<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p> In this paper I reflect on the dilemma critical early childhood research finds itself in today. In order to distinguish and distance ourselves from the certainties and seemingly unquestionable truths of post-political, mainstream, ‘normalised’ research and its entanglement with neoliberal agendas and corporate interests, have we rendered ourselves irrelevant in the struggle for social justice that once formed the basis for critical inquiry in our field? What hope can there be to (re-)claim the political in our research, and what new (and old) alliances can we count on?</p></abstract>

In this paper I reflect on the dilemma critical early childhood research finds itself in today. In order to distinguish and distance ourselves from the certainties and seemingly unquestionable truths of post-political, mainstream, ‘normalised’ research and its entanglement with neoliberal agendas and corporate interests, have we rendered ourselves irrelevant in the struggle for social justice that once formed the basis for critical inquiry in our field? What hope can there be to (re-)claim the political in our research, and what new (and old) alliances can we count on?

At sea: What direction for critical early childhood research?

University of Roehampton, Early Childhood Research Centre, School of Education, Roehampton Lane, SW15 5PU, London, UK

Journal of Pedagogy

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

{"article-title":"At sea: What direction for critical early childhood research?"}

In this paper I reflect on the dilemma critical early childhood research finds itself in today. In order to distinguish and distance ourselves from the...

At sea: What direction for critical early childhood research?

Published Online: Aug 19, 2016

Page range: 107 - 121

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jped-2016-0007

Keywords
normal science, critical inquiry, political inquiry, critical early childhood research, directivity of critical research

© by Mathias Urban

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

At sea: What direction for critical early childhood research?

Published Online: Aug 19, 2016

Page range: 107 - 121

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jped-2016-0007

Keywordsnormal science, critical inquiry, political inquiry, critical early childhood research, directivity of critical research

© by Mathias Urban

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
normal science, critical inquiry, political inquiry, critical early childhood research, directivity of critical research