Abstract
AbstractAll children have a right to early childhood education, but preschool‐aged fostered children are less likely than others to access formal early childhood education and care (ECEC) services such as nurseries and playgroups. The home learning environment is crucial for this group. Building on an earlier pilot study where foster carers of young children saw education as something that largely happens outside the home, this paper presents a knowledge exchange project that aimed to build foster carers' self‐concept as educators. The design of the project aimed to exchange knowledge between academic researchers and practitioners through an experientially based training programme, which focused on extending the specific ECEC practice of treasure baskets. The programme was theoretically grounded in social pedagogy, which takes an educative approach to social issues. Although there were clear difficulties in recruitment, there were promising signs that the knowledge exchange dialogic approach promoted the acquisition of new knowledge and skills and enhanced foster carers' sense of self‐confidence as educators for the young children they look after.
Highlights
Across the globe, societies are investing in early childhood education as a means to enhance the prosperity of the future adults the children will become, the present families they live with and so the nations of which they are citizens
We interviewed four leading academics at University College London (UCL) (Dr Alison Clark, Professor Julie Dockrell, Dr Rosie Flewitt and Professor Eamon McCrory) who each represented a different perspective on early learning, where children have particular disadvantages such as disabilities or prior experience of abuse or neglect and what the home learning environment would need to take into account
Young children in foster care are in a liminal position where their future family and home environment may not be decided, yet they are expected to be a part of a current foster family, an arrangement that can persist for months and even years before they are adopted, returned to their birth family or stay in foster care long term
Summary
Societies are investing in early childhood education as a means to enhance the prosperity of the future adults the children will become, the present families they live with and so the nations of which they are citizens. KEYWORDS foster care, home learning environment, knowledge exchange, social pedagogy, young children
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