum frameworks in England and Wales.

Providing services for children in remote areas of the world is always a challenge, and no less so for Aboriginal children in Australia. In their article ‘Researching Remote Aboriginal Children’s Services: it’s all about rules’, Lyn Fasoli & Ranu James analyse both the written and unwritten rules of a research project that investigated ‘the development and sustainability’ of services for Aboriginal children in remote areas. They conclude that written rules can only go so far, and that research relationships established with the people in the communities involved in this research are what determines whether they become, and stay, involved.

The final peer-reviewed article discusses an issue that we are beginning to hear more about: spirituality. Jane Bone, Joy Cullen & Judith Loveridge introduce the idea of everyday spirituality and provide three narratives from a Montessori casa in Aotearoa New Zealand that explain how spirituality occurs in everyday moments. The authors draw on Derrida to inform their analysis.

The colloquium for this issue comes from Gail Yuen, who considers the voucher system that has recently been introduced in Hong Kong. Even though the policy is aimed at improving provision for young children, Yuen questions whether this is in fact what is happening. She draws parallels with neo-liberal strategies and claims that the local community is left with much that remains to be explained about the system and its operation.

Book reviews in this issue include some interesting reading. Derek Bunyard considers the collection edited by Gail Boldt & Paula Savio (2006) titled Love’s Return: psychoanalytic essays on childhood, teaching and learning. As the title indicates, this collection brings psychoanalysis to bear on twenty-first century childhood, teaching and learning. Susan Benner reviews Inclusion in the Early Years: critical analyses and enabling narratives (2006), which is written by Cathy Nutbrown & Peter Clough. The final book review comes from Louise Hard, who looked at the third edition of Jillian Rodd’s book, Leadership in Early Childhood.

We hope you enjoy this issue and wish you all happy and healthy times.

Sue Grieshaber & Katrina Weier
Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

Mapping the Fabricated Identity of Childminders: pride and prejudice

LIZ JONES Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom & JAYNE OSGOOD London Metropolitan University, United Kingdom

doi: 10.2304/ciec.2007.8.4.289

The principal aim of this article is to highlight how childminders come to be both valorised and demonised. The question of not only who cares for the child but the ‘quality’ of such care is of course inextricably linked with the identity of the carer. The article focuses on and illustrates the means by which the identity of childminders is fabricated through text. It is by deconstructing certain texts that we discern how it is possible for a particular group of workers to be perceived in both positive and negative terms and importantly what some of the outcomes are when individuals are constructed in such ways. The article is framed within post-structuralist theories regarding language, meaning and identity and draws upon post-colonial theory, Foucault’s work in relation to discourse as well as Derrida’s insights into the ways in which texts function. Additionally the article takes note of and is sensitive to feminist discourses where the gendered performances of everyday living have been inscribed by sedimented layers of history, culture, economics and so on. Finally, given the authors’ own positions as cultural workers within the field of early years, they perceive this article as being a part of the continuing conversation that is located around a new sociology of early childhood.

What Counts in Research? A Survey of Early Years’ Mathematical Research, 2000‑2005

JILLIAN L. FOX & CARMEL M. DIEZMANN Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

doi: 10.2304/ciec.2007.8.4.301

This study reviews 208 articles on early childhood mathematics education sourced from the ERIC database and published between 2000 and 2005 in order to determine the adequacy of the literature. The document analysis identified a heavy emphasis on (1) mathematical concepts and instruction, and (2) articles addressing the school years compared with the prior-to-school years. Overall, this study revealed (1) a lack of peer-reviewed articles that discuss, investigate, examine, or debate early childhood mathematics; (2) a limited emphasis in the prior-to-school years; and (3) a paucity of literature on technology and problem solving, which are fundamental in the twenty-first century.

