Early Childhood Education

This book examines the field of early childhood and education. It aims to provide a strong foundation of knowledge about aspects of early years education, by summarizing the status and outlining paths of development for now and the future.

The early childhood services of Reggio Emilia in Northern Italy has gained worldwide interest and admiration. Drawing on the âeuro~Reggio approach', and others, this book explores the ethical and political dimensions of early childhood services and argues the importance of these dimensions at a time when they are often reduced to technical and managerial projects, without informed consideration for what is best for the child.Extending and developing the ideas raised in Beyond Quality in Early Childhood Care and Education the successful team of authors make a wide range of complex material accessible to readers who may have little knowledge of the various important and relevant areas within philosophy, ethics, or politics, covering subjects such as: post-structural thinkers and their perspectives the history and practice of early childhood work in Reggio Emilia globalization, technological change, poverty, and environmental degradation ethical and political perspectives relevant to early childhood services from Foucault and Deleuze, to Beck, Bauman and Rose.This book presents essential ideas, theories and debates to an international audience. Those who would find this particularly useful are practitioners, trainers, students, researchers, policymakers and anyone with an interest in early childhood education.

Early childhood education is fundamental to a child's later educational achievements and future success. The principles and practices of modern early childhood education have their origins in the past. While the educators who built the field have been the subject of many detailed studies, previous works do not provide adequate coverage of primary and secondary sources, multicultural educators, or more recent leaders in the discipline. This reference book provides biographies and annotated bibliographies of more than 30 pioneers in early childhood education from Johann Amos Comenius (1592-1670) and John Locke (1632-1704), to Maria Montessori (1870-1952), Leland B. Jacobs (1907-1992), and Lillian Weber (1917-1994). Special attention is given to multicultural educators, including Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954) and her work with The National Association of Colored Women. Biographies are arranged alphabetically, and each is followed by annotated bibliographies of primary and secondary sources.

This book informs students and scholars of early childhood education about the vital influences that imagination in preschool and early childhood education has exerted upon the lives of various populations. It explores the deeper imaginations of scholars of philosophy and theory, and describes how their work has found its way into present-day classroom practices. The imagination of early philosophers, writers, and teachers, like Aesop, Plato, Socrates, Locke, and Rousseau, are considered in terms of how they affected the theories of Comenius, Oberlin, Pestalozzi, Froebel, Montessori, Freud, Piaget, and Erikson. These thinkers are integrated throughout the text in their proper historical and philosophical periods.

Some educators feel that children's cognitive styles should be taken into account when learning activities are planned for them. The term "cognitive styles" refers to one's "personal style," and describes an individual's mode of understanding, thinking, remembering, judging, and solving problems; in short, how he or she responds to and makes sense of the world. Assessing this functioning makes more sense than relying on a simple score on a standardized intelligence test. Teachers need to be aware of recent cognitive style research and learn to use the results of this research to plan effective educational programs. This book presents historical perspectives, suggests practical classroom applications, and provides implications for future research.

By the time young children enter statutory education, they may have already attended a number of different educational settings, from entry to group settings outside home, to joining playgroup or nursery school. Each of these experiences is likely to affect children's capacity to adjust and to learn. This book focuses on children's experiences of personal and curricular transitions in early childhood. The authors are all academics with international reputations in the field of early childhood education. They draw on their research in Europe, Australasia and the USA to consider issues such as: *the optimum environment and appropriate pedagogy for young children's learning *how children, parents and educators cope with the transition from home to the first educational settings *the ways in which professionals can better support and empower children in transition The perspectives of children, parents and early years educators are all considered and case study examples are used throughout. This book will be essential reading for anyone involved in working with young children and their families, including students on early years courses, early years practitioners and early years policy makers.

In examining child development and early educational intervention strategies from cross cultural perspectives, this work brings together several recent theoretical insights, the results of empirical research, and experiences with well-evaluated early educational intervention programs. Its purpose is to constructively examine current international strategies of early education and literacy for disadvantaged children.

The field of early childhood education and the science of psychology have a long and closely intertwined history. The study of young children's learning within school contexts provides a test of developmental theory while at the same time identifies the limits of psychology for informing practice. The purpose of this book, part of the Rutgers Invitational Symposium on Education Series, is to bring together the work of the leading researchers in the field of child development and early education to inform three issues facing the United States today: * clarifying developmentally appropriate instruction from the perspective of cognitive developmental psychology; * ensuring that young children's schooling adequately addresses content; and * meeting cognitive goals while simultaneously supporting social and emotional development. Throughout, the role of empirical inquiry in developmental psychology for the practice of early education is examined.

Teachers commonly talk about loving their students, yet no effort has been made to explore the powerful educational potential inherent in these loving feelings. Teaching with Love breaks new ground by paying careful, scholarly attention to the nature, the scope, the dimensions, & the variety of teacherly love. In a highly readable narrative that builds on the feminist notion of an ethic of care & draws from the fields of psychology & women's studies, this book examines & analyzes the experiences of two primary grade teachers as they set about trying to create & enact a vision of early childhood education centered around loving relationships.

This book provides a review of current thinking and best practice within nursery and infant education. The authors include an analysis of current research into how children learn and discussions of issues such as classroom organization, curriculum management, and assessment. In addition, the text covers individual curriculum areas, including new chapters on children's art, ICT and PSHE.