ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Parents&apos; and Teachers&apos; Perspectives on Changes in Childcare Quality in the United States, Russia and Finland
Author: Hujala, Eeva
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Teacher Attitudes,Parent Attitudes,Preschool Teachers,Child Care,Educational Quality,Cross Cultural Studies,Cultural Differences,Child Care Centers,Questionnaires,Educational History,Family School Relationship

This article reports on the findings of a follow-up study, which examined parents' and teachers' perspectives regarding the quality of childcare for 3- to 5-year-old children in the United States, Russia and Finland between 1991 and 2011. The study aims to address a gap in early childhood education (ECE) research by examining how the quality of ECE has changed in international settings over the past decades, thus expanding comprehension of the diversity within the ECE phenomena and its culture-specific nature. With a focus on the quality of ECE, this study examines the parents' and teachers' perspectives on key elements of the implementation of ECE in childcare centres: programme structure, curriculum goals, the role of parents and teachers as partners in children's lives, as well as children's satisfaction with their childcare. The results indicate that there have been differences in ECE quality between the studied societies both in structural aspects as well as in process and effect factors in all data collection cohorts. It seems that ECE quality and the changes within it may be connected to ECE policy based on the societal values. The results suggest that to understand ECE and its pedagogy, one has to be aware of the value-laden cultural contexts in a society.
Imaginative Play and Reading Development among Grade R Learners in Kwazulu-Natal: An Ethnographic Case Study
Author: Neha, Mitasha
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Play,Teaching Methods,Reading Instruction,Emergent Literacy,Case Studies,Preschool Children,Reading Skills,Family Environment,Questionnaires,Semi Structured Interviews,Vignettes,Muslims,Observation

This article argues that imaginative play can fulfil a valuable role in the development of reading among pre-school children. It uses Feuerstein's Mediated Learning Experience as a theoretical lens and defines the concepts related to imaginative play, focussing particularly on symbolic and dramatic play. Drawing on an ethnographic case study of the reading development of four pre-schoolers, aged between 5 and 6, in their home environments in KwaZulu-Natal, it shows how imaginative play is a generative aspect of early reading in the home. It is through imaginative play that the children were able to make sense of what they had read, transfer it to other contexts and explore its implications in a child-centred way. Imaginative play can take early reading from the realms of print and digital media into those of movement, dressing-up, role-playing, visual and aural stimulation--holistic and integrative ways of 'comprehending' the text. The article concludes with a discussion of the challenges and potential pedagogical implications of the research findings.
Infant and Toddler Educare: A Challenge to Neoliberalism
Author: Sims, Margaret
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Infants,Toddlers,Child Care,Neoliberalism,Preschool Teachers,Early Childhood Education,Developmentally Appropriate Practices,Foreign Countries,Online Surveys,Teacher Attitudes,Emotional Response,Cross Cultural Studies

We contend that the conventions, practices and philosophies underpinning working with infants and toddlers provide an alternative way of viewing early childhood work, and such a perspective may well help to challenge the 'wicked problem' of neoliberalism. It is in this context that we propose that a deeper understanding of the perspectives of those professionals working with our youngest children in a range of different countries may inform a wider resistance to neoliberalism across all of early childhood. We seek, in this article, to share the voices of early childhood professionals reflecting on the manner in which they understand work with infants and toddlers, and how this relates to their understanding of issues related to education and care. We hope this exploration will lead us into further refining our argument that infant and toddler pedagogy has the potential to challenge the hegemony of neoliberalism in early childhood. Our dream is to steer early childhood away from the tyranny of standardisation, accountability and economic rationality into a space where children are valued for being, where individuality and diversity flourish, where learning academics is one (relatively unimportant) element amongst many others and where relationships and participation (and dare we say, happiness) reign supreme.
Augmented Feedback in Autistic Disorder
Author: Geertsema, Salome
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Autism,Pervasive Developmental Disorders,Feedback (Response),Eye Movements,Imitation,Social Development,Psychomotor Skills,Knowledge Level,Responses,Foreign Countries,Young Children,Intervention,Program Effectiveness,Play,Interpersonal Communication,Pretests Posttests