How is it that Learning Mathematics in the Early Years Can Become So Difficult? A Post-structuralist Analysis

MARY KLEIN James Cook University, Cairns, Australia

doi: 10.2304/ciec.2007.8.4.313

New times demand new interpretations of what it means to be numerate in a global world. Policy and curriculum documents uphold notions of capable young learners, actively engaged in investigative learning processes that will carry them on to competent and confident participation in the social and economic world of tomorrow. However, as the author attempts to show in this post-structuralist analysis, active learning processes do not always achieve the envisaged aims; subconsciously, teachers hold on to traditional notions of learners and learning mathematics that, in practice, eclipse their best intentions. Even in the early years of schooling the process of learning mathematics becomes difficult when the new becomes the old, and tired old teaching practices and relationships prevail.

Forest Schools in Great Britain: an initial exploration

TRISHA MAYNARD Swansea University, United Kingdom

doi: 10.2304/ciec.2007.8.4.320

Closely associated with the Danish early years programme, the Forest School concept was brought to England by staff of Bridgwater College, Somerset, following an exchange visit to Denmark in 1993. Drawing on interviews with three Forest School workers and data posted on the Bridgwater College Forest School website, the article outlines and then evaluates the key aims, approach and ethos of Forest School, focusing specifically on its relevance to young children (aged three to five years). It is suggested that while the significance of self-esteem and learning styles may be over-emphasised and, in some cases, opportunities for environmental education under-emphasised, Forest School fits well both with traditional views of ‘good’ early childhood education and more recent curriculum frameworks in England and Wales, whilst also addressing current cultural concerns about children’s increasingly sedentary and managed lifestyles.

Researching Remote Aboriginal Children’s Services: it’s all about rules

LYN FASOLI & RANU JAMES Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education, Batchelor, Northern Territory, Australia

doi: 10.2304/ciec.2007.8.4.332

This article identifies problems, issues and insights through critical reflection on the rules, written and unwritten, which encroach on the research process in the ‘Both Ways’ project. The project investigates the development and sustainability of remote Aboriginal children’s services in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia. Children’s services, such as child-care centres and outside-school-hours care, are fairly recent phenomena in the NT, with only a handful of services receiving government funding in 1995, increasing to approximately 100 in 2006. This article focuses on problems, issues and insights gained from conducting cross-cultural research in this unique context. In many ways, these insights apply to all research but take on added importance in Aboriginal research contexts where exploitation and unequal power relations continue to exist. Advice, illustrated with practical examples, is provided for researchers endeavouring to undertake cross-cultural research.

Everyday Spirituality: an aspect of the holistic curriculum in action

JANE BONE Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand
JOY CULLEN Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
JUDITH LOVERIDGE Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

doi: 10.2304/ciec.2007.8.4.344

Early childhood education in Aotearoa New Zealand includes different philosophical perspectives, may be part of the public or private sector and aims to be inclusive and holistic. The early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki, supports these aims. Aspects of the curriculum that are holistic may be conceptualized in diverse ways and this qualitative research focused on the spiritual. Case studies were constructed in three different settings – a Montessori casa, a private preschool and a Rudolf Steiner kindergarten. This article concerns one of these settings and discusses the first day back at the Montessori casa after a two-week break. The concept of everyday spirituality is introduced and three narratives retell moments of everyday spirituality that occurred throughout the day. Three themes are addressed in some detail. The discussion is informed by Derrida’s notion of hospitality and by different perspectives about the role of spirituality in educational contexts.

Vouchers in Hong Kong: a new milestone of early childhood education?

GAIL W.K. YUEN Hong Kong Institute of Education

doi: 10.2304/ciec.2007.8.4.355

The Hong Kong government has recently introduced a voucher system to early childhood education, indicating that the new policy is a milestone in the field. The overall goal of the policy is to improve the provision of early childhood education for the benefit of the children. Public debates reveal the unfamiliar nature of the subject to the local community and as a result, it has left many issues and assumptions unexamined and unchallenged. In effect, the new policy is an obvious neoliberal response to complex issues in the field. The present article describes and highlights the latest policy change and concerns in Hong Kong.

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