In the early nineteenth century, governments developed kindergartens and infant schools to give children a head start in life. These programs hinged on new visions of childhood that originated in England and Europe, but what happened when they were transported to the colonies?

This book unwinds the tangled threads of this history by tracing how Enlightenment thought and Romantic ideas translated into early infant schools in England, kindergartens in Germany and the United States, and free kindergarten systems in the Commonwealth countries. The systems that emerged in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand maintained the integrity of the ideas and models that inspired them but adapted them to suit local ideas, politics, and populations. This unique account of early childhood education in comparative perspective provides fresh insight into how to reconcile educational theory and practice in an increasingly global world.