‘Wasted down there’: policy and practice with the under-threes

Clark, Rory McDowall; Baylis, Sue

doi:10.1080/09575146.2011.652939

Cited by 27 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…From 2002, babies have been included in the English national early years curriculum (DfE, 2014 ). It has been argued that regulation by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) has reinforced an over-emphasis on narrow educational aims within nursery organisation and practice (House, 2011 ) which has led to the denigration of work with under threes (McDowall Clark & Bayliss, 2012 ). A third approach has been to emphasise the importance of peer interaction in which babies have an opportunity to realise a social life separate to that of the family, developing social interactions with peers and in groups (Dahlberg et al .…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pedagogy with babies: perspectives of eight nursery managers

Elfer

Page

2015

Early Child Development and Care

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The last 30 years have seen a significant increase in babies attending nursery, with corresponding questions about the aims and organisation of practice. Research broadly agrees on the importance of emotionally consistent, sensitive and responsive interactions between staff and babies. Policy objectives for nursery and expectations of parents and staff give rise to different and sometimes conflicting aims for such interactions; for example attachments to staff, peer interactions or early learning. Research shows marked variations of pedagogy aims and organisation with babies in nurseries in different national and cultural contexts. It also demonstrates variation between nurseries in similar contexts and between staff in their beliefs and values about work with babies. This paper reports on an exploratory study of the beliefs, aspirations and approaches of eight managers concerning pedagogy with babies in two similar English local authorities. These managers spoke of the importance of being responsive to the concerns and priorities of parents, whilst being sensitive to the demands of the work on their staff. The main finding was of the contradictions and confusions managers felt were inherent in the work, arising from both conflicting policy objectives and personal beliefs and aspirations; sometimes their own and sometimes those of individual staff and parents. Urban, Vandenbroeck, Van Laere, Lazzari, and Peeters' [(2012). Towards competent systems in early childhood education and care. Implications for policy and practice. European Journal of Education, 47(4), 508–526.] concept of the ‘competent system’ is used to recommend a grounded approach to the development of a more culturally, socially and individually responsive pedagogy with babies than appears to exist at present.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pedagogy with babies: perspectives of eight nursery managers

Elfer

Page

2015

Early Child Development and Care

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“…In Australia and the UK, concerns have been raised about the perceived professional status and morale of those working with infants and toddlers (Degotardi 2012;Goouch and Powell 2013). Of particular relevance are research findings that infant-toddler educators often feel marginalised from others working with older children (Clark and Baylis 2012). While our findings are clearly exploratory, reports from some of these university qualified educators that they found it difficult to locate their own professional practice within the EYLF are of concern.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 56%

Infants and toddlers: how visible are they in the Early Years Learning Framework?

Davis

Torr

Degotardi

2015

ICEP

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“…However, the Sure Start policy was linked to an economic imperative focused on reducing 'welfare dependency' (Read 2015, p. 52). Getting parents, particularly lone parents the majority of whom were lone mothers, into the workplace and contributing to the economy required additional early years provision (Moss 2014;McDowall Clark and Baylis 2012). As well as the additional public provision, the New Labour government was committed to a continuation of a mixed public/private economy, covering private nurseries and childminders (as were the subsequent Coalition and Conservative governments), despite issues with the levels of poor quality in private childcare provision (Faulkner and Coates 2013).…”

Section: Under-fives In School In the 21st Centurymentioning

confidence: 99%

Younger Infants in the Elementary School: Discursively Constructing the Under-Fives in Institutional Spaces and Practices

Olusoga

2019

Genealogy

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Expansion of state-regulation of education and care for under-fives in England has seen increasing numbers of under-fives attending primary school early years provision in the 21st century’s opening decades. However, this is not entirely novel as under-fives attending elementary school feature in numerous 19th and 20th century reports. This article examines how under-fives have been discursively constructed in three reports between 1861 and 1933. Changing conceptualizations of under-fives are reflected in these documents. Shifting discourses of schooling, child development and curriculum are deployed, adapted or silenced to frame and judge the personal, social and moral conduct of the young child and parent. This normalizing discursive gaze positions the spaces and practices of schooling as necessary interventions inculcating specific governmentally designated desirable aspects of the child. Under-fives are enmeshed in an advancing process of educational colonization that removes them from the home, coming to dominate their time and experiences as young children. Current trends towards earlier school starting ages, longer daily hours, and the forensic use of data to chart progress towards expected goals is extension of this pattern. Attending to the genealogy of the discursive rationalization of this process helps us to critique how similar contemporary policy arguments are made.

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‘Wasted down there’: policy and practice with the under-threes

Cited by 27 publications

References 18 publications

Pedagogy with babies: perspectives of eight nursery managers

Pedagogy with babies: perspectives of eight nursery managers

Infants and toddlers: how visible are they in the Early Years Learning Framework?

Younger Infants in the Elementary School: Discursively Constructing the Under-Fives in Institutional Spaces and Practices

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