Written by a team of international contributors and featuring case studies from a range of educational settings in Australia, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, and the USA, this edited book is the first in the field of early childhood and youth studies to draw on Vygotsky's cultural-historical theory to give insights into transitions in childhood, what they are and how they are differently experienced. Transitions are explored holistically so the chapters not only focus on the person transitioning but also the institutions in which the person is transitioning from and to, with a focus on schools and daycare. The contributors look at how societal values and policies impact these transitions and comparison are drawn between international settings. The book includes chapters on expatriate families, immigrant children, home-school transitions, the role of play and communities. Through interviews, case studies and the analysis of empirical material from fieldwork, Children's Transitions in Everyday Life and Institutions reflects on the best ways to engage children so that they may emerge as competent actors in their new settings and transition well.

Early childhood is a time of wonder, excitement, adventure and learning. A time to experience social relations and friendships, and all of the emotions involved. The joy, and the excitement – of creating a common world with friends. A world of ‘what if’ and ‘as if’ moments that are accepted and built together, or rejected – leading to frustration, sadness and exclusion – the darker side of friendship. In this book, cultural-historical concepts are used to analyse the everyday lives of children. Inspired by contemporary ideas about moral imagination, Collaborative Pathways to Friendship in Early Childhood theorises friendship as a concept. Traditionally, studies about friendship in early childhood focus on relations built in educational settings. As a point of difference, Dr Adams and Dr Quinones introduce the conditions that are created for, with, and by young children as they move between everyday family life, and transition into education settings. Through narratives of internationally mobile families moving into Malaysia and established families in Mexico, varying perspectives of children, parents, teachers and principals are presented — culminating in a holistic understanding of friendship in early childhood. Providing insight into varied perspectives and processes involved when young children enter into friendships, this book will be of interest to researchers, post graduate students and teacher educators specialising in early childhood education, child psychology or social work.

Vygotsky and the Promise of Public Education recontextualizes the scholarship of educator and psychologist Lev Vygotsky, highlighting its relevance to contemporary issues in public education. Emphasizing the historical, social, and cultural formation of conscious awareness, Jennifer A. Vadeboncoeur advances Vygotsky's project with current research in psychology, enabling the redefinition of central concepts such as learning, teaching, and developing. This attention to how we conceptualize learning and teaching is vital to the project of crafting schools to fulfill the promise of public education. Written for teacher candidates, educators, researchers, and policy-makers, this book both recognizes the complications of teaching and learning in public schools and contributes to the scholarship on the critical possibilities of schools as social institutions. The significance of public education for each and every child and teacher, and the future that is created in each student-teacher relationship, is re-centered as, perhaps, the most worthwhile project of our time.

This book addresses key issues related to teaching pupils from disadvantaged and impoverished backgrounds and provides a valuable reference and pedagogical tool for teachers and teacher educators. Research has consistently shown that the most economically disadvantaged pupils have the poorest educational outcomes. Austerity government policies and pressures of performativity on schools may have exacerbated this inequality. Yet many teachers remain ill-informed about the effects of social disadvantage on students’ learning and consequently are ill-prepared in appropriate teaching methods. The text critically examines the lessons from previous policy and practice, discusses cognitive and affective aspects of school learning for disadvantaged children and explores the pedagogic implications of research evidence. Using insights from existing research, the book examines the reasons why some trainees and teachers lack a critical perspective on the contexts of poverty and may hold deficit views of students in poverty that suggests they are unable to learn and need to be controlled. It explains some of the links between poverty, special needs, literacy and educational achievement and focuses on strategies for improvement.

With the expertise of a body of international contributors from Australia, Canada, USA, UK, Finland, The Netherlands, Italy, Greece and Chile, this handbook explores key in-depth issues in quality Early Childhood Development and Education. Unlike previous publications in the discipline, this title combines research and practice to investigate emotional and social development, wellbeing and mental health, language, cultural environments, as well as the role of parents in a child′s development. It is divided into six key parts: Part I: Emotional Development Part II: Social Development Part III: Play, Development and Learning Part IV: Memory and Understanding Part V: Learning, Language and Literacy Part VI: Executive Functions, Metacognition and Self-Regulation

The seminal work of Russian theorist Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934) has exerted a deep influence on psychology over the past 30 years. Vygotsky was an educator turned psychologist, and his writings clearly reflected his pedagogical concerns. For Vygotsky, schools and other informal educational situations represent the best cultural laboratories to study thinking. He emphasized the social organization of instruction, writing about the 'unique form of cooperation between the child and the adult that is the central element of the educational process'. Vygotsky's emphasis on the social context of thinking represents the reorganization of a key social system and associated modes of discourse, with potential consequences for developing new forms of thinking. This volume is devoted to analyzing Vygotsky's ideas as a means of bringing to light the relevance of his concepts to education. What does Vygotsky's approach have to offer education? Distinguished scholars from various countries and representing several disciplines discuss the essence and significance of Vygotsky's work, analyze the educational implications of his thoughts, and present applications in practice, addressing educational issues such as school organization, teacher training, educational achievement, literacy learning and development, uses of technology, community-based education, and special education.

The theory of objectification offers a perspective to conceptualize learning as a collective cultural-historical process and to transform classrooms into sites of communal life where students make the experience of an ethics of solidarity, plurality, and inclusivity.

Alternative and flexible education settings may come in different forms, but they generally have in common a focus on young people who have been disengaged from conventional schooling. One challenge of these settings, therefore, is to change the way education is offered in order to better engage these students. Much of the onus for this changed approach is on the staff: teachers, youth workers and other support staff. Therefore, the purpose of this book is to examine different aspects of the work of staff in these settings. Several common threads run through the chapters in this book, highlighting core aspects of the work of staff in these settings: • A strong sense of commitment to working with and for young people from marginalised backgrounds. • Validation of the relational and emotional nature of education, as a fundamentally people-centred enterprise. • The importance of explicit attention to critical reflection on staff members’ own positionality, assumptions and identity. • Collegiality as a crucially affirming part of school culture for staff. These elements are pertinent to educational settings everywhere. The chapters in this book serve as a reminder of what really ‘counts’ for our young people and their schooling. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Teaching Education.

Ensuring doctoral students receive a well-rounded and thorough education is critical for their future success. Service learning within the doctoral program is one of the many aspects that helps shape students’ experiences and prepares them for life after graduation. Co-Constructing and Sustaining Service Learning in Graduate Programs: Reflections from the Field captures the experiences of doctoral students who were involved in socially just and sustainable service-learning projects and what it meant for them to be engaged in scholarship through service-learning. The book also illustrates what service-learning looks like and should look like in higher education particularly given the inequities that exist in the field of education. Covering key topics such as online education, academic identity, and sustainable learning, this reference work is ideal for administrators, policymakers, researchers, scholars, practitioners, instructors, and students.

Play takes up much of the time budget of young children, and many animals, but its importance in development remains contested. This comprehensive collection brings together multidisciplinary and developmental perspectives on the forms and functions of play in animals, children in different societies, and through the lifespan. The Cambridge Handbook of Play covers the evolution of play in animals, especially mammals; the development of play from infancy through childhood and into adulthood; historical and anthropological perspectives on play; theories and methodologies; the role of play in children's learning; play in special groups such as children with impairments, or suffering political violence; and the practical applications of playwork and play therapy. Written by an international team of scholars from diverse disciplines such as psychology, education, neuroscience, sociology, evolutionary biology and anthropology, this essential reference presents the current state of the field in play research.