Child-centered education: Incorporating reconceptualism and poststructuralism

Abstract

Reconceptualists and poststructuralists increasingly criticize child-centered pedagogy as being overly reliant on outmoded notions of (developmentally appropriate) practices. Reconceptualists believe that developmental theories should be critically examined cross culturally, whereas poststructuralists work from a social perspective to reconstruct views of a child based on his or her multiple meaning making and discourse. This paper shows that the tenor of following a child's lead is a product of three paradigms (child-centeredness, reconceptualism and poststructuralism) and differences in the scopes of understanding of a child and his or her acts of inquiry. Incorporating these paradigms can..