Beyond Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care

Dahlberg, Gunnar; Moss, Peter; Pence, Alan

doi:10.4324/9780203980583

Cited by 190 publications

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“…Whilst quality is sometimes seen as potentially measurable through different kinds of scales, some researchers want to go beyond that, arguing that quality has multiple meanings and is therefore not useful for evaluation (Dahlberg, Moss, & Pence, 1999;Moss, 2016). Others want to redefine or critically examine quality in different ways.…”

Section: What Can Preschool Quality Become?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This was also clear in a study of children's participation in preschool projects by Hamerslag (2013): preschool teachers integrated children's interests in the projects, and started by considering children's interests when choosing a new project, using pedagogical documentation to make visible children's interests, theories and knowledge. The emphasis on children's interests can also be tracked to the Reggio Emilia philosophy and pedagogical documentation, which have influenced Swedish preschools for a long time (Dahlberg, Moss, & Pence, 1999;Lenz Taguchi, 2000).…”

Section: Children's Interests As Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This documentation is supposed to focus on the practice rather than on individual children, but should also indicate 'how the child's knowledge changes and when they experience the preschool as interesting, fun and meaningful' (Swedish National Agency of Education, 2011, p.14). However, some research on preschool documentation has found that documentation focuses more on children as subjects of observation and surveillance than on teachers' practices and children's interest and learning (Sparrman & Lindgren, 2010;Vallberg Roth & Månsson, 2011).Whilst quality is sometimes seen as potentially measurable through different kinds of scales, some researchers want to go beyond that, arguing that quality has multiple meanings and is therefore not useful for evaluation (Dahlberg, Moss, & Pence, 1999;Moss, 2016). Others want to redefine or critically examine quality in different ways.…”

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Teachers’ actions and children’s interests. Quality becomings in preschool documentation

Pettersson¹

2017

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High quality is considered to be important for children's development and learning in early childhood education. Swedish preschool teachers are required to systematically develop their practice and support children's learning, using documentation and taking children's interests into account. From a posthumanist perspective, preschool documentation, models and templates could be seen as actively producing certain elements of quality. Reading documentation from eight Swedish preschool groups diffractively through different texts, such as the national curriculum, supportive texts and research, this article discusses how teachers' actions and children's interests are produced as important quality aspects in one of these groups.Keywords: Documentation, Early childhood education, Posthumanism, Preschool quality, Modelling preschool quality documentationChildren's learning is considered to benefit from their attending preschools of high quality (Taggart et al., 2015;Åsén & Vallberg-Roth, 2012). This is recognised and discussed worldwide (Vermeer et al., 2016). In Sweden most preschools are run by municipalities. Whereas, in the past, schools and preschools were under more detailed state control, now they are controlled through management by objectives. Fulfilling objectives is seen as one way of demonstrating quality and has become a way of directing Swedish preschool practice. Children's learning also connects to children's play and interests (Hedges et al., 2011;Wood, 2014). Thus, preschool practices are expected to consider children's KATARINA ELFSTRÖM PETTERSON 2 JOURNAL OF NORDIC EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION RESEARCH VOL. 14(2), p. 1-17, 2017 ISSN 1890-9167 experiences and interests. In Sweden, one way that preschool quality is maintained and developed is through systematic quality development work, which means that quality is required to be monitored, assessed and improved in a systematic process which must be documented (Swedish National Agency of Education, 2011). The National Agency of Education provides one model for how systematic quality development should proceed. Based on the above, it is crucial to study what preschool quality can become in and through documentation.The aim of this article is to contribute to knowledge about how a local template and a national model play a part in and produce teachers' actions and children's interests as elements of quality in systematic quality development documentation in preschools.The following section will introduce previous research on the use of models and templates in Swedish preschool documentation practices. Models and templatesIn Swedish preschools, the time it takes to document is often seen as problematic (Bjervås, 2011). Alasuutari, Markström and Vallberg Roth (2014) argue that, as teachers spend more time completing paperwork, there is a risk that they could have less time available to work directly with children. In a report by the National School Inspectorate (Skolinspektionen, 2012), some preschool teachers requested models or templates to help t...

