Includes bibliographical references (p. [185]-197) and index.

1. Changing paradigms in early childhood education : critical perspectives on diversity and difference in doing social justice in early childhood education -- Introduction -- Writing this book -- Children's perceptions of difference -- Constructions of childhood -- Hierarchies of difference : early childhood educators, diversity and social justice -- Shifting paradigms in early childhood education : a historical overview -- What is postmodernism? -- What is poststructuralism? -- A feminist poststructural approach -- Other social theories influencing this book -- Chapter overviews -- Recommended reading -- 2. Doing feminist poststructuralist theory with early childhood educators -- Introduction -- What is feminist poststructuralism? -- Understanding the 'self' : the feminist poststructuralist subject -- The process of subjectification -- What has all this got to do with teaching children? -- Implications for practice in early childhood education -- Conclusion -- Recommended reading -- 3. Local and global social relations : critical perspectives on class and inequality -- Introduction -- What is globalization? -- Class relations and cultural reproduction in a globalized world -- Neoliberalism and globalization -- Relationships between globalization and neoliberalism -- Education, globalization and neoliberalism -- Globalization and forced immigration -- Asylum seekers and refugees -- Corporatization of childhood -- Macro-economic policies and their impact on children and childhood -- Implications for early childhood education -- Conclusion -- Recommended reading --

4. 'It's more than black dolls and brown paint' : critical multiculturalism, whiteness and early childhood education -- Introduction -- Multiculturalism as policy and practice -- Limits to multicultural pluralism -- Whiteness and multiculturalism -- Whiteness and indigeneity -- Multiculturalism and early childhood education -- Liberal pluralism in early childhood education -- Whiteness and mainstream early childhood curricula -- Practitioners' responses to children's understandings of 'race', ethnicity and cultural difference -- Assumed absences and invisible identities -- Children's experiences of whiteness, racism and inequality -- Rubie and Martín : a cast study -- Towards critical multiculturalism in early childhood education : implications for practice -- Going beyond culture as 'celebration' -- Adopting a reflexive stance towards cultural and racial differences -- Conclusion -- Recommended reading -- 5. Families as performative social spaces : reconceptualizing the family for social justice -- Introduction -- What is a family? -- Reconceptualizing family as performative social spaces : a feminist poststructuralist perspective -- Changing practices in a changing world : current challenges to families -- Social theories of 'the family' -- The social construction of motherhood and fatherhood -- Families of 'choice' : doing family differently -- Families from non-English-speaking backgrounds -- The impact of globalization on doing family -- The position and 'role' of children in families -- Implications for practice in early childhood education -- Conclusion -- Recommended reading --

6. Bilingualism identity and English as a globalized language -- Introduction -- English as a globalized language -- Learning English at the expense of the home language -- Towards critical understandings of equity in language retention and language learning -- Research into staff practices and attitudes towards language retention and second language learning issues -- Constructing the deficit 'needy' bilingual child -- Bilingual children's negotiation of languages and identity -- Implications for practice -- Conclusion -- Recommended reading -- 7. Gender performativity in early childhood education -- Introduction -- What is gender? : a feminist poststructuralist perspective -- Sex roles and socialization theory : a critique -- 'Biology is destiny' : the discourse of biological determinism, a critique -- A glimpse of educators' perspectives on gender -- Current approaches to gender equity in early childhood education -- The heterosexualization of gender : Butler's performativity and 'heterosexual matrix' -- Heterosexualization and heteronormativity in early childhood education -- Liberatory potentials of non-normative discourses of gender -- Implications for practices in early childhood education -- Conclusion -- Recommended reading --

8. The lion, the witch and the 'closet' : dealing with sexual identity issues in early childhood education -- Introduction -- Feminist poststructuralism and sexual identities -- Queer theory and sexual identity -- Other theoretical perspectives on sexual identity -- Discourses of childhood and sexuality -- What is heteronormativity? -- Heteronormativity in early childhood education -- Myths about gay and lesbian people -- Homophobia and heterosexism in early childhood settings -- Out of sight, out of mind : 'compulsory heterosexuality' and the invisibility of sexual others -- The inclusion of sexual others : legitimating difference within 'the family' -- What about children's voices? -- Implications for practice in early childhood education -- Conclusion -- Recommended reading -- 9. The challenge of diversity and difference to early childhood education -- Introduction -- Promoting theoretical understandings of childhood, diversity and difference -- Positioning children and families within discourses of deficit -- Fostering children's critical thinking around diversity and difference -- Out of sight, out of mind -- Developing inclusive policies and procedures around diversity and difference -- Communicating with families and communities -- The role of management bodies -- The importance of professional development for early childhood educators -- Further research into diversity and difference in early childhood education -- Conclusion : taking personal and professional risks for social justice -- Glossary.