The need to reform pedagogical practice in Peruvian schools has been on the country’s policy agenda at least since the mid-1990s. Since then, the country has undergone several attempts at reform through curriculum change and various in-service training attempts that relied on top-down implementation models and achieved only partial changes. In 2013, an innovative programme named Soporte Pedagogico (SP) devised a strategy to work on changes from within schools and intervening in several key areas at once. It combined teacher mentoring with training workshops, strategies to strengthen a school’s pedagogical leadership, remedial strategies for students lagging behind and parental involvement for improving learning. In sum, an integral approach to reform pedagogical practice. While implementation and impact evaluations showed great promise in the programme, the Ministry of Education introduced cuts and later dismantled the programme. The story of SP is illustrative of how the political economy of education policy making and reform operates in contexts described as Sysiphean states, whose weak institutions give rise to often erratic policy making processes. The case of SP also speaks about how competing visions of education – technocratic versus pedagogically minded – might clash and work against promising change strategies.

Chapter 10 explores how young children’s science identity can be enhanced when thoughtful pedagogy is provided by the EC professional. The first part of this chapter presents the definitions of science identity and pedagogy, followed by an exploration of the relationship between EC professional beliefs and what they teach. The second half of the chapter presents two case studies to illustrate pedagogical practices associated with the learning and teaching of science with young children, using play as a medium, in order to enhance their science identity.

This chapter explores how young children’s science identity can be enhanced when thoughtful pedagogy is provided by the educator/teacher. The first part of this chapter presents the definitions of science identity and pedagogy, followed by an exploration of the relationship between educator/teacher beliefs and what they teach. The second half of the chapter presents two case studies to illustrate pedagogical practices associated with learning and teaching of science with young children, using play as a medium. These two case studies are interpreted using the five learning outcomes of the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) to highlight young children’s developing science identity.