From South to North in the globalised world of early childhood education and care: varied national and local responses in selected countries

Branislav Pupala; Ondrej Kaščák

doi:10.14712/23362189.2020.1682

Vol. 70 No. 4 (2020): Changes Of Pre-Primary And Primary Education Comparative paper

From South to North in the globalised world of early childhood education and care: varied national and local responses in selected countries

Branislav Pupala, Ondrej Kaščák,

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14712/23362189.2020.1682

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Abstract

This article analyses the neoliberal transformation of ECEC in five selected countries (Germany, Slovakia, Indonesia, Nepal, and Kenya). Both the Global South and the Global North are represented. The countries were selected either because of the authors’ involvement in research in the respective country or because of their long-term personal experience of that particular system of ECEC. The knowledge the authors acquired enabled them to delve deeper into the question of the point at which ECEC systems encounter neoliberal education policy and to describe the different ways in which the countries have adapted to the new policies. The article shows that neoliberal education policies require different types of adaptation and that these may have very different effects on the system of ECEC – from a change in concept to system convergence and practical resistance or total governance of the ECEC sector. The article contributes to a more granular understanding of the effect of the economising discourse on the ECEC sector.

Keywords: ECEC, social investment approach, EU, Germany, Slovakia, Indonesia, Kenya, Nepal, Global North, Global South

