Cross-Cultural Analysis of Social Competence and Behavior Problems in Preschoolers

A multi-national study using the Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation Inventory (SCBE-30) was conducted to investigate preschool children's social and emotional development across cultures. A total of 4,640 children from eight participating countries, including Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United States were evaluated by their preschool teachers. The main objective of the study was to validate the SCBE-30 in each country and build a cross-cultural data set for the investigation of universals, as well as cultural differences, in the development of preschool children's social competence and the frequency and type of their behavioral problems. Results provide a clear case for the structural equivalence of the SCBE-30 across all samples, for universals in the structure of early social behavior, and possibly some differences that may be attributed to culture. The pattern of gender differences found in North American samples was found to generalize across cultural contexts as preschool boys were universally reported to be significantly more aggressive and viewed as less socially competent than girls. Age differences were also found in all eight samples reflecting increasing competence in older children, however age trends in the prevalence of behavior problems were culture specific.     

The Lives and Careers of Women Leaders in Shanghai

This article explores the contrasting career routes and experiences of women leaders from differing socio‐historical‐political backgrounds in China, especially those in the city of Shanghai. In doing so, it seeks to examine why particular career patterns and routes to positions of leadership have emerged and how the women themselves understand and account for their different experiences. The intention is to shed light on the part played by cultural and economic changes in China’s social development generally, by comparison with other factors and to highlight the uniqueness of the Chinese case. In particular the role of social relationships in shaping career routes will be emphasized.     

Personal Storytelling as a Medium of Socialization in Chinese and American Families

The goal of this study was to determine how personal storytelling functions as a socializing practice within the family context in middle-class Taiwanese and middle-class European American families. The data consist of more than 200 naturally occurring stories in which the past experiences of the focal child, aged 2,6, were narrated. These stories were analyzed at 3 levels: content, function, and structure. Findings converged across these analytic levels, indicating that personal storytelling served overlapping yet distinct socializing functions in the 2 cultural cases. In keeping with the high value placed on didactic narrative within the Confucian tradition, Chinese families were more likely to use personal storytelling to convey moral and social standards. European American families did not treat stories of young children's past experiences as a didactic resource but instead employed stories as a medium of entertainment and affirmation. These findings suggest not only that personal storytelling operates as a routine socializing practice in widely different cultures but also that it is already functionally differentiated by 2,6.     

The impact of domestic violence exposure on South Asian children in the United States: Perspectives of domestic violence agency staff

The South Asian community is the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States, and past research suggests that South Asian domestic violence (DV) survivors may require culturally-specific resources. Similarly, South Asian children in the US exposed to DV may have unique responses and needs, but this has not been explored to date. The objective of this study was to examine the specific needs of South Asian children exposed to DV from the vantage point of staff from South Asian DV agencies across the United States. Thirty interviews were conducted, with data coded and consolidated into larger themes using thematic analysis. Participants described several factors important to understanding the impact of DV on South Asian children including the role of the extended family, identifying with two cultures, fear about what the South Asian community will think, gender differences, and the importance of projecting an image of perfection. Participants also discussed development of culturally-tailored resources. This study suggests the importance of framing South Asian children’s experiences within the context of interweaving South Asian and American cultural values, with careful attention paid to how potential culture clashes between parents and children may impact the way children process trauma. Further work should triangulate these themes with children, parents, and extended family, as well as collaborate with South Asian DV agencies to design child-focused programs.     

Exploring the Lived Experiences of Homeless Families with Young Children

This study researched the experiences of homeless families with young children between the ages of four and eight. Many families experience homelessness every year; therefore, it is important for early childhood educators to have an understanding of how homelessness affects families with young children so that educators can effectively serve the needs of homeless families as they seek to find more permanent situations for themselves and their young children. Many early childhood educators may not understand how homelessness affects young learners. This research sought: (1) to understand reasons families with young children become homeless; (2) to become aware of beneficial resources available to families and their perceptions of the resources; (3) and to examine the developmental effects that homeless living situations can have on young children. The outcomes of this study will be used to inform early childhood educators about practices as they seek to serve young children ages four to eight living homeless. Research suggested common themes as to why and how parents and young children are affected by homelessness.     

