Early childhood education : society and culture

A new edition of this book is available at: http:/www.uk.sagepub.com/textbooksProdDesc.nav?prodId=Book232891 `Early Childhood Education represents an enormously rich body of research and expertise focused on the objective of taking into account the social, historical and cultural dimensions of everyday activities in order to better understand children. It is a book that will undoubtedly be of interest and value to anyone with a similar concern' - Early Years `Early Childhood Education: Society and Culture is an international state-of-the-art early childhood education publication that sets out research-based evidence and critically links this with theory and practice. It is pitched at the graduate level and beyond. Readers will gain more from the book if they have a thorough base understanding of relevant learning and social-cultural theories and an open-mind to appreciate the perspectives presented in this book' - Childforum, New Zealand Adopter's Comments `Good points - very up-to-date and relevant to practitioners' `In the plethora of books written about early years education, this is one that appeals to me at an intellectual level and offer the very connecting themes I introduce to students' `I thought this was an excellent up-to-date text book' `Particularly useful for cross cultural studies for both undergraduates and postgraduates. Especially useful to have the pedagogy of play chapters. The strength of the text is the socio cultural perspectives and conceptual frameworks' This book presents social and cultural perspectives on current theories of learning in early childhood education. It sets out research-based evidence linking theory and practice in early childhood settings. The editors and contributors are eminent figures in the field of early childhood education. The book extends a strong and traditional theme - the importance of the child's perspective and respect for each child's individual background. Within the context of early years settings, the book is structured around four overall themes: } the dynamics of learning and teaching } the nature of knowledge } assessment } evaluation and quality. This book is essential reading for undergraduate and advanced courses in early childhood studies.