Between the elitist “philosophy is for grown-ups” and the demagogic “everyone can be a philosopher”, where does Philosophy for Children (P4C) belong in preschools? What is it assumed, expected, or intended to achieve? How is it implemented? This article reviews the literature evaluating the impact of P4C practices on preschool children (aged 3–6). It identifies the main actual or purported obstacles signaled by educators to argue that philosophy cannot be practiced before age 6. It then appraises, (...) from a cognitive developmental psychology perspective, the reality of these supposed obstacles, considering the underlying developmental skills that very young children may lack compared with older ones. Finally, pedagogical adjustments to P4C school practices are suggested, illustrated, and discussed to adapt this program, initially designed and documented for elementary-school children, to the potential of preschoolers. (shrink)

This paper sets out to examine the place of theory in preschool education, considering the theories to which practitioners and providers have access and which provide a rationale for everyday practices and shape the experiences of young children. The paper reflects the circumstances of preschool provision, practices and thinking in the UK in general and in Scotland in particular. The central argument is that while there may be little obvious recourse to theorising and limited exposure to explicit theory (...) about children’s development, learning and education, practitioners and those responsible for provision have tacit understandings or implicit theories which can be seen to shape their practices. The paper begins by considering the explicit theory which practitioners are exposed to through the development of practice guidance and professional education. This is followed by an examination of the explicit theories adopted from psychology and more recent theoretical developments which have their roots in other disciplines and perspectives. Some influences on practitioners’ implicit theories are discussed before considering two key aspects of the dominate consensus about good practice: that play is the medium through which children learn and that practice should be child-centred. The paper concludes with a discussion of the ‘identity’ of preschool education theory and the benefits of articulating the implicit theory and folk beliefs on which local practices are based. (shrink)

Introduction : before school -- Small miracles -- Life way after preschool -- The futures market -- The imprimatur of science -- Who cares for the children? -- Jump-starting a movement -- The politics of the un-dramatic -- English lessons -- Kids-first politics.

This book presents a clear, deep and accessible overview of the philosophical, developmental and educational foundations of Rudolf Steiner/Waldorf education--as a dynamic, adaptable, creative process for which a profound sense of the uniqueness of each child is foundational. It demystifies Steiner as a philosopher of "freehood" and discusses the threefold human being in psychology. Child development: topics covered include the 12 senses and sensory motor development, language, and inner life. Education principles covered include imitation, purposeful activity and free play; nature; (...) music and the arts; rhythm, structure, trust and security; observing and understanding children; self-development and reflection; comparison with other preschool approaches. (shrink)

This book also spotlights a program at Yale University that, in response to the dearth of play in preschool curricula, emphasized learning through play for ...

Controlling defects in educational policies established by the state is a formidable challenge. The state invariably believes that the solution lies in developing and improving educational outcomes. However, evaluating and monitoring these outcomes is not a straightforward process that unfolds over a year or two; it requires a span of 14–16 years, encompassing two years of preschool, 12 years of basic and secondary education, and four years of university education. Despite this extensive period, the discovery of “the quality of (...) educational policies” and subsequently “the quality of education” often proves elusive, amounting to mere rhetoric without tangible impact. In the realm of educational philosophy, drawing upon Immanuel Kant’s Enlightenment principles from December 1784 emerges as both necessary and urgent. This approach could guide us back to the foundational infrastructure and core principles of learning design, where reason and critical thought commence a critique of current educational policies in any context. With greater freedom, this enables the innovation of new concepts. Traditional education policies rendered obsolete across generations, bear striking resemblance to the religious institutions that Kant, along with scholars before him during the Dark Ages, found constraining. The critique of existing educational frameworks and the advocacy for freedom and autonomy in learning draw on the foundational work of Heckman, James and Carneiro, Pedro, (2003), who delve into human capital policy, suggesting that education systems need to be more responsive to individual needs and potential (Heckman & Carneiro, 2003). The paramount question arises: Have traditional education policies succeeded in making students subservient to their systems, structures, and models, burdened with theories of educational reform and development? It is evident that from early childhood through the stages of basic and secondary education, students are deprived of the choice in systems, structures, and curricula that suit them best. This limitation extends to university education, which is contingent upon high school grades and reliant on inadequately designed, intimidating examinations. Furthermore, it is ineffectively tethered to public policies, socio-economic conditions, and linguistic competencies (as determined by TOEFL, IELTS, etc.), or international assessments (e.g., PISA). The focus on the individual — his or her abilities, skills, aspirations, hobbies, and concerns — remains conspicuously absent from the calculus of all educational policy considerations. This research endeavors to revisit foundational questions: Why do societies necessitate education initially, followed by policies governing it? It then delves deeper into examining the relationships between educational policies and the future job market, which remains ambiguous and unknown. Keywords : Enlightenment, Educational Policies, Kantian Philosophy, Critical Thinking, Human Capital, Strategic Insight, Artificial Intelligence, Educational Reform, Lifelong Learning, Global Citizenship, Technological Revolution, Equity in Education, Educational Philosophy, Intellectual Freedom, Skill Development, Inclusive Education. (shrink)

