Psychomotricity is one of the foundations in child development, a science that unites the body in movement and mental activity, admits a translation that relates body movement and its intentionality, studies human development in all phases. In this sense, this article aims to understand psychomotricity and adversities in early childhood education, to recognize the relationship between body and mind, and the importance of psychomotor development since childhood. In order to promote and achieve a deeper study on psychomotricity in early childhood education, this research took place in a bibliographic way through studies by authors dealing with the theme. The authors who guided this research were Duprê (1862-1921), Wallon (1879-1962) and Le Boulch (1981), who report the contexts and challenges of psychomotricity for a better development in human life. The results of the present study brought deeper reflections regarding the knowledge of the psychomotricity investigation process and the adversities in early childhood education.
Weber da Silva Mota, Josilene Pereira Valente, Edith Gonçalves Costa et al.
This paper addresses early childhood educators’ perceptions on how power relations are shaped by interactions between themselves, children, and the material environment. In a qualitative three-phase case study I explored educators’ perceptions on how power relations are enacted within one preschool classroom in Southern Ontario, and how power relations are affected when educators conceptualize the environment through the perspective of space and place. Drawing on reconceptualist theory in early childhood education, children’s spatialities, and Michel Foucault’s work on power in society, I suggest that power circulates between bodies and spatialities, in the complex interactions between individuals and the physical spaces they encounter. The findings suggest that while early childhood educators may understand intuitively the demarcation between space and place, external constraints – real or perceived – are barriers to change. I argue that shifting philosophical and pedagogical stances in early childhood education have resulted in two binarized positions, where philosophy and pedagogy are frequently understood as either child-centred, or teacher-directed orientations and that troubling the binary by thinking with place can help refigure power relations between educators and young children. The conceptual distinction between thinking of early childhood classrooms as space or place is significant and I argue that viewing the environment as place is one possible way educators can reconceptualize traditionally hierarchical and binarized power dynamics between themselves and young children.
The Early Childhood Education Report 2017 is the third assessment of provincial and territorial frameworks for early childhood education in Canada. Nineteen benchmarks, organized into five equally weighted categories, evaluate governance structures, funding levels, access, quality in early learning environments and the rigour of accountability mechanisms. Results are populated from detailed provincial and territorial profiles developed by the researchers and reviewed by provincial and territorial officials. Researchers and officials co-determine the benchmarks assigned. We are pleased to welcome Nunavut and Yukon as new participants in this edition. This website includes the profiles for each jurisdiction, including the federal government, plus the methodology that shapes the report, references, charts and figures and materials from past reports.
In this article, the authors critically and generatively encounter emergent curriculum, drawing from their experiences working as pedagogistas in three different early childhood education centres in Western Canada. The intent is to engage with the concept of emergence as that which can bring ethical and political engagements with curriculum and pedagogy; complicating understandings of emergent curriculum as simply following the lead of children. The particular interruptive orientations that the authors bring forward include: possibilities for responding to and cultivating the conditions for emergence in ways that disrupt the managerial concerns of everyday practice; troubling the co-optation of emergence by human-centred consumptive practice; and unsettling emergence in conversation with settler colonialism and anti-blackness in the places and spaces of early childhood education.
Fikile Nxumalo, Cristina Delgado Vintimilla, Narda Nelson
This study explores the experiences of eight LGBTQ+ early childhood educators (ECEs) in Ontario, Canada to understand the current challenges in navigating the heteronormative spaces within early childhood education settings. Through a queer theoretical framework, with intersectionality in mind, the stories shared remind us that early childhood education operates within the dominant discourses of heteronormativity. The LGBTQ+ ECEs in this study challenge us to uphold our commitment to inclusive and decolonial practices and to acknowledge children as social actors in their learning, which includes grasping the complexities of gender and sexuality.
Early childhood education is a crucial step in a child’s educational journey. This paper begins with a history of early childhood education programs in the United States, from the Head Start program to public and private programs. A child’s participation in a quality early education program is essential to mental, social and academic development, as is evident in the research of several successful model programs. The Abecedarian Project, Perry Preschool Program, Chicago Child-Parent Center, and Abbot Preschool Program provide an excellent evidence base for the benefits of early childhood education. Research of these projects show improvement in several areas, some of which are literacy, grade retention, cognitive skills, self-esteem, and high school graduation rates. There are currently several options for early childhood education ranging from the Head Start program to public school programs, to private options. The cost and benefits associated with each program differ widely across the range of available options. This paper concludes with recommendations for making early childhood education available for more children by making improvements to current programs and increasing funding.
