bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Professionals Don't Play: Challenges for Early Childhood Educators Working in a Transdisciplinary Early Intervention Team
Authors: Cumming Tamara , Wong Sandie
Published: March 2019

EARLY INTERVENTION LITERATURE STRONGLY advocates transdisciplinary approaches as the ‘best practice’ model for interprofessional teamwork, and, along with benefits for families and teams, identifies factors that can make transdisciplinary approaches more or less effective. One of these factors is the challenge posed to team effectiveness by perceptions of professional ‘status’ differences among transdisciplinary team members. However, there has been very little focus upon the issues that may face early childhood staff (trained or untrained) working in transdisciplinary teams, although they are playing an increasingly critical role in these teams. Our paper presents findings from a small descriptive research project exploring professionals' experiences of transdisciplinary teamwork in a play-based early childhood early intervention program in Australia. While our study findings support some existing knowledge regarding effective transdisciplinary teamwork, we also indicate some new issues relating to professional status issues concerning early childhood staff, and the role of play itself in early childhood early intervention settings.
Standpoints on quality: Listening to children in Verona, Italy
Authors: Harcourt Deborah , Mazzoni Valentina
Published: March 2019

EARLY CHILDHOOD RESEARCH and policy, globally, are focusing increasingly on issues of ‘quality’ in early childhood education. However, much of the focus to date has been on adult notions of quality, with little attention being devoted to children's accounts. Conducted in the context of early childhood education in Verona, Italy, this study offers children's views of quality in two early childhood classrooms. Informed by the participation mandates of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN, 1989) and a sociological conceptualisation of child competences (Mayall, 2002; Smith, 2007), the research methodology draws on the mosaic approach (Clark & Moss, 2001) whereby children's photography, mapping and conversations were used to represent indices of the quality of their early childhood settings. The data in this study was generated with the understanding that young children are competent to articulate their ideas by using a range of symbolic literacies. The children formed opinions about their prior-to-school experience, particularly about their teachers, and gave a clear and articulate indication of what constitutes good quality. The findings point to the importance young children place on their relationships with their teachers, and the moral, ethical and social justice implications. In conclusion, the study calls for those engaged with children, particularly teachers, to take affirmative action on children's contributions to our understanding of quality.
Image as language: Teacher-created photographs and visual literacy for English language learning
Authors: Britsch Susan
Published: March 2019

LANGUAGE IS NOT LEARNED through words alone; images lie at the heart of language development.

This article suggests three essential guidelines for teachers as they create and use photographs for content learning, second-language development and image-reading. Each guideline is accompanied by content, visual literacy and language objectives. Photographs and sets of sample-levelled questions exemplify the use of the language objectives for content and visual learning in social studies, geometry or science. In sum, an informed use of visual imagery can enhance the exploration of curriculum content if based on teacher knowledge of content, of the language through which photographs speak, and of the language needed to talk about both content and image.
Young school-aged children's behaviour and their participation in extracurricular activities
Authors: Simoncini Kym , Caltabiono Nerina
Published: March 2019

WHILE RESEARCH HAS REPEATEDLY shown the benefits of participation in extracurricular activities for adolescents, few studies have focused on very young children. Extracurricular activities afford children opportunities for development and can also influence their behaviour. Children's behaviour is an important predictor of their future successes or failures. This study investigated the relationship between behaviour and participation in extracurricular activities in children aged between five and eight years. Mothers of children (n = 906) in Prep to Year 3 from seven schools in middle- to high-SES areas from a regional city participated in the study. Mothers gave details of their child's extracurricular activities and used the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) (Goodman, 1997) to measure their child's behaviour. Low scores on the SDQ indicate normal behaviour while high scores indicate borderline or abnormal behaviour. Participation, number of activities, and duration of activities were all associated with children's behaviour. Children who participated in extracurricular activities had lower behaviour scores than those who did not. The results suggest that children benefit from participating in two or more activities for 80–90 minutes per week.
Playing with Maths: Facilitating the Learning in Play-Based Learning
Authors: Cohrssen Caroline , Church Amelia , Ishimine Karin , Tayler Collette
Published: March 2019

EARLY CHILDHOOD PROFESSIONALS HAVE different opinions about intentionally teaching mathematics to young children. Not only is the appropriateness of teaching mathematical concepts to children in early childhood settings contested but what to teach is subject to debate. A review of the literature, however, demonstrates that children are better equipped for success if they master basic mathematical concepts before entering formal education, and that these skills can be developed in play-based activities, where teachers actively engage in maths talk. This paper argues for the purposeful integration of mathematics teaching and learning in early childhood education curricula, and the need for early childhood educators to have sound pedagogical content knowledge and clear learning objectives in order to support and extend children's emerging understanding of mathematical concepts.
The Animal as Fourth Educator: A Literature Review of Animals and Young Children in Pedagogical Relationships
Authors: Bone Jane
Published: March 2019

