Provision of education for children under five has recently become a political concern. At the same time, this relatively small field has been attracting increased research attention, with many early years practitioners seeking routes to initial and higher degrees. This book offers essential guidance for researchers and newcomers to the field, outlining opportunities in research as well as useful, sensitive and appropriate methods for researching childhood education.
Part I:Changing concepts and methods in early years education research 1.Researching early childhood education 2.Constructing childhoods 3.Resrach paradigms: ways of seeing 4.Forms of observation: measurement and analysisPart II:Early childhood education: changing research practice 5.Early childhood research prior to 1985 6.Early childhood education research in a time of changePart III: Early childhood education research in action 7.Multilevel modelling: a case study on mathematics performance 8.Ethnography for early childhood settingsPart IV: Current policy, perspectives and practice in the field 9.Roles, responsibilities and relationships 10.Ethical issues 11.A Canterbury tale: the researcher's inside story 12.Policy and practice: the hand that rocks the cradle 13.Current theoretical perspectives: directions for the future?
