Nikolai Veresov

This chapter provides a critical analysis of existing cultural-historical theorisations of contexts and presents possible directions for further development of the cultural-historical analysis of the contexts of contemporary childhood. The chapter proposes an advanced theoretical model of analysis of contemporary contexts through the theoretical concepts of social environment, social situation of development, inter/intra-psychological drama and perezhivanie (Veresov in Subjectivity within cultural-historical approach. Springer, pp. 61–86, 2019) driven by Vygotsky’s theoretical framework (Vygotsky in pedological works: Foundations of pedology. Springer, Vol. 1, 2019; L.S. Vygotsky’s Pedological Works. Volume 2. The Problem of Age. Springer, 2021). This new model theoretically frames the research programs presented in this book.

This chapter begins with a panoramic overview of the main and most influential theories informing current research and pedagogical practices on contexts and their role in in child learning and development (attachment theory, ecological theory, transactional theory, cultural psychology). We examine this theoretical panorama in three interrelated dimensions: (1) historical dimension which includes “classical” and emerging contemporary theoretical frameworks that remain the most influential in pedagogical practices; (2) developmental dimension which explores theoretical approaches which keep in focus the relations between contexts and development and allow to study from different angles the role of contexts in the development of children; (3) the problematising dimension exploring what kinds of challenges the contemporary research is bringing to traditional and classical views of contexts and their role in child learning and development. In our opinion, this overview provides some grounds to conclude that new theoretical approaches (cultural psychology as an example) make it possible to move from the classical understanding of the role of contexts to a new understanding of contexts across the borders.The chapter goes on to provide a brief overview of research on a diverse range of contexts. Our task was to identify the main trends and tendencies of reconceptualisation of contexts and their role in the child’s development, such as the tendency of moving from classical “gene-environmental correlation” approach to contemporary environmental neuroscience and the shift from schoolification of change to digital and Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) learning as well as the of new emerging contexts such as multicultural, play-based pedagogy and digital educational contexts. In our opinion, this overview provides some grounds to conclude that new theoretical approaches (cultural psychology as an example) make it possible to move from the classical understanding of the role of contexts to a new understanding of contexts across the borders.

This chapter delves into the bi-cultural context shaping second-generation Chinese Australian children’s school transition, through a cultural-historical framework. Grounded in Vygotsky’s cultural-historical theory, it asserts the indispensable role of culture in child development and critiques the decontextualized study on child development in existing literature. Employing Veresov’s model, it distinguishes between broad socio-cultural context, bi-cultural context, and the social situation of development to analyze the construction and reconstruction of the bi-cultural context. A case study illustrates these concepts, emphasizing the dynamic interaction between children’s development and the bi-cultural context in which children are situated. The chapter argues for a non-judgmental view of culture and stresses the need for understanding the complex interplay of cultural contexts in child development. By focusing on the second-generation Chinese Australian children’s experiences, it contributes to the cultural-historical discourse on child development, advocating for a holistic approach that considers the bi-cultural nuances of children's transitional experiences.

Based on the genetic-analytical model, this chapter explores the complexities and dynamics in the construction and reconstruction of the bi-cultural context through a case study of a second-generation Chinese Australian child, Covin, during his transition to primary school. It begins with illustrating the nature of the bi-cultural context Covin navigated by delineating his Chinese cultural context and his Australian cultural context respectively, followed by a comprehensive analysis of how this bi-cultural context was shaped and reshaped during the transitions. The findings highlight the crucial role of the family, kindergarten, and primary school, alongside Covin’s proactive engagement in constructing and reconstructing the bi-cultural context, thereby uncovering an intricate web of cultural negotiation.

In this chapter, building on Vygotsky’s seminal work on the role of play in the psychological development of the child, we introduce the concept of play context as a special space of play in which all the main components of play (imaginary situation, play actions, rules, roles) can be seen in a dialectical unity of external and internal aspects. We believe that the concept of play context not only extends the possibilities of analysis and opens up new opportunities, but also shows that the genetic-analytical model of analysis can be applied to investigate different kinds and types of children’s play. The introduction to play context allows a change of focus of analysis from the process of play to the child in play, making it possible to see play not through the eyes of the researcher but through the eyes of the child, through her position in this context and her relationship with the different components and aspects of the play context.

