Abstract
Infants in formal early childhood education settings encounter a unique social experience because they are: (a) under the care of a professional teacher who simultaneously holds responsibility for several other children; (b) in the prolonged presence of a peer group; and (c) move between the (often) diverse settings of the home, community and centre environments on a daily basis. I begin with the proposition that the social experience of infants in full day education and care settings extends well beyond what has been documented in existing literature that typically emphasises dyadic relationships between mothers and their babies in the home. As such, this chapter seeks to understand the infant’s experience as a dialogic phenomenon that takes place in communication with people, places and things that comprise the unique landscape of contemporary care and education for under 2-year-olds. In doing so, I focus this work on the pedagogical role of the teacher and their decision making around paradoxical issues they face in contemporary settings of care and education.
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Notes
- 1.
For the purposes of this chapter the term infant refers to infants and toddlers under the age of 2 years.
- 2.
A reliever came to the centre for 3 h at a cost of $51. Over a 40-week year this represents a commitment of $2,040 in order for outings to take place.
- 3.
In New Zealand the Key Teacher system is not a requirement and, at the time of these studies, ratios were—and still are—1:5. It is important to note that these centres operated at ratios of 1:3 with a significant cost to themselves and families.
- 4.
A whanau model is one that attempts to emulate the structure of an extended family who all share ties to one another.
- 5.
For an explanation of New Zealand assessment records see Ministry of Education (2002).
- 6.
A piece of equipment that places the infant in an upright harness with wheels.
- 7.
In New Zealand many infant teachers (e.g., Dalli and Kibble 2010) are examining the potential of a Pikler philosophy of respect for their practice (http://pikler.org/PiklerPractices.html).
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Acknowledgements
This chapter is a tribute to the commitment and passion of the many teachers involved in these projects. Their willingness to interrogate pedagogical practice through dialogue suggests that infant pedagogy is much more than a task to be fulfilled, or an accountability to be met. I applaud their conviction and salute their integrity.
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White, E.J. (2014). A Dialogic Space in Early Childhood Education: Chronotopic Encounters with People, Places and Things. In: Harrison, L., Sumsion, J. (eds) Lived Spaces of Infant-Toddler Education and Care. International perspectives on early childhood education and development, vol 11. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8838-0_16
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