THIS LITERATURE REVIEW PRESENTS the case for acknowledging the animal in early childhood settings as the fourth educator. This idea builds on the work of Malaguzzi (1998), who proposed the environment as third teacher. Drawing on a range of research as well as changing perspectives about the animal and child relationship, the literature presented here argues for the animal to be considered respectfully as a pedagogical support and motivator for learning. The review covers interdisciplinary aspects of the field of human and animal relationships and also draws on new work about animals in mechanical/robot form. These animal and machine intersections come together in posthuman theory. The review highlights opportunities for research in this increasingly important area.
The Leveraging Influence of Strategic Alignment: What Constitutes Early Childhood in Current Australian Policy Debates?
Authors: Dobozy Eva
Published: March 2019

THIS PAPER ILLUSTRATES THE VALUE of strategic alignment as a model to navigate the current Australian education landscape, highlighting numerous changes to national overseeing bodies and their mandates. More importantly, it provides a critical review of recent government agency changes and policy agendas, making overt the existence of complex and incoherent ideas concerning the notion of early childhood. Based on the current analysis, it is concluded that no common conceptualisation exists at the national level of what constitutes early childhood and by default, early childhood education. This is a disturbing state of affairs, which makes the work of responsible statutory agencies, overseeing national bodies and state departments overseeing the implementation of new national policy directives very difficult.
‘Perezhivanie’ in Group Settings: A Cultural-Historical Reading of Emotion Regulation
Authors: Fleer Marilyn , Hammer Marie
Published: March 2019

THERE IS AN OVERWHELMING AMOUNT of research on emotion regulation (e.g. Barblett & Maloney, 2010; Koole, 2010). Much of this work has centred on experimental studies rather than group settings such as childcare centres and kindergartens. In drawing upon cultural-historical concepts, this paper presents a theoretical discussion on how fairytales help children to collectively develop emotion regulation. We specifically explore emotions and cognition during the telling, re-telling, and role-playing of fairytales. It is argued that fairytales can act as a pedagogical framework for helping children become more conscious of emotions as they role play. Cultural-historical theory is used to give a new perspective on both fairytales and emotion regulation.
The Use of Technology to Facilitate Music Learning Experiences in Preschools
Authors: de Vries Peter
Published: March 2019

THIS ARTICLE REPORTS ON the technologies preschool teachers use to facilitate music learning experiences for children in their classrooms and why they choose to use or not use technologies. A questionnaire was administered to 185 teachers in a metropolitan Australian city focusing on the kinds of technologies being used, for what music activities, and reasons for using and not using these technologies. 81 questionnaires were returned (a response rate of 44 per cent). Nine of the respondents agreed to a follow-up day-long classroom observation and interview with the researcher. Results revealed that CDs dominated teacher use of technology to provide song repertoire and a model for singing this song repertoire. However, multimedia-based technology was also utilised for music learning experiences (i.e. DVDs/video, television, internet websites). However, more recent digital technologies such as digital music players/recorders, musical toys with digitised components and tablets were rarely used. While preschool teachers value technology to facilitate music learning experiences for young children, constraints in using technology were identified, including cost and lack of knowledge about using these technologies with young children.
Equity and Quality: Challenges in Providing Early Childhood Educational Opportunity in China
Authors: Qian Yu
Published: March 2019

THIS ARTICLE IS INTENDED to provide a timely outline of early childhood education (ECE) provision and policy in China. It gives a commentary on ECE policy in China and argues for new policy directions. Since 2010, the Chinese government has launched a comprehensive set of education policies designed to promote equitable access to ECE and improvements in the quality. These policies arose as a political response to a national complaint about the difficulties to enrolling children in qualified kindergartens and the growing gaps between education in the cities and rural areas. This study analyses the difficulties for the Chinese government and scholars to reach a balance between the equity and quality of ECE in different areas, especially in rural areas and for migrant children. It concludes that local government will, as well as central government, play an important role in determining whether formulated policies are translated into action on the ground. It is critical to increase the public funding of ECE in China and to conceive specific allocations of the budget.
Teachers' Ratings of Preschool Children's Behaviour: Inter-teacher Agreement and Variation in their Agreement
Authors: Arnold David , Dobbs-Oates Jennifer
Published: March 2019

