Abstract:
The study analyses constructions of childhood within early childhood education
pedagogy and policy in New Zealand. Constructions are evaluated against criteria
for an education based on a concept of the "child as citizen" and children's rights.
Qualitative research methods were used. Constructions of childhood in pedagogy
were examined through analysis of pedagogical documentation and discussions of
teachers who met together over a year within a teachers' network. The teachers'
aims were to base their practice on notions of the "child as citizen" and extend their
thinking and practice from this basis. Constructions of childhood in policy were
studied within two arenas: focus groups of government officials and representatives
of early childhood organisations who met to discuss key issues in early childhood
education policy; and early childhood education policy documents and commentary
produced during the period 2000-2007. The analytic approach enabled an
evaluation to be made of how children were represented within policy and practice,
and the implications of constructions of childhood which would lead to democratic
citizenship.
Constructions of childhood were found to be dominant influences on thinking about
early childhood pedagogy and policy, and were associated with views about the
purposes and breadth of early childhood education; the roles of teachers, children,
families, community and the government; and favoured pedagogical and policy
approaches. I argued that organisational cultures exert a pervasive influence on
participants' assumptions and values.
Three main areas where policy could be developed to better support democratic
citizenship were identified.
First, citizenry rights should be established as a predominant goal for policy as it is
for pedagogy. Where policy and pedagogical goals are integrated, both can work
together to reinforce each other. One contention is that the process of making
meaning of beliefs and critiquing them within collective forums can enable
participants to contemplate what the child as citizen means conceptually and in practice and policy, and in this way incorporate the beliefs into the ways children
are treated in these domains.
Secondly, I argued for inquiry into the nature of early childhood education
provision that we want in New Zealand society and within communities.
Institutional thinking can raise barriers to envisaging new forms of provision that
cater well for all children, and contribute to a wide range of outcomes, including
dispositions for participating in a democratic society, support for families, social
cohesiveness and community building.
A third challenge is for policy frameworks to support teaching and learning. Action
research approaches with support from a professional development adviser were
shown to enable teachers to explore the value base of their pedagogy and
experiment with change. Although such approaches are being supported by some
Ministry of Education initiatives in New Zealand, working conditions are not
conducive to these approaches in many early childhood settings.
I have argued that structures are needed to support debate in pedagogy and policy
and enable all parties, including parents, to participate in it. A new debate could
enable different voices to be heard and new possibilities constructed for early
childhood services as sites for building a democratic society.
