Fighting disadvantage as cultural colonization. A critical analysis of the English discourse on Early Years Education, social class and achievement

This presentation discusses the results of a sociological analysis concerned with the hegemonic discourse on the relationship between educational achievement and social class which permeates the debate about Early Years Education in England. Since the landmark report Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (2003), mainstream pedagogical research in England has recognised Early Years Education as a resource to counter socio-economic disadvantage from the early years of life, narrowing the gap in educational achievement. This claim underpins legislation (Every Child Matters 2003, Children Act 2004, Early Years Foundation Stage 2008/2012, Children and Family Act 2014) and was recently renewed by a report commissioned by OFSTED (2014). This presentation argues that the conceptual framework of mainstream research and legislation relies on the distinction ‘advantaged/disadvantaged’, borrowed from psychological theories on child’s development (for a review see Bjorklund and Pellegrini, 2000). Such distinction supports a ‘deficit approach’: children from low Socio-Economic Status (SES) are in a position of disadvantage when entering primary education due to deficit in their socialization (Johnson&Kossykh, 2008). The ideology and cultural capital underpinning educational curricula is unchallenged, while the cultural capital of children from low SES is transformed into a deficit to be narrowed, a problem to be solved. In the conclusion, the valorisation of diverse knowledges and values in School activities is argued as alternative to cultural assimilation, solving the aporia of inclusion of low SES children in education based on their marginalisation a deficit group. In particular, the possibility of a paradigm shift, from ‘filling the gap’ to ‘building on diversity’ is connected to child-initiated pedagogies, where low SES children are conceptualized as active contributors rather than disadvantaged object of educational programmes.