This article bewilders dominant discourses about child-animal relations by acknowledging and challenging the work of Gail Melson who positions animals as providing emotional, social and pedagogical support for children. Melson's psychological approach rests upon implicit assumptions that shape and support anthropocentrism whilst also critiquing a…

When researching with or about families in home-based research, there are numerous unexpected ethical issues that can emerge, particularly in qualitative research. This paper is based on reflective accounts of four homed-based research projects, two in the UK and two Australia, which examined ethical dilemmas identified when engaged in home-based…

Drawing from principles of ethical research derived from our review of national and international policy documents, in this paper we reflect on our research experiences working in partnership with Indigenous educators in a project to support young Indigenous children's oral and written language development through collaborative action research.…

In 2015, the British government implemented a national Baseline Assessment policy for children at the start of their Reception Year (aged 4-5 years) in England. Adding further assessment to the national Early Years Foundation Stage, the Baseline policy was predicated on reform for improved school accountability, with a focus on measurement of both…

This article takes the naming of the Anthropocene as a moment of pedagogical opportunity in which we might decentre the human as the sole learning subject and explore the possibilities of interspecies learning. Picking up on current Anthropocene debates within the feminist environmental humanities, it considers how educators might pedagogically…

This paper examines notions of childhood development in a significant Australian policy document. Using Fairclough's approaches to discourse analysis as guides, Foucault's understanding of regimes of truth and discourses as systems of power relations and Nikolas Rose's concept of "responsibilisation," the paper argues that discourses of…

Research Findings: Research with young children is a complex enterprise and often fraught with ethical and practical dilemmas. This paper seeks to discuss the experience of an Australian early childhood academic undertaking research with children 3 to 6 years of age. It draws upon a series of projects that examine young children's standpoints on…

Participatory approaches to engaging in research with young children place a great deal of emphasis on children's rights to choose whether or not they wish to be involved. A number of recent studies have reported a range of strategies both to inform children of their research rights and to establish options for checking children's understanding of…

One approach that is helpful in framing and facilitating effective and ethical rural education research projects is centred on ensuring that researcher-participant relations are respectful, responsible and reciprocal, predicated on the shared principles of CHE (connectivity, humanness and empathy). This approach derives from a strengths-based…

There is a need to reflect on both the processes and outcomes of the range of approaches aimed at promoting children's engagement in research, with the specific intent of listening to children's voices. This article considers some of the ethical tensions we have experienced when engaging children in research about their prior-to-school and school…

The theme of this issue of "Every Child" is "Challenging Practice and Challenging Practices." It covers a range of issues challenging the images of a "traditional" children's service. Contents include an editorial by Alison Elliott, "Wise Vision, Workable Solutions and Early Childhood Action," a guest…

Recently in Australia, another media skirmish erupted over the problem currently called "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder". This particular event was precipitated by the comments of a respected District Court judge. His claim that doctors are creating a generation of violent juvenile offenders by prescribing Ritalin to young…

This paper draws on Judith Butler's notion of "gender melancholia" as conceived in "The Psychic Life of Power: Theories in Subjection," and Emmanuel Levinas' notion of the face of the other mobilized in Butlers' more recent work. In particular, I will focus on gender melancholia in order to consider why non-heteronormative…

Much of the current rhetoric in areas of child and family research and in early childhood education emphasizes the importance of listening to children in research that has a direct impact on them. Despite this, there remain qualms in some research contexts and amongst some researchers about the reliability, validity and generalizability of…

"Every Child" is Australia's premier early childhood publication, aimed at anyone involved in the care and education of children from birth to eight years--in particular child care professionals, teachers, child care students and the parents of young children. Published quarterly, it contains informative and entertaining articles on such…