A "Humanitarian Idea": Using a Historical Lens to Reflect on Social Justice in Early Childhood Education and Care

Autor/in	Wong, Sandie
Titel	A "Humanitarian Idea": Using a Historical Lens to Reflect on Social Justice in Early Childhood Education and Care
Quelle	In: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 14 (2013) 4, S.311-323 (13 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1463-9491
DOI	10.2304/ciec.2013.14.4.311
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Early Childhood Education; Social Justice; Educational History; Kindergarten; Social Values; Australia + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Early childhood; Education; Frühkindliche Bildung; Frühpädagogik; Soziale Gerechtigkeit; History of education; Bildungsgeschichte; Sozialer Wert; Australien
Abstract	The concept of early childhood education and care (ECEC) as "social justice" is contested and complex. In this article, the author calls on a historical perspective to critically reflect on social justice in ECEC. The author does this by exploring the early history of free kindergartens in Sydney, Australia. The author demonstrates, through this example, that the idea of "social justice" has long been at the core of ECEC work in Australia. The work of the pioneers of early childhood education in Australia has tended to be minimised as little more than middle-class "do-gooding" that perpetuated middle-class ways of knowing. Revisiting this history, the author argues that these early advocates, operating within the confines of their time, constructed free kindergartens as contributing to social justice. Understanding of present constructions of ECEC has much to gain from revisiting and critiquing this early history. A critical and respectful understanding of the history of ECEC enables contemporary advocates to place themselves within a long, hard-fought, though sometimes misguided and often controversial, tradition. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10