My attention was recently grabbed by a tweet that asked – ‘how can we get beyond theories of child development largely written by dead white guys that impose limits on understandings of children’?
That got me thinking, not so much about the gender of the theorists we look to but how much we hark to the past when it comes to theories of early childhood. The pedagogies of pioneers such as Froebel, Steiner and Montessori are still widely practised today, and are undoubtedly relevant, but one wonders how much space this leaves for new theorists to be read, understood and absorbed into practice. With this in mind, we want to ensure the pages of this magazine give space to exciting new experts – like author and early years lecturer Kerry Murphy, who will be writing for us next month on the subject of ‘ableism’.
With the long, hot summer holidays behind us, now is certainly the time to be inspired by new ideas.
In this issue we begin an activity series focusing on ‘enhancements’. Specialist EYFS education leader Amy Jackson will take us through an A–Z of how to look objectively at your environment, draw on observations to identify improvements, and make important changes. She starts with ‘A is for authentic objects’ (page 22).
In our analysis, which weighs the cost crisis facing schools, we look at how a cash-strapped learning environment could impact transitions into Reception. One teacher says that he is used to ‘budgets being tight’ and he will be using his own creativity to tailor the learning environment to children’s interests (page 6).
I hope you have enjoyed our ‘essential resources’ series linked to traditional early years theorists. I’m delighted to say that it is a woman in the spotlight this month – with Susan Isaacs (page 24).
Back in the day, Isaacs had a platform in Nursery World – from 1929 to 1936 she was its very own agony aunt!