Children with autistic disorder (AD) display atypical eye contact and struggle with the social imitation of eye contact. Impaired social imitation may be indicative of disruptions in motor learning processes. The application of specific motor learning principles, such as external feedback, may suggest which variables will result in positive change in eye contact. The study aimed to determine the effects of knowledge of performance (KP) and knowledge of results (KR) as types of feedback on the frequency and duration of elicited and spontaneous eye contact in children with AD. A two-phase multiple-probe, multi-treatment (cross-over), single-participant design with a withdrawal component was used. Mixed treatment effects were obtained. Overall effects suggest that KR results in the greatest positive change over a short period of time regarding frequency and duration for both elicited and spontaneous eye contact. This type of feedback seems to be the most effective for spontaneous eye contact. The provision of KP, after elicited and spontaneous eye contact, produced positive effects for duration only. The current Phase 1 evidence suggests that KR (which is goal-directed with fewer additional instructions) may be more beneficial to children with AD. These findings are in accordance with the limb motor learning literature and may therefore support preliminary evidence for disrupted motor learning during eye contact imitation in children with AD.
How Is Their Word Knowledge Growing? Exploring Grade 3 Vocabulary in South African Township Schools
Author: Pretorius, Elizabeth J.
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Vocabulary Development,Receptive Language,Expressive Language,Elementary School Students,Native Speakers,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Language Proficiency,Surveys,Gender Differences,Age Differences,Predictor Variables,Grade 3,Pretests Posttests,Tests

In this article, we report on a study that examined the active and receptive English vocabulary of two different groups of Grade 3 learners in South African township schools. The groups consisted of English Home Language (HL) learners in the Western Cape and Xhosa HL and English First Additional Language (FAL) learners in the Eastern Cape. The purpose was to document their different vocabulary trajectories during Grade 3. The Woodcock-Muñoz Language Survey was used to measure the active vocabulary levels of 118 learners at the beginning and the end of the school year. Another 284 learners from the same eight Grade 3 classes participated in a receptive vocabulary test at the end of the year. This test assessed their knowledge of the 60 most frequent words that occur in South Africa Grade 4 English textbooks. Results showed that although the HL learners knew almost double the number of words their English FAL peers did, both groups of learners increased their active word knowledge through the year by about 9%. Regarding their receptive vocabulary, the English FAL learners on average only knew 27% of the most frequent words at the end of their Grade 3. No significant gender differences were found. Learners in both language groups who were above their grade age had significantly lower scores than their younger peers. This confirms findings that children who start school with weak language skills tend to stay weak. Finally, initial active vocabulary knowledge was found to be a strong predictor of vocabulary development during the school year.
Work-Integrated Learning within the Reading Literacy Component of Foundation Phase Teacher Preparation Programmes
Author: Barends, Zelda
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Workplace Learning,Preservice Teacher Education,School Districts,Literacy Education,College School Cooperation,Educational Quality,Teaching Methods,Role,Preservice Teachers,Program Content,College Faculty,Theory Practice Relationship,Foreign Countries,Knowledge Base for Teaching

Research confirms that the quality of instruction learners experience day-to-day matters for learner achievement more than any other school-based factor. Yet teachers beginning their careers across a range of contexts routinely report that they are unprepared to enact high quality instruction on day one. Thus, the quality and content of pre-service teacher preparation programmes features prominently in learner success. Research reveals that purposeful coordination between teacher preparation programmes and the school districts with which they partner, tightly aligned curricula and field experiences, and extensive clinical practice can improve teacher preparedness (Darling-Hammond &amp; Bransford 2007). The purpose of this article was to conduct a survey among selected universities offering Bachelor of Education (BEd) foundation phase programmes, to determine the role of work-integrated learning (WIL) in facilitating the preparedness of pre-service teachers to teach reading literacy. The results indicate that there is an urgent need to focus on the following aspects as they relate to WIL and its integration with reading literacy-specific content: the purpose of WIL as it relates to reading literacy; the degree of integration between coursework, specifically reading literacy and practice-based experiences (i.e. practice teaching); the relationship and partnerships between university lecturers and teachers and district officials; and the training of teachers to support the pre-service teachers.
Home Literacy Activities: Accounting for Differences in Early Grade Literacy Outcomes in Low-Income Families in Zambia
Author: Chansa-Kabali, Tamara
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Family Literacy,Emergent Literacy,Low Income,Outcomes of Education,Mathematics Tests,Spelling,Vocabulary Development,Foreign Countries,Parent Background,Educational Attainment,Grade 1,Elementary School Students,Language Tests,Alphabets,Literacy Education,Teaching Methods,Parent Participation,Culturally Relevant Education

