The papers in this issue explore different perspectives on ways in which Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings serve their families and communities. At the time of writing our thinking is preoccupied by the global challenge of the coronavirus pandemic; concerns for care and the importance of community are foregrounded, and ECEC settings have crucial roles to play in supporting families through this difficult time. The seven papers from Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Germany and Scotland were all written well before the coronavirus outbreak, but each considers ECEC in its broadest sense, including concerns for children’s health and wellbeing, and interrogates how ECEC settings work with community needs and values. The first paper by Ulrike Hohmann encourages us to look at ECEC in Germany through the framework of three interrelated concepts, Betreuung [care and the promotion of physical and mental wellbeing], Erziehung [upbringing or raising, including enculturation and socialisation], and Bildung [education in its broadest sense]. After a brief overview of the development of national and regional systems for ECEC in Germany, Hohmann frames this development through the three concepts of Betreuung, Erziehung and Bildung, showing how the balance between these aspects of ECEC can shift over time in response to political, social and economic changes. This includes not only redefinitions of rights and responsibilities but also changes in ways in which discourses of childhood shape family life, social policy and economic structures. She concludes that, although there might not be a direct translation of these three concepts in other languages, they can help to examine the development and implementation of ECEC systems in other countries. Such an analysis can reveal tensions and anomalies in the relationships between children, families and practitioners, and the settings and national bodies which oversee these systems. In our second paper, Adaylah Rajab and Nigel Wright explore tensions which arose when head-teachers and teachers implemented changes to curriculum and pedagogy in kindergartens in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, that conflicted with aspects of the local culture. As part of the Saudi government’s national development plan ‘Vision 2030ʹ, changes have been taking place to broaden educational experiences so that future generations might be better placed to take part in the knowledge economy and move away from dependency on oil revenue. Following western models of education, the Self-Learning curriculum for Kindergarten promotes children’s autonomy and participation in decision-making; this, however, runs counter to some interpretations of Islamic principles. The paper first describes the two underpinning ideological positions –Western child-centred approaches to education and the traditional Saudi Islamic model built on community values of virtuous character and appropriate behaviour. The authors then report views from a range of individuals involved in implementing the Self-Learning curriculum in Kindergartens. They conclude that resolving the implicit tensions involved in adopting EARLY YEARS 2020, VOL. 40, NO. 2, 157–160 https://doi.org/10.1080/09575146.2020.1772582

中文翻译：

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社论

本期论文探讨了幼儿教育和保育 (ECEC) 环境为其家庭和社区服务的方式的不同观点。在撰写本文时，我们的思绪全神贯注于冠状病毒大流行的全球挑战；对护理的关注和社区的重要性被摆在首位，ECEC 环境在支持家庭度过这一困难时期方面发挥着至关重要的作用。来自澳大利亚、新西兰、沙特阿拉伯、卡塔尔、德国和苏格兰的七篇论文都是在冠状病毒爆发之前写的，但每篇论文都从最广泛的意义上考虑 ECEC，包括对儿童健康和福祉的关注，并询问 ECEC 设置如何与社区需求和价值观。Ulrike Hohmann 的第一篇论文鼓励我们通过三个相互关联的概念框架来看待德国的 ECEC：Betreuung [关心和促进身心健康]、Erziehung [教养或抚养，包括文化适应和社会化] 和 Bildung [最广泛意义上的教育]。在简要概述了德国 ECEC 国家和地区体系的发展之后，Hohmann 通过 Betreuung、Erziehung 和 Bildung 三个概念来构建这一发展，展示了 ECEC 的这些方面之间的平衡如何随着时间的推移而转变以响应政治、社会和经济变化。这不仅包括对权利和责任的重新定义，还包括童年话语塑造家庭生活、社会政策和经济结构的方式发生变化。她得出的结论是，虽然这三个概念可能没有直接翻译成其他语言，但它们可以帮助检查 ECEC 系统在其他国家的发展和实施。这种分析可以揭示儿童、家庭和从业者之间的关系，以及监督这些系统的环境和国家机构之间的紧张关系和异常情况。在我们的第二篇论文中，Adaylah Rajab 和 Nigel Wright 探讨了当校长和教师对沙特阿拉伯麦加幼儿园的课程和教学法进行改革时产生的紧张局势，这与当地文化的各个方面相冲突。作为沙特政府国家发展计划“Vision 2030”的一部分，正在发生变化以扩大教育经验，以便子孙后代可以更好地参与知识经济并摆脱对石油收入的依赖。遵循西方教育模式，幼儿园自学课程促进孩子的自主和参与决策；然而，这与对伊斯兰原则的某些解释背道而驰。本文首先描述了两种基本的意识形态立场——西方以儿童为中心的教育方法和建立在道德品质和适当行为的社区价值观之上的传统沙特伊斯兰模式。作者随后报告了参与实施幼儿园自学课程的一系列个人的看法。他们得出的结论是，解决采用 EARLY YEARS 2020, VOL 所涉及的隐性紧张。40，没有。2, 157–160 https://doi.org/10.1080/09575146.2020.1772582