What should be the relationship between early childhood and compulsory education? While it's widely assumed that the former should prepare children for the latter, there are alternatives. This book contests the 'readying for school' relationship as neither self-evident nor unproblematic, and explores some alternative relationships.

What should be the relationship between early childhood and compulsory education? What can they learn from one another and by working together? The rapid expansion of early childhood education and care means that most children in affluent countries now have several years at pre-school before compulsory education. This raises an important question about the relationship between the two. Whilst it’s widely assumed that the former should prepare children for the latter, there are alternatives. This book contests the ‘readying for school’ relationship as neither self-evident nor unproblematic; and explores some alternative relationships, including a strong and equal partnership and the vision of a meeting place. In this ground-breaking book, Professor Peter Moss discusses the issue with leading early childhood figures - from Belgium, France, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the United States -who bring very different perspectives to this contentious relationship. The book starts with an extended essay by Peter Moss, to which the other contributors are invited to respond critically, as well as offering their own thinking about the relationship between early childhood and compulsory education, both their current understandings and suggestions on future directions. Students, researchers and academics in the field of early childhood education will find this an insightful and timely text. But so too will their peers in compulsory education, since the book time and again raises searching questions about pedagogical purpose and practice in this sector.

Early childhood education and care has been a political priority in England since 1997, when government finally turned its attention to this long-neglected area. Public funding has increased, policy initiatives have proliferated and at each general election political parties aim to outbid each other in their offer to families. Transforming Early Childhood in England: Towards a Democratic Education argues that, despite this attention, the system of early childhood services remains flawed and dysfunctional. National discourse is dominated by the cost and availability of childcare at the expense of holistic education, while a hotchpotch of fragmented provision staffed by a devalued workforce struggles with a culture of targets and measurement. With such deep-rooted problems, early childhood education and care in England is beyond minor improvements. In the context of austerity measures affecting many young families, transformative change is urgent.

With over 70,000 copies of the first edition in print, this radical treatise on public education has been a New Society Publishers’ bestseller for 10 years! Thirty years in New York City’s public schools led John Gatto to the sad conclusion that compulsory schooling does little but teach young people to follow orders like cogs in an industrial machine. This second edition describes the wide-spread impact of the book and Gatto’s "guerrilla teaching." John Gatto has been a teacher for 30 years and is a recipient of the New York State Teacher of the Year award. His other titles include A Different Kind of Teacher (Berkeley Hills Books, 2001) and The Underground History of American Education (Oxford Village Press, 2000).

From the preface by Deborah Meier: "We have a long way to go to make John Holt's dream available to all children. But his books make it possible and easier for many of us to join him in the journey." In this enduring classic, rich with deep, original insight into the nature of early learning, John Holt was the first to make clear that, for small children, "learning is as natural as breathing." In his delightful book he observes how children actually learn to talk, to read, to count, and to reason, and how, as adults, we can best encourage these natural abilities in our children.

This book challenges received wisdom and the tendency to reduce philosophical issues of value to purely technical issues of measurement and management.

This report provides an overview of policy strategies on early childhood education settings (from birth to primary schooling) in eight countries. Data were collected using a policy questionnaire addressed to and completed by the National Research Coordinator(s) (NRC) of Chile, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Italy, Poland, the Russian Federation and the United States. The countries that participated provide interesting illustrations of early childhood education policy in action in a range of diverse contexts. Analysis of the systemic and structural results of ECE policy at national and, where necessary, subnational levels, enables transnational comparisons in policy and systems. Key policy changes, both underway and planned, are documented. These data reveal key findings in each of the five policy areas as covered in the questionnaire and this report: public policy; delivery models and providers; participation and enrollment; quality assurance systems; and expectations for child outcomes. In particular, the study aims to provide meaningful information for countries, states and jurisdictions across the world in relation to early childhood education, mapping the systems, structures and user pathways in place, along with the perceptions of stakeholders about the system, its functioning and impact. This comprehensive assessment of the wider policy contexts and settings for early childhood education includes teacher/practitioner qualifications, pedagogy approaches, and opportunities for professional development. Such information will enable countries to review their early childhood education systems in an international context.

