This essay entails a critical review of the origins, discourses and contemporary manifestations of NAEYC's enduring commitment to 'developmentally appropriate practice' (DAP); and proposes a reconceptualisation of DAP as an open question and incentive for place-based collaborative inquiry. Brief discussion of ECE's early history highlights…

The most recent iteration of NAEYC's key Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) texts (the 2020 Position Statement and the fourth edition of the DAP book) reflect a more robust stance on family educator-relationships and attention to issues of equity as reflected in linguistic shifts. This article analyses NAEYC's rhetorical moves between the…

As the fields of early childhood teaching and teacher education continue to evolve and diversify, policymakers' neoliberal reforms further standardise and restrict these programmes of practice. Many have documented the impact of these policies on early childhood teaching and teacher education, and in this article, we add to these conversations by…

Societal change and prescriptions in curricula demand a change in educational practice. This can create conflicts between practitioners' usual practices (norms) and those prescribed by curricula. One example is the introduction of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into preschool practice. Hence, our aim is to analyse how norms are…

Global concerns about what constitutes an appropriate curriculum and pedagogy for young children inevitably raises questions for teacher educators and the content of teacher education programmes. These concerns have been particularly visible in England following recent policy initiatives and the resultant "academic shovedown" and…