SUNY series, Early Childhood Education: Inquiries and Insights – serie

A provocative ethnography of the lived experiences of infants and toddlers in day care centers.Robin Lynn Leavitt presents in a provocative ethnography the lived experiences of infants and toddlers in day care centers. This text speaks to researchers and instructors interested in infancy, early childhood socialization, child care, and interpretive research. Leavitt's original application of multiple theoretical perspectives-interpretive, interactionist, critical, feminist, and postmodern- yields powerful insights into the problematic emotional experiences and relations between infants and their caregivers.The day care center is described as an institution that imposes a temporal and spatial regime on the lives of infants and toddlers. Vivid descriptions illustrate how caregivers create problematic situations for the children as they exercise unyielding power in the rigid management and control of the daily routines and play of children. As Leavitt documents the experiences of our youngest children, she engages in a philosophical exploration of the meanings of emotionally responsive, empowering care in group settings. Her analysis points to the need to care for caregivers, and for caregiving to become a self-reflective activity.

Shows that "risk" is a valuable and pedagogical experience for children on the playground (and for the adults that share that experience with them) in preparation for the precarious world which children find beyond the playground.In this thoughtful book, Stephen Smith shows how parents and educators can become aware of the positive value of risk in children's lives and how they can be challenged to take risks that are worth their while. This text is a "how so" much more than a "how to" book. It shows by evocative example and provocative questions how adults can help children mature with confidence and a strong sense of physical competence.The analysis shows the place, silence, atmosphere, challenge, encounter, practice and possibility of risk-taking. It consistently and conscientiously draws attention to a careful, solicitous manner of being with children.

Shows that "risk" is a valuable and pedagogical experience for children on the playground (and for the adults that share that experience with them) in preparation for the precarious world which children find beyond the playground.In this thoughtful book, Stephen Smith shows how parents and educators can become aware of the positive value of risk in children's lives and how they can be challenged to take risks that are worth their while. This text is a "how so" much more than a "how to" book. It shows by evocative example and provocative questions how adults can help children mature with confidence and a strong sense of physical competence.The analysis shows the place, silence, atmosphere, challenge, encounter, practice and possibility of risk-taking. It consistently and conscientiously draws attention to a careful, solicitous manner of being with children.

While teachers value children's play, they often do not know how to guide that play to make it more educational. This volume reflects current research in the child development and early childhood education fields.Play has been part of early childhood programs since the initial kindergarten developed by Friedreich Froebel more than one hundred and fifty years ago. While research shows that most teachers value children's play, they often do not know how to guide that play to make it more educational. Too often, in reflecting the value of child-initiated activities, teachers set the stage for children's play, observe it, but hesitate to intervene in that play. They may fear that to intervene is to create a developmentally inappropriate set of educational practices. However, the lack of intervention may limit the educational outcomes of play. Meanwhile, a large body of research exists on different forms of children's play in educational settings that could inform teachers of young children and help them to improve their practice and support more educational play. Saracho and Spodek bring together much of that research in an accessible volume for early childhood teachers and teacher educators.

Reviews the history and philosophy of a classic approach to teaching, while emphasizing its continuing relevance for contemporary schooling.Revisiting a Progressive Pedagogy reviews the history of the developmental-interactive approach, a formulation rooted in developmental psychology and educational practice, progressively informing educational thinking since the early-twentieth century. This conceptualization is identified with-but not restricted to-Bank Street College of Education. Examining the origins and evolution of the approach, the contributors assess its continued heuristic and practical value for classroom practice and teacher education in light of new ideas in social science and education, and indicate new directions.The book describes and analyzes key assumptions, and assesses the compatibility of new theoretical approaches, focuses on historical precedents and current adaptations in classroom practice, and examines teacher education, giving close attention to the personal and professional development of teachers.Contributors include Edna K. Shapiro, Nancy Nager, Margery B. Franklin, Laura M. W. Martin, Linda Levine, Salvatore Vascellaro, Lucy Sprague Mitchell, Edith Gwathmey, Ann-Marie Mott, Nina Jaffe, Carol Lippman, Eva G. Haberman, Frank Pignatelli, Helen Freidus, Jonathan Silin, and Eileen Wasow.

Raises provocative questions about how we care for infants and toddlers, and how to provide education and support for their caregivers.This fascinating book presents the stories of infant/toddler caregivers and their work to illustrate the complexity of balancing relationships with babies, families, coworkers, and self, yet remaining emotionally present and mindfully engaged. Enid Elliot explores the inevitable tensions of working within these various relationships and demonstrates how proficient caregivers can develop strategies for achieving this delicate balance. In the process, she raises provocative questions about how we care for babies, and how to provide education and support for their caregivers.

This book looks at readiness from a different perspective, arguing that we must move away from the readiness-as-child characteristic so prevalent in education and the popular press. Instead, readiness is explained as an idea constructed by parents, teachers, and children as they interact in their neighborhoods and communities.Graue describes three communities in the same school district: a middle-class, suburban town of professionals; a rural, working-class community; and a group of Hispanic, working-class families making their way through their children's kindergarten experiences. In each setting, the local meaning of readiness is the underlying theme in the actions taken by parents and their attitudes about their children's first public school experience.

This book looks at readiness from a different perspective, arguing that we must move away from the readiness-as-child characteristic so prevalent in education and the popular press. Instead, readiness is explained as an idea constructed by parents, teachers, and children as they interact in their neighborhoods and communities.Graue describes three communities in the same school district: a middle-class, suburban town of professionals; a rural, working-class community; and a group of Hispanic, working-class families making their way through their children's kindergarten experiences. In each setting, the local meaning of readiness is the underlying theme in the actions taken by parents and their attitudes about their children's first public school experience.

