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Theory strengthens the methodological and interpretive stance of a research study and is most fruitful when theoretical understandings are shared within collaborative research teams. This paper describes an approach to engaging productively with a theory, specifically the theory of practice architectures. Such engagement enabled the use of the theory for data gathering and analysis within an Australian mixed-methods research study – Exemplary Early Childhood Educators at Work. Within the study, the theory offered a substantive lens for exploring exemplary educator practices and the organisational arrangements within early childhood education (ECE) sites that made those practices possible. The ‘unpacking’ of the theory of practice architectures led to the development of a suite of resource materials. This paper acts as an invitation to interact with and think on a practice theory and provides insight into the positive transformation of educational practices for the benefit of individuals and society.

This paper examines the evidence of children's agency in research about infants, toddlers and technologies. It finds that an implicit reliance on technological determinism as a theoretical perspective for positioning technologies relative to young children's development tends to shape research in terms of understanding the impact of technologies on young children. Drawing on critical constructivism as a philosophical stance on technologies, this paper argues that children's agency with technologies may be further investigated in terms of practice architectures to better understand the social mediation of infant and toddler interactions and engagements with technologies.

Infantologies is a collective writing project designed to express and summarise important ideas, approaches and forms of advocacy in a short and condensed method, in order to present a network of d...

This chapter considers how early childhood teacher identities are developed through negotiation within a landscape of personal and professional internal and external forces. It explores the challenging landscape of infant and toddler pedagogy and the way professional identity directly and indirectly promotes quality early education experiences for children. Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model of human development is often employed in early childhood education to develop understandings about the influence of context on the developing child. Classic conceptions of care and routine elements associated with “a carer ‘minding’ babies and toddlers” emerged as students consistently reflected they didn’t know what to do with babies. In Australia, the educators who work with infants and toddlers vary greatly in terms of their qualifications, and so does the quality of their work with infants and toddlers. The communication directly demonstrates the impact of centres that do not value quality pedagogical practice for infants and toddlers on students’ future career choices.

Educator-parent partnerships have long been constructed in a discourse of improving outcomes for children. Notwithstanding the value of parent engagement for children's learning, development and wellbeing, this paper calls for a broader construction. In the context of marketised provisioning in which parents generally operate as uninformed consumers, the paper proposes a positioning of parent engagement that builds parents' understandings about quality ECEC and early learning and development, and which operates from a strengths-based platform. Findings from an Australian study that explored such a positioning from the perspective of five centre directors highlight the challenges involved, with participants exercising different degrees of intentionality. Those who actively sought to build parents' understandings demonstrated a professionalism that viewed parents from a strengths-based perspective, and strategically used time with parents and educators to undertake this work as part of their daily practice. In contrast, the less intentional participants appeared to comply with a marketised framing of parents as consumers, whose real or perceived needs took priority.

As emerging literature reflects, praxis is an important and useful concept for thinking about the many aspects of early childhood education (ECE) and early childhood research. In this article, I seek to contribute to discussions about praxis in ECE as a valuable concept for meeting the ethical challenges that arise in participatory research involving both infants and educators. I argue that research with infants necessitates particular ethical and transformational thinking and action. Research with infants and early childhood educators adds further complexity, and requires a balancing of ethical considerations for all those involved in the research. Using the theory of practice architectures as both a conceptual and analytical framework, I reflect on how particular cultural-discursive, material-economic, and social-political arrangements shaped (and were shaped by) my research practices while undertaking my doctoral study. I discuss how the practice architectures that prefigured the project enabled opportunities for praxis, and propose theoretical and practical implications.

