Understanding context, understanding practice in early education

SUMMARY In 2001 Erica Burman offered a strong critique of the individually oriented developmental psychology which, she argued, underpinned much of early years' practice. She proposed that this should be replaced by an attempt to understand how culture informs development. In this paper I attempt to continue the discussion started by Burman by looking at how context is incorporated into pedagogy. Drawing on sociocultural and activity theory frameworks, I demonstrate the importance of looking simultaneously at activities, actions and operations and how they are produced in the dynamics of settings as activity systems. Using examples from an intervention study with preschool practitioners I suggest that these frameworks allow us to trace relationships between context and practice in ways which can form a basis for the development of practice.