![[PDF]](/pb-assets/Icons/adobe-pdf-icon-1498649896243.png){kind=icon}
Abstract
The provision of early childhood development services is expanding in developing countries. The rationale behind this expansion is rooted in developmental psychology, socio-economic and human rights narratives. However, there are some limitations to this rationale, which are in particular related to the implicit universalism it assumes. This article outlines how early childhood development interventions imply a policing of families and childhood, which calls for a stronger consideration of context. As a consequence, the scope of what counts as evidence in early childhood development research needs to be questioned. The article is a theoretical contribution to the discourse of what early childhood development ‘does’. A critical approach, addressing the ideals and values that are communicated in early childhood development programmes and how they relate to dominant parenting ideals and practices in the society in question, should be an integral part of the expansion of early childhood development in the global South in the future.
Keywords Childhood, developing countries, early childhood development, ECD, families, policing
References
Section:
|
Anderson, M, Reid, C (2016) Theoretical insights from neuroscience in early childhood research. In: Farrell, A, Kagan, SL, Tisdall, EKM (eds) The SAGE Handbook of Early Childhood Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, pp. 148–162. Google Scholar | |
|
Boyden, J (1997) Childhood and the policy makers: A comparative perspective on the globalization of childhood. In: James, A, Prout, A (eds) Constructing and Reconstructing Childhood: Contemporary Issues in the Sociological Study of Childhood. 2nd ed. London: Falmer Press, pp. 190–216. Google Scholar | |
|
Britto, PR, Engle, PL, Super, CM (eds) (2013) Handbook of Early Childhood Development Research and Its Impact on Global Policy. New York: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Britto, PR, Ulkuer, N, Hodges, WP. (2013) Global policy landscape and early childhood development. In: Britto, PR, Engle, PL, Super, CM (eds) Handbook of Early Childhood Development Research and Its Impact on Global Policy. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 65–81. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Burman, E (1994) Deconstructing Developmental Psychology. London: Routledge. Google Scholar | |
|
Cannella, GS (2005) Reconceptualizing the field (of early care and education): If ‘western’ child development is a problem, then what do we do? In: Yelland, N (ed.) Critical Issues in Early Childhood Education. Maidenhead: Open University Press, pp. 17–39. Google Scholar | |
|
Connell, R (2007) Southern Theory: The Global Dynamics of Knowledge in Social Science. Cambridge: Polity. Google Scholar | |
|
Dahlberg, G, Moss, P, Pence, A (2013) Beyond Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care: Languages of Evaluation. London: Routledge. Google Scholar | |
|
Dencik, L, Bäckstrøm, C, Larsson, E (1988) Barnens två världar. Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell. Google Scholar | |
|
Donzelot, J (1979) The Policing of Families. New York: Pantheon Books. Google Scholar | |
|
Engle, PL, Black, MM, Behrman, JR. (2007) Strategies to avoid the loss of developmental in more than 200 million children in the developing world. Lancet 369(9557): 229–242. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | |
|
Engle, PL, Fernald, ICH, Alderman, H. (2011) Strategies for reducing inequalities and improving developmental outcomes for young children in low-income and middle-income countries. Lancet 378(9799): 1339–1353. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | |
|
Fendler, L (2001) Educating flexible souls: The construction of subjectivity through developmentality and interaction. In: Hultqvist, K, Dahlberg, G (eds) Governing the Child in the New Millennium. New York: Routledge, pp. 119–142. Google Scholar | |
|
Fox, S, Levitt, P, Nelson, C (2010) How the timing and quality of early experiences influence the development of brain architecture. Child Development 81(1): 28–40. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | ISI | |
|
Grantham-McGregor, S, Cheung, YB, Cueto, S. (2007) Developmental potential in the first 5 years for children in developing countries. Lancet 369(9555): 60–70. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | ISI | |
|
Greve, A (2013) Utviklingstrekk ved den norske barnehagen. In: Kvello, Ø (ed.) Barnas barnehage 1: Målsettinger, føringer og rammer for barnehagen. 2nd ed. Oslo: Gyldendal Akademisk, pp. 63–79. Google Scholar | |
|
Harkness, S, Super, CM (1994) The developmental niche: A theoretical framework for analyzing the household production of health. Social Science and Medicine 38(2): 217–226. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | ISI | |
|
Harkness, S, Super, CM, Mavridis, CJ. (2013) Culture and early childhood development: Implications for policy and programs. In: Britto, PR, Engle, PL, Super, CM (eds) Handbook of Early Childhood Development Research and Its Impact on Global Policy. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 142–160. Google Scholar | |
|
Heckman, JJ (2006) Skill formation and the economics of investing in disadvantaged children. Science 312(5782): 1900–1902. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | ISI | |
|
Hennum, N (2010) Mot en standardisering av voksenhet? Barn som redskap i statens disiplinering av voksne. Sosiologi i Dag 40(1–2): 57–75. Google Scholar | |
|
Korsvold, T (2008) Barn og barndom i velferdsstatens småbarnspolitikk: En sammenlignende studie av Norge, Sverige og Tyskland. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. Google Scholar | |
|
Lee, Y, Krappmann, L, Aidoo, AA (2015) Early childhood care and education is a right. In: Marope, PTM, Kaga, Y (eds) Investing against Evidence: The Global State of Early Childhood Care and Education. Paris: UNESCO, pp. 37–54. Google Scholar | |
