Interrogating ‘Belonging’ in Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia

Abstract

In this article, the authors interrogate the use of ‘belonging’ in Belonging, Being and Becoming: the Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (EYLF), Australia's first national curriculum for early childhood education and care settings and, from the authors' interrogation, possibilities are offered for thinking about and working with the EYLF in critical and transformative ways. In order to scaffold their interrogation, the authors develop a cartography of understandings of belonging drawn from diverse disciplinary and theoretical perspectives. The cartography highlights multiple, interconnected dimensions (ways of belonging) and analytical axes (dynamics and politics of belonging). The analysis indicates direct or implicit reference in the EYLF to many dimensions of belonging, but an apparent silence about the politics of belonging. The authors argue that the silences should not be interpreted as apolitical, but rather as a strategic response to political pressures shaping the EYLF's development.