Global to local perspectives of early childhood education and care

Abstract

Global interest in the provision of early childhood education and care (ECEC) services has perhaps never been greater (Miller & Cameron, 2014). ECEC has a long history of sharing ideas internationally, with the global transfer of ideas on ECEC representing a broad range of theoretical approaches from established perspectives on child development and pedagogical practice to the relative newcomers of economics and neuro-science. Recent global interest in the social welfare function of ECEC has led to increased scrutiny of ECEC services with a thirst for evidence that demonstrates ‘effective’ practice. What ‘effective’ practice means and from whose perspective is now a matter of numerous theoretical contemplations and empirical research under the wing of both ECEC policy and theory, though based on different starting points and with different agendas. Our initial call for papers on Global to Local Perspectives of ECEC was motivated by what we saw as the growing global interest in ECEC being increasingly framed by narrow perspectives of ECEC as a social investment strategy to provide children with the foundations to their lifelong learning within the global knowledge economy. The interpretation of ‘effective’ was, therefore, one that sought to demonstrate ECEC as having an impact on children’s development and later learning. As we outline in the following section, we identify this global discourse as having consequences for conceptions of the role of ECEC services, children and their families