The development of early childhood studies degrees in Britain: Future prospects

Abstract

SUMMARY The paper describes the development of new Early Childhood Studies degrees in Britain and places their development into social, political and ideological context. The paper discusses the conflicting discourses and ideologies within which such developments have taken place. The methodology is qualitative. The author draws on her experience as one of the initiators of the development of such degrees, as a member of the Early Years Training Group of the Early Childhood Education Forum at the National Children's Bureau, and her position now as an external examiner; interviews with key informants, (including researchers, early childhood educators and trainers and Early Childhood Studies Degrees' course directors) and documentary analysis. The establishment (origins, forms and content) of Early Childhood Studies degrees, is discussed and evaluated both in relation to the current qualifications' framework for early childhood workers and to current practice, and also in relation to the potential for future change. The paper concludes that early childhood studies degrees are needed to provide the core professional qualification for workers in a coherent, integrated and comprehensive child care and education service.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 8 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.