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the role of early childhood educators has changed with respect to the language
development of young children. While the importance of effective language develop-
ment in young children has not diminished in modern societies, the nature, contex­t
and people involved in that development may well be quite different in the future
from that in the past.
In his provocative paper Bringing politics into the nursery, early childhood education
as a democratic practice, Peter Moss challenged all in early childhood education to re-
vision the field, its philosophies and practices in order to create more democratic
enterprises that are able to utilise more appropriately the strengths, aspirations and
capabilities of all involved. Peter was particularly strong in his advice on how early
childhood educators need to change the ways in which they listen to children. While
there is much to be admired in the traditions of early childhood education, he sug-
gests that the hegemonic globalisation resulting from the dominant anglo-american
discourse of early childhood education must be challenged so that all participants are
recognised as competent because they have their own ex­periences, points of view,
interpretations and ideas.
Basing his premises on the increasingly rapid changes of modern society, Lars
Dencik provided compelling data on the ex­tent and nature of change in the lives of
contemporary young children and the consequences of such change on the early child-
hood education of these children. He argued that these changes can drive the children
towards individualisation to a greater ex­tent than was ex­perienced by their parents
and educators. On the other hand, the need for children – and people in general – to
feel a part of numerous groups remains. again, change and continuity are both seen
as necessary facets of children’s lives.
The Children Crossing Borders study considers approaches in five countries to the
early childhood education of children of recent immigrants. In introducing and ex­plain-
ing this study, Joseph Tobin emphasised the changes ex­perienced by these children,
their families and the early childhood educators working with them. While many of
the practices in the families and in the early childhood education settings continue
as they were before the children began attending the settings, many things have to
change if the children’s education is to be effective and appropriate. In this study, both
continuity and change are central to success.
Many of the hundreds of symposium papers presented at the EECERa conference
also considered notions of continuity and change and how these manifest themselves
in early childhood education. For ex­ample, Samuel Lefever and Elizabeth Nunberg
discussed English language learning in Icelandic preschools and schools and raised
the issues of continuity in curriculum and pedagogy across these two settings. They
saw such continuity as a major concern and one that needed specific consideration.
Such consideration can be assisted by the development and implementation of sylla-
buses designed to bridge the transition between settings such as in the Foundation Phase
(National assembly of Wales, n.d.) or the South australian Curriculum, Standards and
Accountability Framework (Department of Education, Training and Employment, 2001).
However, such syllabuses cannot achieve the desired continuity by themselves. While
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