Early childhood education (ECE) is pivotal for children's development, with Lev Vygotsky and Urie Bronfenbrenner's sociocultural theory stressing social interactions and family engagement. Sociocultural principles advocate for tailored learning within the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and emphasize language's role in cognitive development. However, ECE faces challenges like funding shortages and staff turnover, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Sociocultural theory suggests collaborative partnerships to address these issues, stressing educator-student and family-school connections. It also advocates for community involvement to bridge financial gaps and highlights the importance of professional development for teachers. Family participation is crucial, recognizing diverse family influences and educational styles. Sociocultural theory promotes inclusive practices accommodating diverse needs, temperaments, and learning styles, fostering creativity, problem-solving, and socialization in ECE settings. Early childhood education (ECE) is pivotal for children's development, with Lev Vygotsky and Urie Bronfenbrenner's sociocultural theory stressing social interactions and family engagement. Sociocultural principles advocate for tailored learning within the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and emphasize language's role in cognitive development. However, ECE faces challenges like funding shortages and staff turnover, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Sociocultural theory suggests collaborative partnerships to address these issues, stressing educator-student and family-school connections. It also advocates for community involvement to bridge financial gaps and highlights the importance of professional development for teachers. Family participation is crucial, recognizing diverse family influences and educational styles. Sociocultural theory promotes inclusive practices accommodating diverse needs, temperaments, and learning styles, fostering creativity, problem-solving, and socialization in ECE settings.
At a time when national discourse in the USA centers the need for professionalization, regulation, and surveillance, this article emphasizes the ways in which neoliberal logics harm those working in early childhood education in the USA. While stakeholders at every level debate proposed solutions to the early childhood education crisis, largely related to furthering regulation, this article brings forward the voices of those doing the work and rejects the idea that neoliberal logics will lead us collectively away from a situation that they created. Guided by the tenets of critical qualitative inquiry, I use narrative inquiry to explore the stories of early childhood educators working in an underfunded, undervalued field. In this article, I highlight two resonant themes that spanned the participants’ narratives, which are related to the impacts of scarcity and surveillance in early childhood education spaces. Based on my findings, I make the claim that early childhood education professionals are strained by increased regulation and surveillance amidst an already toxic prevalence of scarcity of various forms, and that shifts to further regulate the field should consider the voices of the people working in these spaces.
Immunisation is a cornerstone to primary health care and is an exceptionally good value. The 14 low-income and middle-income countries in the Middle East and North Africa region make up 88% of the region's population and 92% of its births. Many of these countries have maintained high immunisation coverage even during periods of low or negative economic growth. However, coverage has sharply deteriorated in countries directly impacted by conflict and political unrest. Approximately 1.3 million children were not completely vaccinated in 2017, as measured by third dose of diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus vaccine. Most of the countries have been slow to adopt the newer, more expensive life-saving vaccines mainly because of financial constraints and the socioeconomic context. Apart from the three countries that have had long-standing assistance from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, most countries have not benefited appreciably from donor and partner activities in supporting their health sector and in achieving their national and subnational immunisation targets. Looking forward, development partners will have an important role in helping reconstruct health systems in conflict-affected countries. They can also help with generating evidence and strategic advocacy for high-priority and cost-effective services, including immunisation. Governments and ministries of health would ensure important benefits to their populations by investing further in their immunisation programmes. Where possible, the health system can create and expand fiscal space from efficiency gains in harmonising vaccine procurement mechanisms and service integration; broader revenue generation from economic growth; and reallocation of government budgets to health, and from within health, to immunization.
Helen Saxenian, Nahad Sadr-Azodi, Miloud Kaddar et al.
It is intended to carry out a tour about the influence of neuroscience in early childhood education. It is important that all teachers, especially those working with infants, can know the fundamental principles of neuroscience and how the brain learns; thus have sufficient resources for decision making in school classrooms. This research paper attempts to make an introduction about the topic to be addressed and its focus on early childhood education.