TEACHER RATING SCALES ARE an efficient, practical way to gather information on children's behaviour problems in school. Previous research has reported on agreement between parents' and teachers' reports, but less attention has been paid to inter-teacher agreement in young children, to the distinction between relative and absolute agreement, or to variability in teachers' agreement. In the present study, 26 United States teachers of three- to five-year-olds reported on the behaviour of 132 children in their classrooms, with the widely used Achenbach Teacher Report Form. Stronger agreement was seen on ratings of externalising than internalising behaviour. Absolute agreement was not always high even when teachers showed close relative agreement. Agreement varied significantly across informant pairs, suggesting that some teacher pairs rate children's behaviour in very similar ways, while others agree very little. Agreement was stronger in higher-SES than lower-SES classrooms.
The Child Care Act 1972: A Critical Juncture in Australian ECEC and the Emergence of ‘Quality’
Authors: Logan Helen , Sumsion Jennifer , Press Frances
Published: March 2019

THIS ARTICLE ILLUMINATES THE significance of the Child Care Act 1972 (Cwlth) as a critical juncture in the development of Australian early childhood education and care (ECEC) policy and, specifically, in establishing quality as a key policy consideration. The article reports on an analysis of the Act, informed by Foucault's use of a history of the present, that highlights dominant discourses and path-dependent processes as both enabling and constraining for quality in child care and the development of a national ECEC sector.
Asylum Seeker and Refugee Children Belonging, Being and Becoming: The early Childhood Educator's Role
Authors: Maher Marguerite , Smith Stephanie
Published: March 2019

THE PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF educators from one Australian university in relation to boat people, comprising mothers and children in detention, is discussed within a Foucauldian theoretical framework. Media and political portrayal of refugees at times leads to ‘us-and-them’ conceptions of asylum seekers. This paper foregrounds the challenges of their lived experience while in detention, with a specific focus on children. The corollary highlights the pivotal role early childhood educators play when these children are granted visas and arrive in early childhood settings after years of incarceration. What belonging, being and becoming, as envisaged in the Australian Early Years Learning Framework, might mean for these children specifically as they become citizens of Australia, is examined through the findings of an action research study in a preschool and lower primary school with high refugee enrolment. Key to children's development is utilising play as the preferred pedagogy in the early years of formal schooling.
Children's Theorising about Their World: Exploring the Practitioner's Role
Authors: Hargraves Vicki
Published: March 2019

THE DEVELOPMENT OF ‘WORKING THEORIES’ is a key learning outcome for New Zealand's early childhood curriculum Te Whāriki (MoE, 1996, p. 44). Working theories are described as combinations of knowledge, skills and attitudes which support children's developing understanding of the world, and guide their actions, problem solving and learning. This article reports research into the working theories of a group of children in one early childhood setting, and argues that working theories serve a variety of purposes linked to effective action within children's specific sociocultural contexts. This, and the fact that the social and cultural context provides resources with which children construct working theories, is used to argue a case for sociocultural pedagogies to support children in creating and modifying working theories. A case study is provided from the author's research. With recognition that the implementation of sociocultural pedagogies is somewhat difficult for early childhood practitioners (Anning, Cullen & Fleer, 2004), the article offers some specific strategies related to supporting children's working theories.
Looking Both Ways: The Intersection of Road Safety Education and Early Childhood Research
Authors: Waters Stacey , Baker Samantha , Bruce Kaashifah , Lindner Helen , Clarkson Emma
Published: March 2019

THE EARLY YEARS ARE a critical time to introduce key concepts for lifelong learning. In recognition of this, in July 2009, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) endorsed Australia's first strategy outlining a vision for the development of young children and the implementation of the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF). Road safety education is an important component of early childhood education as it lays the foundation for children to become safe road users. Therefore, to provide early childhood educators with a framework for evidence-based road safety education, VicRoads on behalf of the Road Safety Education Reference Group Australasia (RSERGA), commissioned the development of National Practices for Early Childhood Road Safety Education. This article outlines the development of these practices. It is anticipated the engagement by educators with the National Practices for Early Childhood Road Safety Education will foster early childhood road safety learning; however, future research is required to trial and evaluate these practices.
Child-Related Factors that Influence Teacher–Child Relationships using an Australian National Sample
Authors: Cheryl Teo Shu Lin , Walker Susan
Published: March 2019

