Philippine E-Journals

Educational policyscapes in four early childhood settings: US, UK, China (PRC) and New Zealand

Carol Mutch | Younghee Kim | Dilly Tawakkul

Discipline: Early Childhood Education

 

Abstract:

Stromquist (2005) contends that with the impact of globalization, education policies have come to resemble each other and are increasingly interconnected. This article compares and contrasts four different early childhood policy settings – the UK, US, New Zealand and China (PRC). The theoretical framework that underpins the analysis and discussion of the four settings is drawn from the notion of policyscapes (Carney, 2009). This highlights some of the ideological tensions and paradoxes within the policy contexts for each setting and allows for further discussion on how each context is influenced by international trends and themes but because of their unique historical, cultural, economic and political situations develop their own hybrid variations.