Early Childhood Education Encounters the Postmodern: What do We Know? What Can we Count as ‘True’?

Abstract

In both the academic community and the community at large there has been much talk about the impact of postmodernism on particular fields of study and on our ways of thinking about issues. Very little consideration has been given to how postmodernist thinking potentially impacts on early childhood education. This paper looks at how postmodernist thinking can disrupt traditional beliefs about child development and appropriate practice by asserting a more critical and sceptical approach to knowledge and truth statements. Postmodernism opens out the possibility for multiple points of view, for a plurality of voices to be heard. When taken on board, the impact of postmodernism can be simultaneously daunting and liberating. Early childhood educators need to understand the basic tenets so that they are not left out of the debate.