Helen Hedges

Early years curriculum: funds of knowledge as a conceptual framework for children’s interests

Children’s interests are frequently cited as a source of early‐years curricula. Yet, research has rarely considered the nature of these interests beyond the play‐based environment of early‐childhood education. This paper reports findings from a qualitative, interpretivist study in two early childhood settings in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Using participant observation, interviews, and documentation, the study examined children’s interests and teachers’ engagement with these in curriculum interactions. Evidence suggested children’s interests were stimulated by their ‘intent participation’ in family and community experiences and encapsulated in the notion of ‘funds of knowledge’. The concept of funds of knowledge provides a coherent analytic framework for teachers to recognize children’s interests and extend teachers’ curriculum planning focus beyond that of a child‐centred play‐based learning environment.

Participatory learning theories: A framework for early childhood pedagogy.

This paper continues scholarly conversations about appropriate theories of development to underpin early childhood pedagogy. It focuses on sociocultural theoretical perspectives and proposes that participatory learning theories (PLTs) underpin pedagogy built on principles specified in three curricular documents. Further, the paper argues that the outcomes of participatory learning contest accepted understandings of knowledge outcomes and instead comprise notions such as funds of knowledge, dispositions and working theories. A ‘participation plus’ model of pedagogy is posited as emanating from PLTs and associated outcomes. Resulting challenges for research and pedagogy are discussed.

Teachers’ funds of knowledge: a challenge to evidence-based practice

The spontaneous nature of much early childhood teaching makes it vital to understand the range of knowledge that teachers draw on in their curricular and pedagogical decision-making. Hammersley argued that teaching practice cannot be based directly on research evidence because it needs to be filtered through teachers’ experiences and understandings. Models of professional knowledge have rarely highlighted teachers’ personal knowledge. Drawing on an interpretivist study that investigated children’s interests as a foundation for curriculum and pedagogy in New Zealand, this paper supports Hammersley’s argument and proposes that the concept of teachers’ funds of knowledge has the potential to explain aspects of teachers’ knowledge. The paper argues that such informal knowledge, gained from life experience, is a primary influence and likely to be prioritised over theory and research in teachers’ pedagogical decision-making in early childhood education. Some implications of this argument for teacher education and teachers’ professional learning are suggested.

‘I understood the complexity within diversity’: preparation for partnership with families in early childhood settings

‘Partnership between parents and teachers’ is a taken-for-granted feature of the philosophy and practice of early childhood education. Yet, the literature suggests this rhetoric belies a more complex and problematic reality for teachers. Making connections with the families and communities they will serve may help teacher education students confront understandings of the realities of family lives and assist them to prepare for their professional responsibilities. Teacher education literature suggests that supported field experiences may assist student teachers to examine their beliefs and reflect on their practices with families. This paper reports on the experiences of student teachers who undertook a community placement in order to interact with children and families outside their normal range of teaching practice experience. Three themes of changes in student learning are discussed: (1) beliefs about partnerships; (2) notions of complexities within diversity; and (3) developing relationships with diverse families. The paper argues that the change in placement setting prompted student reflection in relation to these themes and shifts in beliefs, towards more authentic and complex understandings of partnership.

Preparation for Teacher-Parent Partnerships: A Practical Experience with a Family.

The necessity for parents and teachers to work together collaboratively to optimize children’s learning and development in early childhood education is well recognized. Yet, ways in which initial teacher education programs might prepare teachers for professional relationships with parents are rare in the literature. This paper reports on the use of field experience in family homes that occurred in the 1st year of a teacher education program. A case study of two student teachers is discussed to illustrate the potential of such an approach to this aspect of teacher preparation. These student teachers experienced the realities of the daily lives of families with young children. Six months later, their experiences appeared likely to have had a positive influence on their understanding of parenting and their attitudes towards establishing and maintaining effective partnerships with parents in their future professional role. Sincere thanks to “Jane” and “Sarah” who willingly shared their perceptions of this field experience in order for its worth to be evaluated from their perspective. This project gained ethical approval from the Auckland University of Technology Ethics Committee. Acknowledgement is made to the Faculty of Education (incorporating Auckland College of Education), University of Auckland, for funding support towards writing this article.