Research about infants’ capacity to communicate using cries, smiles and sophisticated emotional strategies to connect with adults in their lives has predominantly emerged from the field of developmental psychology, with relatively limited attention to how babies enact such communicative practices with key adults in naturalistic settings. This article examines the emotional communicative practices infants use with educators in early childhood education and care contexts. Drawing on data from a study about educators’ conceptions of infants’ capabilities, the article frames babies’ intentional use of emotionally evocative communication as ‘emotional capital’. Transcripts of digital videos, pictures and written observations are used to illustrate how infants actively draw on reserves of emotional capital to guide the course of their relationship with educators, affording a view into how these efforts to communicate emotional messages are understood and met by their educators. Drawing on the theory of practice architectures, implications for the relationships that develop between infants and their primary carers/educators are discussed. Concluding thoughts acknowledge infants’ agency and active contribution to the dynamics within those relationships.

The colonisation of Australia brought significant change and interruption on the life-ways of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, including forced removals onto missions and reserves. The legacy of their dispossession is ongoing socio-economic disadvantage and racial discrimination within the dominant non-Indigenous culture. Indigenous people have survived and thrived, grounded by relationship to Country, family, and culture. Valuing and promoting these relationships is an essential first step in creating responsive, culturally respectful, and effective early childhood education and care (ECEC) services for young Indigenous children. This study, conducted in a Multifunctional Aboriginal Children’s Service (MACS) in the state of Queensland, describes how relationships to family, culture and community were manifested in the day-to-day interactions of educators and children. Our reflections on babies’ experiences (and perspectives) centre on Aboriginal concepts of ‘the strong child’, multiple attachments with multiple caregivers, and children caring for each other.

Research about infant pedagogy is often restricted to educators’ espoused beliefs and interpretations, with a limited view into how those beliefs might be enacted in practice and potentially impact on babies’ lived experiences. This chapter examines infants’ practices in early childhood education (ECE) contexts, and the arrangements of ECE practice that enable and constrain them. Drawing on data generated from the author’s doctoral study, the chapter considers the conceptions of educators as among the practice architectures which shape infants’ practices. How educators’ conceptions of infants’ capabilities manifest in their sayings, doings, and relatings is briefly explored. The primary focus on infants’ subsequent practices reveals the potential impact of the practice architectures of ECE on opportunities for babies’ learning, and adds to existing literature about infants’ lived experiences in ECE settings. Infants’ practices are not only shaped by the practice architectures of ECE, they also shape the practices of educators and, so, the practice architectures of their particular setting. Implications for the agency of infants in actively contributing to their lived experiences in ECE settings are discussed.

The introduction of Belonging, Being and Becoming: the Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (EYLF) offers the potential for a change in collective thinking about the social and emotional capabilities of infants and toddlers. Classical theories of young children's development have held that infants and toddlers are egocentric in being and engage predominantly in solitary play. Common perceptions of important social behaviours such as social and emotional perception, action and understanding are thought to develop primarily in the preschool years. Grounded in an image of the child as able to contribute to his or her own learning, the strong theoretical base of the EYLF affords a view of infants and toddlers as intentional and active participants in their world. This article explores popular societal misconceptions of the social and emotional capacities of infants and toddlers, and uses both psychological and contextual research to put forth a more accurate view. Reflection on the philosophical grounding of the EYLF shows the place of infants and toddlers within it, while examples in practice of observations of children and interpretations of educators help support this. Discussion of a strengths-based view of using the EYLF to document and communicate the learning of infants and toddlers shows how early childhood professionals can act as advocates to reconceptualise towards a common view of infants and toddlers as active learners.

This chapter considers how early childhood teacher identities are developed through negotiation within a landscape of personal and professional internal and external forces. It explores the challenging landscape of infant and toddler pedagogy and the way professional identity directly and indirectly promotes quality early education experiences for children. Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model of human development is often employed in early childhood education to develop understandings about the influence of context on the developing child. Classic conceptions of care and routine elements associated with “a carer ‘minding’ babies and toddlers” emerged as students consistently reflected they didn’t know what to do with babies. In Australia, the educators who work with infants and toddlers vary greatly in terms of their qualifications, and so does the quality of their work with infants and toddlers. The communication directly demonstrates the impact of centres that do not value quality pedagogical practice for infants and toddlers on students’ future career choices.