In many Western nations (an area of the world identified by Connell as the Global North), the early childhood sector has positioned itself within the education discourse. This positioning brings along with it the neo-liberal agenda in relation to education – i.e. that education’s key aim is the preparation of employable future employees (children as human capital). Along with this is the increasing imposition of employer-identified skills and knowledges on the curriculum in order to shape children, through education, into the ‘right’ attitudes, dispositions and knowledges. Thus, early childhood education has become increasingly subject to external accreditation, whereby services are evaluated based on their adherence to predetermined standards. Early childhood educators’ work has increasingly required the operation of a panoptic view of children, whose every behaviour is observed, recorded and judged. The authors argue that such standards, in some contexts, act as barriers to effective service delivery and present examples of work from the Global South, demonstrating how an early childhood development focus facilitates a holistic approach to early childhood service delivery. The authors demonstrate how that development focus can be operationalised in the Global North and suggest that, as the sector proceeds towards professionalisation, it needs to consider its direction.

中文翻译：

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幼儿教育和幼儿发展：差异重要吗？

在许多西方国家（世界上被康奈尔（Connell）认定为全球北部的地区）中，幼儿部门已将自己定位于教育领域。这种定位带来了与教育有关的新自由主义议程，即教育的主要目标是为未来可雇用的雇员（以儿童为人力资本）做准备。随之而来的是，雇主越来越多地将雇主认可的技能和知识强加于课程上，以便通过教育使儿童塑造成“正确”的态度，性情和知识。因此，幼儿教育已越来越受到外部认可，从而根据服务是否符合预定标准对其进行评估。幼儿教育工作者的工作越来越需要对儿童全景进行操作，观察，记录和判断其所有行为。作者认为，这样的标准在某些情况下成为有效提供服务的障碍，并提供了来自全球南方的工作实例，证明了早期儿童发展重点是如何促进采用整体方法进行早期儿童服务的提供。作者展示了如何将发展重点放在全球北部，并建议，随着该行业朝着专业化方向发展，它需要考虑其发展方向。展示如何将幼儿发展重点放在促进幼儿服务提供的整体方法上。作者展示了如何将发展重点放在全球北部，并建议，随着该行业朝着专业化方向发展，它需要考虑其发展方向。展示如何将幼儿发展重点放在促进幼儿服务提供的整体方法上。作者展示了如何将发展重点放在全球北部，并建议，随着该行业朝着专业化方向发展，它需要考虑其发展方向。