Local Childhoods in Global Times

By Susanne Garvis

This book presents different perspectives of childhood. With contributors from across the globe there are examples of local childhoods from different national contexts including America, Australia, Finland, Hong-Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Norway and Sweden. 

Each chapter presents a different focus on early childhood showing the diversity and complexity across multiple countries. Issues emerge around multi-language development, nationalism and multiculturalism. Across the chapters, concepts around cultural theories of every-day life also show the ways in which practices of and in relation to children function to produce childhood as an artefact, fiction and instrument.

It helps readers to develop an understanding of how changing perspectives on children and childhood and identity are expressed among children, families and educators in and outside educational environments. It brings together active researchers in the field of global childhoods to sustain and develop our community of research and scholarship, promoting internationalization through global childhoods as a way of cultural diversity and acceptance.

The book reflects on early childhood before and leading up to Covid-19. The editors were able to create a historical snapshot of early childhood pre-Covid from several countries. The pandemic has demanded major changes around learning, agency, voice and lived experience for children around the world. In some countries there are children in lockdown, without access to learning and who have ceased to be recognised as a child. In other countries life has continued with social distancing and masks in educational spaces.

It will be a useful resource for students and academics in early childhood education and education studies more generally, as well as practitioners and educators.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Intellect Books
• Release date: Oct 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9781789386097

Book preview

Local Childhoods in Global Times

Local Childhoods in Global Times

edited by

Anette Hellman and Susanne Garvis

First published in the UK in 2022 by

Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK

First published in the USA in 2022 by

Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street,

Chicago, IL 60637, USA

Copyright © 2022 Intellect Ltd

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Copy editor: Newgen

Cover designer: Aleksandra Szumlas

Production manager: Debora Nicosia

Typesetting: Newgen

Hardback ISBN 978-1-78938-607-3

ePDF ISBN 978-1-78938-608-0

ePub ISBN 978-1-78938-609-7

To find out about all our publications, please visit

www.intellectbooks.com

There you can subscribe to our e-newsletter, browse or download our current catalogue, and buy any titles that are in print.

This is a peer-reviewed publication.

Contents

List of Figures

List of Tables

Introduction

Anette Hellman and Susanne Garvis

1.Globalization and Child Education: Research in Early Childhood Education Through Five Decades

Pia Williams and Ingrid Pramling Samuelsson

2.Transitioning Into Formal Education: One on the Journey to Achieve SDG 4

Donna Pendergast, Katherine Main and Adelle Friswell

3.Raising Children’s Sustainability Consciousness

Sally Windsor, Kalliopi Moraiti and Susanne Garvis

4.The Good Childhood in the Nordic Countries: Insider and Outsider Perspectives

Judith T. Wagner, Stig Broström and Ingrid Pramling Samuelsson

5.Children Taking Their Place in the Institutional Practice Through Their Photographic Voice

Lena O Magnusson and Annika Åkerblom

6.Children Doing and Undoing Gender during the Circle-Time: Stories From a Kindergarten in Indonesia

Vina Adriany

7.‘I Have Always Been Speaking Finnish With My Children’: Supporting Children’s Heritage Language

Heidi Harju-Luukkainen

8.Becoming a Respectable Future Citizen: Norms on Ideal Bodies, Food and Eating Among Children in Indonesian, Japanese and Swedish Early Childhood Education and Care

Anette Hellman

9.Teaching Language Learners in the Science Classroom: A Case Study in a Norwegian Secondary School

Pål K. Bjartan and Heidi Harju-Luukkainen

10.Everyday Life, National Crises and the Practice of Global Childhoods

Sue Saltmarsh

11.Teachers’ Understanding of Children’s Needs in the Time of Coronavirus: Norms on Children Among Finnish and Swedish ECEC Teachers

Mia Heikkilä, Anette Hellman, Anna Rantala, Ann-Christin Furu and Anne Lillvist

Epilogue: Some Concluding Thoughts

Anette Hellman and Susanne Garvis

Notes on Contributors

Figures

2.1Social networks involved in Gwen’s transition.

2.2Gwen and transition statement.

3.1Game: ‘Help the land get water’.

3.2Three rounds of ‘Coal excavation’.

5.1The hair of a teacher.

5.2My spot.

5.3That is my teacher!

5.4The double-sided force.

9.1a and bTwo images from the classroom.

