Abstract
According to several recent national and international reports, improving children’s “readiness” to enter kindergarten and first grade is now one of the most pressing issues around the globe just as in the US early childhood policy and practice (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; OECD, 2006). According to a recent UNICEF report, the term “school readiness” has been variously theorized and discussed in three dimensions: “children’s readiness for school; schools’ readiness for children; and the readiness of families and communities to help children make the transition to school” (UNICEF, 2012, p. 2). In this chapter, we use these international and national reports as a starting point to speak about how to think about the history of “readiness” for school. And, clearly, as we think globally, we must think about all the children who are not in school, too—where prenatal and postnatal nutrition and the health status of the mother and family are an important part of readiness for life. In addition, the growth of global inequalities and of poverty across and within nations reminds us that readiness for school is only one part of a very large and complex set of issues.
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© 2015 Jeanne Marie Iorio and Will Parnell
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Bloch, M.N., Kim, K. (2015). A Cultural History of “Readiness” in Early Childhood Care and Education: Are There Still Culturally Relevant, Ethical, and Imaginative Spaces for Learning Open for Young Children and Their Families?. In: Iorio, J.M., Parnell, W. (eds) Rethinking Readiness in Early Childhood Education. Critical Cultural Studies of Childhood. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137485120_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137485120_1
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