Kindergarten Narratives on Froebelian Education showcases the latest scholarship and historical understandings concerning the casting of the kindergarten idea abroad: across cultures, continents and centuries. Each chapter reveals previously unknown narratives of intrepid endeavour, political pragmatism and pedagogical innovation that collectively provide insight into the transformation of Froebel's ideas on early education into a global phenomenon. Across global contexts, each chapter will present a case study of the ideas scattering abroad, illustrative of the movement of ideas, curricula and pedagogical change; (...) in effect taking the kindergarten beyond the geographies and pedagogies of its German beginnings and borders. Chapters draw on historical examples of Froebelian education from The Netherlands, New Zealand, Japan, Sweden, the UK and the USA. In the journal History of Education in 2006, Froebelian history scholar Professor Kevin J. Brehony (1948-2013) lamented the 'relative neglect' of the history of early years education at the same time there was a heightened global social and political interest in educating the young child. In this book, an international team of contributors respond to Brehony's challenge that historical perspectives can play a role in current debates and suggest ways historical narratives might inform policies and practices in twenty-first century early childhood education, care settings and contexts. Reconnecting past lessons and insights with present and future concerns for early education, young children and their place in society, this important collection also includes an historical timeline charting the spread of Frobelian education ideas and kindergartens across the world. (shrink)

Prospective preschool teachers often incorporate picturebooks into their teaching practices in kindergartens as part of their training. However, they often rely heavily on asking children numerous questions while reading picturebooks, such as identifying the protagonists of the story, detailing the sequence of events, and exploring the who, what, when, where, and why. This approach may result in a superficial interrogation of the text, overlooking (i) the nuanced messages conveyed through illustrations or the synergy of text and imagery, and (ii) (...) the potential opportunities that could arise if children were encouraged to pose their own inquiries through philosophical exploration, delving deeper into the themes presented in picturebooks. This research was conducted in 2023 with 36 prospective preschool teachers from the University of Crete, Greece. The research comprises two phases. In the initial phase, the student teachers established a philosophical community of inquiry and acquired several philosophical inquiry skills. Following each inquiry session, student teachers engaged in self-reflection and assessed their contributions, identifying aspects of their experience that are applicable to using picturebooks with kindergarten children. They then developed lesson plans centred around the philosophical exploration of these picturebooks. In the subsequent phase, student teachers received supervision as they implemented their lesson plans in a kindergarten and subsequently reflected on their teaching experiences. The findings illustrate both the advantages and challenges encountered by prospective preschool teachers when approaching literature from a philosophical perspective. Additionally, the student teachers reflected on the interconnectedness of literature and philosophy, as well as the potential benefits for both educators and children through this integrated approach. A correction to this article was published on 22 January 2025. (shrink)

