"Learning loss" has become the new buzzword in education during the COVID-19 era. Learning loss may be real in certain academic subjects (e.g. mathematics and reading) for certain students, as indicated by standardized test scores. However, it only tells a partial story. The other part of the story actually indicates different kinds of…

This research takes up the challenge of interpreting the two newest grounds of human rights protection across Canada -- gender identity and gender expression -- for professional practice in early childhood education. To date, no human rights tribunal ruling on these grounds has engaged early childhood education, and while the legal duty remains…

Children's right to participate in all matters and decisions affecting them has gained recognition in society. Its promotion is recommended from an early age -- namely, in early childhood education settings -- and it is described as benefiting children, adults and the community in general. Given the complex and polysemic meaning of participation,…

The influence of curriculum and policy documents on the decision-making of educators is of particular interest in the field of early childhood. Reports of competing pedagogical approaches with a 'push-down' of curriculum alongside advocacy for play-based pedagogies raise questions as to the potential of curriculum and policy documents to create…

Objects in early childhood education (ECEC) experiences have begun to receive a great deal more attention than ever before. Although much of this attention has emerged recently from new materialism, in this paper we turn to Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological concern with the (in)visibility of 'things' to illuminate the presence of objects within…

Early childhood education and care is a current interest in many countries. Many international studies have highlighted the importance of high-quality early education environments where learning and play are integrated. Studies show that these types of learning environments have a positive impact on children's future prospects and overall…

The authors propose decentering the child as a critical motion in the education of pedagogists who work to refuse developmental pedagogies in early childhood education. Tracing how child-centered developmental practices are obstacles for deeper ethical and intellectual work and reiterate anthropocentric relationalities, they offer two propositions…

This article draws on the literature in development economics, psychology and sociology to explicate how decolonised early childhood education and care services can reverse the metacolonial cognition lingering in the postcolonial era. In particular, the author shows that colonial institutions persist even after formal colonisation has ended…

This article explores conflicts among toddlers in kindergarten and the impact of toys in these conflicts. The author describes these interactions as part of how children develop and express their citizenship, and argues that staff members should hesitate before interfering with rules in order to prevent such conflicts. This is based on Mouffe's…

This article responds to Euro-western conceptions of childhood obesity that understand fat within developmental narratives, as biochemically consequential and as a marker of individualized responsibility. Drawing in multiple fat(s) generated in a pedagogical inquiry with early childhood educators and children, the author articulates…

As US schools become increasingly diverse, the population of teachers who serve them remains predominantly homogeneous. Teacher preparation programs must prepare pre-service teachers to draw from multicultural perspectives or multiple ways of knowing if they truly intend to cultivate effective culturally responsive educators. This article presents…

Over the last 30 years, neo-liberalism has permeated early childhood, as all other aspects of life. Having introduced what neo-liberalism is, the article looks at some of its effects on early childhood education and care, including markets, imaginaries and governance. It argues that though neo-liberalism is a powerful force, it is resistible and…

Taking up the contention that child development manifests through the developmental logics it enacts, the authors work with citational practices as iterations of how developmentalism's logics are done in everyday practices in early childhood and teacher education. They work with Erica Burman's method of 'found childhood' to propose citational…

This article offers a theoretical provocation through conceptualizing a pedagogy of care as a means of caring "with" students and each other to interrupt the dominance of developmentalism in Canadian post-secondary early childhood education programs. The authors' conceptualization of care-"full" as pedagogy is rooted in the…

The stubborn dominance of objectivity in child observation in pre-service early childhood education warrants letting go of as we confront its limitations as outdated, problematic, Eurocentric, neo-liberal and even racist. In the context of recent aims to establish 'critically reflective' practices, such as 'pedagogical documentation' and…