|
Marope, PTM, Kaga, Y (eds) (2015) Investing against Evidence: The Global State of Early Childhood Care and Education. Paris: UNESCO. Google Scholar | |
|
Nordtveit, BH (2008) Poverty alleviation and integrated service delivery: Literacy, early childhood development and health. International Journal of Educational Development 28(4): 405–418. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Nsamenang, AB (2009) A critical peek at early childhood care and education in Africa. Child Health and Education 1(1): 44–55. Google Scholar | |
|
Okwany, A, Ebrahim, H (2016) Rethinking epistemology and methodology in early childhood research in Africa. In: Farrell, A, Kagan, SL, Tisdall, EKM (eds) The SAGE Handbook of Early Childhood Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, pp. 432–448. Google Scholar | |
|
Pearson, E (2011) Avoiding recolonialisation in early childhood: Promoting local values as mediators in the spread of globalization. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood 12(3): 212–223. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | |
|
Pence, A (2013) Voices less heard: The importance of critical and ‘indigenous’ perspectives. In: Britto, PR, Engle, PL, Super, CM (eds) Handbook of Early Childhood Development Research and Its Impact on Global Policy. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 161–180. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Pence, A, Ashton, E (2016) Early childhood research in Africa: The need for a chorus of voices. In: Farrell, A, Kagan, SL, Tisdall, EKM (eds) The SAGE Handbook of Early Childhood Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, pp. 380–397. Google Scholar | |
|
Pence, A, Hix-Small, H (2009) Global children in the shadow of the global child. International Critical Childhood Policy Studies 2(1): 75–91. Google Scholar | |
|
Penn, H (2011a) Travelling policies and global buzzwords: How international non-governmental organizations and charities spread the word about early childhood in the global South. Childhood 18(1): 94–113. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Penn, H (2011b) Quality in Early Childhood Services: An International Perspective. Maidenhead: Open University Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Qvortrup, J (1994) Childhood matters: An introduction. In: Qvortrup, J, Bardy, M, Sgritta, G, et, al. (eds) Childhood Matters: Social Theory, Practice and Politics. Aldershot: Avebury Press, pp. 1–24. Google Scholar | |
|
Qvortrup, J (2009) Are children human beings or human becomings? A critical assessment of outcome thinking. Rivista Internazionale di Scienze Sociali 117(3–4): 631–653. Google Scholar | |
|
Rao, N, Sun, J, Pearson, V. (2012) Is something better than nothing? An evaluation of early childhood programs in Cambodia. Child Development 83(3): 864–876. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | ISI | |
|
Rao, N, Sun, J, Wang, Y (2016) Cognitive research in developing countries. In: Farrell, A, Kagan, SL, Tisdall, EKM (eds) The SAGE Handbook of Early Childhood Research. Thousand Oaks: SAGE, pp. 449–466. Google Scholar | |
|
Rose, N (1999) Governing the Soul: The Shaping of the Private Self. 2nd ed. London: Free Association Books. Google Scholar | |
|
Seland, M (2009) Det moderne barn og den fleksible barnehagen: En etnografisk studie av barnehagens hverdagsliv i lys av nyere diskurser og kommunal virkelighet. Trondheim: NTNU/NOSEB. Google Scholar | |
|
Shonkoff, J (2015) The neurobiology of early childhood development and the foundation of a sustainable society. In: Marope, PTM, Kaga, Y (eds) Investing against Evidence: The Global State of Early Childhood Care and Education. Paris: UNESCO, pp. 55–72. Google Scholar | |
|
Shonkoff, J, Phillips, D (eds) (2000) From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Stefansen, K (2011) Foreldreskap i småbarnsfamilien: Klassekultur og sosial reproduksjon. Oslo: NOVA. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Sylva, K, Melhuish, E, Sammons, P. (2010) Early Childhood Matters: Evidence from the Effective Pre-school and Primary Education Project. Abingdon: Routledge. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
UNESCO (2006) Strong foundations: Early childhood care and education. EFA Global Monitoring Report 2007. Paris: UNESCO. Available at: http://www.unesco.org/education/GMR/2007/Full_report.pdf (accessed 3 November 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
UNICEF (2012) Inequities in early childhood development: What the data say. Available at: http://www.unicef.org/publications/index_61802.html (accessed 3 May 2016). Google Scholar | |
|
UNICEF (2014) The formative years: UNICEF’s work on measuring early childhood development. Available at: https://data.unicef.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Measuring-ECD-Brochure-HR-10_8_116.pdf (accessed 1 september 2017). Google Scholar | |
|
Uprichard, E (2008) Children as ‘being and becomings’: Children, childhood and temporality. Children and Society 22(4): 303–313. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Walker, SP, Wachs, TD, Gardner, JM. (2007) Child development: Risk factors for adverse outcomes in developing countries. Lancet 369(9556): 145–157. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | ISI | |
|
Walker, SP, Wachs, TD, Grantham-McGregor, S. (2011) Inequalities in early childhood: Risk and protective factors for early child development. Lancet 378(9799): 1325–1330. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | |
|
Woodhead, M (1999) Towards a global paradigm for research into early childhood education. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal 7(1): 5–22. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
World Bank Group (2015) Improving learning outcomes through early childhood development. Available at: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2015/09/30/090224b083111ac3/3_0/Rendered/PDF/Improving0lear0hildhood0development.pdf (accessed 29 April 2016). Google Scholar |
