In this paper, we ponder the ecologies of spacetimematterings folded into resistance practices and their relationality with figurations of agency outside and beyond datafication agendas. Accountability cultures bound up with datafication have consequences that include a diminished agency for both children and educators. We take inspiration from…

Following calls to 'bewilder' (Snaza 2013) the pioneers of early education, this article positions Montessori pedagogy as a 'desire path' that acts as resistance to normative policy-driven pathways in early childhood education and care. Desire paths are alternative tracks made aside from officially established walking routes. In this paper I think…

Leadership is a relational practice that influences early childhood teachers' (ECTs) capability for agency. Agency contributes to the job satisfaction, wellbeing, and retention of ECTs-which are of pressing importance in a climate of global early childhood workforce sustainability challenges. Empirical insights presented in this paper explore the…

David Yastremski communicates in this essay that over his past 23 years as a high school English and communication teacher, all in the same suburban high school in New Jersey, he has seen a dramatic shift in his experience of how the role of teacher has been and is considered and valued within society. Over time, he began seeing the changes that…

Children's well-being has received extensive research attention and has a central role in early childhood policy and curricular guidelines. However, the well-being of early childhood educators has received fragmentary research attention and is unacknowledged in policy and curricular documents. Given the seemingly self-evident links between…

In this paper, we explore Lawrence Stenhouse's provocation that too much research has been conducted for the world and not enough for the village. This provocation has taken on additional significance in contemporary global policy contexts where neoliberal systems of governance incorporate discourses of educational effectiveness, measurement,…

In this theoretical paper, we argue that Tech enthusiasts and skeptics are animated by the same sociotechnical personalization imaginary to improve education and teaching through personalization, but see very different paths to this goal. Tech boosters point to well-known problems of the existing education system -- and rhetorically ask: 'why…

This paper analyses the consequences of what are regarded as neoliberal developments within the Danish ECEC area. More specifically, it looks at how an increasing monitoring and regulation affects the ECEC educator's sense of professionalism. Drawing on a qualitative study of educators' interactionist accounts, a series of unintended consequences…

In this paper, we recognize power as violence in K-12 US schooling. We argue that given the often-difficult realities of school and society, educators must reframe how they understand power and consequently violence if they hope to fulfill the promise of a just education. In examining power, we find violence in institutions, curriculum, policy,…

An academic, Peter Dinniss, discussed the then emerging issue of professionalism in the early childhood education sector in 1974. "There has been much debate over the term ['professional'] together with discussion as to whether teaching is a profession" (1974: 11). On the cusp of the 21st century, the Education Council (now renamed…

This contribution examines the implementation of the 'British' values agenda within Early Childhood Care and Education (ECEC) settings in England, as introduced by the Prevent Duty. It begins by tracing the rise of the ECEC setting as the primary place of education of the young child, as this has shifted from the home environment. It examines the…

Much is changing in preschool education. Current reform primarily emphasizes standardized practice, academic outcomes, and accountability. Little attention has been given to how these changes are impacting the well-being of teachers. The purpose of this review is to summarize the current literature on preschool teacher well-being and identify…

The Curriculum for Excellence and new National Qualifications offer innovative reform, based on widely supported ideas and aims, for Scottish preschool, primary and secondary education levels. "Objectives and syllabuses" for science are replaced by "experiences and outcomes". Most strikingly, central prescription makes way for…

This article reports the third phase of the Froebel Research Fellowship Project: "The Voice of the Child: ownership and autonomy in early learning". Building on the first and second phases of this study, this phase examined early years practitioners' experiences of supporting young children's thinking in relation to the personal…

Questions of "quality" of pre- and out of school-provisions for children and their families have been raised increasingly in all modern societies since the early nineties. The appropriateness of pedagogical frameworks and approaches have not been the only issues in the debate. Other strands, for instance, have been focussing on adequate…