Philosophy of Early Childhood Education

Editorial (Michael A. Peters, University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign).

Introduction (Sandy Farquhar, University of Aukland) and Peter
Fitzsimons, University of Aukland).

1. Meetings Across the Paradigmatic Divide (Peter Moss,
Institute of Education, University of London).

2. The Gift Paradigm in Early Childhood Education (Genevieve
Vaughan, Austin, Texas and Eila Estola, University of Oulu).

3. Conceptions of the Self in Early Childhood: Territorializing
identities (Liselott Borgnon, Institute of Education,
Stockholm).

4. Deconstructing and Transgressing the Theory - Practice
dichotomy in early childhood education (Hillevi Lenz Taguchi,
Institute of Education, Stockholm).

5. In Early Childhood: What's language about? (Liane
Mozère).

6. The Politics of Processes and Products in Education: An early
childhood metanarrative crisis? (Andrew Gibbons, New Zealand
Tertiary College, Aukland).

7. (Re)Positioning the Child in the Policy/Politics of Early
Childhood (Christine Woodrow, University of Western Sydney and
Frances Press, Charles Sturt University).

Notes on Contributors.

Index.

"All the contributors challenge traditional ways of thinking about early childhood. Drawing on many postmodern thinkers such as Foucault, Derrida, Deleuze, Guattari, and Lyotard, they suggest some of the limitations that have emerged from the developmental emphasis that sees children as becoming, rather than being." (CHOICE, March 2009)

"Positioning political, feminist, and historical analysis of early
childhood education within academia has been a hard fought
campaign. It is now urgently necessary to reflect upon the
implications of the mainstreaming of early childhood in policy and
pedagogy. The readings in this monograph provide signposts towards
new constructions of early childhood education with a fresh frame
for advocacy."

-Helen May, University of Otago College of Education

"Opens the door to new ways of imagining philosophy, knowledge,
and the new paradigms of theory and research in early childhood
education, with different critical perspectives related to
philosophies of knowledge and power. The contributors, leading
researchers from a variety of countries, illustrate how different
critical and post-structural philosophical ideas interrogate
current policies and practices."

-Marianne Bloch, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Sandy Farquhar is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of
Education at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She is
currently lecturing in early childhood curriculum and professional
studies.

Peter Fitzsimons has, at various times, been a teacher,
professional musician, radio journalist, factory manager, harassed
parent, and an educational management consultant. He was also
recently awarded a PhD for his work on Nietzsche and Education.