Influencing Early Childhood Education: Key themes, philosophies and theories

218 Pages·2011·1.37 MB·English

by  Linda Pound

Influencing
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Cover design Hybert Design (cid:129)www.hybertdesign.com
Linda Pound
www.openup.co.uk
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Influencing Early Childhood Education
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Influencing Early
Childhood Education
Key figures, philosophies and ideas
Linda Pound
Open University Press
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OpenUniversityPress
McGraw-HillEducation
McGraw-HillHouse
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email:[email protected]
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Firstpublished2011
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Contents
Introduction vii
Part1
Thinkingaboutearlychildhoodinthenineteenthcentury 1
1 RobertOwen1771–1858 6
2 FriedrichFroebel1782–1852 12
Part2
Progressiveideasofthetwentiethcentury 19
3 MargaretMcMillan1860–1931 27
4 RudolfSteiner1861–1925 34
5 MariaMontessori1870–1952 42
6 SusanIsaacs1885–1948 47
Part3
Psychodynamictheoriesandtheirimpact 53
7 SigmundFreud(1856–1939)andthedevelopmentof
psychoanalyticaltheories 56
8 Psychodynamicsandyoungchildren 61
9 JohnBowlby(1907–1990)andattachmenttheories 70
10 Emotionandcognition 81
Part4
Constructivismandbehaviourism 89
11 BurrhusSkinner(1904–1990),behaviouristtheoriesand
approaches 92
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vi CONTENTS
12 JeanPiaget(1896–1980)andconstructivism 100
13 LevVygotsky(1896–1934)andsocialconstructivism 118
Part5
Challengingtheoriesandpracticeinthetwentiethcentury 129
14 De(constructing)schooling 132
15 Deconstructingearlychildhood 141
16 Deconstructingdevelopment 153
Part6
Weighinguptheevidence 165
Finalthoughts 177
Bibliography 179
Index 195
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Introduction
Acultureshouldknowwhereitsbeliefsoriginate.
(Kramer[1961]1995:x)
Thedevelopmentoftheoriesandpracticesrelatedtotherearingofyoungchildrenis
afascinatingsubject.Aroundtheworldsocietiesandcultureshavechosentobringup
theiryounginwayswhichcorrespondtowhattheybelieveaboutthenatureofyoung
childrenandthenatureofthesocietyinwhichtheywishtolive.Thishasledtowide
diversity.
Whilethehistoryandphilosophyofearlychildhoodcareandeducationusedto
be considered a vital element of the training of teachers and other practitioners in
Britain,itfelloutoffavourinthelatterpartofthetwentiethcenturyandcametobe
regarded as an unnecessary frill. More recently, practitioners and trainers alike have,
however,cometorecognisetheimportanceofunderstandingsomethingofthelegacy
ofgiantthinkerslikePiagetandpioneerpractitionerssuchastheMcMillansisters.An
understandingoftheorycan:
(cid:2)
helppractitionerstoshedlightonwhattheydoandhelpthemtounderstand
whytheydowhattheydo;
(cid:2)
promotereflectivepracticewhichsupportsconstantimprovement;
(cid:2)
enablepractitionerstoevaluatenewtheoriesorinnovativepractices,weighing
uptheireffectivenessandrelevance.
Thisbookseekstoexploresomeofthetheoriesofsuchthinkers.Itwill:
(cid:2)
plotthedevelopmentofrelevanttheoriesfromthenineteenthcentury;
(cid:2)
discussthewaysinwhichparticulartheoriesinfluencepractice;
(cid:2)
identifythelinksbetweentheories;and
(cid:2)
considerboththelimitationsoftheoriesandtheirimpactonpracticeandon
futuretheories.
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viii INTRODUCTION
Theory or philosophy?
It is interesting to speculate on whether what lies behind these ideas and practices is
atheoryoraphilosophy.ThewordtheorystemsfromGreekandislinkedtoideasof
viewingorlookingat.Ineverydayconversationweoftensaytooneanotherthingslike
‘I’veanidea–Idon’tknowwhetheritwillwork.It’sonlyatheory’.Alternativelywelabel
opinionsastheories–‘mytheoryaboutwhysoandsodoesthatis...’.Inbothcaseswe
areacknowledgingthattheoriesarenotinfalliblebutareideasbeingshaped.Innormal
conversation,weacceptthattheoriesarenotfactsbutexplanationsofthingsthatwe
havenoticedorobserved.Thisviewoftheoriesbeingbasedonobservation,whatwe
seeorobserve,alsocoverstheorieswhichgobeyondthetrivial.SusanIsaacs’theories
and writings (see Chapter 6) offered an explanation of the learning she observed in
childrenatMaltingHouseSchool.
Philosophy, on the other hand, stems from Greek words whose meaning implies
aloveofknowledge.Butthisisbynomeansthewholestory.Theorymaybethought
of as a set of beliefs – or perhaps a philosophy which guides action. In the case of
Steiner Waldorf education (see Chapter 4) or Montessori education (see Chapter 5),
the philosophy is based on a set of theories which guide practice. Some beliefs are
