Educational Leadership Models in Early Childhood Education

Early Childhood
Outline
I. Introduction to Early Childhood
II. Definition of Contests in Early Childhood
III. Rules that Govern Contest in Early Childhood
a) How governments and institutions employ different rules
b) Reflection on different perspectives
IV. Contest Action Plan
a. How contest happens in early childhood
b. Managing contests
V. Summary
Early Childhood
Why Contest Early Childhood?
Peter Moss provides an accessible introduction to some alternative narratives and diverse perspectives increasingly heard in this field and discussed the importance of paradigm, politics, and ethics. He introduces readers to thinking that questions the mainstream approach to early childhood education and offers rich examples to illustrate how thinking is being put to work in practice. The key topic discussed includes dominant discourse in today’s early childhood and what is meant by ‘dominant discourse,’ and why politics and ethics act as beginners in children’s education. Reggio Emilia provides a typical case of an alternative narrative that matches the opinion of renowned thinkers, for example, Michael Foucault and Gilles Deleuze, and theoretical positions such as posthumanism
Rules
In early childhood education, universal standards, regulations, and rules still establish the framework for practices. Powerful economies and neo-liberal politics govern the educational institutions for young children. Peter Moss is trying to come up with the idea of what if the locals came together to create an educational project which responds to their children and fosters values that promote a harmonious relationship between human and more than the human worlds we live in. We can see how the author frames his ideas in the field by questioning dominant discourse and narrating stories of encounters, entanglements, and complexities. For Moss, the dominant discourse is ‘the way that certain perceptions or stories claim to constitute the single elements of behaving, thinking and talking about a particular topic, subject or field’ (80). He gives us three ideas to think of the importance of narrative or stories, some’s dominance, and the likelihood of resistance cases manifested through dominion. Moving away from the story of calculations, competition, and managerialism, he advocates for democracy and experimentation, which is about the diversity and complexity, movements, and flight lines.
This book intends to move the reader to reflect critically and be open to new perspectives. The book does not have a formal introduction but begins by describing dominant discourse in early childhood education. It continues by exploring alternative narratives and ends with future possibilities. Moss weaves the book’s concepts together by using the story of ‘The Emperor’s New clothes.’ In Moss’s analogy, the emperor represents dominant discourse, illustrating the dos and don’ts of powerful early education ideologies. From this perspective, the two dominant discourses are the story of the markets and the story of quality and high returns, both governed by neo-liberal forces.
A positive side of this subject is the availability of other narratives on childhood that reflect childhood values, understanding, and practices. These stories that priorities politics and ethics over managerial and technical procedures (politics and ethics as the first practice is the subject of Chapter 3). First, political questions are posed, such as the purpose for our children and what education means to them, and the existence of ethics and values. What is our image of the child? How should we relate to each other? Such incidences cut across varying theories and disciplines and expose children’s risks.
Among these stories might be called ‘the story of democracy, experimentation, and potentiality.’ It views democracy as the principal value of education pedagogical work and as an important tool in defining adults and children. This story makes a clear choice on ethics care and ethics of engagements. Ethical care entails specific caring acts as a ‘general habit of mind that should inform all aspects of life,’ including attentiveness, responsibilities, expertise, and availability (p.58). Ethical concepts aspire to associate with others that respect their uniqueness and resists any scenarios that may lead to contests. These would then affect the well-being and quality of life, translating to more dangers.
Theories and paradigms are vital in defining contests in the phase of childhood. Numerous theories attempt to propose solutions that aimed at creating a sense in the world we live in and to human beings. As already noted, dominant discourse draws particularly on theories in two disciplines: child development in psychology and human capital in economies. The story of democracy, experimentation, and potentiality draws on very different theories from a wide array of disciplines. We can see Foucault’s ideas of power relations (in Chapter 5), Deleuze and Guatari’s theories of experimentation and creative thinking (Chapter 6), and Levinas’s theory of ethics of an encounter (Chapter 7).
Paradigms are like stories, diverse and complex. The dominant discourse, the level of quality and high returns, views the world through the paradigm of positivism. The paradigm believes the world can be truly understood by discovering universal, stable, and replicable laws objectively arrived at through measurement and reduction processes that overcome complexity and context. With natural science as an idea, this paradigm puts much faith in the figure of the objective, rational and authoritative expert, who can gather relevant evidence that gives a true representation of things and transformations that need to be effected. Paradigm is a choice, not an inevitability. We can change the paradigm, and to do so is also to change how we understand that human beings are, can be, and should be; what knowledge and learning are, can be, and should be; and what are relationships are, can be and should be.
The Contest
We can see Reggio Emilia (Chapter 4) explaining why this Italian experience is so important to those wanting to contest early childhood. It is a transferable program or universal blueprint that, properly applied, can provide a panacea for early childhood education. It seems that education undertaken in the municipal school is best understood not as an approach, implying a generalizable model, but as a local cultural project that has emerged from a very particular time and place. From my point of view, local cultural projects are founded on three primary reasons. First is the potential of groups and local members of a community to confidently take part in “democratic experimentalism” as defined by Roberto Unger, which is further described as “the organization of a collective experimental practice below” ( p. 68). If Reggio Emilia shows any form of educational achievements, then such democratic experimentalism can indeed happen in some other places
Secondly, Reggio Emilia challenges the dictatorship of no alternative and the story of quality and high returns. He dares to think for themselves in constructing new discourses, and in so doing, daring to choose by understanding the child as a rich child, a child of infinite capabilities, a child born with hundred languages, and building a new pedagogical project, foregrounding relationships and encounter, dialogue and negotiation, reflection and critical thinking. Reggio Emilia further illustrates the benefits that come with interacting with political rhetoric to attain education for children. Such actions happen within full consciousness, as asserted by Malguzzi that cultural composition and politics of choice always guide political decisions.
Another reason for contesting early childhood is because, in Foucault’s word, that all are dangerous. However, Foucault explains even in cases where the proponents of contesting fully support the mission, there are always some risks associated with the decision. The argument emanates from the constant existence of power relationships geared towards governance and winning control over other people. Indeed, together with Gilles Deleuze, Foucault explains the paths followed in human technologies to attain a particular trajectory. Interestingly, these assertions continue to gain ground by becoming invasive, powerful, pervasive, and with more controlling effects. Behavior but our desires fears, and pleasures; of forming those same ways, we think about things and ourselves: capable in short of governing soul. Early childhood has not escaped this process.
Summary
To conclude, however suitable they may be, few books will change the world of early childhood education and remove no alternative dictatorship. The Resistance movement will confront the tyranny of no alternative narratives by creating an international network that acts as an alternative to storytelling that finally leads to new ways of thinking. The many individuals and organizations are linked to and inspired by the early childhood education in Reggio Emilia; many practitioners, students, and academics are actively engaging with alternative narratives, exploring different paradigms and theories. I hope that existing discourse will experience transformation to become a form of narrative that in the future will win the merit of justification and become a form of universal truths.
References
Moss, P. (2019). Alternative narratives in early childhood: An introduction for students and practitioners. Routledge.