THIS STUDY ASSESSED THE extent to which child–related factors had an impact on teacher–child relationships in Australian childcare settings. Analyses used data from Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). The sample consisted of 1577 two- to three-year-old children (M = 33.9 months, SD = 2.93; 51.5 per cent male). Two separate hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the relation between teachers' perceptions of their relationships with children and (a) gender; (b) Indigenous status; (c) language background other than English; (d) socioeconomic position; (e) special health-care needs; (f) expression and receptive language concerns; (g) psychosocial competence and problems; and (h) temperament factors (approach, persistence and reactivity). Results indicated that special health-care needs, receptive language concerns and all three temperament scales (approach, persistence and reactivity) significantly predicted conflict in teacher–child relationships. Close relationships were predicted by being female, Indigenous status, higher socioeconomic position, not having a special health-care need and no expressive language concerns.
Utilisation of Early Childhood Education and Care Services in a Nationally Representative Sample of Australian Children: A Focus on Disadvantage
Authors: Wong Sandie , Harrison Linda , Whiteford Chrystal , Rivalland Corine
Published: March 2019

ATTENDANCE IN HIGH-QUALITY early childhood education and care (ECEC) has been shown to have a positive influence on young children's development and life chances, especially for those children from disadvantaged backgrounds. A number of government policies are in place, both internationally and in Australia, to support these children's use of ECEC services. But to what extent do Australia's most vulnerable children use ECEC? Drawing on data from Growing up in Australia: The longitudinal study of Australian children (LSAC) this paper demonstrates that children from a range of disadvantaged groups do use ECEC. However, based on more in-depth analyses using a Disadvantage Index, the paper also shows that children with multiple indicators of disadvantage were more likely to be in exclusive parental care, less likely to be using preschool and using fewer hours of care than their peers. These findings suggest that there may be barriers to ECEC utilisation for children and families for whom ECEC potentially has the most benefit.
It's Bumpy and We Understood Each Other at the End, I Hope!’: Unpacking What Experiences are Valued in the Early Childhood Setting and how this Impacts on Parent Partnerships with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Families
Authors: Hadley Fay
Published: March 2019

THIS ARTICLE OUTLINES PHASE one of a research study conducted in four early childhood settings in Sydney, Australia with culturally and linguistically diverse families and early childhood degree-qualified teachers. This phase found that parents and teachers valued different experiences in the childcare program and also disagreed about the level of communication that occurred between parents and teachers. Working with diverse families in early childhood settings requires teachers to rethink how these families are heard and listened to. It is perhaps time to move beyond the term parent partnership and/or parent involvement and coin a fresh term to provide a new space for these parent–teacher dialogues. The author argues that, until this repositioning begins to occur, the dominant discourse will more likely prevail.
Joining the Tots: Visual Research Tools to Connect Families and Community in Early Childhood Education
Authors: Duncan Judith , One Sarah Te
Published: March 2019

OVER A TWO-YEAR teacher-researcher project in New Zealand we used a mosaic of research methods (Clark, 2010) to capture the perspectives of staff, parents and children. As a team of teachers and academic researchers, we recorded and documented reconceptualised pedagogical practices that included active adult participation in a cluster of early childhood centres. Our project repositioned teachers and their pedagogy to include the children's wider communities. To achieve this we developed a range of visual tools to build interactions between families, their communities, and the teachers. This article is an introduction to the tools that we created and used as well as the rationale as to why visual research tools work to support teacher engagement in research.
Teacher-Parent Relations and Professional strategies: A Case Study on Documentation and Talk about Documentation in a Swedish Preschool
Authors: Löfdahl Annica
Published: March 2019

THE ARTICLE IS FRAMED by a project designed to study the teacher profession in a current Swedish preschool through work on systematic documentation of quality. Questions deal with how teachers handle the demands on visibility, how they perform and what aspects of the teaching profession will be exposed and what parts will be silenced.

This article examines documentation directed towards parents in one public preschool setting over a school year. Apart from weekly parental letters, the data consisted of observations from a staff meeting focusing on teachers' talk while producing the yearly quality account (QA), the content of the final written QA and a follow-up interview. In this case, the requirement of involving the parents in the work on systematic documentation is a traditional but recently clearly expressed policy in the Swedish Education Act. Analysis is based on theories of education policy and how the policy needs to be handled in the local context by the teachers, and theories on the teacher profession and professionalism. The results show that professional strategies like keeping distance vs. keeping closeness are connected to teacher–parent relations such as trust and mate relations. Teacher–parent relations as emotional were found in talks about documentation, and professional strategies to obscure and neutralise were found in relation to the QA.
Bicultural Babies: Implementing Tiriti-Based Curriculum with Infants and Toddlers
Authors: Jenkin Chris
Published: March 2019

