Colonized through Language: The Case of Early Childhood Education

Abstract

In this article, the privilege accorded to language as the 'natural' way of human expression and communication is problematized. Drawing upon multiple post-colonial sources, the author suggests that this is yet another of the ways in which dominant Western ways of viewing the world are imposed upon diverse groups of people, including young children. Questions are asked about whose interests are best served when language is privileged over other modes of communication. Acquiring language is often perceived as a crucial tool in the growth of young children; however, the question is rarely asked, what is lost when language is gained. The article also provides examples from an ethnographic study done in India that suggests that children can engage in complex forms of communication that do not involve language. Finally, the article addresses the common assumption that using language mostly means using one language. Dominant Western discourses about language are almost overwhelmingly unilingual; however, most of the world's children use and live in multilingual environments.

Children’s Rights and Early-Years Provision in India

“…Post-independence educational theory sought to simplify the myriad of social and cultural approaches to learning in India by borrowing from Western constructivist and behaviourist learning theories, which promoted rigid approaches to educational planning at the expense of traditional indigenous educational pedagogies (Jeffery, 2005;Nawani & Jain, 2011). As a result, the field of early years education is now filled with buzzwords such as 'child-centred education', 'age-wise development', 'stage-wise development' and so on (Viruru, 2001b). This buzzword approach to learning has not been critically examined by researchers, and we know little of how extrapolations of Western theories play out in everyday lives (Viruru, 2001b).…”

“…As a result, the field of early years education is now filled with buzzwords such as 'child-centred education', 'age-wise development', 'stage-wise development' and so on (Viruru, 2001b). This buzzword approach to learning has not been critically examined by researchers, and we know little of how extrapolations of Western theories play out in everyday lives (Viruru, 2001b). This means that notions of the universal child appear in the official curriculum in taken-for-granted ways, and there is a real danger that a lack of debate and analysis may lead to practice that downplays children's ability to think, put forward their views and influence pedagogy.…”

“…A tension has emerged between children's rights and post-structural ideas in childhood studies that seek to translate theory into practice and viceversa. More fluid post-structural, social constructionist and socio-cultural perspectives in childhood studies have provided more freedom for scholars to think 'out of the box' (Cannella, 1997(Cannella, , 2004Viruru, 2001b).…”

“…Firstly, because middle-class aspirations perceive its benefits and secondly, and in contrast, because the children's rights movement has promoted early years provision as a political act to attain young children's rights and well-being (Pattnaik, 1996;Sharma, Sen, & Gulati, 2008). Early years providers have begun to treat children as active human being, however, with a few exceptions (see for example , Viruru 2001a, Viruru , 2001b), children's everyday practices are under-theorised in India. This chapter therefore focuses on children's everyday rights in early years provision, critically examining what children's everyday experiences mean for our concepts of children's rights and well-being.…”

Negotiating local and glocal discourse in kindergarten: Stories from Indonesia

“…Previous research has attempted to explore ECE practices around the globe through postcolonial lenses, such as that by Pacini- Ketchabaw and Taylor (2015); Viruru (2001Viruru ( , 2005. Critical approaches have been used to gain an understanding of how ECE can become a space for resistance and decolonisation.…”