The three research papers in this issue all focus on how children are understood by adults, how this understanding is communicated to other adults, and how understanding of children is related to adult notions of early years teaching and learning. They also have a common message for the wider early years community about the nature of good early years educational practice.
In the first paper, Maarit Alasuutari analyses laughter during co‐operative planning discussions to show how practitioners and parents manage their relationships during these interactions about children. The data indicates that the relationship is not always as symmetrical as it seems. Alasuutari gives some insights into the explicit knowledge about interaction with parents that early years practitioners might need in order to create optimum conditions for their charges.
In the second paper, Ingrid Pramling Samuelsson and her co‐authors use in‐depth analysis of a professional development programme to show that it is necessary for teachers to understand the higher‐order aims of their own teaching if children’s activities are to be well structured. The particular focus on the teaching of the arts raises questions about how early years teaching in these areas can be linked to areas of the curriculum such as literacy and numeracy that usually get the lion’s share of attention.
In the third paper, Susanne Thulin and Niklas Pramling look at the anthropomorphic language that preschool teachers use to convey biological concepts to children. Their analysis shows that children elect to join teachers in their use of this kind of language and that they are fully aware of it as a form of pretense. It is not the case, then, that children’s conceptual immaturity demands the use of such language, but rather that both teachers and children are choosing to use a common and useful communicative device.
All three articles use child‐focused methods to make their theoretical points about early years practice and theory. In doing so they provide a model of how activities with and around children can be theorised within early years professional practice. Their papers are contributions to an evidence base that can be used both as a discussion point for early years theory and practice and as a basis for further research.
The final paper in this issue is a historical review of a British theorist who has contributed much to British early years practice, but comparatively little to present‐day curriculum and policy. Jenny Willan outlines the main points of Susan Isaacs’ biography and of her intellectual contributions to the field of education, and focuses especially on the quality of observation that Isaacs contributed. Willan compares present‐day early years assessment in England with the recording practices that Isaacs helped to develop over 70 years ago, and argues that the more traditional practices have much to recommend them.
All these papers share a common set of beliefs. These can be summarised as an emphasis on children’s individuality, a need for sensitivity to the ways in which children’s identities are constructed by the adults around them, and a belief that early‐years teachers’ intuitive and in‐the‐moment decisions need to be supported by a high level of understanding. They demonstrate that early years pedagogy has a unique educational approach, and show how young children themselves can be the source of on‐the‐ground pedagogical thinking. Government‐approved early years policies and curricula are now in place in most countries, but good early years education is driven primarily by teachers' understanding of specific children – an understanding that is informed by interactive observations of the children and their families. The institutional setting that practitioners share with each other is also very important, as it embodies social structures and belief systems. The setting provides for a network of social relationships among the adults responsible for the children, and a framework of shared beliefs about young children’s abilities and dispositions. It is at this level – the level of the preschool setting and the teacher's understanding – that the qualities of children’s experiences are ultimately determined.
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