Encyclopedia of Early Childhood Education

Doris Pronin Fromberg, Leslie R. Williams, Doris Pronin Fromberg, Leslie R Williams

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781136700842
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This Encyclopedia is a reference work about young children in the USA, designed for use by policy makers, community planners, parents of young children, teacher and early childhood educators, programme and school administrators, among others. The field of early childhood education has been affected by changes taking place in the nation's economy, demographics, schools, communities and families that influence political and professional decisions. These diverse historical, political economic, socio-cultural, intellectual and educational influences on early childhood education have hindered the development of a clear definition of the field. The Encyclopedia provides an opportunity to define the field against the background of these influences and relates the field of early childhood education to its diverse contexts and to the cultural and technological resources currently affecting it.

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

This Encyclopedia is a reference work about young children in the United States, designed for use by policy makers, community planners, parents of young children, teacher educators, early childhood educators, program and school administrators, and others. The field of early childhood education encompasses

• the education and care of children from birth through eight years of age;
• the preparation of adults who work with them (parents, teachers, caregivers, program or school administrators, and support personnel);
• engagement with policy issues that may affect the education and well-being of young children; and
• the nature of material resources.

The field of early childhood education is enormously varied because the tasks of teachers, caregivers, researchers, and policy makers cut across the concerns of families, and public and private agencies.

The field has been affected by changes taking place in the nation's economy, demographics, schools, communities, and families that influence political and professional decisions. It also has been affected by a history that is characterized by a plethora of movements, including the kindergarten movement, the nursery school movement, the parent education movement, the child study movement, and infancy studies. Each of these movements has its unique history arising from the period in our nation's development and practice that parented it. The disciplines of philosophy, psychology and anthropology, and the professions of medicine, law, social work, and elementary education have contributed insights and given direction to particular movements.

These diverse historical, political, economic, sociocultural, intellectual, and educational influences on early childhood education have hindered the development of a clear definition of the field. The Encyclopedia provides an opportunity to define the field of early childhood education against the background of these influences and sources of knowledge. The Encyclopedia relates the field of early childhood education to its diverse contexts and to the cultural and technological resources currently affecting it.

Over the past three decades, educational policy makers have become increasingly aware of the importance of early childhood education. The field has begun to establish unique traditions and has made contributions to the education, health, and welfare of young children.

Just as there are different models of family, teacher, community, and institution that interact with children in their early years, there is more than one model of childhood. There are likewise many perspectives for viewing early childhood education, and they influence how we define its subject matter. The first purpose of this volume is to bring together these varied perspectives in an informational way. It documents what early childhood practitioners and researchers know, how they apply it in educational practice, and how they can implement methods of investigation. There is also discussion of programs of professional preparation and the mutual impact of practice, theory, and research.

The volume also includes issues of child advocacy from the perspective of policies and practices that are sensitive to the nature of how young children experience their lives. While acknowledging the unique function of schools as a societal institution for the education of the mind, the Encyclopedia also recognizes the impact of other societal structures, such as families, agencies and communities, peer groups, industries, and the media. Within this societal context, the young child's mind develops through physical, aesthetic, social, and emotional means (Fromberg, 1987). There is a great distance between the forms through which adults understand knowledge and the conceptions of younger children. Educators of young children, therefore, have the complex task of translating the understanding of adults into the forms that young children are able to embrace.

Inasmuch as early childhood educators are concerned with the education of young children in a learning-and-caring field that is continually evolving and changing, they also are concerned about these forces. Therefore, a second major purpose of the Encyclopedia is an ethical one. This work is oriented toward developing the kind of citizen who is socially competent, critically constructive, ethically concerned, and intellectually able and curious.

To educate in effective and ethical ways, organizations and adults need to create environments that are adapted to young children. One such environment, for example, would introduce children to new skills and concepts within familiar contexts that are derived largely from children's cultural experiences (Williams, De Gaetano, Harrington, & Sutherland, 1985). The Encyclopedia discusses other culturally sensitive ways of working with young children.

