Pursuing a social justice agenda for early childhood education and care: Interrogating marketisation hegemony in the academy

Abstract

This chapter critiques the marketised provisioning of early childhood education and care that is entrenched in Australia and many Western countries. Focusing on neoliberal, market-individualism approaches to ECEC in Australia, and drawing on Fraser’s (Scales of justice: Reimagining political space in a globalizing world. New York: Columbia University Press, 2009) conceptualisation of social justice, inequitable outcomes for families on low incomes are highlighted, despite key ECEC policies over the past decade having been premised on explicit social justice principles. Given that these approaches are now hegemonic in education in Australia it may seem a futile exercise to promote alternatives that more authentically uphold social justice. This chapter argues that taking up such a challenge in the academy is imperative and draws on Sumsion’s (Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 31, 1-9, 2006) conceptual framework for political activism to proffer transformative ways forward.