Early Childhood Pedagogies: Creating Spaces for Young Children to Flourish

Diverse international perspectives converge in this book that is about ways young children’s learning and care may be supported. Traversing the field of early childhood education and care from its established philosophical underpinnings to 21st century research, policies and practices, the book draws together past and present discourses focused on early childhood pedagogy from around the World as a basis for shaping future trajectories. Despite growing international consensus of the strong influence of early childhood experiences on lifetime outcomes, the nineteen chapters reveal contemporary early childhood pedagogy as a collection of spaces characterised by plurality, complexity and dissonance. These characteristics signal the importance of recognising early childhood pedagogies: multiple models of practice for the many diverse learning and care contexts that have the capacity to value young children as individuals and enable each to flourish now and throughout their lives. Moreover, such characteristics disrupt notions that a single ‘optimal’ early childhood pedagogy is either possible or desirable. This exciting global collection of nineteen empirical research reports and discursive papers provides inspiration to spark new reflections, fresh debates and innovative endeavours among early childhood students, practitioners, researchers and policymakers across the World concerning ‘Early Childhood Pedagogies’.