A third major purpose of the Encyclopedia is to illuminate the ongoing forces of change and the frontier issues that affect and represent the development of the field of early childhood education. By providing readers with access to an array of philosophies, models, and approaches to early childhood education, this volume can serve as a forum to define and integrate the field of early childhood education. An additional purpose of the Encyclopedia is to serve as a catalyst required by the growth of the field to draw connections between its foundations, methods of investigation, educational applications, and professional preparation programs.

Intended as an informational and ethical work on the many areas of research, policy, and practice that now characterize the field, the Encyclopedia was created through interaction with early childhood educators, scholars, and practitioners from allied fields across the nation. In 1988 an editorial board of accomplished early childhood teacher educators and researchers met to initiate the Encyclopedia project at a symposium funded by the W. Alton Jones Foundation of Charlottesville, Virginia. A major purpose of the symposium was to further define the field of early childhood through discussion with invited speakers who were not themselves early childhood educators, but whose work represented provocative reflections on the field's inner structures.

Although any member of the editorial board as well as other early childhood scholars could have provided a significant and substantial definition of early childhood education, scholars from outside of early childhood education were asked to speak because it seemed advisable to try to move beyond the categories that ordinarily informed our efforts in our search for past, present, and possibly future delineations. The published proceedings that grew out of the symposium identified a heightened level of awareness about the multiplicity of perspectives that define early childhood education (Williams & Fromberg, 1988). The Encyclopedia's editorial board members recognized the possibility that contributions of a few hundred authors, gathered within a single work, might extend the definition of the field in important and previously untapped ways.

The next step in the production of the work was the identification of possible contributors from all regions of the United States and across the wide variety of topics included in the initial table of contents. The contributors’ interactions with members of the editorial board led to some expansions and alternatives so that the work has continually been informed by a large network of participants.

For the convenience of its readers, each chapter of the Encyclopedia is introduced by an essay that presents salient issues influencing the development and state of that aspect of the field. Articles are arranged within chapter sections by topic and generally are alphabetized.

Chapter 2 looks at the historical, intellectual, and philosophical sources from which early childhood theorists and practitioners have drawn. Historical contexts also are interspersed within other chapters.

Chapter 3 considers the many kinds of sociocultural contexts that deal with children's concerns. In addition to considering how early childhood education is sponsored, there is consideration for public and private variations in the forms that programs take, the roles of public policy and child advocacy, and socio-cultural research.

Chapter 4 focuses on perspectives about young children and their development. This chapter deals with characteristics of children, their special learning needs, the varied theories that attempt to explain their development, environmental factors that influence their development, and assessment and evaluation trends and methods.

Chapter 5 is devoted to describing areas of curriculum, varied program offerings, the ways in which children with special learning needs have been taught, and how educators have used resources and technology. Because curriculum and child development make up the central substance and major tasks of the field of early childhood education, these chapters are longer than other chapters.

Chapter 6 discusses the knowledge base of early childhood teacher education and perspectives on early childhood educators, including how adults influence early childhood education. There is discussion about the availability, nature, and preparation of early childhood educators, and professional issues affecting them. Teacher education, parent education, and administrator education are considered along with the uses of support services.

A list of each author's affiliation appears in the front matter of the Encyclopedia. A general index of topics is included for rapid location of information.

The Encyclopedia of Early Childhood Education reflects a crosscut view of the field today as defined by the 25 scholars who serve as members of the Editorial Board and by the more than 200 scholars who authored articles. They have done so in ways that both embrace current circumstances and point toward ongoing issues. The contributors have made additional reference to resources that can extend and deepen the information available to the reader.

The authors regard the Encyclopedia as part of an evolving statement. It is our hope that it will enable others to continue the creation of the field of early childhood education in ways that best serve young children.

References

Fromberg, D. P. (1987). The full-day kindergarten. New York: Teachers College Press.

Williams, L. R., De Gaetano, Y., Harrington, C. C., & Sutherland, I. R. (1985). ALERTA: A multicultural, bilingual approach to teaching young children. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Williams, L. R., & Fromberg, D. P. (1988). Defining the field of early childhood education. Charlottesville, VA: W. Alton Jones Foundation.

