"Early Learning and Development" provides a unique synthesis of cultural-historical theory from Vygotsky, Elkonin and Leontiev in the 20th century to the ground-breaking research of scholars such as Siraj-Blatchford, Kratsova and Hedegaard today. It demonstrates how development and learning are culturally embedded and institutionally defined, and it reflects specifically upon the implications for the early childhood profession.Divided into three parts, with succinct chapters that build upon knowledge progressively, the everyday lives of children at home, in the community, at preschool and at school are discussed in the context of child development and pedagogy. The book explicitly problematises the foundations of early childhood education, inviting postgraduates, researchers and academics to drill down into specific areas of international discourse, and extending upper-level undergraduates beyond the fundamental underpinnings of their learning. Ultimately "Early Learning and Development" offers new models of "conceptual play" practice and theory within a globally resonant, cultural-historical framework. [Foreword by Mariane Hedegaard.]