This chapter presents an experimental study of the development of executive functions (EF) in young children in play contexts by two groups of researchers in Australia and Russia.Both studies had a common purpose—to investigate the development of EF in children in specific play contexts—the Playworlds in the first research project and the sociodramatic play context in the second. Both projects took a cultural-historical approach to the psychological development of the child as a common theoretical basis and, were based on a common theoretical vision of the nature of EF and their development. Despite the common theoretical approach, in the first study EF was considered more as imbedded in social practices, whereas in the second research, the analysis was built on a general cultural-historical analytic-genetical model (Veresov in Subjectivity within cultural-historical approach: Theory, methodology and research. Springer Singapore, pp. 61–83, 2019). In addition, the second experimental study was focused more on analysis of the process of development of EF using theoretical concepts of the social situation of development, perezhivanie and drama.

Children’s learning of dispositions (e.g., social and emotional skills, inquiry thinking, and problem-solving) has become a strong research focus concerning children’s digital-play contexts. This chapter theorises how aspects of perezhivanie—particularly the role of emotions, emotional attitudes, and related experiences—can shape children’s communication and social-emotional learning dispositions within digital-play contexts. We examine how perezhivanie contributes to meaning-making through children’s representations as a way to harness STEM learning abilities within digital-play (e.g., robotics and game-based) environments.

In this introductory chapter, we would like to introduce the main narratives of this book as a result of the collaboration of three authors. We believe that, from the beginning, it is essential to introduce to the reader our shared vision and interpretation of the content and the structure of the book. We have deliberately included in the title three main ideas, three keywords that we believe have shaped the content and structure of the book: contexts, child development, and cultural-historical research and practice. These three main thematic lines, which not only unify the book and run through its entire content determining its composition, are the main substantive discourses that all three authors share and frame their research.

This chapter summarises the book. In this book, we offer a theorisation of social contexts, drawing on the theoretical and experimental tradition of Vygotsky's cultural-historical psychology and a further development of the genetic-analytical model (Vygotsky, 1997, Vygotsky, in Vygotsky’s pedological works: Foundations of pedology. Volume 1. Springer, 2019). We also show through several examples of case studies and experimental research how this approach can inform studies into contexts of children’s play, learning in different contexts. The cultural-historical theorisation and related research strategies presented in this book have two characteristics which are: (1) development-centred and (2) child-centred. Examples from a variety of experimental studies presented in this book show that the genetic-analytical model provides opportunities to explore the role of contexts in child development in greater depth. At the end of the chapter, we provide the recommendations for application of new interdisciplinary contexts of play, learning and development. Future research in early childhood education should re-look the ways in which the social environment and the social situation is the source of development where the child lives, grows, learns, and can thrive within the contexts presented to the child.

This book examines the pedagogical encounters within children's ecological and socio-cultural historical contexts, and aspects of playful learning and development within these contexts. It addresses research and practices varying across learning contexts, providing easily adaptable exemplary practices leading to children's positive learning and development. The book offers a unified general cultural-historical theoretical model for exploring new contexts at different stages of children's learning and development. It suggests studying contexts as a source of development, as social situations of development. It analyzes play, early learning and the transition from play to school learning. It also explores the role of teachers and parents in supporting the development of executive functions, digital literacy, creative inquiries, problem solving and creativity as necessary and important prerequisites of children's school academic achievements. This volume contributes to the discourse on how children's learning is shaped in the 21st century era. It equips educators and parents with new and effective methods of creating developing contexts in their daily practice and to fully utilize the developing potential of existing contexts.