As part of a re-examination of our societal values and obligations, this book focuses on illuminating the various meanings and issues of entitlement in relation to the basic needs of children in our society. Drawing on the perspectives of philosophy, law, education, sociology, child development, economics, and public health, the authors discuss the implications of their vision of entitlement for the well-being of America's children. The book also points out specific family and cultural contexts for the provision of entitlements for young children. And, finally, it turns our attention to the moral commitments needed to effect changes in policies and programs. In this way, the book provides valuable information for all who are trying to improve the nurture and education of America's children.

Combines research and practice on integrated developmentally appropriate curriculum that helps theorists, researchers, parents, and teachers understand how to match early childhood teaching practices to the integrated manner that young children naturally think and learn.This volume combines research and practice on integrated developmentally appropriate curriculum in a manner that will help theorists, researchers, parents, school administrators, and teachers understand how to match early childhood teaching practices to the integrated manner that young children naturally think and learn. The book features specialists in each of the traditional curriculum areas (e.g., math, science, literacy) who share their expertise on how to accomplish this in practical and meaningful ways based on NAEYC and other professional organization guidelines. What an integrated curriculum means for assessment, children with disabilities, guidance, parenting, social development, and multicultural perspectives in early childhood education is also covered.

Establishes the power of early care and education to change children's lives, particularly children in poverty.Barnett and Boocock present a multi-disciplinary assessment of the long-term outcomes of early care and education in the United States and abroad. Innovative new research, together with up-to-date, comprehensive reviews, provide lessons for the design of early childhood programs, policies, and research. Contributors from the fields of education, psychology, sociology, and economics address questions about the causal relationships through which early childhood programs produce their long-term effects, the characteristics of effective early childhood programs, how nations respond to the global social and economic trends that are changing the lives of children and their families everywhere, child care's effects on maternal labor force participation, the potential and perils of welfare reform, and the implications of national economic and political structures for early care and education policies.A unique feature of the book is its attention to the practical problems of conducting research to support public policy development, translating research results into public policy, and improving communication between researchers and policy makers. The research presented in this important volume clearly establishes that early care and education can permanently improve the lives of children in poverty, provides research-based recommendations for achieving that goal through public policy, and sets an agenda for future research on early care and education's long-term outcomes.

Reviews the history and philosophy of a classic approach to teaching, while emphasizing its continuing relevance for contemporary schooling.Revisiting a Progressive Pedagogy reviews the history of the developmental-interactive approach, a formulation rooted in developmental psychology and educational practice, progressively informing educational thinking since the early-twentieth century. This conceptualization is identified with-but not restricted to-Bank Street College of Education. Examining the origins and evolution of the approach, the contributors assess its continued heuristic and practical value for classroom practice and teacher education in light of new ideas in social science and education, and indicate new directions.The book describes and analyzes key assumptions, and assesses the compatibility of new theoretical approaches, focuses on historical precedents and current adaptations in classroom practice, and examines teacher education, giving close attention to the personal and professional development of teachers.Contributors include Edna K. Shapiro, Nancy Nager, Margery B. Franklin, Laura M. W. Martin, Linda Levine, Salvatore Vascellaro, Lucy Sprague Mitchell, Edith Gwathmey, Ann-Marie Mott, Nina Jaffe, Carol Lippman, Eva G. Haberman, Frank Pignatelli, Helen Freidus, Jonathan Silin, and Eileen Wasow.

Considers the impacts of rapid social, economic, and cultural change on child-rearing and early education in Kenya.Examining the degree to which Kenyan children are still communally raised, this book presents findings from a national collaborative study considering the impacts of rapid social, economic, and cultural change on child-rearing and early education in Kenya. The narratives of over 460 parents, grandparents, preschool teachers, children, and community leaders provide unique insights on the impacts of neo-colonial policies, "development" practices, and national austerity measures on everyday lives of families.A unique aspect of this book is that it "decolonizes" research through sustained collaboration on all aspects of the study, from design and interview protocol development, to data collection and analysis, through dissemination. This book becomes, then, an invaluable model, for how to do thoughtful, collaborative, comparative research.

Offers a sweeping review of conceptions of and approaches to childhood.In this wide-ranging work, David Kennedy undertakes a philosophically grounded analysis of the history of childhood, the history of adulthood, and their interrelationship. Using themes and perspectives from the history of childhood, mythology, psychoanalysis, art, literature, philosophy, and education, the author locates the experience of childhood across all stages of the human life cycle, and thereby weighs its transformative potential for human culture. He offers a nuanced approach to child study that raises issues about how adults see children and how children see themselves, which could lead to a qualitatively different system of teacher preparation-a system that views the child as participant rather than object in the structure of social reproduction. This sweeping review of conceptions of and approaches to childhood yields a profound vision of what schooling should be like.

Offers a sweeping review of conceptions of and approaches to childhood.In this wide-ranging work, David Kennedy undertakes a philosophically grounded analysis of the history of childhood, the history of adulthood, and their interrelationship. Using themes and perspectives from the history of childhood, mythology, psychoanalysis, art, literature, philosophy, and education, the author locates the experience of childhood across all stages of the human life cycle, and thereby weighs its transformative potential for human culture. He offers a nuanced approach to child study that raises issues about how adults see children and how children see themselves, which could lead to a qualitatively different system of teacher preparation-a system that views the child as participant rather than object in the structure of social reproduction. This sweeping review of conceptions of and approaches to childhood yields a profound vision of what schooling should be like.