
Bringing together scholarship and examples from practice, this book explores ways in which early childhood curriculum - including classroom practices and community contexts - can more actively engage with a range of social justice issues, democratic principles, and anti-oppressive practices.
Shirley A. Kessler is a retired Professor of Early Childhood Education at National-Louis University, USA.
Beth Blue Swadener is Professor of Justice Studies and Social and Cultural Pedagogy at Arizona State University, USA.
"This is a very well-timed book in an age when democracy and institutions that are supposed to respect civil rights and social justice are undermined. With valuable knowledge and a critique of how neo-liberal policies have, in a subtle way, influenced young children and their families' lives, the authors also offer significant examples of how early childhood educators may be able to work in a more just and ethical way for all."
Gunilla Dahlberg, Professor Emerita, Department of Child and Youth Studies, Stockholm University
"A most critical time for social justice in a person's life is during their early childhood years. Today, young children or their parental representative are denied recognition, economic fairness, and unhampered representation. Shirley Kessler and Beth Blue Swadener have assembled a distinguished international team of authors to illuminate a range of social, political, economic, and environmental justice issues and show how early childhood educators, researchers, and children themselves can play a role in confronting injustice. Besides being an eye-opening and engaging personal read, this book is one you'll want your colleagues and students to read, too."
Carl A. Grant, Hoefs Bascom Professor, University Wisconsin-Madison