Peer-reviewed article
Globalising early childhood education (GECE)
Anne Kultti ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This paper proposes a framework for global early childhood education (GECE) that supports multilingual learning for all children, rather than treating multilingualism as an issue only for some. The approach is based on sociocultural learning theory, research on holistic multilingual education, and play-responsive teaching. The paper outlines principles for ECE settings with diverse language environments, organised around conditions, learning contents, and teaching tools. The authors argue that implementing multilingual teaching in practice requires collaborative research with teachers and professional development.
Key points
- GECE proposes multilingual education for all children rather than monoglossic (single language-focused) approaches for some
- The framework is grounded in sociocultural understanding of learning and research on holistic multilingual education
- Three sets of principles are proposed: conditions, learning contents, and teaching tools for multilingual ECE
- Play-responsive teaching is identified as a key component of the approach
- Implementation requires empirical research and collaboration with teachers on professional development
Limitations
This paper presents a conceptual framework rather than empirical evaluation. It does not provide evidence of whether the GECE principles improve child outcomes or how effectively the approach can be implemented in practice.
Abstract
The overall interest in the present paper is equal early childhood education (ECE) in terms of educating multilingually. Instead of monoglossic bilingual education directed to some children, or monoglossic monolingual education directed to children despite language background, education for recognising and creating multilingual practices for all children is reasoned in terms of global early childhood education (GECE). The reasoning is grounded on a sociocultural understanding of learning, research on holistic multilingual education and the concept of play-responsive teaching. In the paper, a framework with principles for GECE – ECE characterised by multifaceted language ecology – is put forward. The principles concerning (i) conditions, (ii) learning contents and (iii) teaching tools are formulated to provide premises for and to be evolved through empirical research. The paper contributes to the contemporary challenge of implementing multilingual teaching approaches. Legitimising multilingual teaching in practice is considered a question for research in collaboration with teachers and professional development.