Curriculum in early childhood education: critical questions about content, coherence, and control

A continuing struggle over curriculum in early childhood education is evident in contemporary research and debate at national and international levels. This reflects the dominant influence of developmental psychology in international discourses, and in policy frameworks that determine approaches to curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. Focusing on early childhood education, we argue that this struggle generates critical questions about three significant themes within curriculum theory: content, coherence, and control. We outline two positions from which these themes can be understood: Developmental and Educational Psychology and contemporary policy frameworks. We argue that within and between these positions, curriculum content, coherence, and control are viewed in different and sometimes oppositional ways. Following this analysis, we propose that a focus on ‘working theories’ as a third position offers possibilities for addressing some of these continuing struggles, by exploring different implications for how content, coherence, and control might be understood. We conclude that asking critical questions of curriculum in early childhood education is a necessary endeavour to develop alternative theoretical frameworks for understanding the ways in which curriculum can be considered alongside pedagogy, assessment, play, and learning

The endgame for national girls' schooling policies in Australia?

Gender equity: A framework for Australian schools is the most recent policy dealing with gender in schools at the national level in Australia. This paper provides a critical discourse analysis of the policy document, tracking two themes: 'the construction of gender', and 'equity: a discourse of education for all boys and girls'. Through this analysis the authors argue that the policy signals a substantial shift in focus-from girls and boys in relation to girls, to both girls and boys-within a framework of presumptive equality. It is also argued that the policy shuts down federal involvement in policy for girls' schooling. In the process, responsibility is devolved to the states and territories where, in many cases, gender equity programs will be struggled over at a local, school-based level. At the same time, however, spaces have been created which potentially enable new strategies for gender equity policies in Australian schools

'Smarten up the Parents': Whose agendas are we serving? Governing parents and children through the Smart Population Foundation Initiative in Australia

This article critiques the Smart Population Foundation Initiative (SPFI), which was established to ‘bring parenting information and the science of child development to Australian parents and carers’ (Smart Population Foundation, 2006) and to satisfy the need for a credible and easily accessible source of information for parents. The article draws on the notion of modern governance developed by Rose and analyses the Initiative as a deeply political project. It looks at the Initiative from a critical distance created by the context of governmentality. The authors argue that the discourses produced by the Initiative constitute a particular notion of parent as ‘smart’ (lifelong learner, responsible and informed). These discourses govern parents through ‘ethopolitics’ to take up a certain art of parenting as their supposed free choice. Through standardising and sanctioning a particular way of acting as a parent, the SPFI translates governmental objectives into parents’ own values and practices. As a result, the discourse the SPFI constitutes about parenting effectively ‘shuts down’ multiple understandings of being a ‘good’ parent. Hence, parents’ conscious formation of their parenting practices are inhibited and with that, the ethical debates around this contentious issue are silenced

Living with uncertainty : transition from university student to early childhood professional

Transitions are inevitable, and are part of a continuous process of invention and exploration that is often linked to disequilibrium and dissonance (Stacey, 1992). Beginning professionals are often frustrated with the uncertainty and realities of their profession. This paper reports on a case study that aimed to identify early childhood education students’ transition issues and to enhance their transition from the final semester of study into professional practice. The project aimed to develop a framework for supporting the transition journey for these students as they found a place within the field to develop and construct identities that align with the community in which they are socially situated. Three phases of transition (Bridges, 2003) were identified. 1) First, as students left university to transition into professional practice, they experienced feelings of insecurity, and a sense of loss and uncertainty. Also, they perceived personal and professional attributes as interchangeable. 2) Second, graduates struggled with their new identities, and searched for answers to their insecurities. Some searched for answers from their university peers; others sought out peer mentoring and professional development opportunities in their sites. 3) Third, graduates were able to separate personal and professional qualities, and could begin to look back on their transition experiences in a more reflective way. Findings from this work have informed the provision of learning opportunities, experiences and approaches which have been strategically embedded in the final year units of study at university