Social justice in early years education : practices and understandings

The current political context necessitates discussions of social justice within education, and here we bring together early childhood professionals from a variety of perspectives to become part of the important debates that must be had. This special issue of Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood was first conceived at a meeting of academics interested in social justice in early childhood education in Albury, NSW, Australia. All of the editors are members of the Social Justice strand of the ARC Funded Excellence in Research in Early Years Education Collaborative Research Network (CRN), which is led by Charles Sturt University in partnership with Queensland University of Technology and Monash University. Some of the authors in this issue are also members of this research network, but their work is presented here with that of others from a variety of contexts. We believe that the combination of perspectives taken challenges old thinking about social justice in early years education in innovative ways.