AN IMPORTANT ESSENCE IN becoming bicultural and bilingual is for additional languages to be learnt early on. This article is based on an infant and toddler case study within my doctoral research to discover how practitioners with this age group incorporate the bicultural curriculum into their teaching. The methodology was action development which is a synthesis of appreciative inquiry and action research. The findings show that the early childhood practitioners had strategies to support and encourage the implementation of the bicultural curriculum with children less than two years of age. Working as team, modelling both te reo Māori and English, enabled the children to begin their bicultural journey. Practitioners using the appreciative approach built on their strengths to grow in confidence. This research is important for practitioners working with babies to ensure they have the possibilities to develop cognitively and linguistically through learning additional cultures and languages.
Is the Care–Education Dichotomy Behind Us?: Should It Be?
Authors: Sims Margaret
Published: March 2019

FOR OVER A DECADE WE have talked about the care–education dichotomy as being false and irrelevant given that care is considered to be a part of education, not separate from it. A generation of early childhood professionals have grown up in services where care is seen as part of education. As a nation, Australia is now pursuing professionalisation of early childhood through the education discourse. As with any decision, there are positive and negative consequences. In this article I report on a research project that explores early childhood professionals' perspectives of the care–education dichotomy, and the role it plays in early childhood today. I argue that, in order to understand the unintentional consequences of pursuing an educational pathway towards professionalisation, we need to keep the issues relating to care in the front of our minds.
Insides and Outsides: Investigating Preschoolers' Understanding of Biological and Environmental Aspects of Essentialism with Novel Categories
Authors: Grace Diana , Straiton Melissa , Hewett-Reeves Willow , Platow Michael J.
Published: March 2019

EXTENSIVE EVIDENCE OF ESSENTIALIST thinking in children emphasises cognitive processes with little attention paid to social contexts. The experimental study reported in this paper follows a recent trend in social psychology of integrating theories of essentialism and social categorisation by investigating four-year-olds' (n = 64) responses to novel social stimuli. Biological and environmental/social aspects of essentialism were both manipulated and measured to investigate how contextual changes interact with children's understanding. Consistent with our predictions, children demonstrated variability in essentialist thinking that was, somewhat surprisingly, stronger on the biological measures. Our results add to a growing body of evidence demonstrating the active role played by young children in interpreting their social world.
Young Children's Social Behaviour: A Singapore Perspective
Authors: Carter Margaret Anne
Published: March 2019

THIS ARTICLE REPORTS RESEARCH from a descriptive study, identifying parents' and teachers' views of young children's social behaviour. This study was conducted in Singapore with 26 respondents, 13 early year's teachers and 13 parents, five from an international school and 21 from a Catholic school. Using qualitative thematic analysis, the researcher revealed three key themes influencing the development of young children's social behaviour: differences across generations, quality of relationships and mechanisms of socialisation.

The intention of this study was not to compare the settings but to record the perceptions of respondents as they reflected on factors influencing young children's social behaviour in Singapore. Implications of the findings are discussed with future research identified. Findings will inform a larger study examining the implementation of social learning curriculums across three early years' schools in Singapore.
Enabling change through Education for Children and their Families Experiencing Vulnerability and Disadvantage: The Understandings of Early Childhood Professionals
Authors: Roberts Wendy
Published: March 2019

CHILDREN HAVE AN INALIENABLE right to an education and it is in early childhood that we build the foundations for learning and development. Social inclusion, access, participation and engagement are key to early learning success, a time integral to overall health, wellbeing and future role in society. Children experiencing vulnerability and disadvantage have a high tendency for low educational outcomes. Currently, government policy argues that facilitating change through education can break the cycle of disadvantage and transform the lives of the individual child, their families and the wider community. This qualitative phenomenological study seeks to identify the enablers and barriers in early childhood education and care encountered by its professionals at the ‘frontline’ perspective. Change Ideas is a process by which the humanitarian ideals of a society supports its most vulnerable and disadvantaged, via education, enacting rights as self-actualising human beings through supportive and well-informed everyday practice.
The Role of the Educational Leader: Perceptions and Expectations in a Period of Change
Authors: Fleet Alma , Soper Rod , Semann Anthony , Madden Lorraine
Published: March 2019

AT A TIME OF RAPID pedagogical and policy change in the Australian early childhood educators' professional context, little is known about the experience of the evolving Educational Leader role. This position is currently mandated in educational settings for young children, but at the time of writing, both the perceptions about the nature of the role and expectations of such a person, were unclear. This paper reports on a study across two geographical regions which contributes to the knowledge base of the unfolding of this role in the prior-to-school early childhood sector. Based on surveys from 206 people in the ACT and NSW in 2012, information collection was followed by a series of intensive workshops designed to facilitate understanding of the role and of the processes of educational change. Data from the survey and from these 41 workshop participants from diverse organisational and geographical settings enable greater insight to the issues, complexities and potential of this important role in the educational and policy landscape as well as the realities of workplace experiences of Educational Leaders. This paper has a focus on survey responses as affirmed through contributions by workshop participants; the actual enquiry projects undertaken by participants as part of the workshop initiatives are not included in the current paper. Despite contextual differences in responses, it is clear that expectations of the Educational Leader are high, appointment processes are constrained and role definition needs relevant local clarification.
Young Children Dancing Mathematical Thinking
Authors: Deans Janice , Cohrssen Caroline
Published: March 2019

