A genealogical study of ‘the child’ as the subject of pre-compulsory education in Western Australia by Zsuzsa Millei This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Murdoch University Year of Submission: 2007 DECLARATION I declare that this thesis is my own account of my research and contains as its main content work which has not previously been submitted for a degree at any tertiary education institution. ………….……………… Zsuzsa Millei ii ABSTRACT The study produces a genealogy of ‘the child’ as the shifting subject constituted by the confluence of discourses that are utilized by, and surround, Western Australian pre- compulsory education. The analysis is approached as a genealogy of governmentality building on the work of Foucault and Rose, which enables the consideration of the research question that guides this study: How has ‘the child’ come to be constituted as a subject of regimes of practices of pre-compulsory education in Western Australia? This study does not explore how the historical discourses changed in relation to ‘the child’ as a universal subject of early education, but it examines the multiple ways ‘the child’ was constituted by these discourses as the subject at which government is to be aimed, and whose characteristics government must harness and instrumentalize. Besides addressing the research question, the study also develops a set of intertwining arguments. In these the author contends that ‘the child’ is invented through historically contingent ideas about the individual and that the way in which ‘the child’ is constituted in pre-compulsory education shifts in concert with the changing problematizations about the government of the population and individuals. Further, the study demonstrates the necessity to understand the provision of pre-compulsory education as a political practice. Looking at pre-compulsory education as a political practice de-stabilizes the taken- for-granted constitutions of ‘the child’ embedded in present theories, practices and research with children in the field of early childhood education. It also enables the de- and reconstruction of the notions of children’s ‘participation’, ‘empowerment’ and ‘citizenship’. The continuous de- and reconstruction of these notions and the de- iii stabilization of the constitutions of ‘the child’ creates a framework in which improvement is possible, rather than “a utopian, wholesale and, thus revolutionary, transformation” in early education (Branson & Miller, 1991, p. 187). This study also contributes to the critiques of classroom discipline approaches by reconceptualizing them as technologies of government in order to reveal the power relations they silently wield. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration ________________________________________________________ ii Abstract __________________________________________________________ iii Table of contents____________________________________________________ v Acknowledgement__________________________________________________ xi Foreword _________________________________________________________ xii PART ONE Introduction - Chapter One ______________________________________________ 1 1. Constitutions of ‘the child’_______________________________________________ 1 2. Contemporary constitutions of ‘the child’ ___________________________________ 5 3. Research question______________________________________________________ 9 4. Outline of chapters ____________________________________________________ 10 Governmentality - Chapter Two _________________________________________ 15 1. Introduction _________________________________________________________ 15 2. Governmentality and the new ways of governing ____________________________ 16 3. Government, power and the subject _______________________________________ 21 3.1. The subject ________________________________________________________ 28 4. Rationalities and technologies of government _______________________________ 30 5. Modes of governing individuals and the subject _____________________________ 32 5.1. ‘Early’ liberalism____________________________________________________ 34 5.2. ‘Social’ liberalism ___________________________________________________ 36 5.3. ‘Neo-liberalism’ and ‘advanced’ liberalism _______________________________ 39 6. The Study of governmentality ___________________________________________ 50 6.1. Methodological considerations _________________________________________ 52 6.2. Methodology _______________________________________________________ 54 1. Introduction _________________________________________________________ 59 v 2. Methodological and structural considerations _______________________________ 61 PART TWO A genealogy of ‘the child’: the emergence of individualized pedagogy - Chapter three ____________________________________________________________________65 1. Introduction__________________________________________________________ 65 2. The institutionalisation and regulation of ‘the child’ __________________________ 66 3.1. The emergence of individualized pedagogy – envisioning ‘the child’____________ 70 3.1.1. The question of growth and the ‘nature’ of ‘the child’ ______________________ 72 3.1.2. Setting up the framework for child growth _______________________________ 74 3.1.3. The ‘envisioned citizen’ encompassing progress __________________________ 76 3.1.4. Mapping the ‘natural’ child’s development ______________________________ 78 3.1.5. The nature of ‘the child’ _____________________________________________ 80 3.2. Individualized pedagogy – the great pedagogues ___________________________ 82 3.2.1. Froebel’s pedagogy_________________________________________________ 83 3.2.2. Montessori’s pedagogy ______________________________________________ 87 3.2.3. The ideas of McMillan and Isaacs _____________________________________ 89 3.3. Individual pedagogy – teacher training ___________________________________ 91 A genealogy of ‘the child’: Child-centred and interactive pedagogy - Chapter Four 93 1. Introduction__________________________________________________________ 93 2.1. Child-centred pedagogy – the conceptual framework ________________________ 94 2.1.1. ‘The child’ as a rational developer of its scientific competencies______________ 95 2.1.2. ‘The child’ and the social ____________________________________________ 98 2.2. Child-centred pedagogy - practice ______________________________________ 101 3.1. Interactive pedagogy ________________________________________________ 104 3.1.1. The flexible, response-ready, enterprising child __________________________ 107 3.1.2. The self-constructing and active child _________________________________ 110 4. Summary___________________________________________________________ 114 vi Regimes of practice: classroom discipline approaches and ‘the child’ - Chapter Five ___________________________________________________________________ 117 1. Introduction ________________________________________________________ 117 2. Government through discipline approaches ________________________________ 119 3. The emergence of modern discipline approaches____________________________ 124 3.1. Rationales of discipline ______________________________________________ 128 4. Classroom management approaches and ways of governing individuals__________ 130 4.1. Interventionist approaches____________________________________________ 131 4.2. Interactive approaches_______________________________________________ 134 4.3. Non-interventionist approaches________________________________________ 138 5. Discipline approaches in early childhood and constitutions of ‘the child’_________ 144 5.1. ‘The child’ as a subject of government __________________________________ 148 5.2. Governing ‘the child’ through social competence__________________________ 150 5.3. Governing ‘the child’ through ethics____________________________________ 152 5.4. Governing the ‘active’ and ‘free’ child __________________________________ 154 6. Summary __________________________________________________________ 156 PART THREE 1. Introduction ________________________________________________________ 159 Genealogies of governmentality in Western Australian pre-compulsory education (1870s – 1980s) and ‘the child’ - Chapter Six______________________________ 165 1. 1870s until the end of WWII.___________________________________________ 165 1.1. The birth of the nation and citizenry ____________________________________ 166 1.2. Technologies of nation building _______________________________________ 171 1.2.1. The creation of the education system in Australia ________________________ 171 1.2.2. Child minding and kindergartens to serve the national interest ______________ 173 1.2.3. Child welfare legislations___________________________________________ 177 2. From the post-war period until the 1970s__________________________________ 180 2.1. Governmental rationality and the discursive field__________________________ 181 2.1.1. Equality of opportunity ____________________________________________ 184 vii 2.1.2. Human Capital Theory _____________________________________________ 189 2.2. Discourses of education and care_______________________________________ 192 2.3. Difference and educational policy ______________________________________ 196 3. Conclusion _________________________________________________________ 199 Constitutions of ‘the child’ from the 1870s – 1980s - Chapter Seven____________201 1. Introduction_________________________________________________________ 201 2. Changing times – from 1870s until the late 1930s ___________________________