Early Childhood and Compulsory Education: Reconceptualising the relationship

The relationship between pre-school settings and compulsory education is becoming increasingly important globally. As more children worldwide attend some form of pre-school, governments use them to boost the performance of children at school and see them as the first step towards the goal of lifelong learning. This book'¬"s initial assertion is that this relationship requires both pre-schools and schools to be open to rethinking basic premises: their pedagogical ideas, goals and practices. The contributors argue that dominant discourses in both traditions would need to be subject to dialogue, reflection and contestation in order to create a '¬Üstrong and equal partnership'¬". Using a previously unpublished extended essay on the pre-school/school relationship as a starting point, Pre-school and school: two different traditions and the vision of a meeting placeby Gunilla Dahlberg and Lenz Taguchi, the contributors to this book open up discussion about the pre-school/school relationship, contest the dominant '¬Ütop down'¬" (school to pre-school) discourse and also the '¬Übottom up'¬" one (pre-school to school), suggesting how a '¬Üstrong and equal partnership'¬" might be conceptualised and developed. The editors have invited contributions from leading figures in education, who have been asked to respond critically to the essay and present their own thinking about the pre-school/school relationship, their current understandings, and suggestions on future directions.