This article considers the realm of knowledge in early childhood education (ECE); what knowledge is valued, and how different types of knowledge position children and educators. To this end, two different examples of practice informed by different types of knowledge are provided: one from an educator working in a long day care service (Duncan) and…

This paper reports a rhetorical analysis of policy texts illustrating the emergence of the mandatory Educational Leader role in early childhood services in Australia. We argue that policy texts before 2012 constructed a 'problem' of workforce quality in early childhood education and offered a new leadership configuration as a policy solution. We…

This paper explores the context of a Kindergarten team in a suburban P-3 school in Wisconsin developing literacy coaching support. Facing recent neoliberal accountability reforms that have greatly expanded teacher competition, dismantled teachers' unions, and added the role of the coach to the school, "confidence" is an issue that the…

One of the key tenets of the global education reform movement, professional standards for teachers have reshaped different aspects of teachers' work and learning in many contexts internationally over the past two decades. This paper explores the consequences of neoliberalism for teacher professional learning in contemporary times. The policies and…

In the last decade, neo-liberal movements have entered parts of the Swedish society, bringing increased accountability and public management to preschool (catering for children aged 1-5 years). While early childhood education research has generally focused on preschool, children and teachers, few studies have explored the perspectives of preschool…

Many governments have launched the top-down early childhood curriculum (ECC) reforms to enhance the accountability of early childhood education and care (ECEC) services. The present discourse analysis of latest ECC policies across four diverse but representative countries -- Australia, China, New Zealand, and Singapore -- aims to examine the…

Contemporary Froebelian-inspired early childhood education in the United States is challenged by government regulation and accreditation requirements that have arisen alongside neoliberalism in education. Using Critical Policy Analysis and case study examples from a preschool in Atlanta, Georgia, this paper examines the influence of neoliberalism…

The focus of this study is preschool teachers' perspectives on their experiences during a Pre-K expansion in New York City. The expansion brought on neoliberal approaches to curriculum, child assessment, quality improvement, and instructional support in classrooms, and these changes in turn heightened expectations for accountability. This has…

In this article, an evaluation of the English early childhood education context reveals children constructed as data. The complex, chaotic and unpredictable nature of the child is reconstituted in numerical form -- a form which can be measured, compared and manipulated. Children are reconceptualised as data doppelgängers, ghostly apparitions which…

In this conceptual article, the authors examine the context of early childhood education and care in England and the underpinning predominant ideologies to explore how these impact on the framing of leadership. The English context entails several contradictions (antinomies) at ontological, epistemological and axiological levels, and is heavily…

This colloquium argues that writings on leadership in the early years commonly assume a service ethos. The aim of nurseries and other early childhood settings is to provide a service for children and their parents, and the task of leadership is seen to be to find effective ways of defining and realizing this aim. But increasingly, and especially…

Indigenous peoples around the world are struggling to create their own, unique early childhood system that reflects their cultural values and supports their dream of raising their children to proudly wear their own cultural identity. In this research, we share the work being undertaken by Pacific early childhood professionals. The study is part of…

While top down federal policy processes continue to deliver policy as grand solutions to real and imagined problems within the nation's public schools, states continue to churn out their own layers of educational accountability policy. But it is no secret that state and federal policies and programs like No Child Left Behind and Reading First have…

In the last decade, Chile has focused on early childhood education and care (ECEC) as a key opportunity to increase student-learning outcomes and decrease socio-economic inequalities. The creation of Chile's Under-Secretariat of ECEC in 2015 highlights the relevance of this educational stage. The purpose of this study is to analyse the new law…

Operating within a neoliberal education reform context, performativity and teaching in schools has been a focus of study for a number of years. However, less is known about the effects of performativity on teaching and curriculum in the early childhood (preschool) context. Making a case for the intensification of performativity in Australian early…