The Construction of ‘Toddler’ in Early Childhood Pedagogy

Abstract

The theoretical construction in this article rests on one constitutive pillar of seeing the toddler within the view of Merleau-Pontyan philosophy, combined with a second pillar of empirical toddler peer studies, from both of which an emerging toddler 'style' of socializing is read. 'Style' in this analytical context should be viewed as a phenomenological and hermeneutical construct. To enable the construction of 'toddler' in early childhood pedagogy to stand, the necessary third pillar deals with the inquiry of a pedagogical notion proper to this context. Such a notion must accord with the view that the toddler of our time actively contributes to the construction of him-or herself, as well as of the persons, objects, surroundings and culture of the world in which he or she lives, and with which he or she interacts. To be at all noteworthy in the changeable plurality of post-or late modern times, this notion must be both transformative and transformable. A look at the Bildung tradition of pedagogy, whilst considering postmodern 'hypertransformation' as well as the ancient root of pedagogy, forwards a conclusion that changeability goes side by side with durability, as does uniqueness with universality.

Educators’ understandings of, and support for, infant peer relationships in early childhood settings

“…This was done to Initial interview Collection of video-recorded data of infant social interactions Video-stimulus interviews using extracts of video recordings strengthen and add depth to the emerging patterns by providing examples of similar and diverse perspectives within each code. The codes were further informed by revisiting literature on early peer relationships and examining these statements with reference to the infants' social and communicative capabilities (Brownwell and Brown, 1992;Eckerman et al, 1979;Liszkowski, 2005;Vandell and Wilson, 1987), socially coordinated behaviours (Brownwell et al, 2006;Lokken, 2009) and shared understandings (Deynoot-Schaub and Risken-Walraven, 2006;Williams et al, 2007). Once the initial coding was complete, both authors scrutinised the codes to decide how they might form main themes and sub-themes (Braun and Clarke, 2006).…”

“…The quality of these friendships is discussed by Shin (2010), who describes how two infant peers showed strong and mutual play preferences, positive affect and a caring attitude towards one another. Lokken (2009) also describes how toddlers involve themselves in the construction of games and rituals during which they communicate with their peers using their bodies, movements and objects. Together, these studies suggest that toddler play styles, motivations and social competencies all contribute towards peer culture and friendships in the group context.…”

Literacy events in toddler groups: Preschool educators' talk about their work with literacy among toddlers

“…In early childhood literacy, children's meaning-making and communication through various forms of expression are permitted ways of being literate (Gillen and Hall, 2003). With regard to meaning-making among toddlers, Løkken (2009) says that toddlers use common bodily routines as different, meaningful forms of expression. One example is the 'heia heia routine' in which they use their bodies, space and the vocal expression 'heia heia' to communicate something and share meaning (Løkken, 2009).…”

“…Toddlers construct ideas and share meanings with a high level of modality, using the whole body and multimodal expressions such as gestures, gaze and body movements (Kress, 1997;Kress, 2003;Lancaster, 2001;Løkken, 2009). If these forms of communication and expression are valued in their own right and understood as messages containing content, then the whole range of toddlers' various types of expression can be viewed as language, rather than understood as mere expressions which precede 'real' language or as an early stage that comes before a more developed stage.…”

Imagining otherwise: A (brief) Darwinian encounter with quality standards

“…Instead of following the child in search of meaningful learning, the gaze takes in the possibilities for encounters of all kinds in search of increasing complexity and organisation. The relevance lies in the way in which teachers enable or close down the child's initiation of narratives (Løkken, 2009). In our vignette, the child has time to persist and to form relationships with the pipe and the sand and the girl.…”