Cultural Hybridization of Froebelian Principles: Autonomy, Play, and Relationship-Based Practices in Infant-Toddler Care and Education

• In Event: Values of Play in Interdisciplinary Context

Abstract

Researchers examined the cultural hybridization of Froebel’s principles of autonomy, play, and relationship-based care, which feature prominently in infant-toddler care and education in US, UK, New Zealand, and Hong Kong curriculum/pedagogical frameworks. How are these principles enacted worldwide? Methods: Reviewed data from researchers’ existing larger study that included video-cued, multi-vocal (teachers, families, and researchers) analyses, to identify examples of these principles in action in ‘day-in-the-life’ videos of one-year-olds in each country. Findings: The way Froebel’s principles were enacted differed in specific ways found connected to each country’s broader culture, with Hong Kong demonstrating this most distinctly. Significance: Widely endorsed Froebelian principles are adopted but hybridized to represent each country’s uniqueness and to contribute to transmission of cultural values and norms.

Authors

• Mary Benson McMullen, Indiana University
  Presenting Author

• Tik Sze Carrey Siu, The Education University of Hong Kong
  Non-Presenting Author

• Maria Cooper, University of Auckland
  Presenting Author