Leena Helavaara Robertson

Parallel Literacy Classes and Hidden Strengths: Learning To Read in English, Urdu and Classical Arabic.

The aim of this article is to explore young bilingual children’s early literacy experiences in three different languages, English, Urdu and classical Arabic, and in three strikingly different types of classes in England. It draws on a larger ethnographic study that sets out to discover what kinds of advantages or additional strengths bilingual children might bring from their community literacy practices and from their experiences of learning to read in two or more languages simultaneously into their English literacy lessons. The main focus of the article is on one bilingual boy, Ikram, of Pakistani background, who at the beginning of the study was 5 years old. The participant observations in these three different types of classes and audio and video tapes of some these lessons show that at the age of 7 Ikram has begun to read in three languages. I argue that in doing so he is developing additional strengths that are generally overlooked. These new types of literacy strengths derive from the fact he is learning to read simultaneously in three languages. Yet they remain hidden within his English lessons.

Learning to read 'properly' by moving between parallel literacy classes.

This paper explores what kinds of advantages and strengths the process of learning to read simultaneously in different languages and scripts might bring about. It is based on a socio-cultural view of learning and literacy and examines early literacy in three parallel literacy classes in Watford, England. It analyses the learning experiences of five bilingual children who are of second or third generation Pakistani background. At the start of the study the children are five years old and they attend the same school and class. They learn to read in English during their daily literacy hour lessons; their home language is Pahari1. They attend weekly Urdu lessons that take place in a community language school. They also learn to read in classical Arabic – in a language they do not speak or understand – in their daily Qur’anic classes and, typically, in the local mosque. The data shows that the children learn to switch between three literacy systems. They talk about their literacy learning in terms of ‘how you got to do it’ and ‘do it properly’, which varies from class to class. They use a different range of learning strategies in establishing how to read with meaning. Rather than finding these – or the different related languages and scripts – confusing, they have a powerful impact in enabling the children to see literacies as systems that change and that can be manipulated. This kind of analytical approach of understanding ‘proper’ reading is based on the children’s varied experiences of parallel literacy classes.

Revealing invisible worlds: connecting the mainstream with bilingual children's home and community learning

This article sets out to make the point that if teachers and others have, as the evidence by which they will place, teach and assess young bilinguals, only those children’s performance in English, they are not likely to appreciate the full range of their capacities, and their linguistic capacity above all others.The theoretical overview is followed by sets of data deriving from four UK researchers. Rose Drury shows the interface of the home and school environments for a young bilingual girl. Charmian Kenner compares the first-and additional-language literacies of a young child in nursery.Tim Parke investigates the performance of three young potential bilinguals, retelling stories in English and then in their mother tongue. Leena Helavaara Robertson investigates the role of community schools and their construction by central agencies. Finally the authors re-state their focus, stressing what is revealed in young bilingual children’s language abilities by the work they have presented and suggesting some implications for pedagogy and practice in early years contexts.

Policy and ideologies in schooling and early years education in England Implications for and impacts on leadership, management and equality

In this article we begin by discussing ‘ideology’ as a theoretical construct, and the interconnections between policy and ideology in the education system in England. We analyse the main principles of education policies that can be broadly defined from Left to Right, according to the following ideologies: Marxism/Socialism/Radical Leftism, Social Democracy, Liberal-Progressivism, Neoliberal Conservatism and Neoconservatism. We then move on to analysing responses to inequalities, as informed by different ideological positions, and identify three main types of responses: (1) conforming; (2) reforming; and (3) transforming. The article concludes by addressing some historical developments in terms of equality in early years and identifies key implications for leadership and management.

In pursuit of quality: early childhood qualifications and training policy

Abstract This paper aims to critique policy discourses around the pursuit of quality in early years education. Taking England as a focal point, it problematizes the use of the term ‘quality’ and attempts to standardise its meaning; highlighting the disconnect that exists between policy and practice. The paper combines discourse analysis of a small number of key government documents with a series of interviews with early years stakeholders in order to identify issues that will have resonance and can inform a much needed continuation of debates about what quality might mean. Over the course of the research it became apparent that there was considerable disquiet amongst early years practitioners with regards the current qualifications and training landscape, particularly with regards to what many viewed as ideologically-driven policy-making, not informed by proper dialogue with the sector.

Child-Initiated Pedagogies: Moving toward Democratically Appropriate Practices in Finland, England, Estonia, and the United States.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child calls for children to be treated as human beings with a distinct set of rights, instead of as passive objects of care. They can and should be agents in their own lives. Child-initiated pedagogy recognizes this by respecting childrens individual and collective views, interests, and motivations. Instructional practices that support child-initiated activities promote childrens self-determination and their cognitive and social development. By allowing young children to choose their own pursuits and learning explorations, take ownership of planned activities to adapt them to their own purposes, and incorporate their own experiences into learning opportunities, educators are moving toward implementation of democratically appropriate practices. The authors of this article examine how child-initiated pedagogy manifests in the different contexts of Finland, England, Estonia, and the United States.

Let’s Talk About ‘Culture’ in Multiculturalism: The Case of Early Childhood Policy and Practice

Robertson reflects on her research with university students, teachers and researchers. She underlines comments and negative phrases which are being made by teachers in England and internationally. The author analyses the word culture and her aim is to show how the use of ‘culture’ as a construct has become an acceptable tool to drive a wedge between groups of people and how this discriminatory use has been legitimised in early years policy and normalised in everyday use. Robertson argues that ‘cultural’ and ‘culture’ have become bywords for something that is not there when education professionals discuss some children—children who are somehow perceived to be the norm and considered to be ‘our’ children. But when teachers draw attention to some children’s cultural backgrounds, the culture in question tends to be framed in a deficit model: it requires fixing. The groups of children who are perceived in need of fixing are typically those who are from a working-class background or black, or speak another language at home, or they are from a minority ethnic background, or a Muslim, Gypsy, Roma, Traveller or they are recent migrants. Robertson applies critical discourse analysis to the use of the term ‘cultural’ and applies early year’s education policy documents to ask why we continue to minoritise certain cultures over others. In light of multicultural dialogues, Robertson asks, whose stories are we telling and who are we excluding?