So far, so good – what more, what next?

Christine Stephen University of Stirling, Scotland

So far – where are we now?• Two years of part-time preschool (3-

5 years) education – extending from 475 hours to 600 and to some 2-year olds

• 95% of 3-year olds and 98% of 4-year olds make use of government-funded, part-time place

• 0-3s predominantly private & voluntary sector provision

• Playgroups, childminders and community childminding schemes

• Heritage language preschool provision (Gaelic)

• Varied training routes for practitioners

So far – where are we now? • Curriculum for Excellence,

ages 3-18 with early level 3-6 years

• Pedagogy in the early level – ‘active learning’, experiential, predominantly child-initiated

• Assessment and profiling – local initiatives, growing interest in ‘documentation’

• Pre-birth to Three: Positive Outcomes for Scotland’s Children and Families

So far – where are we now? • Government priorities:

– Work-force development– Access to a teacher in

preschool– Early intervention– Integrated services –

Getting it Right for Every Child

– National Parenting Strategy– Provision in scattered and

remote communities – Gaelic-medium provision

So good – policies and practices?• Concern with evidence-

based practices and policies• Wide consultation • Active, play-based

pedagogy• Funding early intervention• Increasing investment

• Improving qualification levels

• What kind of evidence – appropriate, valid, reliable?

• Who is listened to?• Conceptual clarity?

Rhetoric?• Normalizing?

• Purpose of investment, measuring change

• Who decides what is needed?

Could do better• Respectful interactions• Confident staff acting on

professional judgement• Inspiring physical

environment and resources

• Responsive planning• Time for conversations• Evaluation as an

everyday practice

So good? • Talking about quality

– What are the characteristics of high quality early education and childcare and to what extent is good quality different for children under 3, 3- to 5-year olds in preschool and children in primary 1?

– Different stakeholders have particular expectations about the outcomes from early years provision and what counts as quality so how can we acknowledge and reconcile these different judgements?

– What measures of quality should we adopt? – What does good quality look like from the perspectives of children? – Some factors associated with high quality, like staff qualifications and

adult/child ratios, can be regulated but how can we ensure that equally important aspects like relationships and interactions create excellent education and care experiences?

What next ?

• Understanding/taking account of family contexts and learning at home – ‘funds of knowledge’ – ‘habitus and capital’ – ‘social situation’

• Articulating/debating ways construct children and childhood and value alternative purposes and outcomes

• Identifying/considering normalizing practices and guidance

What next ?• Challenging/defining concepts and evidence base• Talking about pedagogy

– developing intersubjectivity– talking about ‘technique’ and ‘manner’– extending authenticity and personal meaning– exploring meta-cognitive strategies

• Examining children’s perspectives– respectful and appropriate engagement – gathering multimodal responses– identifying values and preferences

• Exploring alternative forms of provision

What next?

• Articulating relationships with users of research

• Debating questions, justifying methods, warranting findings

• Synthesising, theorising, generalising• Exploring, intervening, problematising,