The Routledge International Handbook of Froebel and Early Childhood Practice

"This comprehensive, thought provoking, scholarly, yet immensely practical, International Handbook of Froebel and Early Childhood Practice, edited by Tina Bruce, with Peter Elfer, Sacha Powell and Louie Werth, draws together an international range of highly respected authors, each of whom has taken a critical and reflective approach to the legacy of Froebel and made an unequivocal case for its relevance to modern, contemporary societies. Individually, each chapter provides an insight into the past and present application of Froebel’s principles to professional practice, projects or research, but collectively they stand as a testimony of the continued contribution of this seminal figure’s work to the future development of early childhood education. As such this book provides a rich resource to be plumbed by all those currently pursuing a reflective and action oriented approach to research, practice and policy in early childhood education and care. I believe anyone who engages with this handbook will be inspired and motivated by Froebel’s work, who stretches his hand across the years through these chapters to challenge and extend our current and future thinking, offering a set of guiding tenets which will ensure we adopt a similarly moral and informed stance as we work to develop quality services for all children and families wherever we reside."

Professor Chris Pascal, Centre for Research in Early Childhood, UK

"The Routledge International Handbook of Froebel and Early Childhood Practice: Re-articulating Research and Policy is a magisterial collection of papers about the Froebelian tradition in education and its renewal over the last two centuries. It is surely significant that this volume documents how Froebelian practice has brought hope and renewal in some of the most challenging environments for children on earth. Jacqui Cousins’s account of her project with Romanian orphans, and the work of Tina Bruce and Stella Louis in the settler camps of Kliptown in South Africa, particularly stand out.

The Froebelian tradition is especially important in at least two respects.

It has developed through processes of reflection and renewal over the years, whilst staying true to the values and principles of Frederich Froebel. The past informs, but does not control, the present. Much of the handbook is concerned with today’s pressing issues: children’s emotional wellbeing, involving parents in their children’s education, and developing appropriate curricula for 21st Century life.

Secondly, the Froebelian tutors and educators connect with the people they work with, rather than imposing their beliefs and programmes. In Japan, South Africa and Romania, and in disadvantaged areas of the United Kingdom, the Froebelian approach is to develop respectful partnerships, to see communities and families as assets to treasure, not problems to solve.

Froebel wrote that "children are like tiny flowers: they are varied and need care, but each is beautiful alone and glorious when seen in the community of peers." This collection of papers tells of important histories of thinking, questioning and reflecting, and a truly glorious community of practice."

​

Dr Julian Grenier, Headteacher and National Leader of Education, UK.