Global Perspectives on Human Capital in Early Childhood Education Reconceptualizing Theory, Policy, and Practice

Global Perspectives on Human Capital in Early Childhood Education examines the emergence and global dominance of human capital theory in early childhood education. Lightfoot-Rueda, Peach, and their contributors explore the idea of human capital theory to develop children as future workers, and how this thinking shapes early childhood education policy around the globe. Early childhood educators are not yet used to thinking of their responsibilities for developing future human resources, with the standards-based curriculum, testing, and accountability in current schooling practices. Using a variety of theoretical orientations and methodologies to question whether school should be viewed mainly in terms of investment and returns, the authors look beyond the language of human capital to explore other ways we might understand schooling beyond imparting skills to future workers.

Dory Lightfoot-Rueda is Researcher and Founder of the Interdisciplinary Institute for Research in the Social Sciences and Education, USA.
 
Ruth Peach is Adjunct Instructor at National Louis University, USA.

PART I: THEORY AND HISTORY OF HUMAN CAPITAL
1. Introduction and Historical Perspective; Theodora Lightfoot-Rueda and Ruth Lynn Peach
2. Theorizing Dialogue Among Various Voices in Critical Theory; Joseph Zanoni
PART II: DECONSTRUCTION AND CRITIQUE OF HUMAN CAPITAL AND EDUCATION
3. Governing the Brain: New Narratives of Human Capital in Australian Early Childhood Education; Zsuzsa Millei
4. The Instrumentality of Spanish in Early Spanish Education: Unraveling the Linguistic Masquerade; Alejandro Azocar
5. "Abilities-Machines": Human Capital Theory and Early Education by Sabiha Bilgi
6. Human Capital Theory and Shifting Perceptions of Teachers in the US; Theodora Lightfoot-Rueda
7. Reforming Early Childhood Education as a Smart Investment for the Future: Stories from East Asia; I-Fang Lee, Chao-Ling Tseng, and Hong-Ju Jun
8. England's Foundation Stage Child in a Shifting World: Troubling the Grids of Reasoning of 'Children with Potential,' 'Normalization' and 'Value-Added' Curriculum; Ruth Lynn Peach
9. Deconstructing Human Capital Discourse in Early Childhood Education in Indonesia; Vina Adriany and Kurniawan Saefullah
PART III: RECONCEPTUALIZING EDUCATION OUTSIDE OF HUMAN CAPITAL LANGUAGE
10. And You Gotta Believe Me: When Social Capital and Human Capital Collide; Janice Kroeger
11. Questioning the Discourses of Human Capital in Early Childhood Education: Reconceptualizing Theory, Policy and Practice; Emma Buchanan
12. Expanding the Value of Early Education: The Capabilities Approach as an Alternative to Human Capital Theory; Cary Buzzelli
13. Concluding and Moving Forward; Theodora Lightfoot-Rueda and Ruth Lynn Peach