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATORS ARE required to recognise multiple sources of evidence of children's mathematical thinking. This paper encourages early childhood educators to consider how young children's spontaneous dance improvisations provide evidence of their exploration of the mathematical concepts of spatial orientation and spatial visualisation. In this research, examples of four-year-old children's improvisational dance are drawn from a larger corpus of children's dance vignettes and analysed, highlighting children's demonstrations of embodied spatial orientation and spatial visualisation. Recognising children's spatial thinking provides opportunities for educators to develop contingent learning experiences that facilitate children's exploration of concepts of lines, angles, direction and two- and three-dimensional shapes through other forms of symbolic expression.
The Voice of the Child in Early Childhood Education Research in Australia and New Zealand: A Systematic Review
Authors: Zhang Qilong
Published: March 2019

THIS LITERATURE REVIEW COVERS journal articles reporting early childhood education (ECE) research in Australia and New Zealand in the past 10 years and it has found that: (1) Nearly half of the articles lacked child-related data with an explicit or implied justification, while less than one-tenth failed to include child-related data with no justification; (2) Over one-third of the articles addressed the voice of the child, while less than one-tenth included child-related data for assessment purpose. A typology of the voice of the child has evolved from the review and it includes: pseudo voice (engendered by assessing the child), inferred voice (engendered by inferring the child's perspective), surveyed voice (engendered by surveying the child) and co-constructed voice (engendered by co-constructing lived experience and understanding with the child). In spite of the evidence from the articles that the voice of the child had generally been recognised, the review has identified a gap between the child's voice rhetoric and research practice. It is argued that the distinction between rhetoric and practice should be recognised and respected.
Giving Voices and Providing Skills to Families in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities through a Productive Parenting Program
Authors: Deans Jan , Liang Rachel , Frydenberg Erica
Published: March 2019

FAMILIES FROM CULTURALLY AND linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds and disadvantaged communities, particularly those with young children, may be more vulnerable to experiencing multiple and complex life problems and hence benefit from community resources that support their everyday needs, in particular their parenting. This study reports on an inclusive model of a community-based parenting program, which aimed to support CALD parents to establish and maintain positive relationships and guide their children's learning and development. Seventeen families from a community playgroup in inner city Melbourne participated in a five-session Early Years Productive Parenting Program (EYPPP). Program evaluation data suggests that a flexible-delivery parenting program such as the EYPPP has the potential to strengthen productive coping capacities in families and in doing so contribute to the overall wellbeing of young children.
Recognition of Family Engagement in Young Children's Literacy Learning
Authors: Newman Linda , Arthur Leonie , Staples Kerry , Woodrow Christine
Published: March 2019

THIS PAPER CHALLENGES DEFICIT assumptions about families in poor and socially marginalised communities who are often presumed to be providing inadequate language and literacy experiences for their children. We present data that show how families in a low socioeconomic community in northern Chile understand the importance of learning in the early years and provide a range of experiences at home to support their children's literacy learning. The data demonstrates the potential of sociocultural literacy pedagogies to form a basis for literacy learning partnerships which are currently under-utilised by educators working with poor and/or socially excluded families. We suggest that educators' increased recognition of how children develop understandings of literacy through their participation in family and community activities may strengthen the foundations for productive educator–family relationships.
Reforming Australian Early Childhood Education and Care Provision (2009–2015)
Authors: Tayler Collette
Published: March 2019

IN 2007, AUSTRALIA COMMENCED a national, systems-wide change to governing the quality of its early childhood education and care (ECEC) provision. The federal, state and territory levels of government agreed on a national vision for early childhood, a new learning framework, a national quality standard and a collective governance process for all childcare services, preschool-kinder programs and outside school hours care services that receive funding from governments. As with other federated countries, the context of ECEC in Australia is complex and varied both within and across localities, and inevitably, researchers, policy-makers and practitioners are required to consider and provide some account of children's learning environments prior to school. As a point of reference, this paper provides an overview of the context of ECEC provision in Australia, a summary of core components of the National Quality Framework (NQF) and argument about the necessity of these reforms. Raising the quality of children's early learning and development experiences is challenging, and systems change-fatigue becomes part of the landscape.
Montessori early Childhood Education in NZ: Re-discovering the Spirit of Reflection and Inquiry through recent Policy Changes
Authors: Freeman Sola , Dalli Carmen , Pickering Ana
Published: March 2019

