Current Debates in Early Childhood Education - Practice, Policies and Key Issues

Catalog description

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. This course explores the pressing debates and enduring questions that shape early childhood education (ECE) in the United States today. Grounded in an understanding of the field’s sociohistorical foundations, students will analyze how current practices and policies reflect competing priorities, values and research perspectives. The course will investigate topics such as ECE quality, accountability, workforce and mixed delivery system. Students will explore how theory has been adapted into practice over time, and how research and policy continue to shape pedagogy and program design. By exploring key controversies and examining multiple viewpoints, students will develop the tools to evaluate the implications of policy and research for practice, articulate informed positions on relevant and topical ECE debates and apply critical perspectives to ongoing issues that impact children, educators and families. Prerequisites: Graduate classification.