not recognised as theories but they still guide our actions. Our theories or views of
howchildrenlearnorwhattheyshouldlearnareofteninformedandshapedbycul-
ture. It is likely that what guided practitioners in foundational (Miller and Pound
2011) or traditional contexts was a philosophy – a set of values about the nature
of children, their learning and the contexts in which they learn most effectively.
There was no theoretical or empirical data which guided their views other than the
evidence of their own eyes (Board of Education 1933). The pioneers of early educa-
tion developed practice which was based on firmly held philosophies and personal
theories.
Within what have been called the traditions of early childhood education
(Blackstone 1971; Clift et al. 1980; Tizard 1974), risk has often been regarded as
an important element of early childhood education. Woodwork benches and real
tools were standard equipment for nursery schools and classes well into the 1980s
and 1990s – and still are in some areas. In Steiner Waldorf practice for exam-
ple, from a very early age – perhaps 2 – children are given opportunities to use
knives (Heckmann 2008). This practice is mirrored in forest schools. Rogoff (1990)
provocatively uses a picture of a child of less than one year of age wielding a ma-
chete in order to cut fruit – an image which frequently evokes cries of horror from
audiences of English practitioners. Risk-taking is an area about which contempo-
rary thinkers from many different disciplines have expressed concern. While on
the one hand tighter and tighter constraints are imposed to prevent harm to chil-
dren, others express deep concern about the absence of opportunities for young
children to learn to manage risk by exploring risky situations safely (see for ex-
ample Furedi 2001; Lindon 1999; Tovey 2007). A failure to learn to manage risk
safely results in a loss of independence and autonomy (see for example Walsh
2004).
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INTRODUCTION ix
Personal or informal theories
Whether we recognise it or not we all hold personal theories. Keenan and Evans
(2009) write about formal and informal theories. They suggest that formal theories
have sets of linked laws or hypotheses, can be expressed in a variety of ways includ-
ingmathematicallyandarelogicalintheirstructure.Informalorimplicittheories,on
the other hand, ‘may be little more than organized sets of intuitions or expectations
aboutourworld’(Keenan2002:18).Theygoontoclaimthatalthoughdevelopmental
psychology has no formal theories, its informal theories ‘are somewhat more devel-
opedthantheintuitiveexpectationsabouthumanbehaviourthatweallhold’(Keenan
2002:27).
Theseviewsraisesomeinterestingquestions.Thefirstrelatestothenatureofhu-
man development, an area in which all who work with young children must have
someinterest.Throughoutthisbook,referencewillbemadetomanydifferenttheories
ofdevelopmentandnofurtherexplorationisneededatthispoint.Thesecondques-
tion is about the nature of intuition. Claxton (2000: 50) suggests that intuition gives
practitionerstheabilityto:
(cid:2)
functionfluentlyandflexiblyincomplexdomains;
(cid:2)
extractintricatepatternsofinformation;
(cid:2)
makesubtleandaccuratejudgements;
(cid:2)
detect and extract the significance of small, incidental details of a situation
thatothersmayoverlook;
(cid:2)
taketimetomulloverproblemsinordertoarriveatmoreinsightfulorcreative
solutions;
(cid:2)
and to apply this perceptive, ruminative, inquisitive attitude to one’s own
perceptionsandreactions.
Itistheabilityandwillingnesstoreflect(orruminate),thathelpstopreventour
implicit, informal theories about children and learning from becoming prejudice or
dogma. Gardner (2006) asserts that no one in any field of employment can claim to
beaprofessionalunlesstheyarepreparedtobecomeareflectivepractitioner.Hegoes
furtherinsuggestingthatanyonewhofailstodososhouldbecounselledoutoftheir
chosenprofession.Nowherecanthisreflectiveapproachbemorenecessarythaninthe
fieldofearlychildhood–wherepractitionersareworkingwithyoungchildrenwhoare
inmanywaysamongstthemostvulnerablemembersofanysocietyandaretherefore
determiningtheshapeofsociety.
The third question is about the extent to which theories of child development
shouldordoinformpractice.Writingabouttheprimarycurriculumaroundthetime
of the introduction of OFSTED, Alexander et al. (1992: 18) reminded teachers that
‘teaching is not applied child development. It is a weakness of the child-centred tra-
dition that it has sometimes tended to treat it as such and, consequently, to neglect
thestudyofclassroompractice’.IntheyearssinceAlexanderetal.wrotetheirreport,