D. P. Fromberg &L. R. Williams

Chapter 2

HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS OF
EARLY CHILDHOOD PRACTICE

Introduction

2.1 Ancient Contributions to Child Care and Early Education (Prior to A.D. 1750)

African Influences

American Indian (Native American) Influences

Asian Influences

Biblical (Jewish/Christian) Influences

Greeks, Ancient, Influences of

Aristotle

Plato

Islamic (Muslim) Influences

Latino (Hispanic) Influences

Romans, Ancient, Influences of

Quintilian

Medieval Education

Renaissance Education

Comenius (Jan Ámos Komenský)

da Feltre, Vittorino

Reformation, Education in the

Luther, Martin

Enlightenment, Education in the

Locke, John

2.2 Philosophical, Political, and Educational Contexts in the United States

Beyond the Predictable: A Viewing of the History of Early Childhood Education

Historic Tensions and Future Opportunities: Public Responsibility and Early Childhood Education

Educational Contexts: The Common School in Relation to Early Childhood Education

2.3 History of Early Childhood Programs and Practices (Prior to 1960)

Bureau of Educational Experiments (Bank Street)

Froebelian Kindergarten, The Laboratory Schools

McMillan Nursery School, The

Montessori Method, The

Parent Education, History of

Progressive Movement, The

Traditional Nursery School, The

2.4 History of Child Care and Early Childhood Education Legislation

Federal Legislation of Importance to Early Childhood Education: A Chronology

2.5 Evolution of Unique Early Childhood Curriculum Materials

Blocks, The Development of, in the

United States Children's Literature in the United States, Development of

2.6 Pioneers in Child Care and Early Childhood Education (After A.D. 1750)

Addams, Jane

Adler, Felix

Barnard, Henry

Blow, Susan

Bryan, Anna E.

Clapp, Elsie R.

Committee of Nineteen

Darwin, Charles

Dewey, John

Eliot, Abigail

Froebel, Friedrich Wilhelm

Hailmann, Eudora

Hailmann, William

Harris, William T.

Harrison, Elizabeth

Hill, Patty Smith

International Kindergarten Union

Johnson, Harriet

Marwedel, Emma

McMillan, Margaret and Rachel

Mitchell, Lucy Sprague

Montessori, Maria

National Association of Nursery Educators (NANE)

National Kindergarten Association

Owen, Robert

Peabody, Elizabeth

Pestalozzi, Johann

Pratt, Caroline

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques

Schurz, Margarethe Meyer

Séguin, Édouard

Temple, Alice

Wiggin, Kate Douglas

Yates, Josephine S.

Young, Ella Flagg

Chapter 2

HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS OF
EARLY CHILDHOOD PRACTICE

Introduction

Early childhood practice as it is known in the United States today is generally understood to have originated in Europe less than 200 years ago. It is certainly true that many of the specific daily routines such as “circle time” and use of play as a medium of learning, as well as many common classroom materials such as blocks and paints were introduced in the European early childhood programs of the early 1800s. Especially influential was the Froebelian kindergarten, founded in Germany in 1837, and disseminated throughout much of Europe and the United States over the next 70 years. It is also true, however, that practices in the kindergarten and in other forms of early education were themselves suggested by far older understandings of and beliefs about the nature of childhood and of the ways children learn best.

Like all educational practice, early childhood education began as informal custom millennia ago in the accepted ways of child rearing. As child rearing and educational systems became formalized over time, they came to embody the values of the societies of which they were a part. Thus, how children's essential nature was described, what they were seen as capable of doing, and the types of guidance and supervision they were expected to receive reflected larger societal trends. Social, political, intellectual, and religious currents all shaped child-rearing customs and, later, gave form to e...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Title Page
• Original Copyright
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• List of Contributors
• CHAPTER 1 Introduction
• CHAPTER 2 Historical and Philosophical Roots of Early Childhood Practice
• CHAPTER 3 Sociocultural, Political, and Economic Contexts of Child Care and Early Education
• CHAPTER 4 Perspectives on Children
• CHAPTER 5 Early Childhood Curricula and Programs: Variations in Form and Content
• CHAPTER 6 Perspectives on Educators
• INDEX