ED433943 PS027925
Title: Beyond Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care: Postmodern
Perspectives.
Author(s): Dahlberg, Gunilla; Moss, Peter; Pence, Alan
Pages: 214
Publication Date: 1999
ISBN: 0-7507-0769-0
Available from: EDRS Price MF01/PC09 Plus Postage.
Availability: Taylor and Francis, 47 Runway Road, Levittown, PA 19057;
Tel: 800-821-8312 (Toll Free); e-mail: bkorders@tandfpa.com; Web site:
http://www.taylorandfrancis.com ($15.95).
Language: English
Document Type: Book (010); Opinion papers (120)
Geographic Source: United Kingdom; England
Journal Announcement: RIEFEB2000
Working with
postmodern ideas, this book questions the search to define and measure
quality in the early childhood field and its tendency to reduce
philosophical issues of value to purely technical and managerial
issues of expert knowledge and measurement. The book argues that
there are ways other than the "discourse of quality" for
understanding and evaluating early childhood pedagogical work, and
relates these to alternative ways of understanding early childhood
itself and the purposes of early childhood institutions, resulting
in a reconceptualization of early childhood education and care.
Taking a broad perspective, the book relates issues of early childhood
to the sociology of childhood, philosophy, ethics, political science,
and other fields. The book maintains that the concept and language
of quality cannot accommodate issues such as diversity and multiple
perspectives, contextual specificity, and subjectivity and asserts
that a new concept is required, called "meaning making."
The book places these issues in a global context and draws on work
from Canada, Sweden, and Italy, including the nurseries in Reggio
Emilia, Italy. Contains approximately 200 references. (KB)
Descriptors: Children; *Day Care; Definitions; Discourse Analysis;
*Early Childhood Education; *Educational Philosophy; Educational
Principles; *Educational Quality;
Ethics; Political Science; Program Evaluation; Value Judgment; Values
Identifiers: *Day Care Quality; Postmodernism
