Handbook of International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education

Jaipaul L. Roopnarine, James E. Johnson, Suzanne Flannery Quinn, Michael M. Patte, Jaipaul L. Roopnarine, James E. Johnson, Suzanne Flannery Quinn, Michael M. Patte

• Editore: Routledge
• Anno: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781317203612
• Edizione: 1
• Argomento: Didattica
• Categoria: Didattica generale

The Handbook of International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education provides a groundbreaking compilation of research from an interdisciplinary group of distinguished experts in early childhood education (ECE), child development, cultural and cross-cultural research in the psychological sciences, etc. The chapters provide current overviews of ECE in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, Africa, Europe, the US, and Canada, and convey how ECE is multi-sectorial, multi-cultural, and multi-disciplinary, undergirded by such disciplines as neuroscience, psychological anthropology, cross-cultural human development, childhood studies, and political science.

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INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Jaipaul L. Roopnarine

SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY, USA AND ANTON DE KOM UNIVERSITY OF SURINAME, SURINAME

James E. Johnson

THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, USA

Suzanne Flannery Quinn

UNIVERSITY OF ROEHAMPTON, FROEBEL COLLEGE, LONDON, UK

Michael M. Patte

BLOOMSBURG UNIVERSITY, USA

This volume grew out of the conviction that children the world over who are disadvantaged by social and economic circumstances deserve a better chance at life. To address issues of social inequality, poverty, inadequate health care, gender disparities, and oppressive political systems in a global community, we must begin in the early childhood years. Beginnings matter. Mounting scientific evidence suggests that early childhood education (ECE) provides one of the best mechanisms for addressing the multi-sectorial needs of young children and for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Numerous reports by prominent scientists from diverse fields and international agencies (UNICEF, OECD, WHO) point to the benefits of even modest exposure to ECE in boosting children’s early social and cognitive development (Burger, 2010; Evans & Kosec, 2012; Heckman & Masterov, 2007; Schweinhart & Weikart, 2013; Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000). These benefits seem more pronounced for children with the least material resources (e.g., in Brazil; Evans & Kosec, 2012) and persist into adulthood (see Schweinhart & Weikart, 2013). Before we lay bare the contents of this volume and the myriad of ways in which cultural communities advance the cognitive, social, and cultural lives of children, it is first necessary to take a brief look at some of the harsh realities in the lives of children across the world.

Roughly 92% of the world’s children live in developing societies (Engle, Rao, & Petrovic, 2013). It is no secret that there are gross disparities in the living conditions, availability of adequate health care, and access to ECE between children in developed (e.g., United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Australia, and Japan) and developing societies (e.g., India, Kenya, Guyana, Uganda, Brazil, Papua New Guinea, Belize). Assessments suggest that a number of countries have fared well in attaining certain Millennium Development Goals (MDGs, 2000–15), particularly in attending to the basic health and educational needs of young children. In effect, the pernicious effects of poor economic home and community environments can be ameliorated with adequate educational and health services. However, severe challenges remain ahead when it comes to the health, safety, and education of the poorest children in the world.

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It is well documented that children in the poorest nations face many chronic challenges on a daily basis (e.g., lack of access to clean water, diseases, crime and violence, inadequate health care). In the larger context of these challenges, we isolate a few issues during children’s formative years that have implications for sustainable development. Information gleaned from The State of the World’s Children 2016: A Fair Chance for Every Child suggests that by 2030 approximately 167 million children, a disproportionate number of whom are from Sub-Saharan Africa, will die before their first birthday without attention to their basic needs; children from the poorest countries are 1.9 times more likely to die before age 5 than those in the wealthiest nations (UNICEF Global Directives, 2016). It was also estimated that 60 million children of primary school age will not be attending school; nearly 38% of children leave primary school without acquiring basic reading, writing, and simple mathematics skills. Again, more than half of these children live in Sub-Saharan Africa. In a number of countries (e.g., Pakistan, Nigeria, and India), gender, wealth, and residence are the major determinants of the level of education received. Sadly, these disparities begin during the early childhood years (UNICEF, 2016), are likely to have long-term cumulative effects on different aspects of childhood development, and influence the developmental life-course trajectories of children.

These statistics aside, early development, childcare, and education are topics of scholarly research, program development, and policy debate across societies (Nores & Barnett, 2010; Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000). Attention to pan-cultural and culture-specific processes for educating young children is growing worldwide as we continue to define mechanisms and content for early learning. Nation states are seeking to develop and sustain their societies through more vigorous attention to young children and by implementing high-quality early education programs with the hope of enhancing human capital development. Within these efforts to respond to this early childhood mandate and the factors that shape them within a global community are visible variations in the scope, modalities, and priorities of ECE. A global formula for ECE regardless of birth circumstances is being actively debated as being inadequate for all children (OECD, 2017a, 2017b). For instance, the mechanisms and content of ECE are far from uniform across cultures and some have questioned the utility of privileging play-based over other approaches to education for developing societies. Parental beliefs about experiential learning through play, and traditional theories (e.g., Vygotsky’s and Piaget’s socio-cultural and constructivist principles that indicate learning through play) that have guided so much of ECE in the developed world are at odds with academically laced curricula that are found more often in developing societies. Reconciliation of these issues may be emerging in some parts of the developing world.

