As I was completing my doctoral dissertation on ready schools in Pakistan a couple of years ago, I was intrigued by the in-depth conversations I had with so many parents and teachers about what education and knowledge meant to them, and how it fit within their values and worldviews. So, I was thrilled when I … Continue reading
Filed under Early Childhood Development …
Book review: Early childhood education for Muslim children
Note: My colleague Hasina Ebrahim from South Africa invited me to review her insightful book as it was being published in late 2016. I was honoured to have the opportunity to review it and comment on its contribution to the field. Hasina Banu Ebrahim’s book, Early Childhood Education for Muslim Children: Rationales and Practices in South Africa (2017), is … Continue reading
Parenting with community support: Our experience in Tanzania
In late February, my family landed at the small Mwanza airport in Tanzania. With our luggage and our toddler, Z, hoisted on my hip, we climbed down the airplane stairs and onto the shuttle bus that would take us to the terminal. The shuttle bus was packed and I remember feeling slightly disappointed that … Continue reading
Ready schools in Pakistan: School & classroom factors associated with children’s success in early primary
I am happy to let you all know that I successfully defended my PhD thesis last week. It was an exhilarating experience and an immensely useful discussion with a group of academics whom I truly respect. I will be sharing more of my dissertation findings here in the months ahead, but in the meantime, I would like to share … Continue reading
Noteworthy ECD resources (v5): Babies and parenting
[This post is part of my Noteworthy Early Childhood Development (ECD) Resources series, which rounds up and highlights key resources on particular topics.] I am often asked by parents of young children for clarification on some of the recommendations made by ‘experts’ on various aspects of parenting infants and toddlers, especially around sleep. As a … Continue reading
Racism and imperialism in the child development discourse: deconstructing ‘developmentally appropriate practice’
[This post is part of a series highlighting particular publications or resources I have written or developed in the past which may be of interest to my blog readers.] One of the most influential approaches to early childhood education in North America is ‘Developmentally Appropriate Practice’ (DAP), articulated by the NAEYC. When I used Foucauldian and other … Continue reading
Noteworthy ECD resources (v4): Prenatal learning and brain development
[This post is part of my Noteworthy Early Childhood Development (ECD) Resources series, which rounds up and highlights key resources on particular topics.] Early childhood development is often defined as the period from birth to eight years of age (some define it as birth to six years of age). However, prenatal development – the development that … Continue reading
Noteworthy ECD resources (v3): Building resilience
[This post is part of my Noteworthy Early Childhood Development (ECD) Resources series, which rounds up and highlights key resources on particular topics.] Resilience – the capacity to adapt to and cope with change and stress – is fundamental to well-being. Building resilience in early childhood lays the foundation for long-term academic and social success. In … Continue reading
Children learning to stereotype and discriminate (racism experiment)
A friend and colleague recently shared this video – it is one of the most powerful videos I have seen in recent days. Background: In the late 1960s / early 1970s, Jane Elliot, a school teacher, set up an arbitrary social division among her third graders (blue eyes vs brown eyes) and had them experience … Continue reading
Noteworthy ECD resources (v2): Research and data
[This post is part of my Noteworthy Early Childhood Development (ECD) Resources series, which rounds up and highlights key resources on particular topics.] Research and data are important matters in the field of early childhood – enabling us to better understand contexts and perspectives, develop better-informed approaches and programmes, and assess impact and outcomes. In today’s edition, … Continue reading