What happens if we think of children's play as a form of great art that we turn to and return to for inspiration, for education? If we can see play as art, then what and how can we learn from children's play or from playing with them? What can philosophy, or philosophers, learn from children's play? In this essay Viktor Johansson gives examples of what and when children can teach philosophers through play or, more specifically, how children's play can (...) teach philosophers about the relation between fiction and reality. It begins by exploring the educational relation between fiction and reality in recent revivals of literary humanism. Johansson gives examples from a preschool project of how children use fiction picture books and create new fiction in their play, and how they do so in ways that relate to previous philosophical considerations of literary fiction. To explore this, the essay enters into conversation with the work of Iris Murdoch on the playfulness of art. Through, and in contrast to, Murdoch's work, Johansson establishes that play can be great art through its nonpurposefulness and its use of skill and imagination. Moreover, turning to children's play becomes a method for attending to what Ludwig Wittgenstein calls philosophy's “natural history,” that is, a historicization of philosophical thinking that enables philosophers to learn from children. Johansson concludes by showing that encounters between fiction and play, and with children playing, can be an educational embroilment, not only between teacher and child, but between teacher, child, the visual, the material, and the philosophical in which all learn from one another. (shrink)

With stories, anecdotes, and a discussion about the strong connection between theory and best practices, this guide will help you understand the value of applying your knowledge of educational theory to your work as you refine your practices, create thoughtful curriculum, and do your best to raise the standards of early childhood education.

Providing an overview of the historical and social background of the Reggio Approach, this book encourages practitioners to look at their individual settings and existing practice in relation to the approach.

The ontological turn in the humanities and social sciences has prompted some scholars of education to shift their focus of inquiry away from questions of epistemology (i.e., knowledge) to metaphysical matters related to being and the nature of existence. In this paper, I turn to ontology and make an argument for integrating and explicitly teaching theories of immanence in teacher education courses. I argue that integrating and explicitly teaching theories of immanence in teacher education courses can radically reorient students’ thinking, (...) being, and doing, which can fundamentally change how they are able to see, perceive, and make sense of events that unfold in their classrooms. Using vignettes of two encounters at an Italian preschool, I think with theory (Jackson and Mazzei 2012; St. Pierre, 2008, Ringrose and Renolds 2014) to demonstrate how philosophies of immanence reorient thought and produce “a lively new ontology” in which “the world’s radical aliveness comes to light” (Barad 2007, p. 33). The theoretical concepts I use include political theorist Jane Bennett’s (2010) concept of thing power, along with physicist Karen Barad’s (2007) concepts of entanglement and intra-action. (shrink)

Philosophy of Islamic religious education to preschool children.

Despite considerable attention to the need for systemic education for a new society, it is surprising to note how little research has actually been conducted in this area with transdisciplinary approach. Besides, there are many papers about new educational approaches but they are focused on a specific level, for example on higher education. Very little has been done in terms of a systemic and comprehensive approach capable of guiding human development from preschool to postgraduates studies-and beyond. This paper has (...) two purposes: (a) first, to articulate the theoretical framework of a new educational paradigm that responds to current needs of society and that integrates evolutionary perspectives on cultural and human development; (b) second, to suggest a research agenda that may be followed in the future to expand our knowledge base in the new educational paradigms area. (shrink)

This book will answer all your questions and more.

Drawing upon in-depth analyses of Lev Vygotsky’s theories of early childhood and investigating the ways in which his ideas are reflected in contemporary educational settings, this book brings into sharp relief the numerous opportunities for preschool learning and development afforded by Vygotskian approaches. Discussion of recent developments in the understanding and implementation of Vygotsky’s ideas in Western and Russian contexts facilitates comparison, and provides readers with fresh impetus to integrate elements into their own practice. Chapters are clearly structured and (...) address the multitude of aspects touched upon by Vygotsky, including cognitive development, communication and interaction, play, literacy and the quality of preschool settings. Providing a comprehensive exploration of current stances on Vygotsky's ideas in diverse cultural-historical contexts, Vygotsky's Theory in Early Childhood Education and Research will be of interest to researchers, practitioners, educators and politicians involved in early years education. (shrink)

Explores the impact that imagination in preschool and early childhood education has had on the lives of various populations.

