CHILDREN'S INTERESTS ARE AN acknowledged influence in teachers' day-to-day curriculum planning. However, five months of research focused on the scope of curriculum in an education and care centre suggested children's collective influence in shaping their centre experiences may be more pervasive than is often acknowledged. For children, friendships and the challenges involved in forming and sustaining relationships appeared to be a central concern. Two other widely shared areas of interest were defining themselves by gender and experimenting with their power to resist adults.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AlcockS. (2007). Playing with rules around routines: Children making mealtimes meaningful and enjoyable. Early Years, 27(3), 281–293.
2.
BlaiseM. (2010). Kiss and tell: Gendered narratives and childhood sexuality. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 35(1), 1–9.
3.
BowenG. A. (2006). Grounded theory and sensitizing concepts. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 5(3), 1–9.
4.
BrennanM. (2005). ‘They just want to be with us'. Young children learning to live the culture: A post-Vygotskian analysis of young children's enculturation into a childcare setting. Unpublished doctorate thesis, Victoria University, Wellington.
5.
BrennanM. (2007). Young children breaking the rules: A sociocultural interpretation. Early Childhood Folio, 11, 2–4.
6.
BroströmS. (2006). Children's perspectives on their childhood experiences. In EinarsdottirJ. & WagnerJ. T. (Eds), Nordic childhoods and early education: Philosophy, research, policy, and practice in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden (pp. 223–255). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.
7.
CarrM. (2000). Seeking children's perspectives about their learning. In SmithA. B., TaylorN. J. & GollopM. M. (Eds), Children's voices: Research, policy and practice (pp. 37–55). Auckland: Pearson Educational.
8.
ClarkA. (2004). The mosaic approach and research with young children. In LewisV., KellettM., RobinsonC., FraserS. & DingS. (Eds), The reality of research with children and young people (pp. 142–156). London: Sage.
9.
CorsaroW. A. (2003). We're friends right?. Inside kids' culture.Washington, DC: Joseph Henry.
10.
DaviesB. (1989). Frogs and snails and feminist tales: Preschool children and gender.Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
11.
GirouxH. A. (1997). Pedagogy and the politics of hope: Theory, culture, and schooling.Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
12.
GunnA., & MacNaughtonG. (2007). Boys and boyhoods: The problems and possibilities of equity and gender diversity in early childhood settings. In Keesing-StylesL. & HedgesH. (Eds), Theorising early childhood practice: Emerging dialogues (pp. 121–136). Castle Hill, NSW: Pademelon.
13.
HaggertyM. (2003). Reconceptualising notions of curriculum: The case ofTe Whāriki. New Zealand Research in Early Childhood Education, 6, 35–49.
14.
HillD. (2005). Curriculum: Challenges of context and complexity in early childhood settings. The First Years: Ng Tau Tuatahi New Zealand Journal of Infant and Toddler Education, 7(1), 21–26.
15.
HoodJ. C. (2007). Orthodoxy vs. power: The defining traits of grounded theory. In BryantA. & CharmazK. (Eds), The Sage handbook of grounded theory (pp. 151–164). Los Angeles: Sage.
16.
JamesA. (2005). Learning to be friends: Methodological lessons from participant observation among English schoolchildren. Childhood, 3(3), 313–329.
17.
JordanE. (2002). Masculinity in early childhood: Gender identity and the ‘civilising process’. Journal of Australian Research in Early Childhood Education, 9(1), 27–36.
KeddieA. (2003). Little boys: Tomorrow's macho lads. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 24(3), 289–306.
20.
Keesing-StylesL. (2002). A critical pedagogy of early childhood education: The Aotearoa/New Zealand context. NZ Research in Early Childhood Education, 5, 109–122.
21.
KilderryA. (2004). Critical pedagogy: A useful framework for thinking about early childhood curriculum. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 29(4), 33–37.
22.
McCaddenB. M. (1998). It's hard to be good: Moral complexity, construction, and connection in a kindergarten classroom.New York: Peter Lang.
23.
McLarenP. (2007). Life in schools: An introduction to critical pedagogy in the foundations of education (5th edn). Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.
24.
MacNaughtonG. (2000). Rethinking gender in early childhood education.Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
25.
MacNaughtonG. (2006). Constructing gender in early-years education. In SkeltonC., FrancisB. & SmulyanL. (Eds), The Sage handbook of gender and education (pp. 127–138). London: Sage.
26.
MayallB. (2000). Conversations with children: Working with generational issues. In ChristensenP. & JamesA. (Eds), Research with children: Perspectives and practices (pp.120-135). London: Falmer.
27.
Ministry of Education (1996). Te Whāriki: Early childhood curriculum. He whāriki mō tauranga m ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa.Wellington: Learning Media.
28.
Ministry of Education (2004). Kei tua o te pae Assessment for learning: Early childhood exemplars.Wellington: Learning Media.
29.
PinarW. F., ReynoldsW. M., SlatteryP., & TaubmanP. M. (1995). Understanding curriculum: An introduction to the study of historical and contemporary curriculum discourses.New York: Peter Lang.
30.
SilinJ. G. (1995). Sex, death, and the education of children: Our passion for ignorance in the age of AIDS.New York: Teachers College Press.
31.
SingerE. (1996). Prisoners of the method: Breaking open the child-centred pedagogy in day care centres. International Journal of Early Years Education, 4(2), 28–40.
32.
StephensonA. (2009a). Horses in the sandpit: Photography, prolonged involvement and ‘stepping back’ as strategies for listening to children's voices. Early Child Development and Care, 179(2), 131–141.
33.
StephensonA. (2009b). Skirmishes on the border: How children experienced, influenced and enacted curriculum in an early childhood education centre setting. Unpublished doctorate thesis, Victoria University, Wellington.
34.
WatsonJ. (2005). Superheroes plus teachers – an unbeatable team!Early Education (38), 35–40.
