This book brings together contributions from international experts on early years education to explore and debate relational pedagogy across different countries and in the context of a broad international field.

Provides early childhood teachers a framework for collaborating with children to create a dynamic, emergent curriculum.

Relational pedagogy underpins the core principles of both the cognitive, and social/emotional development of young children, as evidenced in the Reggio Emilia preschools and the Te Whariki curriculum in New Zealand. Emphasising the links between, people, places and ideas and the effects of these on education, educators and learners, it is integral to the English Early Years Foundation Stage, and forms the basis for early years provision around the world. This book brings together contributions from international experts on early years education to explore and debate relational pedagogy across different countries and in the context of a broad international field. The three sections of the book cover the following areas: culture, environment and adult child relationships - how children and adults relate to the culture, ethos and environment in which they function; adult-child relationships - how education and care environments directly relate to learning and teaching; adult-adult relationships for professional development - in training situations and parental partnerships. The book will be of interest to all those who want to delve deeper into how these interactions affect teaching and learning and to understand how the context can have its own impact on pedagogical outcomes. Researchers in early years education and students on early childhood education courses will find much here to inspire and challenge their thinking.

Early Childhood Education: Learning Together provides a comprehensive overview of early childhood education. This exciting new text encourages students to understand the need for flexible approaches in their work with children. Early childhood education is not a “one size fits all” proposition, so this text encourages students in multiple ways to reflect upon why they are doing what they are doing. With connections to NAEYC standards, case studies, and essays from real people on the front lines of early childhood education, students will leave the course with a superior foundation in both the theoretical aspects of ECE and the real world applications of those theories. In developing Early Childhood Education: Learning Together, we bring together the best research and the most effective practices in Early Childhood. We have heard that many students are using their first Early Childhood course to explore their interest in the field - perhaps to discover a new profession or a second career. These comments shaped every aspect of Early Childhood Education: Learning Together. The resulting textbook is infused with real cases, NAEYC standards, and graphs and tables for easy reference and student review. We also understand that college can be a financial challenge for students. Because of this, Early Childhood Education: Learning Together is half the price of comparable introductory texts.

Rethinking Early Childhood Education is alive with the conviction that teaching young children involves values and vision. This anthology collects inspiring stories about social justice teaching with young children. Included here is outstanding writing from childcare teachers, early-grade public school teachers, scholars, and parents.Early childhood is when we develop our core dispositions -- the habits of thinking that shape how we live. This book shows how educators can nurture empathy, an ecological consciousness, curiosity, collaboration, and activism in young children. It invites readers to rethink early childhood education, reminding them that it is inseparable from social justice and ecological education.An outstanding resource for childcare providers, early-grade teachers, as well as teacher education and staff development programs.

Providing high quality play experiences is an essential part of good early years education, but this can pose a challenge for practitioners who face pressure from a more didactic primary curriculum, and from parents worried that their children will fail to acquire essential skills and knowledge. By helping the reader to develop their understanding of the complex relationships between play and learning, this book examines current theoretical perspectives on play, alongside examples of recent and innovative play research from a range of disciplinary and methodological perspectives. With contributions from leading play scholars, it brings together theory, research, policy and practice in relation to play and learning in early years settings. The emphasis is on the relationship between play and learning, and play and pedagogy, and the need to understand these dimensions more substantially in order to teach with confidence. Included are chapters on: - the influence of play on thinking, problem-solving and creativity - cooperative play and learning - play, risk and outdoor learning - learning to play in cultural context There are chapter objectives, reflective points, reflective tasks and suggestions for further reading throughout, to facilitate critical thinking and encourage independent study. Suitable for early years practitioners, early childhood students at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and all those who work with and care for young children, this is an exciting and thought-provoking book.

Children learn to talk through interaction including involvement in many thousands of conversations with adults and other children. These conversations provide the framework for exploring relationships, understanding the world, and learning – in its widest sense. This book explores how children learn to communicate using language, how they use language to learn and the role of adults in the process. It examines how adults can support children to learn by involving them in positive interactions, meaningful conversation and by helping them play, explore and talk with each other. The book includes: examples of children and adults talking and learning together case studies of successful approaches that support language and learning in early years settings points for reflection and practical tasks Informed by the author’s own experience working with young children, families and practitioners, and from his involvement in the England-wide Every Child a Talker (ECaT) project, it links key research findings with successful practice to inspire practitioners to develop skills when talking with children, influence how adults plan for talk in settings and gain insight into how language develops in the home.