Search

Infant and toddler pedagogy has flourished as a specialized area of practice in early childhood care and education settings, yet it remains an under-researched area. There is also limited empirical research internationally that explores cultural meanings of meaningful provision for this young age group. This ethnographic study explored pedagogies of care with 1-year olds in four cultures--England, United States, New Zealand and Hong Kong--guided by Froebel's education philosophy and a view of pedagogies of care as embodiments of culture. The researchers employed sociocultural and ecological theoretical perspectives (Darling, 2016) to attend to cultural meanings at the micro, macro and temporal levels in relation to people, contexts and processes. This lens enabled the researchers to resist the positivist tendency to normalize and unify all children's experiences and maintain the integrity of diverse interpretations. Inspired by Tobin et al.'s (1989, 2009) cross-national research on preschool in three cultures, the researchers utilized a video-cued multivocal and layered interpretation approach to elicit the "voices" of 1-year-olds, their teachers/practitioners and families. This paper focuses on each researcher's discussion of the ways Froebel's principles of "autonomy in learning" and "freedom with guidance" were seen to unfold. The nuances of how these principles were manifested in pedagogies for infants and toddlers is explored in relation to each country's curriculum and cultural ideals.

This article reports on a project, "Collaboration of Universities Pedagogies of Infants' and Toddlers' Development-'down under' (CUPID)," in which the practicum experiences of 1st-year preservice initial teacher education (ITE) students at five universities across Australia and New Zealand (NZ) engaging in early childhood education (ECE) teacher programs were evaluated as part of a larger longitudinal project. The results from year 1 of their qualification experiences highlight the diverse and complex approaches to practicum experiences, ranging from specialized events with birth-to-3-year-olds to generic practicum with a wider age group. The implications of the practicum experience, in its many iterations, are explored in terms of the treatment of infant and toddler pedagogy as a specialization, and as an integrated component of the curriculum. While an assumption appears to exist that infant and toddler specialization is optimum, the early results of this study, at end of year 1 of the qualification, suggest that associated practicum experiences are not consistently offered to 1st-year students in this domain nor is a pedagogy specialism for this age group promoted. This article speculates on the reasons why this phenomenon occurs, the limitations and potentialities such a view upholds, and the implications for teachers in their work with birth-to-3-year-olds in the current policy context of both countries.

This paper critically examines current concerns regarding professional issues in labour force development for teachers with children up to two years of age (UtoT). The concerns in New Zealand (NZ) relate to whether initial teacher-education (ITE) qualifications prepare teachers to work with children UtoT, involving synergy between ITE and the early childhood curriculum, and if there is widespread acknowledgement that in-depth knowledge is needed for teachers as leaders in this field. The background to these issues involves low teacher status with children UtoT and high staff turnover, and a lack of specialised knowledge, accompanied by increasing enrolments for this age group. A recent document analysis of ITE programmes in NZ revealed an increasingly generalised view of children under five years rather than specialised knowledge of young children in the first years. A more knowledgeable and professional labour force would provide much needed leadership in this expanding part of the education sector.

The image of a carer "minding" babies and toddlers has been transformed with the professionalisation of care in early childhood education and care (ECEC) services in Aotearoa/New Zealand. This occurred with the introduction of the national early childhood curriculum, "Te Wha-riki", in 1996 (Ministry of Education, 1996). Another key influence is the 10 year strategic plan to improve quality, introduced in 2002 (Ministry of Education, 2002) requiring that from 2007, 50 per cent of teachers in all teacher-led early childhood services would be qualified and registered, with the goal of 100 per cent by 2012 (recently changed to 50 per cent for infant-toddler teachers). The author proposes that this shift to an educational framework means early childhood professionals with infants and toddlers should consider their identity as a "teacher" rather than a "caregiver", and articulate a pedagogy of care.