Kindergarten has become increasingly academic in nature. One of the primary dilemmas arising from this shift is the tension between the use of developmentally appropriate practices and the obligation to teach academic standards. To gain a deeper understanding of how kindergarten is enacted in the evolving curricular landscape, we look beyond these…

The majority of teacher education programs in North America require elementary-teacher candidates to complete separate courses in curriculum subject areas. This model to teacher education limits candidates' readiness to engage in interdisciplinary teaching and focuses preservice curriculum on content-specific pedagogies rather than on general,…

This article reviews approaches to early childhood training and practice in Ontario and sets it in the wider context of feminist poststructural knowledge production. Through a feminist poststructural reading, this article uncovers dominant assumptions of universality underlying the heteronormative discourse of developmentally appropriate practice…

Compares recent policy changes in Alberta and British Columbia concerning preschool and primary education. Discusses the conflicts involved in a movement away from centrally imposed models of norm-referenced attainment to a more child-focused developmentally based curriculum in a flexible nongraded setting. Contains 30 references. (SV)