Conceptual analysis uncovers Euro-Western biases in early childhood frameworks, highlighting the need to integrate Indigenous relational ontologies and belonging-with Country.
Key Points
To examine and reconceptualize how equity, inclusion, and belonging are framed in Australian early childhood policy and practice through Indigenous and critical theoretical lenses.
Critical policy and literature review of the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF V2.0) alongside scholarship on care, book sharing, and cultural responsiveness.
Theoretical synthesis drawing on Indigenist research, Red Pedagogy, and Aboriginal relational ontologies.
Qualitative analysis using illustrative pedagogical vignettes examining reading practices, care assemblages, and community-engaged blogging.
Dominant early childhood frameworks individualize belonging and reinforce Euro-Western, anthropocentric ontologies that marginalize First Nations perspectives and Country.
Belonging is reframed as an accountable, place-based, more-than-human relation grounded in First Nations sovereignties and decolonial pedagogical practices.