Exploring Child Standpoint Theory in Early Childhood Education
A Pathway for Cross-Cultural Comparisons
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7577/njcie.5713Keywords:
system messiness, Bangladesh, child standpoint theory, early childhood educationAbstract
This empirical study in Bangladesh explores the potential of Child Standpoint Theory in constructing and reconstructing the child in early childhood education (ECE) and its role in facilitating cross-cultural comparisons in and of ECE systems. The comparative gaze is considered for ways of scholarly investigation in the context of ECE system messiness. The paper suggests viewing children as relational ethnographic units of comparisons for comparing the conditionality, contextual elements, and temporality of each child's education across cultures through a three-fold approach. Spanning method and theory, the approach combines the notion of the entangled researcher and the comparative case study tool of tracing with Child standpoint theory. Findings are presented through a comprehensive visualization of a ‘child’ going through the ECE system during a day as a pathway to deeper analysis of facets underpinning ECE from a bottom-up rather than top-down approach.
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