Developmentalism in Early Childhood and Middle Grades Education: Critical Conversations on Readiness and Responsiveness

The authors in this comprehensive collection challenge dominant discourses and practices in the fields of early childhood and middle grades education that are based on the last century's grade developmental theories. They examine the notion of development in their own work by employing various alternative frameworks, including Bakhtinian ideas, Buddhism, cultural psychology, and post-structuralism. Exploring issues related to developmentalism within and across the fields, Lee and Vagle invite readers to participate in the cross-field dialogue which provides new language and perspectives for the education of young children, adolescents, and teachers in both fields.

Kyunghwa Lee is Associate Professor in Early Childhood Education at the University of Georgia. A former kindergarten teacher from Korea, Lee explores cultural psychology as an alternative framework of the twentieth century's grand developmental theories. She utilizes ethnography and cross-national research to examine various sociohistorical constraints that both support and hinder teaching and learning. Her work has been published in various journals, including Early Childhood Education Journal, Early Childhood Research & Practice, Educational Technology Research and Development, International Journal of Early Childhood Education, Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, Journal of Early Childhood Research, and Journal of Research in Childhood Education. She has guest-edited (with Stacey Neuharth-Pritchett) a special issue, "Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder across Cultures: Development and Disability in Contexts," of Early Child Development and Care.
Mark D. Vagle is Assistant Professor of Middle Grades education in the Department of Elementary and Social Studies Education at the University of Georgia. Before working in higher education, Vagle taught in elementary and middle schools and was a middle school assistant principal. Vagle received his Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. His current research and teaching can be broadly described as a continual pursuit of the dynamic interaction (tension, struggle) between relational and technical dimensions of pedagogy, especially as such dimensions are lived in context and over time. To this end, Vagle draws on critical perspectives and uses phenomenology in his research. Vagle's work has been published or is in press in the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, Handbook of Research in Middle Level Education (volume 6), Research in Middle Level Education Online, National Reading Conference Yearbook, Education and Culture, and Pedagogies: An International Journal.