9.2Visual support in instruction.

9.3Teacher helping with translating.

10.1–10.3Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR.

10.4Gathering crowd, New Town Plaza, Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR.

10.5Peaceful protest, New Town Plaza, Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR.

10.6–10.8Brisbane protest, January 2020.

Tables

2.1The principles, practices and outcomes underpinning the EYLF.

2.2Diary entries of transitions, routines and practices when moving from one setting to another.

2.3Diary entries regarding the communication and activities between the different social networks.

2.4Sample of key information on the transition statement completed by the kindergarten, Gwen’s parents and Gwen.

2.5Gwen’s mother’s diary entries noting ways in which Gwen had an active role in preparing for her transitions to formal schooling.

2.6Diary entry demonstrating how Gwen was helped to negotiate changes during the transition phase.

2.7Diary entries showing how the school’s social networks (including whole school and classroom teachers) supported children transitioning from either kindergarten or home to the formal schooling.

3.1The lessons of the ESD programme.

9.1Instructional practices for supporting LLs in the classroom.

9.2Instructional practices observed in the classroom.

Introduction

Anette Hellman and Susanne Garvis

Childhood studies and early childhood education studies are established fields around the world that have raised important questions for consideration around children’s agency, voice and differences in the everyday lived experiences of children. The authors of this book come from both fields of research. We acknowledge that childhood is influenced by various cultures, traditions and contexts. As noted by Wells (2021), children’s lives are influenced not only by political, social and economic crises but also by individual and communal perspectives on what constitutes a good childhood. As such, childhood is different in different contexts, and therefore the importance of space and locality must be acknowledged.

The aim of this book is to discuss local childhoods in global times that we live. We will provide examples of local childhoods from different national contexts in the world, including America, Australia, Finland, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Norway and Sweden. However, our intention is not to frame our discussion of ‘local childhoods’ in a strict national category, but rather to move beyond methodological nationalism (Amelina et al., 2012) and discuss how discourses about children and childhoods are produced locally in relation to other situated norms and ideas and to explore how these discourses in time and space might travel across nations.

Childhood has changed in recent times with crises such as COVID-19 across the world. As such, research could be grouped into two categories – research on childhood before COVID-19, and research on childhood after COVID-19. The extreme point in time around childhood is asking for major changes around learning, agency, voice and lived experiences for children across different countries. In some countries, there are children in lockdown, without learning and who have lost being recognized as children. In other countries, life has continued with social distancing and masks in educational spaces.

This book reflects on early childhood before and leading up to COVID-19. As editors, we were able to collect a historical snapshot of early childhood pre-COVID-19 with submissions from different countries. The snapshot provides an opportunity to reflect on what early childhood education was before COVID-19 and to again wonder what has changed since or will childhood’s understandings of pre-COVID-19 return. The book draws on a depth and breadth of perspectives from different authors across the globe, joining together to provide the snapshot of early childhood in a community of researchers.

Each chapter presents a different focus on early childhood education showing the diversity and complexity across multiple countries. Some issues emerge around multi-language development, nationalism, civilizing practices and multiculturalism. Across some chapters, the concepts around cultural theories of everyday life also become known as ways in which practices of, and in relation to, children function to produce childhood as a simultaneously artefact, fiction and instrument. We have grouped chapters based on the themes presented below.

Historic overview/policy documents

Children’s education, welfare and rights are an important responsibility for all of society, especially when implementing SDGs for all. The authors of Chapter 1, Williams and Pramling Samuelsson, provide an analysis of the content of the Organisation Mondiale pour l’Éducation Préscolaire/World Organization for Early Childhood Education’s journal, International Journal of Early Childhood, from 1969 to 2018 to recognize key and recurring themes around globalization and childhood. In over 50 years of its publication, the journal has become a considerable source of information around globalization of childhood. Key trends emerge around early childhood to show different influences and events over time. This historical reflection is important for again reflecting on practices today.

Chapter 2 (by Pendergast, Main and Friswell) brings us to reflect on the question of what it means to be a child today when there are global agendas influencing policy in increasingly intense ways. This suggests that policy is a key driver around early childhood experiences and developments. The context of Australian early childhood education is explored to show the experience of a child’s transition from an early childhood setting into formal schooling. The chapter shows how the journey contributes to the achievement of Goal 4 of the SDGs, within a framing of education through the SDGs.