`An excellent overview of the development in thinking about play, based on research into different aspects of play...This book enables the reader to not only access, and engage with developing theories and ideas, but also provides practical ideas and examples that have been tried and tested in the classroom. This book should be compulsory reading for every teacher of young children who are interested in developing their practice to provide a stimulating, active and playful environment with their children in which effective learning and positive attitudes are developed' - Bernadette Hancock, Headteacher of Christ the King Primary School, Cardiff `One of the major strengths of the book is that it makes some complex theory highly accessible to its audience....This makes it an excellent introductory book for use on inservice and undergraduate programs' - Sue Rogers, Institute of Education `This book aims to improve the quality of play in "educational" settings. It will be valuable for a wide range of practitioners' - Nursery World `In this new and updated edition of an outstanding book, Wood and Attfield once again demonstrate how young children make meaning, and construct knowledge, through play. They combine an informed discussion of the 'ideological tradition' of the early childhood pioneers, which continues to underpin most contemporary provision, with a refreshing openness to the new insights provided by recent research, and the new opportunities offered by the Foundation Stage era. Their unrivalled explanation of the links between theorists, such as Vygotsky, and classroom provision for play, is now expanded through considerations of recent findings in neuroscience, and a renewed awareness of the sociocultural contexts of childhood, as well as by studies which acknowledge the importance of boisterous, rough-and-tumble, play activities for children's development. And throughout, they remind readers and practitioners of the important distinction between play as a spontaneous activity of children ('play as such'), and the play which educators offer as a medium for learning' - Elizabeth Brooker, Course Leader: MA in Childhood Studies, Institute of Education 'This book provides a thorough and up-to-date overview of the topical issue of teaching and learning through play. Chapters cover issues including assessment through play, the role of adults in children's play, the impact of play on social and emotional learning and how to develop a whole-school approach to learning through play. ...This book is theoretical and detailed but extremely interesting and there is certainly practical information to be found in it' - Early Talk This timely Second Edition explores recent developments which strongly endorse play as an integral part of the curriculum. The content has been fully revised to reflect contemporary thinking about the role and value of play in early childhood and beyond. A key focus is the provision of a secure theoretical and practical grounding for developing a pedagogy of play. In the first section, the authors provide an overview of recent developments in education policies, and reviews of research into different aspects of play. In the second section, the emphasis is on classroom practice, specifically: organizing and developing play with particular reference to the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1; establishing progression and continuity with Key Stage 1; assessing children's learning through play; the role of adults in children's play; using the plan-do-review approach to integrate child-initiated and adult-directed play; the importance of socio-dramatic play for children's social and emotional learning; and developing a whole-school play ethos. This book enables practitioners to create unity between play, learning and teaching, and to improve the quality of children's learning. New material provided by practitioners has been added, to show how this unity can be successfully achieved. This is an essential text for students of education. It is highly recommended to those undertaking degrees in Childhood Studies and those on Initial Teacher Training programmes in early years and primary education.

This chapter provides a brief overview of the book highlighting the modest progress from child welfare to child well-being re?ected in these chapters, and the parallel movement in Kahn’s career and research, as his scholarship developed over the years. It then moves to explore the relationship between two overarching themes, child and family policy stressing a universal approach to children and social prot- tion stressing a more targeted approach to disadvantaged and vulnerable individuals including children and the complementarity of these strategies. Introduction To a large extent Alfred J. Kahn was at the forefront of the developments in the ?eld of child welfare services (protective services, foster care, adoption, and family preservationandsupport). Overtimehisscholarshipmovedtoafocusonthebroader policy domain of child and family policy and the outcomes for child wellbeing. His work, as is true for this volume, progressed from a focus on poor, disadvantaged and vulnerable children to a focus on all children. He was convinced that children, by de?nition, are a vulnerable population group and that targeting all children, empl- ing a universal policy as a strategy would do more for poor children than a narrowly focused policy targeted on poor children alone, As we ?rst argued more than three decades ago (Not for the Poor Alone; “Universalism and Income Testing in Family Policy”), one could target the most disadvantaged within a universal framework, and this would lead to more successful results than targeting only the poor.