"Dr. Montessori was par excellence the great interpreter of the child; and though she herself has passed on from the scene of her labours her work will still go on."-- Westminster Cathedral Chronicle One of the landmark books in the history of education--and one of the least expensive editions now available--this volume describes a new system for educating youngsters. Based on a radical concept of liberty for the pupil and highly formal training of separate sensory, motor, and mental capacities, the (...) system enabled youngsters to master reading, writing, and arithmetic rapidly and substantially. Included are discussions of scientific pedagogy; discipline; the importance of proper diet, gymnastics, and manual labor; and many other topics. Unabridged reprint of the classic 1912 edition. (shrink)

This book offers current international initiatives, developed for working with children from "Birth to Eight" by a diverse group of noted professional authors. Their readings present an overview of early education as it evolved from the Froebelian kindergarten to today's practices in various Early Education settings around the globe. The international voices of the authors represent a balanced perspective of happenings in various nations and lend a conversational approach to each chapter. The chapters analyze the Universal Preschool Education movement (...) promoted by various countries, states, and agencies; examine model curriculum programs in a variety of teaching/learning settings; and identify directions the community can take in promoting effective early education programs. Particular attention is given to key issues and concerns faced by practitioners and families world-wide. Studies reveal successful approaches to bilingual education in a Chilean kindergarten, research findings on gender differences in primary school girls for learning science in Wales, literacy development strategies for teaching in UK multicultural classrooms and childhood centres, the process of integration special education with early childhood practices in China, and exemplars of community outreach to improve the well being of children through advocacy for governmental changes in early education policies and professional development. This book is for everyone interested in the well being of young children moving forward in a global age to meet the challenges of early citizenship in their world. (shrink)

Thinking with language as a complex practice for educators, advocates, and researchers in early childhood education is a necessary gesture for countering the anti-intellectualism that designates early childhood education as a service providing custodial care. Vitalizing Vocabulary insists that early childhood education in Canada must unsettle our inherited demand for technocratic, instrumental, and accessible relations with language. At the collision of research and practice, Nicole Land and Cristina Delgado Vintimilla propose that cultivating playful, speculative, inventive, accountable, and answerable relations with (...) words, concepts, and language is a critical move toward broadening early childhood education's intellectual and interdisciplinary horizons. The book is organized into four actions that activate pedagogical grammars: reading, writing, citing, and speaking. Each section plays with the purposes of a glossary by proposing language that we would work to erase, reclaim, and introduce. This situates language as an ethical, political, and creative pedagogical process that puts specific relations, curricula, and subjectivities into motion. Vitalizing Vocabulary ultimately envisions a project of early childhood education where students, educators, pedagogists, researchers, community, and others share a common commitment to creating responsive, meaningful, ethical, and political pedagogies. (shrink)

This paper aims to show how Emerson provides a reworking of Kantian understandings of moral education in young children’s Bildung. The article begins and ends by thinking of Emersonian self-cultivation as a form of improvisatory or wild Bildung. It explores the role of Bildung and self-cultivation in preschools through a philosophy that accounts for children’s ‘Wild wisdom’ by letting Emerson speak to Kant. The paper argues that Kant’s vision of Bildung essentially involves reason’s turn upon itself and that Emerson, (...) particularly in how he is taken up by Cavell, shows that such a turn is already present in the processes of children inheriting, learning, and improvising with language. This improvisatory outlook on moral education is contrasted with common goals of moral education prescribed in early childhood education where the Swedish Curriculum for the Preschool Lpfö 98 is used as an example. (shrink)

Some concepts of collective action have been examined. It is found that collective action is formed as a result of interaction of individuals within the group, collective etc. Such social environment in which collective action appears, is the educational process, which aims to provide protection, safety and educational needs of direct interaction between the preschool children and children of younger school age. The forms of work: group and collective, have been analyzed. It is found that acting in a group (...) or team, the participants of educational process gather around the common goal, collective action, that occurs, becomes the value in the process of achieving this goal. That is, it encourages the collective, group to act in the given direction. This action is accompanied by the interaction, due to which raises the phenomenology of collective, above- and beyond the individual. It is based on the formation in the mind of each individual subject of communication the subjective model of the content and the process of interaction, which seems to be shared with other participants (the subject feels as if its co-author) and the presence of which can be displayed in the form of a general image of the subject of interaction that occurs in interpersonal space and fills it. (shrink)