The SDGs are again revisited by the authors in Chapter 3 (Moraiti, Windsor and Garvis) in relation to raising children’s sustainability consciousness. The incorporation of SDG goals into some chapters shows the impact of such initiatives on early childhood in different countries. Chapter 3 shows that participation in a learning programme where play-based activities are emphasized allows children to demonstrate increased understandings and articulation of the SDGs. Children in the study appeared to show more positive attitudes towards sustainable behaviours in the classroom, school year and at home, suggesting that the goals have moved beyond understanding to action.

Childhoods in ECE

In Chapter 4, two Nordic authors (Broström and Pramling Samuelsson) and one American scholar (Wagner) examine, through insider and outsider lenses, the good childhood, an ideal that is framed from the development of modern Nordic preschools. The authors explore concepts including egalitarianism, democracy, freedom, autonomy, self-development, cooperation, solidarity, trust, participation and play. The insider and outsider perspectives reveal differences in the authors’ perspectives of the roles and functions of preschools and highlight the centrality of children’s rights.

In the next chapter (Chapter 5), the authors (Magnusson and Åkerblom) explore the visual construction of place in Swedish preschools through the eyes of children. Childhood is given meaning in relation to issues that appear to be embedded in societies, including nationalism and migration, creating tensions of fostering ‘Swedishness’ while at the same time having to mediate values associated with multiculturalism. Cameras were given to children to visualize their view of preschool and create an understanding of the construction of Swedish early childhoods.

Chapter 6 (by Adriany) shares important findings from an Indonesian kindergarten around gender, with a specific focus on circle-time and free choice time. Both circle-time and free choice time are common practices in some early childhood settings. Circle-time was selected as it is considered the most fundamental time in the kindergarten in the Indonesian context. As such, gender discourses were found during circle-time and free choice time, including princess, superhero and gendered body discourses. The intersectionality between children’s age, social class and gender is highlighted as contributing to gender and power in the kindergarten. This intersectionality is an important space for reflection around everyday early childhood practices and how these may require regular reflections from teachers around actual discourses presented.

Language and nationalism

Chapter 7 (by Harju-Luukkainen) provides insights into heritage languages spoken by children of immigrants in Finland. Given the growing diversity of populations, such research is important for understanding a sense of being and belonging for early childhood. In this chapter, the perspectives of Finish immigrant families are explored through the use of an ethnographical approach to engage with meaning. Findings show that the attitudes of the closest networks towards the heritage language act as an enabler. Such findings are highly relevant for creating a sense of belonging and being for all children with additional languages.

Chapter 8 (by Hellman) describes the variation of norms related to children’s bodies, food and eating habits within early childhood education and care in three different countries – Indonesia, Japan and Sweden. By including explorations of eating and food habits, the authors are able to really reflect on the way food and disciplining the body are used in situated ways to socialize a future, civilized national subject. From this perspective, food in each of the countries is viewed as a culture and related to everyday practice. Eating meals is a common practice in preschools, and the actions that occur become invisible and subject to stereotype norms from teachers. This important reflection provides rethinking around teacher practices and how to create a sense of belonging for all children.

Chapter 9 (by Bjartan and Harju-Luukkainen) provides an example of childhood from Norway in relation to the achievement gap between Norwegian students and those with an immigrant background who are lagging behind in scientific literacy. This achievement gap has been created through an increasing number of students speaking languages other than Norwegian. The chapter describes how a science teacher tries and supports language-learning students in developing their scientific literacy skills. The authors reflect on childhood as a broader concept (birth to 18 years) to consider how different stages of childhood also fit together and the important role of the teacher in supporting all children. The study highlights the need for teacher training and effective implementation of instructional practices.

Childhoods and civic society

Chapter 10 (by Saltmarsh) explores the ways in which childhood is located within familial, social, educational and representational frames through which local and global concerns operate. Engaging with examples of the Australian bushfire emergency in early 2020 and the Hong Kong political protests, the author suggests that in these intersections, childhoods emerge as a multiplicity of dynamic and contested meanings that are co-implicated in bringing public responses to national crises into dialogue with everyday practices of witnessing and responding.

The final chapter (by Heikkilä, Furu, Hellman, Rantala and Lillvist) takes us right up to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic with an initial insight into childhood in Finland and Sweden. The chapter provides a snapshot in time of how teachers viewed children and their expressions in a time of crisis. The findings provide an important glimpse into the changing nature of early childhood and build towards the point of early childhood pre- and post-COVID-19.

