Book Description

Recognizing the various ecological contexts that support children's development while amplifying voices from across the globe, this book challenges narrow interpretations of quality and best practice. Each author offers a unique perspective on issues germane to the field of early childhood education: perceptions of children, curriculum, teacher education, and play-based learning. An innovative, timely, and much-needed contribution, this book represents an inclusive collection of theoretical and cultural knowledge, as well as research. Such a diverse multicentric lens opens new intellectual pathways for authentic, reciprocal knowledge exchange, while ensuring that a reimagining of early childhood education remains at the core of our teaching practice, scholarship, and activism. This book invites everyone to imagine, to dare to believe, to hope, and to act-in the interests of children, in the interests of communities and families, and in the moral precepts of equity, inclusion and justice. Zoyah Kinkead-Clark is Senior Lecturer and coordinator of early childhood programmes at The University of the West Indies, Jamaica. As a researcher, she is particularly interested in understanding how young children are shaped by their ecological experiences within the home and wider community with the view to explore how educators can build on these in early years settings. Kerry-Ann Escayg is an Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, USA. Dr. Escayg's research interests are children and race, anti-racism in early childhood education, racial socialization, and qualitative research with children.