Power and resistance in early childhood education: From dominant discourse to democratic experimentalism

Abstract

The field of early childhood education is increasingly dominated by a strongly positivistic and regulatory discourse, the story of quality and high returns, which has spread from its local origins in the favourable environment provided by a global regime of neoliberalism. But though dominant, this is not the only discourse in early childhood education, there are alternatives that are varied, vibrant and vocal; not silenced but readily heard by those who listen and forming a resistance movement. The article argues that this movement needs to confront a number of questions. Do its members want to influence and shape policy and practice? If so, what might a transformed and commensurate policy and practice look like? What are the possibilities that such transformation might be achieved, especially given the apparent unassailability of the current dominant discourse, and the force of the power relations that have enabled this discourse, local in origin and parochial in outlook, to aspire to global hegemony? And if such transformation were to occur, is it possible to avoid simply replacing one dominant discourse with another? Some partial and provisional answers are offered to these questions.

Participatory work with young children: the trouble and transformation of age-based hierarchies

“…As these examples illustrate, even with a strong ethos of participation-bringing children's voice, agency and contribution to the forefront of daily life-there were times when adults decided that they knew best. The web of interdependent relationships in which participatory work happens includes the broader policy and regulatory context of ELC: for example, standards of care (Care Inspectorate 2017) and the ambiguous positioning of practitioners as service providers and parents as consumers (Moss 2017).…”

“…Ghirotto and Mazzoni (2014) suggest that early childhood teachers could use their powerful position in the playroom as a positive force, to highlight and facilitate children's own ideas. However, Johansson and Emilson (2010) warn against turning young children's participation into an ideologynoting that young children are indeed competent, but also vulnerable (as are all 1 Terminology around early childhood education is subject to ongoing debate (Moss 2017). This paper uses the term 'early learning and childcare', recently adopted in Scotland (The Scottish Government 2014).…”

Did Cinderella Arrive at the Ball? Implications of Contemporary European Education Policies on the Prospects of Early Childhood Education and Care

“… Children have the right to protection from poverty. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds have the right to specific measures to enhance equal opportunities (ibid, p. 19).…”

“…By accepting the unquestionably important and complex role of ECEC in the current social context, the contemporary ECEC theory and practice conceives new paradigms that address its place, prospects, nature, and the significance of long-term effects within the dominant current utilitarian social paradigm. We could argue that we are developing a kind of "resistance movement" to the growing syndrome of re-conceptualizing the whole social context according to the economic logic and legitimacy, which is mostly based on cost-benefit analyses, reducing thereby the overall education to an economic category, (non-)profitable investments, and ultimately to a service that is subject to market forces (Moss, 2017).…”

“…It is not applicable to the education sector in its entirety and especially to ECEC, which necessarily requires a far broader, more open, and multidisciplinary approach. The dominance of this fundamentally reductionist approach, which ignores the bigger picture, is a powerful motive for including science in the work of the framers of education policies (Moss, 2017).…”