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Informationen zum Autor Helen Penn is Professor of Early Childhood at the University of East London. She is the Research Leader for the School of Education and Director of Studies for the early childhood PhD programme, and teaches on the MA in Early Childhood as well as supervising PhD and research students. Helen has had a varied background working as an infant teacher, as a day-care campaigner, and as the UK's first director of integrated children's services in Strathclyde in Scotland. Her research was initially concerned with UK policy and practice in early years and she still undertakes some local policy work, but has become especially interested in comparative policy work, mostly in the South (developing countries) especially in central Asia and Southern Africa. She is also interested in evidence based policy and practice and have led the early years review group at EPPI (evidence based policy and practice initiative) funded by DfES. She undertakes consultancies for a number of international agencies on evaluating and costing systems of early education and care, both in the North (developed world) and in the South, including Unicef and Save the Children. Most recently, Helen was a rapporteur for the OECD study on early education and care in Canada, and led a workshop for the South African Department of Education on inter-agency support for young children with HIV/AIDS. In addition to her Open University Press title, Helen has also published "Unequal Childhoods: Young Children's Lives in Poor Countries" for Routledge, exploring the upbringing and circumstances of young children in the South, plus many chapters in books and articles in professional magazines and journals Klappentext This book examines how quality and good practice in early childhood education and care (ECEC) is interpreted and implemented in a variety of settings and circumstances. Drawing on her experience of research and policy making in a wide variety of countries, the author considers the variety of rationales that inform services for early childhood education and care. Services are organized, financed and delivered in many different ways across the world. The policies that have been adopted by governments, and the resources which are made available for implementing them, have shaped practice. On the one hand there are complex ideas about what children should be learning and how they should be learning. These ideas about curriculum and the training of teachers and carers may differ radically between countries. On the other hand policies have been prompted by the need to reconcile family and work obligations and to provide childcare to support working mothers, irrespective of educational concerns. The notions of economic competition and parental choice have led to the growth of private for-profit childcare services which promote a particular view of quality and achievement. Above all, growing inequality within countries, and between rich and poor countries, have undermined attempts to provide good quality services. In an unfair world, the impact of any services is likely to be distorted. The book charts the many different approaches to understanding and measuring quality and gives an exceptionally well-informed overview. Zusammenfassung Examines how quality and good practice in early childhood education and care (ECEC) is interpreted and implemented in a variety of settings and circumstances. This book considers the variety of rationales that inform services for early childhood education and care. Inhaltsverzeichnis Preface A brief introduction Sticky Policies and Path Dependencies Rationales and Oxymorons The International Consensus on ECEC Childcare markets Curriculum and training Working Spaces Working Practices In the (class) room Exporting quality The Measurement of Quality The Quality Chain ...