References

Adriany, V., & Saefullah, K. (2015). Deconstructing human capital discourse in early childhood education in Indonesia. In T. Lightfoot-Rueda & R. L. Peach (Eds.), Global perspectives on human capital in early childhood education. Critical cultural studies of childhood (pp. 159-179). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Search in Google Scholar
https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137490865_9 Open DOI
Arndt. S., Tesar, M., Pupala, B., Kaščák, O., & Mbugua, T. (2016). Re-Negotiating an ethics of care in Kenyan childhoods. Human Affairs, 26(3), 288-303. Search in Google Scholar
https://doi.org/10.1515/humaff-2016-0025 Open DOI
Casalini, B. (2014). The Early Childhood Education and Care Policy debate in the EU. Interdisciplinary Journal of Family Studies, 19(1), 77-94. Search in Google Scholar
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https://doi.org/10.1177/1463949115616327 Open DOI
European Commission. (2011). Early childhood education and care: Providing all our children with the best start for the world of tomorrow. Brussels: European Commission. Search in Google Scholar
Fangmeyer, A., & Kaščák, O. (2016). Transgressionen: Zum diskursiven Rekonfigurieren von institutionalisierten (frühen) Kindheiten. Ein slowakisch¬deutscher Vergleich von curricularen Dokumenten. In I. Nentwig-Gesemann, K. Fröhlich-Gildhoff, T. Betz, & S. Viernickel (Eds.), Forschung in der Frühpädagogik 9 (pp. 141-172). Freiburg: FEL. Search in Google Scholar
Frindte, A., & Mierendorff, J. (2017). Bildung, Erziehung [education] and care in German early childhood settings - spotlights on current discourses. Journal of Pedagogy, 8(1), 99-120. Search in Google Scholar
https://doi.org/10.1515/jped-2017-0005 Open DOI
Gay, G. (2000). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research and practice. New York: Teachers College Press. Search in Google Scholar
Gisbert, K. (2004). Neue Bildungsinhalte. In I. Wehrmann (Ed.), Kindergärten und ihre Zukunft (pp. 138-148). Weinheim: Beltz. Search in Google Scholar
Gupta, A. (2006). Early childhood education, postcolonial theory, and teaching practices in India: Balancing Vygotsky and the Veda. New York: Palgrave Macmillan US. Search in Google Scholar
https://doi.org/10.1057/9780312376345 Open DOI
Jones, P. (2010). The politics of the economics of education in the European Union. European Educational Research Journal, 9(3), 359-380. Search in Google Scholar
https://doi.org/10.2304/eerj.2010.9.3.359 Open DOI
Kaščák, O., & Pupala, B. (2012). Škola zlatých golierov: Vzdelávanie v ére neoliberalizmu [Golden Collar School: Education in the Era of Neoliberalism]. Prague: SLON. Search in Google Scholar
Kaščák, O., Pupala, B., & Mbugua, T. J. (2016). Slovak preschool curriculum reform and teachers' emotions: An analysis of Facebook posts. Early Childhood Education Journal, 44(6), 573-580. Search in Google Scholar
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-015-0741-2 Open DOI
Kenya Institute of Education. (2008). Handbook for Early Childhood Development Education Syllabus. Nairobi: Kenya Institute of Education. Search in Google Scholar
Khanal, S.K., Paudyal, B.R., & Dangal, S. (2017). Early childhood development policies in Nepal: Achievements, learning, and implications. In H. Li, E. Park, & J. Chen (Eds.), Early Childhood Education Policies in Asia Pacific. Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, vol. 35 (pp. 135-161). Singapore: Springer. Search in Google Scholar
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1528-1_7 Open DOI
Mbugua, T. (2004). Early childhood care and education in Kenya. Childhood Education, 80(4), 191-197. Search in Google Scholar
https://doi.org/10.1080/00094056.2004.10522230 Open DOI
Mbugua, T., Pupala, B., Kascak, O., & Petrova, Z. (2018). Transforming Public education in Kenya: Early childhood development and education in Kwale County. In C. S. Sunal & K. Mutual (Eds.), Transforming public education in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Middle East (pp. 53-71). Charlotte, North Carolina: Information Age Publishing. Search in Google Scholar
Mierendorff, J. (2014). Annäherungen von Kindergarten und Schule. Wandel früher Kindheit? In P. Cloos, K. Hauenschild, I. Pieper, & M. Baader (Eds.), Elementar- und Primarpädagogik. Internationale Diskurse im Spannungsfeld von Institutionen und Ausbildungskonzepten (pp. 23-37). Wiesbaden: Springer. Search in Google Scholar
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-03811-3_3 Open DOI
Millei, Z., Gobby, B., & Gallagher, J. (2017). Doing state policy at preschool: An autoethnographic tale of universal access to ECEC in Australia. Journal of Pedagogy, 8(1), 33-55. Search in Google Scholar
https://doi.org/10.1515/jped-2017-0002 Open DOI
Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. (2015). National curriculum policy. Nairobi: Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. Search in Google Scholar
Moss, P. (2008). what future for the relationship between early childhood education and care and compulsory schooling? Research in Comparative and International Education, 3(3), 224-234. Search in Google Scholar
https://doi.org/10.2304/rcie.2008.3.3.224 Open DOI
Moss, P. (2009). There are alternatives! Markets and democratic experimentalism in early childhood education and care. Working papers No. 53. Hague: Bernard van Leer Foundation. Search in Google Scholar
Nicaise, I., & Schepers, W. (2013). Social investment: the new paradigm of EU social policy? Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Sociale Zekerheid, 55(2), 189-230. Search in Google Scholar
Paananen, M., Lipponen, L., & Kumpulainen, K. (2015). Hybridisation or ousterisation? The case of local accountability policy in Finnish early childhood education. European Educational Research Journal, 14(5), 395-417. Search in Google Scholar
https://doi.org/10.1177/1474904115601446 Open DOI
Pupala, B., Kaščák, O. & Tesar, M. (2016). Learning how to do up buttons: Professionalism, teacher identity and bureaucratic subjectivities in early years settings. Policy Futures in Education, 14(6), 655-665. Search in Google Scholar
https://doi.org/10.1177/1478210316642675 Open DOI
Schreiber, N. (2009). Die Einführung der neuen Bildungspläne in Kindertageseinrichtungen - Ergebnisse von Begleitstudien in drei Bundesländern. Diskurs Kindheits- und Jugendforschung, 4(3), 431-437. Search in Google Scholar
Sims, M., & Pedey, K. (2015). Are we travelling a similar path to early childhood professionalization? The case of Bhutan. International Journal of Innovation and Research in Educational Sciences, 2(3), 218-226. Search in Google Scholar
Ständige Konferenz der Kultusminister der Länder in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. (2004). Gemeinsamer Rahmen der Länder für die frühe Bildung in Kindertageseinrichtungen. Bonn/Berlin: KMK. Search in Google Scholar
Upreti, N. (2013). National plan and policies for early childhood education and care in Nepal. Child Research Net. Section: Asia, ECEC around the World, Reports from around the World. Retrieved from www.childresearch.net/projects/ecec/2013_05.html Search in Google Scholar