MONTESSORI EDUCATION ARRIVED IN New Zealand (NZ) in the early 1900s for children aged three to six years. Currently it is one of a diverse range of early childhood education options in a sector that has experienced huge policy changes aimed at enhancing quality early childhood provision. This paper positions the growth of Montessori early childhood services within discourses about early childhood quality in NZ and discusses how recent policy changes related to early childhood teaching qualifications, self-review and reflective practice have impacted on Montessori education. It argues that the current Montessori workforce is equipped as never before to reflect critically on the richness of Montessori philosophy and to innovate and experiment with Montessori practice.
Teaching Literacy through Dramatic Storytelling in Foundation Phase
Authors: O'Neill Bianca , Banoobhai Mumthaz , Smith Cornelia
Published: March 2019

LITERACY IS A CRUCIAL ASPECT to consider in Foundation Phase as it impacts learner performance not only in the area of language learning, but also in other learning areas taught at school. When teaching learners at Foundation Phase level it is imperative to use a teaching strategy that can optimise the language proficiency of the learners. Dramatic storytelling is a very useful teaching strategy that can exert a powerful influence on the learning of a language. The main focus in this paper is on dramatic storytelling techniques and the role of the educators and their view of this strategy in the Foundation Phase classroom as a means to enhance literacy. The paper is based on a qualitative research study in which semi-structured interviews and descriptive analysis, with a thematic approach were used.
Articulating a Rights-based Argument for Mathematics Teaching and Learning in Early Childhood Education
Authors: Cohrssen Caroline , Page Jane
Published: March 2019

MATHEMATICS IS COMMONLY CITED in Australian and international literature as an integral component of quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs. This article presents a rights-based argument for early childhood educators to integrate mathematical concepts into daily ECEC practice. There is a lack of educator confidence in the ECEC sector regarding teaching mathematics concepts to preschool-aged children. At the same time, many children from low socioeconomic status backgrounds underperform in mathematics and girls are under-represented in so-called STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects in later schooling. Providing opportunities for young children to participate in mathematical thinking in their daily educational programs provides opportunities for children to develop competencies that will equip them to be active citizens, now and in the future. This is an important means of ensuring equitable learning outcomes for all children.
The Selection of ECEC Programs by Australian Families: Quality, Availability, Usage and Family Demographics
Authors: Cloney Dan , Tayler Collette , Hattie John , Cleveland Gordon , Adams Ray
Published: March 2019

HIGH-QUALITY EARLY CHILDHOOD education and care (ECEC) programs have the potential to ameliorate socioeconomic status (SES) gradients. In the Australian ECEC market, however, there is no guarantee that children from low SES backgrounds access high-quality ECEC programs. This study tested the influence of family SES on the selection of ECEC program quality.

Participants were 2494 children enrolled in up to 1427 ECEC classrooms (mean age at entry = 43 months, SD = eight months). The study controlled for a range of child, family, home and community-level background factors. Both cross-sectional (linear regression) and longitudinal (growth models) methods are used.

The study confirmed that children from lower SES families were more likely to attend lower quality programs. Longitudinal modelling showed the largest quality gap before kindergarten.

To narrow SES-related achievement gaps there is a need to significantly improve aspects of program quality that influence children's development, and specifically to do so in programs for younger children. There is a particular need to target ECEC programs in lower SES areas to ameliorate the observed SES quality gradient. The findings further challenge current policy directions from the Productivity Commission inquiry into child care and early learning.
Infant–toddler Educators' Language Support Practices during Snack-time
Authors: Degotardi Sheila , Torr Jane , Nguyen Nga Thanh
Published: March 2019

THIS STUDY INVESTIGATES THE quantity and quality of infant–toddler educators' language-support practices during morning or afternoon snack-time short episodes. Infants' participation in, and the quality of their interactions with adults plays a critical role in their language development. However, while mealtimes with older children have been identified as providing rich opportunities for language development, research suggests that infant educators may overlook the pedagogical significance of this context.

