This accessible text explores the lives and work of ten internationally renowned pioneers of early years education and care. It places each pioneer within the time and culture in which they lived to help the reader understand how theories and knowledge about early years education and care have evolved over time.
This accessible text provides an international study of critical educational leaders who established the foundation for Early Childhood Education across continents in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It places each pioneer within the time and culture in which they lived to help the reader understand how theories and knowledge about early years education and care have evolved over time.
Early Years Pioneers in Context traces key themes such as play, child-initiated learning, working with parents, scaffolding children's learning and the environment, enabling students to reflect on the differences and similarities between the pioneers and understand their contribution to practice today. Pioneers covered include:
- Frederick Froebel
- Elizabeth Peabody
- Susan Blow
- Rudolf Steiner
- Margaret McMillan
- Maria Montessori
- Susan Isaacs
- Loris Malaguzzi
Featuring student integration tasks to help the reader link key ideas to their own practice, this will be essential reading for early years students on undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses.
"At a time when early years practice in England appears increasingly shaped by political agendas, it is refreshing to read a book that reminds us that it does not necessarily have to be this way. In true pioneering spirit, Jarvis, Swiniarski and Holland take us on a journey of discovery through the contribution of notable historical figures associated with the early years from the beginning of the nineteenth until the end of the twentieth century."
Philip Selbie, Institute of Education, Plymouth University