Linking critical pedagogy practice to higher education in Malaysia: insights from English language teachers

This study explores whether critical pedagogy is viable for meeting the goals of the Malaysia Education Blueprint (MEB) 2015–2025. The MEB has a particular focus on societal improvement and the authors suggest that critical pedagogy should be considered as a way of teaching as it specifically aligns with the aims of government policy. However, there is uncertainty about how critical pedagogy might be enacted in the Malaysian higher education context because it is difficult to understand and practise. The authors interviewed English language critical pedagogues from various countries about their experiences and found four common themes across all cultures. These were: co-construction of knowledge between teacher and student; new levels of trust; the use of problem-posing techniques; and evaluation of teaching and the student experience. These findings provide a guide to practice and the authors conclude that for critical pedagogy to gain acceptance across Malaysia, consideration needs to be given to changing prevailing cultural norms, the strict social order, as well as the political landscape of the country.     

Homelessness in the elementary school classroom: social and emotional consequences

This study examined elementary school teachers’ experiences working with homeless students. Specifically, we focused on the psychosocial impacts of homelessness on students and their teachers. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 teachers who worked at designated public schools for family homeless shelters. A prominent theme that emerged from teachers’ accounts was how the instability tied to homelessness affected students’ behavioral, social, and emotional adjustment in the classroom (e.g. externalizing problems, difficulty developing peer relationships, and withdrawn behavior). Teachers’ own social and emotional competencies (e.g. fostering positive teacher–student relationships, and perspective taking) influenced the manner in which they responded to their students’ needs. Findings suggest that critical components may be lacking articulation in the McKinney-Vento Act’s Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program such as guidelines for teacher responsibilities, supports for teachers, and an emphasis not only on children’s academic but also social and emotional needs.     

Inclusion and Preschoolers Who Are Typically Developing: The Lived Experience

In this qualitative study, we examined the lived experiences of three typically developing children participating in inclusive preschool programs for children with special needs. Inclusion has been considered a best practice in early childhood programs for many years; however, some may still argue that the benefits for children with disabilities are greater than for those without. Prior research has explored the benefits of inclusion for young children with special needs but has not focused as intentionally on the benefits for young children with typical abilities. In this study, we followed three preschool children with typical development for one school year. Employing an hermeneutical framework, we used observations, interviews with teachers and parents, and artifact reviews to examine how these three children made meaning of their experiences. Findings indicated that all three children made social gains and demonstrated improved perceptions of peer with disabilities after participating in their respective programs. The results suggest that inclusive preschool programs may be viewed as beneficial for all children.     

Making Meaningful: Intention in Children's Art Making

Children's art work has often been the subject of study by researchers seeking to gain insight into the role of art making in children's learning and development. However, rarely are children's own explanations of their art making used to inform these studies. Children's perceptions of their own art making are important for research and practice in art education, because their artistic experiences and motivations determine how they will engage in and respond to art making activities. This study used ethnographic methods to learn about the art making that took place over the course of one year in an elementary school art room, and to gain insight into the students' experiences and perceptions of art‐making activity. Data were analysed using a socio‐cultural framework. By asking children why they made art and exploring children's own explanations of their art making, this study reveals some of the important intentions that children bring to their artistic activity, and some of the ways that children make meaning through art making.     

Constructing cultural‐historical tools for supporting young children's concept formation in early literacy and numeracy

Over the past 10 years, early childhood professionals have been increasingly influenced by cultural‐historical theory. In order to support professionals evolving their practice, the Australian government commissioned a set of cultural‐historical resources specifically designed to build literacy and numeracy experiences for children from birth to the age of five years. This paper reports on an investigation of how teachers and families used the tools for supporting concept formation in literacy and numeracy and how they came to understand cultural‐historical theory. A sample of 349 people (families, and qualified and unqualified early childhood professionals) were either surveyed online or interviewed in relation to the resources. The findings indicate that teachers focused more explicitly on cognitive outcomes for children as a result of using the resources, and most families interacted differently with their children in everyday situations after having piloted the resources.     

Inclusive education in Australia ten years after Salamanca

While many states and territories in Australia were initially a little slow to develop a strong momentum towards inclusive educational practices, this has been addressed quite dramatically in the past ten years. Acknowledging that each jurisdiction in Australia has its own department of education and determines its own educational directions this paper will focus on broad developments across all jurisdictions in order to provide an overall analysis of how inclusive education has evolved. This discussion paper will focus on systemic changes since the Salamanca Statement (UNESCO, 1994), involving the education of students with diverse learning needs. A review of Australian research identifies the implications for specialist peripatetic support staff, the personal beliefs and values of teachers and the need for more structured pre- and in-service training for teachers to enable them to meet the educational, social and emotional needs of all children engaged in inclusive experiences.     

