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Reconceptualist Work in a Colonising Context: Challenges for Australian Early Childhood Education

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Book cover Contemporary Issues and Challenge in Early Childhood Education in the Asia-Pacific Region

Part of the book series: New Frontiers of Educational Research ((NFER))

Abstract

Reconceptualist work in early childhood education remains fluid and challenging. Since the early 1980s, the Reconceptualist movement has provided new forms of praxis, particularly in response to critiques of developmental frameworks and universal ideas about quality that negate local and diverse articulations of early education and care. In the past decade in particular, reconceptualist work has bought into focus issues around colonialism , Indigenous education and decolonising approaches to research and practice. The theorising of Soto (The politics of early childhood education. New York, NY: Peter Lang, 2000), Soto and Swadener (Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 3(1), 38-66, 2002) and Ritchie (Children Issues, 11(1), 26–32, 2007). are some examples of reconceptualist work that highlight how colonialism produces historical silences and political and social invisibility for Indigenous peoples, and how centring Indigenous knowledge frameworks and perspectives in research and practice supports decolonising early education and care. As explored in this chapter, issues around colonialism are central to reconceptualist work in the Asia-Pacific context, particularly in Australia which remains a colonising context to the present day. In Australian early childhood education , reconceptualising requires engagement with interrelated concepts of colonialism , whiteness and racism. Exploration of these concepts is challenging for many educators due to their socialisation and gaps in education and training. Such challenges hinder the development of skill sets necessary for new forms of scholarship and activism that underpin reconceptualist work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

    Melinda G. Miller

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  1. Melinda G. Miller
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Correspondence to Melinda G. Miller .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

    Minyi Li

  2. Australia Catholic University, Sydney , Australia

    Jillian Fox

  3. Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

    Susan Grieshaber

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Miller, M.G. (2017). Reconceptualist Work in a Colonising Context: Challenges for Australian Early Childhood Education. In: Li, M., Fox, J., Grieshaber, S. (eds) Contemporary Issues and Challenge in Early Childhood Education in the Asia-Pacific Region. New Frontiers of Educational Research. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2207-4_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2207-4_3

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  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-2207-4

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