Abstract:
Within the field of early childhood education, the ideologies of child development and its
parent discipline, developmental psychology, dominate both theory and practice. In recent years,
educators have attempted to reconceptualise early childhood education by adopting more
progressive approaches to teaching and learning. The aim of this present research study was to
critically examine the experiences of early childhood educators who have adopted a Reggioinspired approach to educating young children. To explore their experiences, an institutional
ethnography was employed involving seven educators from a large child care organization in
Hamilton, Ontario. In line with the intent ofthis study, qualitative data were collected through
in-depth semi-structured interviews, participant-observations and textual analyses to explore the
presence of developmental-psychological ideologies within early childhood education and
Reggio-inspired practice. The present study also examined the challenges faced by educators
who have adopted a Reggio-inspired approach. The results of this study indicate that ideologies
associated with the developmental-psychological paradigm dominate the practice of early
childhood educators and that the conflicting ideologies that surround Reggio educators may play
a role in some of the challenges educators experience. The findings of this study thus
demonstrate a need to adopt alternative approaches toward understanding both children and
childhood, in both early childhood educational theory and practice.
