Theory to Practice in Early Childhood Education and Care

In order to consider what we mean by “theory to practice,” we must first consider what a theory is, whether there is any agreement among scholars about this, and what purpose theories serve. There are those who would make a series of observations about a phenomenon, string them together, draw some relationships among these observations, and then call it a “theory.” There are others who equate “theory” with “truth.” Neither of these definitions is what we have in mind as we try to explicate the process of putting theory into practice. Rather, we see theory as the lens that one uses to view a particular phenomenon, in this case early childhood education and care (ECEC). This lens is constructed through careful, empirical observations that help ...