The relationship between silence as non-speech and bilingualism in early childhood education is intricate. This article maps this relationship with the help of diverse theoretical entrances to a video-recorded everyday episode from a bilingual preschool in Sweden. Though this, three alternative readings of silence are produced. Thinking with Deleuzian philosophy, the aim is to consider how the different readings of silence require different understandings of both time and language and allow different bilingual child subjectivities. The different readings present (...) silence as development, strategy and intensity. Thinking with different dimensions of language as well as Chronos and Aion as different notions of time, the article shows that silence as development and silence as strategy are individually, chronologically and linguistically oriented readings. These allow viewing the bilingual child as more or less competent, active and powerful in relation to adults. Furthermore, silence as intensity is collectively produced as well as temporally unbounded, and produces the bilingual child, as involved in several material–semiotic relations capable of amazement. It is discussed whether, due to the evasive and inconsistent nature of silence, all three readings are equally possible. Nevertheless, they produce different effects and raise different questions concerning bilingual educational practice in the early years. (shrink)

The article explores the need to eat as a biological and social practice among children in a preschool in Norway. The children in this preschool are aged from one to two years of age, and some of them have just started there. Different events from mealtimes relate to Derrida's concept of touch and Grosz's notion of bodies in‐place and out‐of‐place. How food touches the children and the practitioners is further discussed through a consideration of body/place relations, which are (...) both material and reflect pedagogical discourses. Its overall context is not only touching the food in a concrete sense, but also food as touch seen as a philosophical concept. Analyzing touching relations around the table including movements in materiality, bodies and discourses of eating may empower the youngest children in a preschool setting. (shrink)

Steiner schools have helped carry the flag of liberal, creative, humanistic education through these dark ages and can now act as a beacon. Professor Peter Woods, formerly of the Open University.Contributors to this accessible book will show how Steiner kindergarten practice can offer an understanding of observation and assessment which is strikingly different from approaches found in many nursery and reception classes, and yet it's this understanding that can encourage deep reflection on practitioners' and students' values and principles. Drawing on (...) their extensive research in the field, the contributors, who include experienced Steiner educators and early childhood experts from other traditions, have worked together to explore and understand what is distinctive about Steiner kindergarten practice. Whilst observation and assessment are not the appropriate terms to describe the more relaxed, intuitive and trusting ways in which Steiner teachers aim to meet with children, the researchers used these techniques to present and explore the variety of perspectives on Steiner kindergarten practice. Key aspects of the Steiner philosophy, such as caring for the physical environment, respecting the rhythms and routines in what children do, and creating an environment that allows teachers and children to properly get to know each other are explored. In these chapters, readers will meet with aspects of the Steiner philosophy which will help to inform and expand on their own practice as early years professionals"-- Provided by publisher. (shrink)

In this fascinating new book, Affrica Taylor encourages an exciting paradigmatic shift in the ways in which childhood and nature are conceived and pedagogically deployed, and invites readers to critically reassess the naturalist childhood discourses that are rife within popular culture and early years education.Through adopting a common worlds framework, Reconfiguring the Natures of Childhood generates a number of complex and inclusive ways of seeing and representing the early years. It recasts childhood as:messy and implicated rather than pure and innocent; (...) situated and differentiated rather than decontextualized and universal; entangled within real world relations rather than protected in a separate space.Throughout the book, the author follows an intelligent and innovative line of thought which challenges many pre-existing ideas about childhood. Drawing upon cross-disciplinary perspectives, and with international relevance, this book makes an important contribution to the field of childhood studies and early childhood education, and will be a valuable resource for scholars, postgraduate students and higher education teachers. (shrink)