A major goal of the Handbook of International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education was to tap into the expertise of an interdisciplinary group of distinguished authors (ECE, child development/human development, cultural and cross-cultural researchers in the psychological sciences, policy experts, etc.) to lend their voices to the state of ECE from indigenous perspectives. They are from a broad spectrum of countries from different regions of the world (e.g., Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, Asia and Australia, Africa, as well as Europe, the United States, and Canada) that are at different stages of economic transformation and development. These authors have conducted nationwide and across-region studies on different dimensions of the cultural basis of childhood development and ECE, have shaped ECE practices in nation states, and/or have been involved in the development of ECE policies at the highest levels of government and non-governmental institutions and agencies. Accordingly, they were able to provide lucid accounts of the evolution, philosophical bases, nature, and quality of ECE, and attempts at improving basic standards for teacher and caregiver training within their cultural communities. Where available, contributors describe follow-up data on the effects of ECE on childhood development, while others found assessments of young children antithetical to foundational goals of early education.

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Broadly speaking, the ECE perspectives covered in this volume convey the multi-sectorial, multicultural, and multi-disciplinary aspects of the discipline. The ECE programs, policies, and practices discussed in the different chapters are informed by such disciplines as neuroscience, psychological anthropology, cross-cultural human development, childhood studies/child development, sociology, and political science. Chapters convey the sociohistorical context and particular ways in which early childhood is rooted in tradition and diverse images of childhood development and the richness of family life in situ. As will become apparent, ECE is not only framed by communities’ cultural-historical backgrounds, economic conditions, and human capital development, but also by present-day socio-cultural realities, thereby helping readers obtain a more comprehensive account of the dynamic and evolving nature of ECE in different cultural communities.

All nations seek to empower their most precious resource: children. Nations seek to meet the needs of its children and to protect them from exploitation. They try to grant children opportunities to be active participants in families, neighborhoods, and cultural communities to enhance developmental potential, while simultaneously aiming to attenuate risks attributed to challenging economic and social conditions in different ecological niches. But rearing a single child takes more than a village. Priority, and a great deal of thought and commitment, must be given to the kind of whole village one needs in order to provide quality ECE and care. To this end, countries must endeavor to listen to the voices of children and adults, including their nonverbal voices. Nations must seek to have early childhood resources for educators, legislators, and leaders which are required to sustain programs and to enhance their ability to meet the needs of children and families in a dynamic and ever-changing technological world. Hence, another major objective of the volume is to convey relevant information concerning problems and solutions as they are unfolding across nations. In this regard, of importance was to identify and discuss emerging global themes in the field of ECE, and to raise and address policy issues.

Contributions

The core of the book contains contributions from six geographic regions (Latin America and the Caribbean; Russia, Turkey, and the Middle East; Africa; Asia; Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea; and North America and Europe) that articulate current ECE practices, programmatic and curricular issues, research and evaluation, and teacher training. Advocating for ECE globally and locally is a way to affirm life and to demonstrate hope for humankind. The volume as a whole contributes to a better understanding of ECE in today’s global society, and to developing further ECE visions and missions in the twenty-first century with an eye toward the meaning of indigenous practices and social justice for a global discipline. Although contributors were urged to follow a specific format, they were given latitude to cover issues that were pertinent to ECE in their cultural communities. As such, some authors chose to merge issues of social justice and advocacy into their chapters. What follows is a brief attempt to underline some of the issues covered in the different chapters.

Latin America and the Caribbean

The first set of chapters focus on ECE in Latin America and the Caribbean region. Here, three chapters describe efforts to meet the needs of children in multi-ethnic cultural communities with extreme economic disparities: English-speaking Caribbean countries, Brazil, and Colombia. Histories of colonialism and oppression were instrumental in shaping early education and family socialization practices in Brazil, Colombia, and the linguistically diverse Caribbean islands and mainland countries (Suriname, Belize). Roopnarine and Dede Yildirim’s chapter on ECE across English-speaking Caribbean countries examines attempts at caring for and educating young children within the context of child-rearing beliefs and practices. In post-colonial Caribbean countries, both parents and teachers believe in early academic training. Play for 3–5-year-olds and older children is often eschewed in favor of more rigorous early academic training that involves learning the alphabet and numbers. As a result, parents tend to have unrealistic developmental expectations of children. At the same time, rates of preschool enrollment vary tremendously and no one model defines ECE or the age at which children should begin preschool across countries. Nonetheless, most Caribbean countries have invested in ECE with some countries such as Guyana having done so for decades and free of cost to families. Exemplars of three programs are presented: two center-based and one home-based visiting program. The theoretical underpinnings and core elements of each program are laid out, as are teacher training needs and some evaluation data on preschool influences on childhood development.

