"This is a must-read for early childhood teachers, teacher educators, and policy makers interested in understanding how Asian educational systems are embracing change and the ways in which teachers are engaging with these policies in their everyday work. The detailed descriptions of classroom environments, materials and learning activities bring readers into these Asian contexts and show how cultural, colonial, global, and local forces are at work. A highly readable and important book."--Mindy Blaise, Associate Professor, the Hong Kong Institute of Education"In this unique book, Amita Gupta portrays specific contexts of early childhood education in five countries in Asia and offers readers concrete meanings of the oft-used word globalization. Despite the geographic distance from the 'west,' she illustrates how shared issues, such as child-appropriate curricula and teacher education, intersect and present similar challenges for early educators across national borders. With clearly documented details, the author illustrates the need for a negotiated space—a 'third space'—where educators may draw on policies and practices from the west, but then choose to interpret and enact them in culturally embedded and ultimately richly hybridized ways."--Celia Genishi, Professor Emerita, Teachers College, Columbia University
