Neo-liberalism at work and play in Early Childhood Education (ECE)
Setting the Scene
The global reach of neoliberalism is based on an economic orthodoxy that foregrounds privatization, de-regulation and the deconstruction of welfarism. Individualism, competition and the unbridled power of free markets are driving private and public sector values, practices and behaviour. At the same time, education has been subject to increased state regulation and surveillance, at international and national levels, in order to prepare children for ‘the race to the top’ and to become ‘economically productive citizens’ in a ‘globally competitive’ world. The power effects of neoliberalism are sometimes taken as read, and the term itself is often used without any analytical purpose. In this series of blogs, we propose that neoliberalism is a structural force that operates on, through and within ECE. Therefore, detailed mapping is needed of how these effects have influenced ECE, and the ways in which neoliberalism is manifest in different sites such as policy, curriculum documents, training, and provision for young children.
This mapping is important at national and international levels in ECE because national policies in many countries now incorporate a complex assemblage of centrally imposed standards and accountability mechanisms, all of which rely on measures of performance, attainment, achievement and readiness. These developments have lead to concerns about narrowed notions of curriculum, learning, assessment, professionalism, readiness, play and pedagogy. As a result, powerful structural forces materially impact on practitioners’ and children’s lives. Practitioners’ work is increasingly constrained by data-driven priorities and nationally imposed targets, and there are concerns about professional agency being sidelined by technical and bureaucratic demands. Furthermore, an instrumental interpretation of curriculum that places emphasis upon state-imposed developmental indicators, or ‘school readiness’ measures, does not reflect the diverse cultural practices and heritages in which children’s development is situated, nor does this interpretation align with children’s interests, and their priorities for play and learning. Therefore, we are argue that neoliberalism at work and play in ECE produces forms of marginalization and oppression of children, practitioners and families.
Sharing a common interest in the neoliberal context as a structural force, and its power effects in ECE systems, we present these interlinked blogs to show contrasting theoretical lenses, and to consider specific issues relating to state regulation of ECE in England and Ireland. The research on which these blogs are based was presented at the 2017 British Educational Research Association conference, and is being developed in doctoral theses, research papers, as well as for a book with Policy Press.
Professor Elisabeth Wood, Head of the School of Education.
