Editorial

This edition is published as the Global North is coming out of the summer break and the Global South is coming out of winter. Opposite ends of the climate cycle but experiencing the same global pandemic that has inhabited our lives for the past 18 months. Science has given us vaccines and Social Scientists have shared data from a variety of methodological stances that have provided numeric information about effects of the pandemic over the time and narratives of its impact on everyday lives and lived experiences of children. We know that this is a unique opportunity in time to reflect and rethink how we are living our lives, our relationships and the consequences of this event in the lifeworlds of children. This edition of GSC is timely in reminding us of the diversity of global childhoods and the exceptional contribution that they make to societies across the world. Additionally, it is valuable to consider the distinctive ways in which we can support our children to flourish by providing learning scenarios and societies that value them as capable citizens of the now (Rinaldi, 2006).

In the first article, Gebretsadik focusses on helping us to understand the challenges associated with establishing protocols to ensure children’s rights. The author draws on this anthropological data collection in southern Ethiopia. He advocates for a holistic approach to achieving children’s rights and well-being that is supported with legislative framing and adequate resources for the process by all those involved in the decision making process.

In the second article Thomas asks; Who am I? Re-authoring self, stories and subjectivity in research with children. The article interrogates the value and purposes of narratives of ‘self’; and considers the implications for claiming subjectivity through narrative structures. The author contends that ‘experience’ is an aspect of ‘reality’ that can be explored by individuals in order to make sense of personal self and develop ontological awareness. Thomas suggests that this perspective offers ‘fresh insight into current sociological debates in Childhood Studies’.

Then, Harju, Balldin, Ekman Ladru and Gustafson explore children’s education in ‘good nature’: How and from whom? Perceptions of activities in nature spaces within a mobile preschool. Their article considers the role of nature in children’s education and programmes that import children to natural spaces on a regular basis as part of their educational programme. Using a critical theorisation of place and the nature/culture divide the authors argue that, ‘while there exists an idealisation of nature within the mobile preschool tradition, the ways that nature is viewed as ‘good’ for children differs depending on the children’s ethnic background and residential area’. The education of marginalised children, however, comes from a deficit perspective that suggests that knowledge is missing and needs to be taught.

In Speaking Bodies – Silenced Voices: Child Protection and the Knowledge Culture of ‘Evidencing’ Knezevic, draws on metaphors of body and voice in a critical contribution that interrogates children’s participation rights in a knowledge culture based on ‘evidencing’. Using an example from Sweden, the author investigates the assessment reports written by social workers who document the reasons for removing children from home. Knezevic discusses how ‘evidencing’ represents a knowledge culture in which ‘seeing-believing and predicting-believing’ are the basis of decision making. He then problematises how such conceptualisation of evidencing foregrounds children’s ‘speaking’ bodies without considering their voices. He also discusses some wider epistemic concerns around the issue of what evidence base is prioritised.

The final article is by Paujic, Miller, Gibson and Walsh’s article is entitled; Doing’ socio-political sustainability in early childhood: Teacher-as researcher reflective practices. They are concerned with young children’s engagement in Education for Sustainability (EfS) and suggest that it is focussed predominantly on participation in environment-based initiatives or practices. They advise that when children ‘experience learning around wider dimensions of sustainability’ is foregrounded, there is potential to ‘develop genuine and critical understandings about global issues in a transformative and critical learning context’. The article then explores what happened when an early childhood teacher, engaged Kindergarten children in an investigation of poverty as a socio-political aspect of sustainability. Using critical theory as a guiding framework, the authors advocate for ‘early childhood teachers to employ a teacher-as-researcher role in sustainability education and to critically reflect on ways to embed a holistic approach to EfS in early childhood contexts’.

The schools in the educational project of Reggio Emilia are known across the world as inspiring early childhood educational settings. In a colloquium we share the experience of the Nido early schools approach, located in Western Australia. The schools provide environments for children’s learning where they are encouraged to create, explore, participate and learn. Central to the Nido philosophy is the belief in the capabilities of young children as active citizens from birth, and a commitment by educators to actively listen to the voices of children as they communicate in a multiplicity of ways. At Nido, children are viewed as active members of their communities who which they belong and capable of meaningfully contributing to society. This image of children is underpinned by a belief that children are naturally included to question, interpret and understand their worlds.

We also have a book review of and edited book by Walter Omar Kohan and Barbara Weber: Thinking, Childhood and Time: Contemporary Perspectives on the Politics of Education written by Keij.