Conclusion

Across the chapters, the historical snapshot shows childhood across different contexts and cultures. This collection of chapters allows us to represent the complex field of childhood and reflect on similarities and differences across the diverse contexts. The intention of reading these is to reflect on similarities and differences from one’s own experiences, recognizing and acknowledging that childhood is diverse and unique for each child. We finish the book with our final thoughts around local childhoods in global times.

References

Amelina, A. (Ed.). (2012). Beyond methodological nationalism: Research methodologies for cross-border studies (vol. 24). Routledge.

Wells, K. (2021). Childhood in a global perspective. John Wiley & Sons.

1

Globalization and Child Education: Research in Early Childhood Education Through Five Decades

Pia Williams and Ingrid Pramling Samuelsson

Introduction

Both globally and locally, issues concerning children’s well-being and right to education are of great importance and a key factor for a strong start in life. Historically, as well as today, there are countries around the world experiencing war, crisis and conflicts in which children are especially exposed and vulnerable. Many international organizations are working to improve the lives and education of children globally. One such organization is the Organisation Mondiale pour l’Éducation Préscolaire (OMEP, World Organization for Early Childhood Education), established in 1948 with the aim to defend and promote the rights of the child, with a special emphasis on the universal right to education and care. In 1968, OMEP initiated the International Journal of Early Childhood (IJEC). The intention was for the transnational journal to be a worldwide forum for researchers and practitioners within early childhood education and care and to ultimately benefit children. Peace and democracy should frame the aims and scope of the journal, to point out that early childhood education was one of the most important social issues post-war. With its history of over 50 years of publication, the journal constitutes a unique source of knowledge concerning the research of childhood and childcare, including issues of globalization and child education from a past as well as a contemporary perspective.

In this chapter, we analyse and discuss some themes that emerged in a sample of articles published in the IJEC over five decades, from 1969 to 2018, during the history of the transition of globalization and early childhood education research.

The International Journal of Early Childhood (IJEC)

After World War II, a humanitarian concern for the welfare of young children led a group of female educators to seek a way to engage others committed to these aims. In 1946, Lady Marjorie Allen of Hurtwood, from England, and Alva Myrdal, from Sweden, presented a proposal (Myrdal, 1948; OMEP, 2021) to create a world organization that would be linked to UNESCO.¹ The proposal was received positively and resulted in an invitation to a world conference on early childhood education in Prague in 1948. Representatives from 17 countries on five continents were gathered, and OMEP was founded. Alva Myrdal was elected its first president. The new organization was recognized then, as it is today, as the principal mechanism to bring together people from all over the world without any criteria other than an objective to share information and initiate actions to benefit young children everywhere. OMEP became a non-governmental organization (NGO) with the purpose of bringing together different professions working for the well-being of young children in families, institutions and society. One of the goals was to raise awareness about and work to improve children’s rights and living conditions. Another was to deepen knowledge about peace education, globalization and democracy – issues closely linked to values and norms and to children’s position in a welfare society (Hägglund & Pramling Samuelsson, 2009). OMEP was one of many driving forces for developing the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and, later, for focusing on education for sustainable development in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. OMEP was the eleventh NGO linked to the UN and has now received special consultative status, which gives them a voice at the UN.

At the end of the 1960s, the notion was raised of starting an international journal within OMEP. The idea, however, was not new. Already in 1949, Lady Marjorie Allen of Hurtwood expressed that a journal could be a powerful tool for the exchange of knowledge and experiences (Allen & Nicholson, 1975). The IJEC was established in 1969 and since then has continuously published two issues per year. The editorship has shifted between the different member states, which may affect the content of the published articles. All volumes of the journal are on file at the Comenius Institute in Prague, Czech Republic, and all material is digitalized by Springer Publishing, which is also responsible for printing the journal. Since the end of 1990, the IJEC has been a peer-reviewed journal of OMEP. The journal has become an important voice concerning research on children, childhood and child education across various social and cultural contexts, with a focus on children from birth to 8 years of age. The coverage spans a range of themes such as multicultural issues, children’s learning and sustainable development, child education and care and curriculum questions. For more information about the recent history of IJEC, see the appendix.

