Sufficiently well Informed and Seriously Concerned? European Union Policy Responses to Marginalisation, Structural Racism, and Institutionalised Exclusion in Early Childhood

Autor/in	Urban, Mathias
Titel	Sufficiently well Informed and Seriously Concerned? European Union Policy Responses to Marginalisation, Structural Racism, and Institutionalised Exclusion in Early Childhood
Quelle	In: Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 61 (2015) 4, (18 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1923-1857
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Public Policy; Educational Policy; Racial Bias; Early Childhood Education; Disadvantaged; Poverty; Racial Discrimination; Educational Change; Developing Nations; Social Isolation; Social Integration; Minority Group Children; Croatia; European Union; United Kingdom + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Öffentliche Ordnung; Politics of education; Bildungspolitik; Racial discrimination; Rassismus; Early childhood; Education; Frühkindliche Bildung; Frühpädagogik; Armut; Racial bias; Bildungsreform; Developing country; Developing countries; Entwicklungsland; Soziale Isolation; Soziale Integration; Kroatien; Großbritannien
Abstract	Throughout the European Union, children from marginalised communities experience an appalling reality of poverty, exclusion, discrimination, and racism. Growing up in poverty and social exclusion shapes the reality of the lived experience for an increasing number of children in one of the wealthiest regions of the world. In the UK, a member of the G7, a significant number of children suffer from hunger, malnutrition, and cold (Lansley & Mack, 2015) while the government has abandoned child poverty reduction targets; in Croatia, a recent accession to the EU, "it is normal that Roma children are mostly sick," according to a recently published report (Šikic-Micanovic, Ivatts, Vojak, & Geiger-Zeman, 2015, p. x). Rather than examining the situation in specific countries, in this paper I undertake a critical inquiry into policy approaches and responses to inequality at the level of the European Union--including the EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies--with a specific focus on early childhood education, care, and development. However, while the policies put in place by the European Union have to be welcomed, they represent only one aspect of a complex and often contradictory picture. Perspectives from professionals and activists working "on the ground" are necessary to complement the official picture; they will be presented and discussed in order to identify systemic challenges. I conclude by making the case for a radical systemic turn in EU early childhood policies and for learning with and from experiences in so-called developing countries as a way forward to address these challenges. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	University of Alberta, Faculty of Education. 845 Education Centre South, Edmonton, AB T6G 2G5, Canada. Tel: 780-492-7941; Fax: 780-492-0236; Web site: http://www.ajer.ca/
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01