Inequalities on child cognitive outcomes exist as children enter the first grade. These differences are even wider for children in low-income families. This article aims to examine the extent to which home factors account for variation in early literacy outcomes in the first year of schooling. A total of 72 first graders and their parents from low-income families in Lusaka, Zambia, participated in the study. A self-reported home literacy questionnaire was used to collect home literacy data--parental education, home possessions, reading materials, language awareness, print experience, writing activities, reading activities and teaching letters. Children's early literacy skills were assessed using four measures: orthography awareness, spelling, vocabulary and math tests. These tests were measured at two points: at the beginning and at the end of the first grade. Results showed that teaching letters was most predictive of literacy outcomes both at the beginning and end of the first year. The study concludes that formal teaching of letters at home is the parents' greatest strength for supporting literacy in low-income families. Thus, energies for parental involvement should be directed in ways that are culturally practised and manageable by parents for better literacy outcomes.
Motivation to Become a Foundation Phase Teacher in South Africa
Author: Sayed, Yusuf
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teacher Motivation,Foreign Countries,Preservice Teacher Education,Student Teachers,Teacher Education Programs,Bachelors Degrees,Student Teacher Attitudes,Teaching (Occupation)

Motivation to enter initial teacher education is a key concern in research globally and in South Africa specifically. Supply of teachers for the Foundation Phase is identified as a critical need in South Africa and understanding why individuals enter these programmes is crucial. In this context, this article explores what motivates student teachers to enter the Bachelor of Education in the Foundation Phase. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative data from a survey administered to first-year student teachers at three public higher education institutions in South Africa, this article examines the reasons why student teachers enrol in Foundation Phase Bachelor of Education initial teacher education programmes, highlighting the extrinsic and intrinsic reasons for doing so. The article concludes by drawing out the implications of the research into motivation to enter Foundation Phase teaching and how it relates to understanding and managing Foundation Phase teacher supply in South Africa.
Initiating a Different Story about Immigrant Somali Parents&apos; Support of Their Primary School Children&apos;s Education
Author: Daniels, Doria
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Immigrants,Child Development,Low Income,Cultural Capital,Family School Relationship,Parent Role,Parent Teacher Cooperation,Elementary School Students,Elementary School Teachers,Educational Change,Access to Education,Foreign Countries,Inclusion,Literacy,Social Capital,Parent Participation,Educational Attainment,Parent Background

The ability of parents to nurture and support their children during their primary school years is considered to be fundamental for the child's development and learning. Teachers and educational psychologists assign great prominence to parental involvement as a tool to advance educational success for children, especially for those who are faced with disadvantages. In the past two decades, we have seen South African schools radically shifting from being racially and ethnically homogenous to becoming culturally, ethnically and linguistically heterogeneous. It is especially the schools in the lower socioeconomic areas that find themselves under tremendous pressure to serve their growing immigrant school population. Not enough is known about the cultural capital that lies embedded in these learners' home contexts and the roles that their parents play in their education. In this manuscript, I investigate the potential intersectionality of school and home and critique the affiliation between teachers and immigrant parents as an important dimension of learning success in the primary school. I situate the discussion in a community school with a strong Somali immigrant population.
Learning Affordances and Participation Enablers within a Primary Mathematics In-Service Community of Practice
Author: Graven, Mellony
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Elementary School Teachers,Mathematics Teachers,Communities of Practice,Feedback (Response),Teacher Attitudes,Foreign Countries,Correlation,Numeracy,Instructional Leadership,Teaching Methods,Faculty Development,Mathematics Instruction

This article investigates the participation enablers and learning affordances identified by teachers through participation within an in-service community of practice (CoP) of primary teachers called the Numeracy Inquiry Community of Leader Educators (NICLE) in the Eastern Cape. The article draws on three qualitative sources of data: the annual teacher questionnaires of 42 participating teachers, interview data from 8 of the 42 sampled teachers and reflective journal entries of these 8 teachers over the first 2 years of NICLE. All three data sets point to teachers foregrounding the affordances and enablers of NICLE participation across the fundamental elements of a CoP, namely domain, community and practice. We illuminate the way in which teachers' identification of learning affordances relates to these three structural features of a CoP. In concluding, we argue that explicit consideration of these structural elements, and their interrelationship in the design of in-service programmes, could enable clearer articulation of programme aspects and support reflection on the coherence between teacher feedback on these as programmes evolve.
Knowledge of Child Development in the Interface of Theory and Practice in Foundation Phase Teacher Education
Author: Ragpot, Lara
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Child Development,Preservice Teacher Education,Theory Practice Relationship,Practicums,Educational Change,Curriculum Development,Knowledge Base for Teaching,Foreign Countries