[1] Adriany, V., & Saefullah, K. (2015). Deconstructing human capital discourse in early childhood education in Indonesia. In T. Lightfoot-Rueda & R. L. Peach (Eds.), Global perspectives on human capital in early childhood education. Critical cultural studies of childhood (pp. 159-179). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Search in Google Scholar

[2] https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137490865_9 Open DOI

[3] Arndt. S., Tesar, M., Pupala, B., Kaščák, O., & Mbugua, T. (2016). Re-Negotiating an ethics of care in Kenyan childhoods. Human Affairs, 26(3), 288-303. Search in Google Scholar

[4] https://doi.org/10.1515/humaff-2016-0025 Open DOI

[5] Casalini, B. (2014). The Early Childhood Education and Care Policy debate in the EU. Interdisciplinary Journal of Family Studies, 19(1), 77-94. Search in Google Scholar

[6] Clausen, S. B. (2015). Schoolification or early years democracy? A cross-curricular perspective from Denmark and England. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 16(4), 355-373. Search in Google Scholar

[7] https://doi.org/10.1177/1463949115616327 Open DOI

[8] European Commission. (2011). Early childhood education and care: Providing all our children with the best start for the world of tomorrow. Brussels: European Commission. Search in Google Scholar

[9] Fangmeyer, A., & Kaščák, O. (2016). Transgressionen: Zum diskursiven Rekonfigurieren von institutionalisierten (frühen) Kindheiten. Ein slowakisch¬deutscher Vergleich von curricularen Dokumenten. In I. Nentwig-Gesemann, K. Fröhlich-Gildhoff, T. Betz, & S. Viernickel (Eds.), Forschung in der Frühpädagogik 9 (pp. 141-172). Freiburg: FEL. Search in Google Scholar

[10] Frindte, A., & Mierendorff, J. (2017). Bildung, Erziehung [education] and care in German early childhood settings - spotlights on current discourses. Journal of Pedagogy, 8(1), 99-120. Search in Google Scholar

[11] https://doi.org/10.1515/jped-2017-0005 Open DOI

[12] Gay, G. (2000). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research and practice. New York: Teachers College Press. Search in Google Scholar

[13] Gisbert, K. (2004). Neue Bildungsinhalte. In I. Wehrmann (Ed.), Kindergärten und ihre Zukunft (pp. 138-148). Weinheim: Beltz. Search in Google Scholar

[14] Gupta, A. (2006). Early childhood education, postcolonial theory, and teaching practices in India: Balancing Vygotsky and the Veda. New York: Palgrave Macmillan US. Search in Google Scholar

[15] https://doi.org/10.1057/9780312376345 Open DOI

[16] Jones, P. (2010). The politics of the economics of education in the European Union. European Educational Research Journal, 9(3), 359-380. Search in Google Scholar

[17] https://doi.org/10.2304/eerj.2010.9.3.359 Open DOI

[18] Kaščák, O., & Pupala, B. (2012). Škola zlatých golierov: Vzdelávanie v ére neoliberalizmu [Golden Collar School: Education in the Era of Neoliberalism]. Prague: SLON. Search in Google Scholar

[19] Kaščák, O., Pupala, B., & Mbugua, T. J. (2016). Slovak preschool curriculum reform and teachers' emotions: An analysis of Facebook posts. Early Childhood Education Journal, 44(6), 573-580. Search in Google Scholar

[20] https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-015-0741-2 Open DOI

[21] Kenya Institute of Education. (2008). Handbook for Early Childhood Development Education Syllabus. Nairobi: Kenya Institute of Education. Search in Google Scholar

