Politics in the Playground: The world of early childhood education in Aotearoa New Zealand

(Paperback, 3rd Revised edition)

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Freshly updated in 2019, the third edition of Politics in the Playground: The world of early childhood in Aotearoa New Zealand is a lively history of early childhood education and carein Aotearoa New Zealand in the postwar era. The book follows on from Discovery of Early Childhood (1997, 2013), which traced the origins of institutional care and education for young children in Europe, US and New Zealand prior to state interest and serious investment. This latest edition brings the story right up to date with developments under the Labour coalition government of Jacinda Ardern. The place of children in New Zealands social history makes this book a remarkable record of social movements. The postwar search for security, the radicalism of the 1960s and 1970s, the rise of feminism, the role of the state in social issues, increasing employment of women all have impacted on early childhood education. The language of the debate has shifted from social progress in mid-century, to the economic terminology of the 1990s, some cautious consideration of the young child citizen in the 2000s, followed by the rhetoric of risk, the vulnerable child and a new story in this revised edition covering the 2010s. This is an account of critical issues for young children that will interest parents, policy- makers, teachers and students.

Reviews

"Politics in the Playground is a most readable, well-researched and engrossing text. This could well provide an informative background learning opportunity to early childhood providers and training students, in fact I would recommend it as required reading for anyone interested in any aspect of education in New Zealand." -- Good Teacher, 2009
"Helen May has done more than any one person to sew together events and memories into the backstory so necessary for the early childhood sector's self identity ... As a whole, Politics in the Playground is still the book that defines the historic politicking in and around ECE. It's good to see the updated version covering the years of relative warmth from central government." -- Early Education, Volume 45, Autumn/Winter 2009

Author Bio

Helen May, now an emeritus professor, is a former Dean of the University of Otago College of Education. She began her career as a primary school teacher in the mid-1960s, worked in childcare in the 1970s, and began tertiary teaching in the 1980s. During the early 1990s she worked with Margaret Carr on the development of Te Whariki, New Zealands first national curriculum for early childhood education. In 1995 she was appointed to the first New Zealand professorial chair in Early Childhood Education at Victoria University Wellington and in 2005 she shifted to the University of Otago. She has published nine books as sole author on the history and policy of early years education."