This article begins by outlining the historical and political context of 'parent partnership' within the UK. It locates the perspectives of early years' practitioners within this context, drawing on data from an Economic and SocialResearch Council (ESRC)-funded study of eighteen English early years settings, including interviews and focus groups with 165 practitioners in a variety of roles.The findings reveal that, although all practitioners considered parent partnership to be an essential element in quality early years services, the partnerships del gobierno anterior, así como los cambios introducidos por el actual gobierno de coalición.

This article begins by outlining the UK Government policy context, offering a brief critique before moving on to summarise recent research into 'quality' in the early years. The main body of the article locates the perspectives of early years practitioners within this context, drawing on data from an Economic and Social Research Council-funded study of 18 early years settings, including interviews and focused group discussions with 165 practitioners. The findings reveal that practitioners' understandings of 'quality' are influenced by government discourses but appear to be linked to the context of their setting together their personal and professional histories. In discussing the nature of 'quality', the authors focus on tensions inherent in the government discourses and draw out the implications for children's experiences and the training and development of early years practitioners.

We contend that the conventions, practices and philosophies underpinning working with infants and toddlers provide an alternative way of viewing early childhood work, and such a perspective may well help to challenge the ‘wicked problem’ of neoliberalism. It is in this context that we propose that a deeper understanding of the perspectives of those professionals working with our youngest children in a range of different countries may inform a wider resistance to neoliberalism across all of early childhood. We seek, in this article, to share the voices of early childhood professionals reflecting on the manner in which they understand work with infants and toddlers, and how this relates to their understanding of issues related to education and care. We hope this exploration will lead us into further refining our argument that infant and toddler pedagogy has the potential to challenge the hegemony of neoliberalism in early childhood. Our dream is to steer early childhood away from the tyranny of standardisation, accountability and economic rationality into a space where children are valued for being, where individuality and diversity flourish, where learning academics is one (relatively unimportant) element amongst many others and where relationships and participation (and dare we say, happiness) reign supreme.

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