[22] Khanal, S.K., Paudyal, B.R., & Dangal, S. (2017). Early childhood development policies in Nepal: Achievements, learning, and implications. In H. Li, E. Park, & J. Chen (Eds.), Early Childhood Education Policies in Asia Pacific. Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, vol. 35 (pp. 135-161). Singapore: Springer. Search in Google Scholar

[23] https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1528-1_7 Open DOI

[24] Mbugua, T. (2004). Early childhood care and education in Kenya. Childhood Education, 80(4), 191-197. Search in Google Scholar

[25] https://doi.org/10.1080/00094056.2004.10522230 Open DOI

[26] Mbugua, T., Pupala, B., Kascak, O., & Petrova, Z. (2018). Transforming Public education in Kenya: Early childhood development and education in Kwale County. In C. S. Sunal & K. Mutual (Eds.), Transforming public education in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Middle East (pp. 53-71). Charlotte, North Carolina: Information Age Publishing. Search in Google Scholar

[27] Mierendorff, J. (2014). Annäherungen von Kindergarten und Schule. Wandel früher Kindheit? In P. Cloos, K. Hauenschild, I. Pieper, & M. Baader (Eds.), Elementar- und Primarpädagogik. Internationale Diskurse im Spannungsfeld von Institutionen und Ausbildungskonzepten (pp. 23-37). Wiesbaden: Springer. Search in Google Scholar

[28] https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-03811-3_3 Open DOI

[29] Millei, Z., Gobby, B., & Gallagher, J. (2017). Doing state policy at preschool: An autoethnographic tale of universal access to ECEC in Australia. Journal of Pedagogy, 8(1), 33-55. Search in Google Scholar

[30] https://doi.org/10.1515/jped-2017-0002 Open DOI

[31] Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. (2015). National curriculum policy. Nairobi: Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. Search in Google Scholar

[32] Moss, P. (2008). what future for the relationship between early childhood education and care and compulsory schooling? Research in Comparative and International Education, 3(3), 224-234. Search in Google Scholar

[33] https://doi.org/10.2304/rcie.2008.3.3.224 Open DOI

[34] Moss, P. (2009). There are alternatives! Markets and democratic experimentalism in early childhood education and care. Working papers No. 53. Hague: Bernard van Leer Foundation. Search in Google Scholar

[35] Nicaise, I., & Schepers, W. (2013). Social investment: the new paradigm of EU social policy? Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Sociale Zekerheid, 55(2), 189-230. Search in Google Scholar

[36] Paananen, M., Lipponen, L., & Kumpulainen, K. (2015). Hybridisation or ousterisation? The case of local accountability policy in Finnish early childhood education. European Educational Research Journal, 14(5), 395-417. Search in Google Scholar

[37] https://doi.org/10.1177/1474904115601446 Open DOI

[38] Pupala, B., Kaščák, O. & Tesar, M. (2016). Learning how to do up buttons: Professionalism, teacher identity and bureaucratic subjectivities in early years settings. Policy Futures in Education, 14(6), 655-665. Search in Google Scholar

[39] https://doi.org/10.1177/1478210316642675 Open DOI

[40] Schreiber, N. (2009). Die Einführung der neuen Bildungspläne in Kindertageseinrichtungen - Ergebnisse von Begleitstudien in drei Bundesländern. Diskurs Kindheits- und Jugendforschung, 4(3), 431-437. Search in Google Scholar

[41] Sims, M., & Pedey, K. (2015). Are we travelling a similar path to early childhood professionalization? The case of Bhutan. International Journal of Innovation and Research in Educational Sciences, 2(3), 218-226. Search in Google Scholar

[42] Ständige Konferenz der Kultusminister der Länder in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. (2004). Gemeinsamer Rahmen der Länder für die frühe Bildung in Kindertageseinrichtungen. Bonn/Berlin: KMK. Search in Google Scholar

[43] Upreti, N. (2013). National plan and policies for early childhood education and care in Nepal. Child Research Net. Section: Asia, ECEC around the World, Reports from around the World. Retrieved from www.childresearch.net/projects/ecec/2013_05.html Search in Google Scholar

Pedagogika

From South to North in the globalised world of early childhood education and care: varied national and local responses in selected countries

Abstract

References

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