The famous Brazilian educator Paulo Freire has influenced educators, teachers and students in a broad tapestry of contexts and countries, as he challenged conventional thinking on how teachers ought to teach and learners ought to learn. By making his ideas accessible and relevant, this insightful and thought-provoking text draws out the relevance and topicality of Freire's work and applies this to a wide range of educational settings, from adult education, through schools, to early years settings. Themes covered include: the lasting (...) impact of illiteracy; the benefits and potential in becoming literate; literacy, language and power; the differences between banking and dialogic education; the social and political nature of learning. what kind of teaching and learning do we want? Using a variety of practical examples and case studies, Introducing Freire is an essential guide to the work of one of the most significant figures in education in the last century. Fascinating and accessible, this book is for anyone interested in teaching and learning, poverty and affluence, power and powerlessness, and society and change. (shrink)

Through a series of exquisite encounters with children, and through a lucid opening up of new aspects of poststructuralist theorizing, Bronwyn Davies opens up new ways of thinking about, and intra-acting with, children. This book carefully guides the reader through a wave of thought that turns the known into the unknown, and then slowly, carefully, makes new forms of thought comprehensible, opening, through all the senses, a deep understanding of our embeddedness in encounters with each other and with the material (...) world. This book takes us into Reggio-Emilia-inspired Swedish preschools in Sweden, into the author's own community in Australia, into poignant memories of childhood, and offers the reader insights into:new ways of thinking about children and their communities; the act of listening as emergent and alive; ourselves as mobile and multiple subjects; the importance of remaining open to the not-yet-known.Defining research as diffractive, and as experimental, Davies' relationship to the teachers and pedagogues she worked with is one of co-experimentation. Her relationship with the children is one in which she explores the ways in which her own new thinking and being might emerge, even as old ways of thinking and being assert themselves and interfere with the unfolding of the new. She draws us into her ongoing experimentation, asking that we think hard, all the while delighting our senses with the poetry of her writing, and the stories of her encounters with children. (shrink)

Dieses Buch interpretiert das pädagogische Konzept und Schaffen Friedrich Fröbels auf Grundlage der Auswertung ausgewählter Briefe. Der Autor ordnet anhand von textanalytischen Betrachtungen einige theoretische Ausführungen neu ein und zeichnet ein bisher ausgeblendetes Charakterprofil des Erziehers.

Loris Malaguzzi (1920 - 1994) was the pioneer of the Reggio Emilia approach to teaching young children. An ever-increasing number of teachers and educationalists from all over the world now come to study the Reggio pre-school's unique methods, and this is largely due to Malaguzzi's devotion, work and commitment over 45 years, and the small group of teachers and educators he trained and with whom he developed his methods. The principles that underpin the Reggio Emilia approach are fundamental to the (...) way in which Early Childhood Education is being shaped around the world today. The work of Loris Malaguzzi was rooted in a strong sociocultural framework, meaning it was a considered response to what was needed for particular communities and their needs. Sandra Smidt here considers the life of this remarkable man, and through a pedagogical perspective explores his approach on topics including: - Relationships; - Observation; - Creativity; - Questioning; - Justice; - Equality; - Politics. Accessible and informative, this introductory yet in-depth look at Malaguzzi's life and work will be of huge benefit to anyone working with young children in an educational capacity, including parents, and will be essential reading for students on early childhood education courses. (shrink)

This is Introduction to the PESA conference 2014 held in Hamilton, NZ, is devoted to the conference theme of ‘Education as philosophies of engagement’. We provide a brief analysis of the modern history of ‘philosophies of engagement’ since the Second World War examining the notion of socially responsible writing and teaching.

Science education in the early years is vital in assisting young children to come to know about and understand the world around them. Science in Early Childhood covers the theoretical underpinnings and practical applications of teaching science in early childhood settings in way that is engaging and accessible. It is a comprehensive resource for students, as well as early childhood teachers and carers and provides up-to-date coverage of the Early Years Learning Framework. This text explores the current issues and debates (...) in early childhood science education from an Australian perspective, whilst recognising the links to international practice and research. A summary at the start of each chapter helps students identify the key themes and ideas in early science education and application boxes throughout the text illustrate how theories relate to practice. Written by experts in the field, Science in Early Childhood is essential reading for pre-service teachers. (shrink)