I keep thinking that I should blog about my reading, but it is a bit confused in my head at the moment. This is a problem because I am supposed to be producing an essay (due in a fortnight).
The structure of the essay is that we are to choose a problem in education (any sort of problem at all), and address it in relation to an evaluative framework to which we are personally committed. (We must justify the framework.) Then we propose a solution.

Simple.

The problem I am focusing on at present is the way early childhood centres focus on individual learning goals for children, at the expense of developing caring interdependence among the group members, both in child:child relations and child:adult relations. That is, adults do a lot of 'caring' for little children, but it is also important for adults to create a space where children are integral parts of the group, who care for each other, and are aware they can sometimes care for the adults. This requires the adults to be humble and accept child-caring, rather than being 'teacher-ish' and think that adults take the lead in all the good 'learning stuff' that goes on.

(This goes back to my conviction that all learning is relationship based. Usually between people, but also sometimes with, eg, objects.)

My problem (with my reading) is finding other authors who have written about this issue, in order to support my arguments. I have a great author, Nel Noddings, who writes about caring in the context of school, and high school age in particular. I really like lots of her stuff. I have another great book, by Dahlberg, Moss & Pence, which talks about the early childhood centre as a forum where adults and children meet, discuss and carry out community. (That doesn't do it any kind of justice.) In any case, it seems relevant too. I have a third great book, by G. Cannella, who talks about some of the problems with traditional (some of them new-traditional) ways of viewing children and education which are quite limited in conception.

My nagging doubt at the moment is that I am somehow looking for a 'problem' where none actually exists - that I am 'spitting in the wind'!

However, I keep going back to my experience of family life, where each family member, no matter what age, contributes what they are able. Where a child 'helps' to the best of their ability - starting with just keeping you company while you do the job. A toddler can fetch and carry; by the time they are 3 or 4 they are actually drying a reasonable number of dishes; and by 11 can cook a meal without help. Where life is busy and only actually 'works' if everyone pulls together. I think it's essential that if children are going to be in group care or education (which they generally should be for some time before starting at school) that they are able to learn and use skills, caring relations, initiative, to contribute to other children and adults outside the family. I guess it's part of moral development, empathy, agency, and 'give and take'.

I think all this deserves more attention than it gets in the centres I have seen, and some of the reason for this is structural (eg, requirements by ministry of education and ero). So I press on.