Showing papers in "Early Childhood Education in 2007"

The Sociology of Childhood

Abstract: The sociology of childhood has been used increasingly as a theoretical perspective in early childhood education since the late 1980s. In Australia, those who draw on the sociology of childhood have tended to use it in similar ways to European counterparts, being guided by six major tenets identified by Prout and James (1997) that form the basis of the sociology of childhood. These include the notion that childhood is a social construction, that childhood is a variable of social analysis and is closely connected to other variables such as class and gender, and that children's relationships and cultures are worthy of study in their own right (p. 8). Further, children are considered as active (rather than passive) agents in their daily lives and to be competent and knowledgeable about their own lives (p. 8). Although the sociology of childhood is comparatively young, there has been little analysis of the key tenets of the position. Morss is an exception and raises some fundamental issues for consideration, which include refining the notion of the 'socially constructed child', a term that is used widely in much that written about the sociology of childhood.

Shared Learning: Reflecting on Practice Using a Collaborative Approach

Abstract: Independent learning and critical thought are developed when students are encouraged to express and review their own understandings and the ideas of others as part of their learning journey. This paper focuses on an innovation to engage and support pre-service teachers (students) in a collaborative approach to learning following a teaching practicum. Through the creation of a learning community, information and practice is shared and further challenged in a supportive environment. The opportunity for students to review their own work in relation to responses of peers enables them to become involved in the process of critiquing their own beliefs and practices as well as their peers, within a set framework. Favourable outcomes for both students and university staff augur well for the future development of the process.

Childhood through the eyes of the child and parent

Abstract: Views of children and childhood vary historically, culturally and individually. While historic views positioned children as either evil (products of their parents' intimacy) or innocent (passive and in need of nurturing) (Branscombe, Castle, Dorsey, Surbeck & Taylor, 2000), a number of other images of childhood have emerged. In 2005, taking a reconceptualist perspective and examining written and visual documents and emergent data, Sorin and Galloway developed a Typology of ten Constructs of Childhood, These are: the child as innocent, the child as evil, the child as miniature adult, the child as adult-in-training, the noble/saviour child, the commodified child, the snowballing child, the out-of-control child, the child as victim and the agentic child. This paper uses the typology to examine data collected through parent and child interviews in Canada and in Australia.