Where is the Love?

Given the emphasis that European education agendas have placed on early childhood education in providing the foundations for lifelong learning, the quality of provision--and especially the workforce--is a key concern. Qualification levels are frequently cited as important for the quality of provision, but in their paper in the newest edition of European Education: Issues and Studies, Verity Campbell-Barr and Janet Georgeson from the Plymouth University and Anikó Nagy Varga from the University of Debrecen explore questions of the attitudinal competences required to work in early childhood in England and Hungary. Their paper, "Developing professional early childhood educators in England and Hungary: Where has all the love gone?", presents a mixed-method study that considers the attitudinal competences that early childhood students perceive as necessary. They focus specifically on the role of love in early childhood education and the contrasting perceptions and experiences in England and Hungary. In Hungary love is spoken about freely, but in England a managerialist and entrepreneurial emphasis has created tensions with more emotional ideas of being caring, supportive, and empathic. In Hungary, early childhood educators are given relative autonomy in their professional roles and love is a key characteristic. The paper considers historical, philosophical, and political developments in the two countries to shed light on how English and Hungarian perspectives have diverged. It also explores opportunities that comparing perspectives offers for the further professional development of early childhood educators. If you would like to read this entire paper or any other content from our journal, you can find out more about subscriptions at this page.

Preschool in Slovenia

In our most recent edition of European Education: Issues and Studies, Marcela Batistič Zorec of the University of Ljubljana explored the impact of introducing the Reggio Emilia educational philosophy at preschools in Slovenia. Here is the abstract of their paper, "Children’s Participation in Slovene Preschools: The Teachers’ Viewpoints and Practice" (DOI:10.1080/10564934.2015.1039878):

This article presents part of the research performed in a project from 2008 to 2013, regarding the introduction of the Reggio Emilia approach to Slovene preschool educators. The study’s aim was to recognize the possible influence of the training—from 2009 to 2011—in this project on educators’ viewpoints and the promotion of children’s participation in practice. We believe that a potential reform of the Slovene national curriculum should establish the participation of children as one of its key principles. It seems that the two-year intensive training of educators, followed by projects in preschool practice, has been a successful step in this direction.

If you would like to read the entire paper and the important voice of teachers in this area, or if you would like to read any other content from our journal, you can find out more about subscriptions at this page.