Blurring the boundaries: connecting research, practice and professional learning

Educational researchers can incorporate benefits for themselves and teacher participants by planning for interactions between research, practice and teachers’ professional learning from the outset of a project. However, the dual role of a researcher as a professional learning partner has rarely been explicated and theorised in studies of teacher–researcher relationships. The study described in this paper occurred in the context of early childhood education. The notion of a critical friend was extended and validated as a useful theorisation of the relationship. Four ways that I acted as a critical friend are described. The expertise, roles, boundaries and hybridity of a co‐constructed approach to research are discussed. The importance of a researcher as critical friend having research and theoretical knowledge to shift teacher knowledge and practice is argued. Implications for teacher–researcher partnerships in terms of strengthening coherence between research, practice and professional learning are suggested.

Connecting ‘snippets of knowledge’: teachers’ understandings of the concept of working theories

New Zealand’s early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki, has two learning outcomes, dispositions and working theories. While a sociocultural perspective of dispositions has received significant attention in research and teaching, ‘working theories’ as a concept has remained somewhat nebulous. This paper describes ways teachers in two settings interpreted this construct during a qualitative study designed to explore teachers’ understandings of working theories. During group interviews, teachers initially demonstrated intuitive knowledge of the concept as children’s snippets of knowledge and children making connections between different information, experiences and concepts. As a result of the increased focus on the concept stimulated by the research, some teachers’ pedagogic practices shifted in richness and depth. However, the realities of daily teaching practices thwarted theoretical understandings from developing within the timeframe of the project and remain a work-in-progress in collaborative attempts to merge theory and practice. Implications for teacher knowledge, learning and policy are offered.

Young children’s ‘working theories’: Building and connecting understandings

Young children are keenly motivated to inquire into and make meaning about their worlds. This article discusses working theories, one of two indicative learning outcomes of the New Zealand early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki. Working theories occur as children attempt to find connections between their experiences and understandings to make sense of their worlds. The article proffers several sociocultural theoretical bases for understanding and developing this under-explored construct. Specifically, the concept of working theories is proposed as a way children connect, edit, extend and deal with new or discrepant pieces of knowledge in endeavours to build their understandings. To substantiate this argument, examples of children’s working theories from a qualitative study of young children’s interests and inquiries are provided. A spiral of knowing provides a concept to further theorise processes of children’s knowledge connections and meaning making. Implications for early childhood teachers’ knowledge and practice and future research are described.

Curriculum in early childhood education: critical questions about content, coherence, and control

ABSTRACT A continuing struggle over curriculum in early childhood education is evident in contemporary research and debate at national and international levels. This reflects the dominant influence of developmental psychology in international discourses, and in policy frameworks that determine approaches to curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. Focusing on early childhood education, we argue that this struggle generates critical questions about three significant themes within curriculum theory: content, coherence, and control. We outline two positions from which these themes can be understood: Developmental and Educational Psychology and contemporary policy frameworks. We argue that within and between these positions, curriculum content, coherence, and control are viewed in different and sometimes oppositional ways. Following this analysis, we propose that a focus on ‘working theories’ as a third position offers possibilities for addressing some of these continuing struggles, by exploring different implications for how content, coherence, and control might be understood. We conclude that asking critical questions of curriculum in early childhood education is a necessary endeavour to develop alternative theoretical frameworks for understanding the ways in which curriculum can be considered alongside pedagogy, assessment, play, and learning.

Inquiring minds: theorizing children’s interests

Abstract Children’s interests are a common foundation for early childhood curricula. Yet, little research is available about the fundamental nature of children’s interests and analytical ways to recognize and engage with these. Early work on children’s interests adopted a psychological perspective and associated interests with activity choices. Recent work has taken a sociocultural perspective, arguing that more analytical interpretations of children’s interests can occur through a deeper understanding of children’s funds of knowledge from their lives in their families and communities, and their inquiries that result. This paper draws on a qualitative, interpretivist study in two early childhood centres in Aotearoa New Zealand to extend this work and argue that children’s ‘real questions’ are the fundamental source of their interests. The interpretations presented of children’s questions also challenge earlier psychological research that suggested children cannot imagine their future selves until late in the early childhood period. A revised continuum of children’s interests and examples of interpretations of children’s real questions are proffered for further consideration in other early childhood contexts. Further, the paper argues that interests-based curriculum is justifiable in the early years through likely leading to a range of long-term outcomes valued by societies.