Educators have become increasingly interested in the diverse learning environments of young children and the ways in which children and childhood are positioned within those environments. The documentation and analysis of processes of pathologization and de-pathologization in early childhood may provide scholars with the understanding needed to develop more responsive educational approaches. Early Childhood Curricula and the De-pathologization of Childhood examines what is possible for young children when their education addresses their assets and is organized in ways that expand their identity options. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, Rachel M. Heydon and Luigi Iannacci shed light on the ways in which joint notions of normality and abnormality are used to pathologize childhood. As teachers and educational researchers, they offer first-hand accounts of processes that take individual children and turn them into 'others' who are seen as deficient or 'at risk.' Through a variety of critical, qualitative case studies that examine general literacy education, special education, early childhood education, and intergenerational learning environments, this book highlights the theoretical underpinnings of asset-oriented curricular practices and suggests what is possible for young children when their education begins from and cultivates their funds of knowledge. Written for those interested in improving the lives of children through interdisciplinary studies, this volume offers sustained theoretical engagement that will appeal to educators around the world.

Early childhood education is critical for preparing children for success in formal school settings, and as such, is a major concern throughout the world. This volume brings together ground-breaking research in this area to help practitioners, students, policy makers, curriculum designers, and intervention program developers understand the latest ideas and advances in the field. Recent Perspectives of Early Childhood Education and Care in Canada centres on three key themes. The first provides a survey of historical, social policy, economic, and provincial regulations and policies related to early childhood education and care. The second focuses on issues related to children’s learning, curriculum, and teachers. The final theme addresses recent developments in government involvement in early childhood education and care that are unique to Canada. The contributors to this volume demonstrate the pressing need that exists to further public discussion on early childhood education to help policymakers shape better decisions for Canadian families.

This book challenges traditional conceptions of readiness in early childhood education by sharing concrete examples of practice, policy and histories that rethink readiness. This book seeks to reimagine possible new educational worlds for young children.

Reconceptualizing Disability in Education provides an essential critical exploration of problematic discourses, practices, and pedagogies that inform how disability is presently understood and responded to within the field of education. Luigi Iannacci interrogates and destabilizes ableist grand narratives that dominate every aspect of how disability is linguistically, bureaucratically, procedurally, and pedagogically configured within education. Ultimately, this book seeks to forward human rights for people with disabilities in educational contexts by clarifying and operationalizing inclusion so that it is not just a model necessitated by a hierarchy of legality, but rather a set of beliefs and practices based on critical analyses and a reconceptualization of current understandings and responses to disability that prevent inclusion and human rights from being realized. As the book is grounded in reconceptualist theorizing, it draws on multiple perspectives—including critical disability theory, post-modernism, critical theory, critical pedagogy, and social constructivism—to deconstruct and destabilize what is currently taken for granted about disability and those ascribed disabled identities within education. A variety of personal, professional, research experiences and data are offered and drawn on to critically address questions regarding philosophical, epistemological, pedagogical, organizational, economic, and leadership issues as they relate to disability in education. Critical incidents, interviews, documents, and artifacts are drawn on and narratively presented to explore how disability is presently configured in language, identification, and placement processes, discourses, pedagogies, and interactions with students deemed disabled, as well as their parents/caregivers. This critical narrative approach fosters alternative ways of thinking, speaking, being, and doing that forward a human rights focused model of disability that sees as its mandate the amelioration of people with disabilities within education.

The Decommodification of Early Childhood Education and Care: Resisting Neoliberalism explores how processes of marketisation and privatisation of ECEC have impacted understandings of children, childcare, parents, and the workforce, providing concrete examples of resistance to commodification from diverse contexts. Through processes of marketisation and privatisation, neoliberal discourses have turned ECEC into a commodity whereby economic principles of competition and choice have replaced the purpose of education. The Decommodification of Early Childhood Education and Care: Resisting Neoliberalism offers new and alternative understandings of policy and practice. Written with co-authors from diverse countries, case studies vividly portray resistance to children as human capital, to the "consumentality" of parents, and to the alienation of the early childhood workforce. Ending with messages of hope, the authors discuss the demise of neoliberalism and offer new ways forward. As an international book with global messages contributing to theory, policy, and practice regarding alternatives to a neoliberal and commodified vision of ECEC, this book offers inspiration for policy makers and practitioners to develop local resistance solutions. It will also be of interest to post-graduate students, researchers, educators, and pre-service educators with an interest in critical pedagogy, ECEC policy, and ECEC practice.

Intergenerational learning programs bring together skipped generations (for instance, elders and young children) to promote expansive communication and identity options for participants, as well as the forging of relationships between generations. More specifically, these programs help foster multimodal literacy for both generations, encouraging new ways of seeing oneself and the world. Learning at the Ends of Life illustrates the unique benefits of these trail-blazing programs through more than seven years of research on developing and implementing intergenerational curricula in Canada and the United States. The first formal and sustained work on intergenerational curricula and literacies, Learning at the Ends of Life details the experiences of educators and participants in these programs. Rachel M. Heydon brings to life the particular possibilities of arts-based, multimodal curricula that draw on participants’ existing funds of knowledge and interests. Providing practical suggestions for pedagogies and curricula, Heydon helps educators rethink what is taken for granted in monogenerational learning sites and see new possibilities for learners and themselves.

This reconceptualizes the place of early childhood education within communities. It presents a shift in the lens of the teachers and management within early childhood services to incorporate new ways of working with, alongside, and in collaboration with family and the wider community.