What is it about?
The personal, emotional and subjective nature of caring for infants has received little attention in socioculturally informed infant pedagogies. This article aims to present an alternative way of conceptualising the subjective and affective nature of infant care and critiques the ‘downward’ sociological focus applied by many who advocate sociocultural approaches. The argument is made that sociologically oriented interpretations of sociocultural theory often seen in early childhood education offer teachers little guidance as to how to understand subjective experience, and in doing so, overlooks the vital role ‘personal’ emotions play in adult-infant relationships.
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Why is it important?
Early childhood research, theory and pedagogy have rightfully embraced sociocultural approaches to attend to the highly contextualised nature of learning and development. Yet I argue that the sociological orientation of caregiving pedagogies has potentially limited important exploration of the subjective and affective nature of this work. Quite simply, we need to know more about how teachers are experiencing the intensely emotional and personal work of caring for infants.
Perspectives
Research indicates that caregivers’ subjective experiences shape their interpretation of infants’ behaviour and will determine the extent to which they become emotionally attuned to the infants in their care. I would argue that although research points to the influence of adults’ internal states on caregiving behaviour, the dominant sociocultural discourse in early childhood education, has limited exploration of the impact of subjectivity in caregiving. ‘Perezhivanie’ a Vygotskian concept, however, highlights the importance of affective subjectivity on thought and behaviour and addresses a theoretical gap in macro-sociological interpretations of sociocultural theory.
Dr Margaret Brennan
Open Polytechnic of New Zealand
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Perezhivanie and the silent phenomenon in infant care: Rethinking socioculturally informed infant pedagogy, Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, July 2016, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/1463949116660953.
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