A global childhood

Resolving issues concerning children’s education, welfare and rights are a common responsibility for a society. As a result of globalization, education has become a valuable resource in today’s knowledge societies. Early intervention through preschool is of importance to make the necessary changes in children’s lives to create positive life trajectories (Heckman, 2000, 2006) and can be seen as a good investment not just for the individual child or for families but for the whole society. Consequently, the position of children in a society has become a fundamental concern of the welfare society. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (2017) state that every child should be assured of an inclusive, equitable, high-quality education promoting lifelong learning opportunities. Thus, society and preschool education shall intertwine in order to provide all children with the opportunity for an equal start in life. Early education, such as preschool, is proved to make a significant change in children’s lives, and it has unique opportunities to contribute to well-being, especially for those children from disadvantaged or vulnerable backgrounds (Gulbrandsen & Eliassen, 2013; Manning et al., 2010; Pramling Samuelsson et al., 2006; Pramling Samuelsson & Williams, 2010). Preschool has become increasingly common, although not all children in the world attend. During the formative early years of childhood, the foundations are laid for well-being, learning and development and are considerably related to economic, social, political and geographical contexts (Cregan & Cuthbert, 2014; Sylva et al., 2010).

Changes in society are taking place rapidly, and the economy, population profile through immigration, political agendas, and policy and curriculum documents are constantly shifting. Consequently, it is important to continuously study the progression of globalization, with a specific focus on child education, to expose children’s unequal conditions, including well-being, education and development, in order to recommend the necessary changes. Hence, research in early childhood education as well as practitioners’ experiences that are communicated in various ways are critical tools to ensure these issues are discussed, analysed and implemented, both scientifically and in practice. Sommer (2003) explains the major changes that occurred on the views of children and childhood in the last decades, with democratic ideas as a starting point. He argues that since World War II, societies have adopted a radically different view of children and childhood. Before, an authoritarian way of viewing and nurturing children dominated, where discipline – for example, in the form of violence – occurred in both schools and homes. Today, a more child-focused attitude has evolved in relation to modern research (Fleer, 2015; Sylva et al., 2010; Vygotsky, 1997), emphasizing the unique and competent child with rights of its own, including the right to a respectful response (Pramling Samuelsson et al., 2006; Siraj & Asani, 2015). Additionally, teachers’ competences to teach and encounter children’s needs for education and care are being reconstructed along with changes in society and shifting values and intentions in preschool guidelines and curricula. High-quality education is strongly related to a professional teacher with theoretical, pedagogical and didactical knowledge (Vuorinen et al., 2013). In many countries, curriculum and policy documents are formulated with goals based on a child perspective and focusing on the competent, playing, learning child; involving children’s emotions, knowledge and experiences; and aiming to support children’s interaction and communication. However, there are also traditional cultures and traditional ways of viewing children as not ready for learning. Despite a strong foundation in both Friedrich Fröbel’s tradition and John Dewey’s learning theory, with a holistic focus on the child’s active engagement and where childhood is seen as valuable in itself and not just a training for adulthood (Pramling Samuelsson et al., 2018), early childhood education is concurrently exposed to commercial trends and pressures towards a more school-oriented child education (Sommer & Klitmøller, 2018).

In the global arena, it is obvious that more children are now participating in a variety of educational programmes (White & Pramling Samuelsson, 2014), and this will probably expand, since young children are on the agenda of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for the next 15 years. Goal 4.2 states, ‘By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education’. It is therefore of interest to study how trends are scientifically communicated and articulated over time, based on topics relating to the world of children: welfare, development, learning and education. The most important issues of a period, reflected in the number of articles on those topics, are subsequently replaced by other issues at a later date, for many reasons. As early as 1952, Marjorie Allen of Hurtwood emphasized the importance of discussing the concept of globalization based on the attitude of balance, mutual exchange and support. She argued that this was especially important for people working or doing research with children. Allen (1952) expressed that, although young children have to learn about geographical boundaries, it is also important to teach that the differences between people need not prevent them from working together towards common goals. From such a perspective, globalization can strengthen worldwide social relations (Giddens, 1990), and living in a globalized world affects many aspects of life, not least the technological and cultural influences of how developments in communication systems contribute to transforming people’s lives. The concept of global citizenship is today brought into all education as an aspect of Agenda 2030, and it is one of the key notions in Article 4.7 about educating for sustainability. One can also turn