It was not only Marxism which influenced Vygotsky. He was a child of the Silver Age of Russian culture and philosophy and the influence of this should not be underestimated. Some traits in Vygotsky’s theory, traditionally considered as Marxist – such as the concept of the social origins of mind or sign as psychological tool have deeper and wider roots in works of Shpet, Blonsky, Sorokin and Meierhold. As for Marxism as such, it must be mentioned that during all three periods of his creative evolution Vygotsky had different approaches to what was true Marxist psychology and how it should be built. These are items this paper is focused on.

This book draws upon Vygotsky's idea of perezhivanie, emotions and imagination, and introduces the concepts of subjective sense and subjective configuration. These concepts are crucial for explaining and understanding children's development from a cultural-historical perspective. A book which theorises the relations between the social and the individual through a study of a child's perezhivanie, which analyses emotions more holistically, and advances the concepts of subjective sense and subjective configuration, is much needed. This book examines the complexity of human development through a comprehensive elaboration of these concepts, allowing for new insights to be put forward. It doesn't always follow the chronological order of Vygotsky's publications, as many of his works remained in the family archives until the 1980s, when his Selected Works were first published in Russian. There has long been a need for a contemporary book on the scholarly treatment of perezhevanie, emotions, and subjectivity, and as such this book revisits dominant representations of these concepts and then puts forward new ways of conceptualising and using them in empirical research. The chapters cover a broad range of case studies where the concepts of perezhivanie, emotions and imagination and subjective sense and subjective configuration are used to give new empirical and theoretical insights into the study of human development.

The cultural-historical approach provides the deep theoretical grounds for the analysis of children’s play. Vygotsky suggested three critical features of play: switching to an imaginary situation, taking on a play role, and acting according to a set of rules defined by the role. Collaboration, finding ideas and materials for creating an imaginary situation, defining play roles, and planning the plot are complex tasks for children. However, the question is, do children need educator’s support during the play to develop their executive functions, and to what extent? This experimental study was aimed at answering this inquiry. The four modes of sociodramatic play were created which differed in the adult intervention, from non-involvement in the play to its entire organization. The play could be child-led, adult-led, or free ; and there was also a control group where the children heard the same stimulus stories as the other groups but then followed them up with a drawing activity instead of a play activity. The study revealed that, firstly, the ways of educator’s involvement in the play differed in their potential in respect to the development of executive functions, and, secondly, this influence was not equal for different components of executive functions. Free play in the experiment was not a beneficial condition for the development of any of the studied components of executive functions, compared to the conditions involving the participation of an adult in the play. Furthermore, the type of adult intervention stimulated the development of various executive functions. The entire organization of the play by the adult had a positive impact of their general development. In contrast, the adult’s assistance in the organization of the children’s play had a positive effect on the development of inhibitory control. The study results can be helpful when considering educational practices within a cultural-historical approach to engaging the potential of play in children’s learning and development around the world.

Since the later decades of the 20 th century, Brazilian psychologists have been questioning a theoretical and interventional model in educational contexts, which consider psychological phenomena apart from their cultural contexts, in order to develop an approach based on a contextualized viewpoint. Despite progress having been made in educational psychology, as a result of this critical paradigm, this area still has problems to overcome: Psychologists are becoming increasingly separate from schools, and it is now common to find psychologists who are professionally unprepared to perform in this context and furthermore, school principals do not always understand the role of psychologists in educational settings. However, educational demands exist in psychologists’ daily work in a range of contexts, indicating the relevance of this field and the urgency to improve psychologists' qualifications. Considering that Brazilian professional development programs for educators and psychologists are usually restricted to technical learning, often ignoring professionals’ real needs and claims, this research aimed to develop a special type of professional development program looking at the group as a source of development, in order to rethink professional development process from within a collaborative perspective. Research data was generated from a professional development program offered for psychologists and professionals who work within educational settings. This programme involved collaborative group work and was organized and conducted in such a way as to create conditions for change. Concepts of cultural-historical theory – social situation of development, crisis and perezhivanie – were used as analytic tools for data analysis. Analysis indicated the importance of the group as a source of development through dialogue and the co-construction of new ideas and possibilities.