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Section: What Can Preschool Quality Become?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Children's Interests As Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Teachers’ actions and children’s interests. Quality becomings in preschool documentation

Pettersson¹

2017

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“…For some considerable time, many advocates, particularly those working from poststructuralist perspectives, have argued that ECEC should be built on a foundation of social justice and work towards creating a more equitable society, not only by redressing inequities, but also by challenging socially oppressive practices (see for instance, Weiss et al, 1991;Cannella, 1997;Dahlberg et al, 1999. For more recent reviews see, Press & Skatterbol, 2007;Moss & Urban, 2010).…”

Section: Social Inclusion As a Response To Discrimination And Inequalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Constructions of Social Inclusion within Australian Early Childhood Education and Care Policy Documents

Wong

Turner

2014

Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood

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Social inclusion discourses have been powerful in informing early childhood policy contexts, both internationally and in Australia (the context of the current study) for the past decade or so. But little research has examined the productive aspects of social inclusion discourses particularly within early childhood education and care (ECEC) policy documents. This article reports on a content analysis of Australian ECEC policy documents. The analysis revealed that, despite the absence of the specific use of the term ‘social inclusion’ within these documents, multiple constructs of social inclusion were nevertheless evident. These constructs included social inclusion as ‘poverty reduction’, ‘workforce participation’, and ‘normative’ — constructs previously problematised and critiqued in the literature. More optimistically, however, the analysis also revealed constructs of social inclusion as ‘a response to discrimination and inequality and a validation of diversity’ and as ‘participation in democratic decision-making’. We argue that the Australian ECEC policy context largely supports a concept of social inclusion that reflects social justice concerns and positions ECEC as an important contributor to a more socially just society. However, the absence of explicit social inclusion language within ECEC policy documents is a critical gap.

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“…That is to say, the organisation of space has been constructed with something definite in mind (Dahlberg & Moss, 2005;Dahlberg et al, 2007). However, a close look at EC spaces finds that many of them are actually restricted, access to the outdoors is controlled, and safety concerns supersede children's need for movement, colour, true play and exploration.…”

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confidence: 99%

Looking into Early Childhood Education and Development Spaces: Visual Ethnography's Contribution to Thinking about Quality

Cleghorn

Prochner

2012

Global Studies of Childhood

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Discussions about what constitutes a quality early childhood (EC) environment rarely focus on visual or spatial aspects, except to provide background information for talking about EC practice and children's development in the preschool years. There is a need to look beyond the usual quality indicators, which tend to focus on poverty and children's developmental potential so that context and cultural dimensions are often omitted in the discussion. This article thus explores the contribution of visual ethnography for thinking more about, or rethinking, some of the prevailing notions of quality in early childhood education (ECE). To do so, culture is seen as central to the discussion. This includes the organisation of space and the use of materials in EC settings. The idea in this article is to present images that stand in contrast to some of the current globalising discourse about what is good for the world's children. In so doing, the authors thread together seemingly disparate ideas stemming from the centrality of culture and space theory, to the organisation of space, to the use of materials and to transitions in ECE. Common Images of Minority-World Early Childhood SettingsIt is rare to hear mention of the visual or spatial in quality considerations of early childhood (EC) settings, except to provide contextual information for talking about EC practice and children's development in the preschool years. Discussions about quality, especially in the North American context, often refer to such matters as child-adult ratios, the amount of space in and out of doors, and the availability of age-appropriate materials (Harms et al, 2005). A common image of a minority-world EC centre, as presented in foundation early childhood education (ECE) textbooks, is of a single multi-purpose room, stocked with materials that are freely accessible to children and arranged according to themed activity centres, with low tables used mainly for playing with small manipulative items, drawing or eating. Larger materials are used on the floor. An open area is used for whole-group work led by the teacher. The organisation of space is planned to support the assumed educational or care purpose of the programme (Cleghorn & Prochner, 2010). In their review of research on childcare quality, Essa and Burnham (2001, p. 70) conclude: 'More space, more toys and equipment, and a partitioned environment rather than a large open space are indicators of higher quality programs'. Tobin (1995), however, has described inside spaces as frequently exhibiting 'the excesses of the shopping mall', with 'cheap, bright standardized toys crowding a space offering children too many choices between not very well-differentiated goods ' (quoted in Penn, 2011a, p. 132).

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Beyond Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care

Cited by 190 publications

References 0 publications

Teachers’ actions and children’s interests. Quality becomings in preschool documentation

Teachers’ actions and children’s interests. Quality becomings in preschool documentation

Constructions of Social Inclusion within Australian Early Childhood Education and Care Policy Documents

Looking into Early Childhood Education and Development Spaces: Visual Ethnography's Contribution to Thinking about Quality

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