The participants comprised 26 focus educators whose video-recorded snack-time interactions were extracted from a three-hour observation of their normal duties with the children. The recording and associated transcript of focus educator talk was analysed to determine measures of language-promoting talk characteristics and teaching strategies. Overall results illustrate that educators' language-promoting practices were limited in their potential to promote language development. Individual differences were positively related to qualification level, and to whether or not the educator predominantly sat with the children, and were negatively related to infant–educator ratios. Findings suggest the need for an increased focus on educators' pedagogical knowledge and skills related to supporting language development with these very young children.
Noisy Neighbours: A Construction of Collective Knowledge in Toddlers' Shared Play Space
Authors: Li Liang , Quinones Gloria , Ridgway Avis
Published: March 2019

EVIDENCE FROM A LARGER project Studying babies and toddlers: Cultural worlds and transitory relationships in Australian long day care settings is gathered. We argue that toddlers co-construct collective knowledge through expressive play activities with peers and educators. We analyse how educators enter play, taking the toddlers' perspective to develop collective knowledge. We investigate how toddlers creatively produce knowledge through educators' awareness of their play spaces, aiming to find the different ways they affectively participate in processes of producing knowledge. Vygotsky's cultural–historical concepts of the social situation of development and play form the research foundation. Using visual narrative methodology and reflective dialogue to explore toddlers' everyday play activity, one play episode of an educator entering shared collective play with toddlers is analysed. We find educators' involvement and peer interaction significant for learning and social production of collective knowledge in toddlers' play spaces. Responding to toddlers' active expressions by entering play develops collective knowledge.
Re-thinking Professional Development: Positioning Educational Documentation as Everyday Professional Learning
Authors: Harcourt Deborah , Jones Lesley
Published: March 2019

THE INTENT OF THIS PAPER is to explore the ways in which educational documentation—one of the many important key principles that challenge and sustain the educational theories and teaching practice of the Reggio Emilia Educational Project in Italy—supports the practice, principles and pedagogy of early years educators. In this particular context, documentation is positioned as both a strategy and a tool for examining the work of the individual and of the group, for both children and educators, with the aim of questioning the role documentation might play in supporting educators' professional learning. This commentary paper will examine the concept of documenting as a process that enables an educator's work to become visible and therefore support their evolving capacity as an educator, through ongoing reflective practice, as indicated in the Australian Early Years Learning Framework (DEEWR, 2009).
Childcare Educators' Understandings of Early Communication and Attachment
Authors: Jovanovic Jessie , Brebner Chris , Lawless Angela , Young Jessica
Published: March 2019

GIVING VOICE TO THE discipline-specific knowledge and pedagogical practices of childcare educators, this paper attempts to explore new ways of defining educators' work with young children, given the post-structural turn in Australian and international early childhood policy. Three focus groups (n = 8 children's education and care services; n = 19 educators) were held in metropolitan Adelaide (South Australia) to explore their professional understandings of early communication and attachment development. Childcare educators described the relational and communicative elements of their work that supported or constrained their capacity to understand individual children's socio-emotional needs at enrolment, during transitions and in day-to-day routines. Whether attachment relationships were forged or being built, these educators explained how emotional reciprocity and an understanding of the child through secure attachment relationships enabled them to notice young children's communication abilities and needs, and vice versa. While the findings illuminate the expertise childcare educators bring to their work, we argue that there is a need to further explore how this expertise shapes their programs, practices and professional development needs.
Digital play in young children’s numeracy learning
Authors: Disney Leigh , Barnes Alan , Ey Lesley , Geng Gretchen
Published: March 2019

Advances in technology have seen a proliferation of touch-screen interfaces available to young children. These screens have changed the way in which young children engage with digital technology; with increased exposure and use, it raises debates about the suitability of integrating digital technology within early childhood settings. There are limited empirical studies that investigate the appropriateness of emergent digital technology within the field of early childhood. Based upon the TPACK model, this timely paper thus discussed the Digital Play Model (Numeracy) and reported on a project investigating the integration of digital technologies into childcare settings. In particular, the focus of this paper was to report on the use of games using a gestural interface device have on 3- to 4-year-old children’s ability to learn numeracy concepts. This study found that young children’s numeracy learning outcomes were improved. This paper also provided empirical evidence of the use of Apps via iPad technologies on young children’s numeracy learning, with an implication to a need for a pedagogical model for successful integration of digital technology within early childhood settings.
Natural Products from Polygonum perfoliatum and their Diverse Biological Activities
Authors: Chang Chi-I , Tsai Fei-Jane , Chou Chang-Hung
Published: March 2019

Nine components were isolated from the methanol extract of the whole herb of Polygonum perfoliatum and evaluated for their antioxidant activity. Among them, α-tocopherol and methyl trans-ferulate showed significant DPPH free radical scavenging effects with EC50 values of 11.9 and 7.8 μg/mL, respectively. In addition, five phenolic acids, caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, protocatechuic acid, and vanillic acid were isolated from the aqueous extracts of the plant and identified by means of paper and high performance liquid chromatography. These five compounds were confirmed to be allelopathic substances by bioassay against the radicle growth of lettuce ( Lactuca sativa), Chinese cabbage ( Brassica oleracea), and radish ( Raphanus acanthiformis).