Written Critical Review

This written review must be based on the following two articles:

Albon, D., & Hellman, A. (2018). Of routine consideration: ‘Civilising’ children’s bodies via food events in Swedish and English early childhood settings. Ethnography and Education, 1-17.

Gallacher, L. (2005). ‘The terrible twos’: Gaining control in the nursery? Children’s Geographies, 3(2), 243-264.

Students should critically evaluate (both in positive and negative terms) aspects of the articles in terms of their explanatory potential, the research design (if applicable), and/or the relevance for understanding inequality in early childhood education (in respect of Ireland or indeed global or international contexts).

Articles should be critically compared in terms of the following interdependent criteria:

• authors’ selection and justification of the research problem/topic in terms of its relevance for understanding social inequalities in an educational context
• author’s selection and discussion of relevant concepts and theories
• clarity of the research questions/objectives
• suitability and adequacy of the research method(s) chosen (if applicable)
• the relevance of key Endings or arguments to early childhood education
• the extent to which the main research question/problem has been addressed
• credibility and explanatory power of the conclusions based on the evidence presented
• contribution to knowledge in the given field of inquiry
• flaws in the arguments based on the omission or underestimation of important social or cultural processes, issues, dimensions, etc
• the compelling nature of the arguments
• the capacity of the research to inform educational policy and practice
• applicability and relevance of the research to an Irish context