Critical pedagogy has the potential to create transformation experiences within early childhood settings, as educators open up children's worlds to explore fairness, equity, and democratic participation across issues of interest and relevance to young children. Using a critical inquiry framework, informed by the work of Paulo Freire, teachers from…

Current educational reforms in Africa aim to cultivate problem-solving and critical-thinking skills among early childhood learners through a democratic educational approach. Ghana's newly adopted standards-based curriculum prioritizes the constructivist theory of learning which, among other aims, seeks the development of children's critical…

In this participatory case study, we explored the critical literacy practices of early-career early childhood teachers in a year-long inquiry group, examining how they collectively read school as text through DisCrit literacies. Bridging literature from Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) and critical literacies scholarship, DisCrit…

This essay places David Graeber's consistent focus on imagination and possibilities into conversation with social studies education. In a sociopolitical climate characterized by neoliberalism, militarized borders, and political censorship of social studies teaching and learning in P-12 schools, it is crucial that social studies teachers and…

Through this art-based paper, I bewilder the 'pioneering' approaches of Reggio Emilia by troubling how pedagogies mobilise through social media. With research-creation and posthuman theories, I notice a human-more-than-human digital entwinement inter-related with academic performativity. Whilst media lends itself to the sharing of pedagogical…

The last decade has revealed a global (re)configuring of the relationships between the state, society and educational settings in the direction of systems of performance management. In this article, the authors conduct a critical feminist inquiry into this changing relationship in relation to the professionalisation of early childhood education…

This article offers a theoretical provocation through conceptualizing a pedagogy of care as a means of caring "with" students and each other to interrupt the dominance of developmentalism in Canadian post-secondary early childhood education programs. The authors' conceptualization of care-"full" as pedagogy is rooted in the…

The most recent iteration of NAEYC's key Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) texts (the 2020 Position Statement and the fourth edition of the DAP book) reflect a more robust stance on family educator-relationships and attention to issues of equity as reflected in linguistic shifts. This article analyses NAEYC's rhetorical moves between the…

As US schools become increasingly diverse, the population of teachers who serve them remains predominantly homogeneous. Teacher preparation programs must prepare pre-service teachers to draw from multicultural perspectives or multiple ways of knowing if they truly intend to cultivate effective culturally responsive educators. This article presents…

As more states pass bills banning critical race theory in schools, it is especially important for teachers to understand what critical race theory is and the implications of such bills. To understand what critical race theory is and intends to do. I look at its origins and how it has been employed in the field of education. Recognizing the legacy…

Young learners often are enchanted with the world, fascinated by the ordinary, and absorbed in the present moment. We explore interconnected ideas about how young children's natural proclivity toward being curious and noticing differences among people should be harnessed toward socially just ends. We consider ways in which joyfulness in learning…

This article critically examines the prevalent belief within music education that "music is for all," highlighting the incongruence between educators' intentions and students' lived experiences. Drawing on personal positionality and scholarly orientation, the author explores how music teachers may unintentionally disaffirm students'…

The book suggests that culturally responsive and sustaining education should be the guiding principle in our schools, and that community partnerships be developed in a similar light. Although many of the chapters focus on specific content or places, a transdisciplinary problem and project-based experiential critical pedagogy is an ultimate goal.…

This book discusses innovative approaches that employ transformative elements (targets, methods, materials, ideas, etc.) in early childhood education. It embraces integrated approaches and conceptualizations, such as the concept of "edu-care," which signifies the inseparability of care and education. Further, it examines the…

This article uses Lefebvre's concept of right to the city to frame the practices of a Kindergarten teacher and her ability to create a more racially equitable classroom space. It explains how the teacher and researcher collaboratively engaged in racial spaces analysis and critical race theory to develop greater racial spatial awareness. The…