Civic Agency and Social Justice in New Zealand, Australia, and U.S. Early Childhood Curricula

• In Event: Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: The Intersections of Social Justice

Abstract

This paper provides context for a comparative study of young children’s civic agency which is being conducted in the USA, Australia and New Zealand. Drawing upon notions from critical childhood studies, we consider representative elements applicable for young children’s civic learning and action: social responsibility, civic identity, civic agency, civic deliberation and civic participation across four key national early childhood curriculum frameworks. This comparison makes visible the cultural nature of national ideas about children’s civic participation as expressed in the three nations’ over-arching early childhood curriculum framework documents.

Authors

• Jenny Ritchie, Victoria University of Wellington

• Jennifer Keys Adair, The University of Texas - Austin

• Louise Gwenneth Phillips, The University of Queensland