Sowing the seeds – a thematic approach to plant life in Early Years education

AbstractDo young children think that plants deserve morally-based respect or, on the contrary, do they feel that respect for plant life is nothing more than another behavioural norm similar to, for instance, one that states that you should not pick your nose in public? This study examines how dilemmas involving environmental, moral and socio-conventional situations are comprehended in early childhood so as to investigate the issue of whether young children attach a significant degree of severity to transgressions against plant life in comparison with disregarding socially accepted rules. Additionally, young children’s judgements are put into perspective alongside their understanding of the concept of living things in order to shed light on the role that grasping essential biological notions might play in the emergence of young children’s assessments of actions that pose a threat to the environment. The sample of the study consists of 328 children (162 girls and 166 boys) who attend Early Years Education or Primary Education and the data examined comes from the individual interviews conducted with the children. The results are discussed in connection with the current understanding of the source of ethical judgements which emphasises the importance that emotions seem to play in the construction of moral thinking.

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Interrogating Social Justice in Early Years Education: How Effectively Do Contemporary Policies and Practices Create Equitable Learning Environments for Indigenous Australian Children?

Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood ◽

10.2304/ciec.2013.14.4.300 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 14 (4) ◽

pp. 300-310 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jeannie Herbert

Keyword(s):

Social Justice ◽

Learning Environments ◽

Early Years ◽

Indigenous Australian ◽

Early Years Education ◽

Policies And Practices

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Rethinking early years: how the neoliberal agenda fails children

Soundings ◽

10.3898/soun.76.09.2020 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 76 (76) ◽

pp. 128-157

Author(s):

Celia Burgess-Macey ◽

Clare Kelly ◽

Marjorie Ouvry

Keyword(s):

Good Practice ◽

Early Learning ◽

Early Years ◽

Formal Curriculum ◽

Small Children ◽

Children’S Learning ◽

Early Years Education ◽

Education And Care ◽

Children's Learning

Early years education in England is in crisis. This article looks at what is needed to better provide the kind of education and care that young children need outside the home, from birth to school-starting age. It explores: the current arrangements and varieties of provision and approaches in England; educational and developmental research about young children's development and early learning; the current national early years curriculum and how it contrasts to other international models and pedagogical approaches; the importance of play-based learning; the role of adults in observing, recording, assessing and supporting young children's learning; and the holistic nature of children's learning - which makes education and care inseparable in young children's lives. Neoliberal governments have had little interest in these questions: they have been focused instead on marketising the sector, which has led to great inequality of provision; and they have been unwilling to provide the necessary funding to train staff and maintain appropriate learning environments; most fundamentally, they have engaged in an ideological drive to impose on very small children a narrow and formal curriculum that ignores all the evidence about good practice in the sector, and is focused on making them 'school ready' - that is, ready to fit into the rigid frameworks they have already imposed on primary school education.

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