How the child develops and learns should be an integral part of pre-service teacher education programmes. This article argues that for foundation phase teachers to teach young children effectively, course content in initial teacher education (TE) should cultivate a thorough understanding of the developing child by infusing theories of childhood development into coursework and practicum. To strengthen this argument, the article gives examples of international TE programmes which recognise that child development should take preference in these programmes. However, for the future teacher to really know the developing child and how to intervene when optimal development is not in place, the theories on child development taught in coursework need to be done in tandem with practical work in a school classroom. This theory-practice interface in initial TE could be optimally supported in a foundation phase pre-service TE programme, which utilises a university-affiliated teaching school as site for practical cross articulation of coursework theory.
Ready for Kindergarten: Are Intelligence Skills Enough?
Author: Fitzpatrick, Caroline
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: School Readiness,Kindergarten,Cognitive Ability,Academic Ability,Learner Engagement,Foreign Countries,Longitudinal Studies,Child Development,Numeracy,Receptive Language,Intelligence,Preschool Children,Mathematics Skills,Predictor Variables,Grade 4,Academic Achievement,Student Characteristics,Family Characteristics

This study investigated how different profiles of kindergarten readiness in terms of student intellectual ability, academic skills and classroom engagement relate to future academic performance. Participants are French-Canadian children followed in the context of the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (N = 670). Trained examiners measured number knowledge, receptive vocabulary and fluid intelligence when children were in kindergarten. Teachers rated kindergarten classroom engagement. Outcomes included fourth-grade teacher-rated achievement and directly assessed mathematical skills. Latent class analyses revealed three kindergarten readiness profiles: high (57%), moderate (34%) and low (9.3%) readiness. Using multiple regression, we found that a more favourable kindergarten profile predicted better fourth-grade academic performance. Identifying children at risk of academic difficulty is an important step for preventing underachievement and dropout. These results suggest the importance of promoting a variety of cognitive, academic and behavioural skills to enhance later achievement in at-risk learners.
Teacher Education Students&apos; Struggles with Group Work in Service Learning
Author: Petersen, Nadine
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teacher Education Programs,Service Learning,Cooperative Learning,Communities of Practice,Gender Differences,Cultural Differences,Social Responsibility,Foreign Countries,Learning Activities,Student Attitudes,Educational Experience,Barriers,African Languages,Second Language Learning,Undergraduate Students

This article reports on students' experiences of learning to work together in a childhood teacher education programme at a university in South Africa. We were interested in how students from diverse backgrounds, with little shared understanding of a model or framework for collaborative working, would find their footing and learn how to operationalise care, accountability and reflexivity through engaging in group work as part of their service learning activities. A cross section of student data, from first year to third year, was analysed using qualitative methods of data analysis. The main findings were that the incremental integration of service learning, with fixed student groupings over three years, was a catalyst for the gradual formation of professional student learning communities. The student struggles with group relationships helped them address their cultural, linguistic and gendered assumptions about each other. Lastly, we found that relatively fixed nature of the student groupings over a three year period encouraged deep reflection about ideas of care, community and social responsibility.
Teachers&apos; Perceptions on the Design and Use of an Outdoor Learning Environment for Sensory and Motor Stimulation
Author: Nel, Anca
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teacher Attitudes,Outdoor Education,Motor Development,Sensory Experience,Play,Instructional Design,Case Studies,Preschool Education,Photography,Video Technology,Preschool Teachers,Foreign Countries

This qualitative study makes recommendations to help teachers understand how an outdoor learning environment could be designed and used to enrich perceptual development through sensory and motor stimulation for the Grade R learner. This was done by establishing design principles that create better teaching and learning environments from the perspective of Grade R educators in the South African context. Three purposively selected case studies (preschools) enabled the collection of data using collection methods such as photos, video clips, interviews and observations. Content analysis was conducted and four themes emerged: contradictory perspectives on outdoor learning environments, outdoor play is valuable, creating the ideal outdoor learning environment and increased deficiency of sensory and motor development among Grade R learners. Findings of the study aid educators and other professionals to create a valuable outdoor learning environment for sensory and motor stimulation of Grade R learners.
Sources of Inequality in South African Early Child Development Services
Author: Aubrey, Carol
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Early Childhood Education,Foreign Countries,Constructivism (Learning),Childhood Attitudes,Equal Education,Educational Quality,Child Development

This article seeks to examine critically South African early child development (ECD) in order to uncover some of the challenges that lie ahead in creating a more equitable future for its youngest children. An investigation of play and learning within varied ECD contexts, using observation and interview, is presented. The social constructionist approach adopted allowed exploration of play and learning from the perspectives of a range of stakeholders. Three themes, role of play, sources of inequality and barriers to play, are interrogated. The role and contribution of the concepts of readiness, needs and play to maintaining unequal treatment of vulnerable children are identified. The possibility that these concepts may serve as mechanisms to reproduce social and cultural inequality is considered.