England’s Foundation Stage Child in a Shifting World: Troubling Grids of Reasoning of “Children with Potential,” “Normalization,” and “Value-Added” Curriculum

Abstract

In many countries national dialogues about education for “early childhood” or “early years” children have become a priority. These dialogues ask important questions about the quality of curriculum, the preparation of practitioners, the types and levels of funding, the value of education for younger children, and the prioritization of programs for all young children or solely for children “at risk.” Advocates for young children have long urged that all of these questions be considered and many nations have recently implemented policies that vary widely in their national responses to these questions and commitment to early childhood learning. England has chosen intriguing solutions to these questions and this chapter will analyze and critique a few of these ideas while looking at points of rupture in discourses about young children as citizens and proto-citizens.