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As with other Latin American countries, political, social, and economic turmoil are not new to Brazil. The only Portuguese-speaking nation in South America, Brazil has struggled to meet the needs of its multi-ethnic society. As noted by Zilma de Moraes Ramos de Oliveira, inequalities attributed to income, ethnicity, and area of residence (rural versus urban) determine access to and the quality of ECE services that families receive. This is in the face of World Bank Reports that indicate that the poorest Brazilian children whose parents have the least educational attainment benefit the most from preschool education. Without doubt, Brazil has made strides in providing ECE for children and has moved toward implementing programs based on human developmental science and experiential learning guided by thinking in Europe and North America. However, the rural and urban poor and indigenous groups are not fully incorporated into the current ECE systems. A challenge for Brazil is how to meet the needs of a diverse population while honoring cultural practices.

For many years internal strife and warfare have inflicted social and economic instability in Colombia. In their chapter, Rubiano and Quinn contextualize ECE in Colombia within a social justice perspective. They provide an overview of the historical context of policies along with a reflection on ideological discourses embedded in efforts to educate young children. As is the case with Brazil, social and economic inequality undergird access to ECE. In both Brazil and Colombia, teacher training deserves far greater attention.

Russia, Turkey, and the Middle East

It might appear odd to the reader that we grouped ECE in such different cultural communities under the same umbrella. However, despite different historical roots, each of the countries considered in this section offer insights into societies that have been affected by either political transformations or sustained internal and regional conflicts. The Russian Federation is a post-communist country, Turkey is a secular state governed by post-Ottoman ideals of the role of democratic education in building a more open society, Israel has a fairly well-established preschool system in place, and the Arab countries of Oman, Lebanon, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates were all historically influenced by Quranic instructional precepts and principles. These societies present unique opportunities to witness up-close recent commitments to modify and meet the needs of cultural communities that have experienced marked transformations in family life, as a result of political strife, and regional conflicts, or upswings in economic wealth.

Bodrova and Yudina discuss renewed attempts to provide free doshkol’noe (“preschool”) education to all children in the Russian Federation. From the first preschools appearing in the 1860s–70s in Moscow and St. Petersburg, some of which were private centers that catered to affluent families, to national preschool education and care that served the needs of working parents during the communist era, to the overhaul of the preschool system after Perestroika, there is a long tradition of providing early education in Russia. Whereas previous pedagogical approaches were more adult-directed, today newer iterations assert a more child-centered philosophy accompanied by parent involvement to build a democratic society (So’obschestvo or community). There are private and public programs that are full- or part-day with some offering nocturnal care. There is room for the adoption of different curriculum models (up to 25) or modifications of others held over from prior periods with the prerequisite goal of offering child-oriented education. Some of the current early childhood models are guided by the cultural-historical theory developed by the Russian psychologist, Lev Vygotsky.

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According to Belma Tuğrul, Turkish aspirations to develop a democratic society enshrine education as one of the major vehicles to accomplish the same. Her chapter outlines the different attempts by Turkish educators to implement preschool education from the Republican pre-Ottoman period to the present. This rich sociohistorical account highlights the seminal contributions of prominent Turkish educators such as Kazım Nami Duru and Mustafa Satı Bey to ECE. Their work embraced modern principles of child-centeredness. Several education plans were implemented that resulted in what is considered modern-day early education in Turkey. The national models in place today draw from the child-friendly approaches to early education espoused in the Montessori, Reggio Emilia, HighScope, and Bank Street programs. Recent comparisons between preschools in Turkey and OECD member countries indicate good progress in Turkish ECE.

In the Arab countries, ECE was historically based on the Quran and Islamic practices, reading, writing, poetry, rhetoric, mathematics, and social studies. Katateebs were set up to teach informal classes that later gave way to systematic changes in educational practices. In her chapter, Mehana offers a rare look into the goals and aims of ECE in Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Preschool and kindergarten enrollment patterns and curriculum practices vary across countries. Bilingualism is strongly emphasized and there is a divide between private and public schools in terms of curricular practices and teacher training in these countries. Access to education by gender does not appear to be a problem in these traditional gender-dichotomy countries. The four countries have borrowed different curricular practices from neighboring Kuwait, Europe, and North America to help shore up experiential learning in children.

With its diverse population of Jews, Arabs, and Christians, Israel prov...