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A Brunerian Theoretical Framework for ECE: A Review of Jerome Bruner's Theoretical Contributions to Early Childhood Education
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

A Brunerian Theoretical Framework for ECE: A Review of Jerome Bruner's Theoretical Contributions to Early Childhood Education

Samantha Wynne, Christine Robinson and Dee O'Connor
International Journal of Childhood
2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13158-026-00502-3
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CC BY V4.0,  Open Access

Abstract

Bruner Constructivist Culturalist Epistemology Epistemological inquiry Educational psychology Pedagogy Early childhood education
This paper presents the findings of an independent study, a systemic narrative literature review, that identifies and synthesises Jerome Bruner’s theoretical propositions related to young children’s knowledge construction and learning from birth to the early years of schooling. The research contributes the Brunerian Theoretical Framework, the first contextualised synthetisation of Brunerian theory as it relates to Early Childhood Education (ECE). Bruner’s postmodern constructivist and culturalist perspectives related to epistemology, theory, and pedagogy are explicated in the review of literature. Importantly, this paper explores Bruner’s culturalist provocation to centre epistemological inquiry in education. Bruner proposes that when educators adopt an epistemic perspective and view the child not only as a learner but as an epistemologist, they support children in reflecting on their thinking and knowledge processes and enable them to ‘go beyond the information given,’ to imagine the possible. Bruner envisions early learning settings as countercultures, enabling learning communities that prioritise participatory, collaborative, and co-constructed learning. Significantly, this paper argues that Bruner’s culturalist centering of epistemological inquiry in education, challenges dominant epistemic paradigms related to young children’s learning and in doing so re-imagines Early Childhood Education as places of possibility for children and educators.

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