Curriculum in preschool: Adjustment or a possible liberation?

Abstract

Abstract: In early childhood education and care there has been a tendency in recent years to narrow down the educational practice to an introduction to school with a strong emphasis on literacy and math. It is essential that early childhood education and care researchers and practitioners analyse and reflect on this tendency and consider developing an alternative approach: Critical early childhood education. On the basis of a critical theory of society, a theory of recognition (Honneth, 1995), a Bildung oriented critical-constructive Didaktik* (Klafki, 1995, 1998) and various childhood approaches (Dahlberg, Moss, & Pence, 2001, 2007), this article will present an outline of critical preschool education.

* The German term Didaktik is not the equivalent of the English term didactics. The concept of Didaktik goes beyond both didactics and the term curriculum by focusing on both democratic aims and content with a liberation perspective. A theoretical discussion on this issue is elaborated in Hopmann & Riquarts (1995).