Call for Papers: Mapping an Atlas of Hope and Possibility in Early Care and Education, Volume 13, No. 1 (March 2027)

2026-02-26

Special Issue Call for Papers: Mapping an Atlas of Hope and Possibility in Early Care and Education

Guest Editors: Dr. Cassie Sorrells, University of Tennessee, Knoxville & Akshaya Krishnamoorthy, Independent scholar

The 21st century landscape of early care and education (ECE) has seen a precipitous rise in the global influence of neoliberal educational discourse, resulting in widespread trends towards ‘schoolification’ (Bradbury, 2020) and ‘datafication’ of the early childhood classroom (Brogaard Clausen, 2015).  Moreover, in many parts of the world, these neoliberal logics are currently operationalized under the steadily encroaching shadow of political and cultural authoritarianism (Joules & Salajan, 2025; Sloan, 2026; Sousa & Moss, 2024). For many early childhood professionals, these realities are diametrically opposed to the ideals of care, equity, and justice that are so foundational to our daily work with children and families. On the most difficult days, it may even feel that these forces are so powerful that our most concerted efforts cannot stop their progress. 

This feeling of powerlessness represents more than an individual emotional reaction to challenging circumstances, however. Instead, it represents an intentionally cultivated ‘politics of inevitability’ (Snyder, 2018) which serves to bolster harmful systems by dampening our collective sense of agency and hope. Thus, in this moment, it becomes one of our powerful—most imperative— acts of resistance to refuse “the idea that there are no ideas…that there are no alternatives” (p. 17). 

Towards that end, this special issue aims to map an ‘atlas of hope and possibilities’ in the field of early care and education. We seek articles that document acts of principled resistance, joyful creation, and community care occurring within less-than-supportive (or even hostile) contexts and systems, as well as submissions that map the paths of those creating ‘real utopias’ (Moss, 2014) outside of dominant systems. Collected into this special issue, these works will tangibly challenge the lie inherent in this ‘politics of inevitability’ and demonstrate that we can, through ‘collective dreaming’ (Abril-Gonzales et al., 2024) and tangible action combined, create a more just, caring, and mutually sustaining world for children, families, and those who work for their benefit.

We are particularly interested in submissions that aim to connect larger political or theoretical concepts with the rhythms of day-to-day work in ECE. For example, authors might consider questions such as: 

  • What political and ethical commitments are central to the work happening in this context? And how are those commitments tangibly enacted in small daily moments between individuals and/or in organizational or community practices?
  • How are patterns of resistance and/or creative alternatives enacted and sustained over time, despite the challenges inherent to the current educational, cultural, and political climate? What tangible structural, interpersonal, cultural and/or community resources make these actions possible? 
  • Whose voices, stories, and histories are most powerful in shaping the work happening in this context? And whose voices are being marginalized or excluded?

We welcome submissions across a wide variety of research methodologies (including action research, arts-based research, and other less-traditional methodological designs) that document work happening at all levels of the field, ranging from the micro-level (e.g., autoethnographic research; case studies of work occurring within a single classroom) to the macro-level (e.g. research documenting regional policy & non-profit endeavors, or multi-site research collaborations). 

Finally, we encourage submissions from practitioners (or scholar-practitioner teams) working within the wide variety of contexts that comprise the field of ECE, including (but not limited to): community-based, non-profit, and public early care and education programs; early childhood centered non-profits; and health care & early intervention agencies. 

Please send an abstract of no more than 500 words using a 12-point font to csorrel4@utk.edu AND akshaya.space@gmail.com by March  20, 2026. Please write Global Education Review in the subject line of your email. Abstracts will be reviewed for fit, and you will be informed by April 10, 2026, if the article is invited for review. Full manuscripts will be due by October 31, 2026. The issue will be published in March 2027.

Authors of articles invited for review are required to participate in a blind review of up to two articles submitted for publication in the same issue.

 

 

References

Abril-Gonzalez, P., Harmon, F., & Pérez, M. (2024). Collective dreaming as conduits to enact just futures in childhood/s education and care. Global Studies of Childhood, 14(3), 294-305. https://doi.org/10.1177/20436106241267844 

Bradbury, A. (2020). Datafied at four: The role of data in the ‘schoolification’of early childhood education in England. In J. Jarke & A. Brieter (Eds.), The datafication of education (pp. 8-22). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2018.1511577

Brogaard Clausen, S. (2015). Schoolification or early years democracy? A cross-curricular perspective from Denmark and England. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 16(4), 355-373. https://doi.org/10.1177/1463949115616327

Jules, T., & Salajan, F. (2025). Intersecting (poly) crises, intersecting futures: Reimagining decolonial vistas in comparative and international education. Comparative Education Review, 69(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1086/735019

Moss, P. (2014). Transformative change and real utopias in early childhood education: A story of democracy, experimentation and potentiality. Routledge.

Sloan, K. (2026). Mapping American fascist tendencies and pedagogical responsibility in early childhood education. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood Education. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/14639491251403236

Sousa, D., & Moss, P. (2024). From anger to dreaming to real utopias: Re-thinking, re-conceptualising and re-forming (early childhood) education in the conditions of the times. Global Studies of Childhood, 14(3), 250-263. https://doi.org/10.1177/20436106241267781

Snyder, T. (2018). The road to unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America. Crown.