Xu, P., & Ritchie, J. Neoliberalism, citizenship, and young children: Exploring discursive constructions of citizenship in early childhood curricula in China and Aotearoa New Zealand. (2025) Global Studies of Childhood
https://doi.org/10.1177/20436106241311639
Abstract
As an entitlement to rights, well-being and equity, young children’s citizenship lays the foundation for a democratic, just and sustainable world. This article interrogates the discursive constructions of ‘citizenship’ within recent early childhood curriculum documents in China and Aotearoa New Zealand. Since the 1990s, both nations have released national curricula to facilitate children’s growth and learning, unveiling the potential of children to act as competent and active citizens. A previous study explained ways in which citizenship in both nations’ curricula is discursively constructed as a ‘neoliberal construction’. However, other possible constructions of children’s citizenship are worthy of exploration. This article draws from the first author’s doctoral study and further examines alternative discursive constructions of children’s citizenship in both nations’ curricula to address this research gap. Engaging a post-structural positioning that incorporates critiques of power and knowledge drawing from the work of Michel Foucault, we present examples of ways that young children’s citizenship is discursively constructed as (1) development and preparation, (2) rights and participation and (3) relationships and connectedness. The power of cultural and historical discourses in creating these constructions is explored, whereby neoliberal discourse may either be problematised or strengthened.
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