© John Matthews 2003

First published 2003

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Library of Congress Control Number: 200210727

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 0 7619 4785 X

ISBN 0 7619 4786 8 (pbk)

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Note: In this book I have mostly used the pronouns ‘her’, ‘hers’ for children in general, unless I am referring to a particular, male individual. Although (sadly) the vast majority of early childhood educators are women, I have used the pronoun ‘him’ and ‘his’ when referring to the teacher in general. I will also be obliged to use the terms, ‘teaching, teacher, learning, learner’, although I no longer believe in such things. I will be obliged to refer to other imaginary entities like ‘subjects’ and ‘disciplines’. The readers should bear in mind that these are convenient but artificial labels for aspects of processes we do not understand. I will also be forced to make a distinction between something called ‘development’ and something called ‘learning’, although, I believe, no such distinction exists.