Negotiating identity and science teaching in a high-stakes testing environment: an elementary teacher’s perceptions

This study draws upon a qualitative case study to investigate the impact of the high-stakes test environment on an elementary teacher’s identities and the influence of identity maintenance on science teaching. Drawing from social identity theory, I argue that we can gain deep insight into how and why urban elementary science teachers engage in defining and negotiating their identities in practice. In addition, we can further understand how and why science teachers of poor urban students engage in teaching decisions that accommodate school demands and students’ needs to succeed in high-stakes tests. This paper presents in-depth experiences of one elementary teacher as she negotiates her identities and teaching science in school settings that emphasize high-stakes testing. I found that a teacher’s identities generate tensions while teaching science when: (a) schools prioritize high-stakes tests as the benchmark of teacher success and student success; (b) activity-based and participatory science teaching is deemphasized; (c) science teacher of minority students identity is threatened or questioned; and (d) a teacher perceives a threat to one’s identities in the context of high stakes testing. Further, the results suggest that stronger links to identities generate more positive values in teachers, and greater possibilities for positive actions in science classrooms that support minority students’ success in science.

Story time: not just for children anymore

Sharing breastfeeding stories has enormous value for both teller and listener. In a culture that often misunderstands and devalues breastfeeding and the nursing relationship, stories reduce women's anxiety and insecurity, validate their experiences, reveal the social and cultural roots of these experiences, and illuminate why breastfeeding matters so much to women.     

Inclusive education and intellectual disability: a sociological engagement with Martha Nussbaum

As a result of exclusionary tactics, social, cultural or economic disadvantage or disability, vast numbers of pupils have poor educational experiences and are either marginalised or demonised due to ‘difficult differences’. In the context of Martha Nussbaum's capabilities approach, where she suggests that we ought to be who we want to be, this paper addresses intellectual disability, inclusion and inclusive education. It proposes that care, compassion, creativity and ethics are critical in understanding the education for all children and young people, rather than necessarily pedagogical process. In addition, it suggests that learning should take place within and through relationships and that these relationships are important in developing a healthy sense of self. Therefore politically, rather than following a path of blame whether it is the dysfunctional family, the deficit child or the economically deprived nation, this paper says that we require socially just practices, compassion and care as fundamental to human development, social inclusion and inclusive education. Ultimately, education is failing a large sum of children and young people and therefore needs to be radically reconsidered.     

培养文化敏感型教师:多元文化教师教育的议题与挑战——美国哥伦比亚大学师范学院A.Lin.Goodwin教授访谈

学校中儿童的日益多样化,使得教师教育必须帮助新教师理解如何与各种文化背景的学生打交道。教师不能想当然地假设每一个孩子都有相似的经历和体验,而要对学生的差异性保持清醒的意识和文化的敏感。多元文化教育更大的使命,是要确保教育实践的公平性,履行教育助推社会公正的使命。因此,为社会公正培养"文化敏感型教师",成为多元文化教育的核心议题。文化敏感型教师尽最大努力确保所有学生学业成功,帮助学生发展批判和质疑精神,培养学生改变社会的意识和能力。文化敏感型教师的概念使我们超越了对多元文化教师教育的肤浅定义,将多元文化教师教育指向这样的方向:教育是具有政治意义的活动,是每一个孩子都应该获得的权利。多元文化教师教育并非是让学生了解某个或某些少数民族那么简单,而是要培养师范生对个体差异性进行持续探究的能力。     

A Developmental Perspective on Peer Rejection: Mechanisms of Stability and Change

This study examines factors associated with the relative stability of peer rejection among elementary school-aged children. Forty-four initially rejected children (some of whom improved their social status while others remained rejected over a 2-year period) were recruited from a larger sociometric sample. Prospective analyses were conducted to determine whether peer nominated aggression and children's perceptions of their own status in fourth grade were predictive of status improvement by the end of fifth grade. In addition to prospective analyses, initially rejected children and their mothers were invited to participate in a retrospective interview about their social experiences over the past 2 school years. Results of prospective and retrospective analyses suggested that perceived social status, participation in extracurricular activities, locus of control, and parental monitoring were all positively related to status improvement among initially rejected children. Surprisingly, aggressive behavior also was positively related to status improvement among initially rejected boys.     

The lure of hegemonic masculinity: investigating the dynamics of gender relations in two male elementary school teachers’ lives 1

This paper is based on an investigation into the dynamics of masculinity in two male elementary school teachers’ lives. It draws on a poststructuralist approach to empirical analysis that is informed by Sondergaard who argues for the need to attend to the ‘constitution of social practices and cultural patterns’ through which subjects make sense of their lived experiences. This approach, it is argued, is supported by Convery who stresses the need to ‘sensitively confront’ the identity claims that are inscribed through teacher narratives. In this sense, the author provides an account of the dynamics of masculinity in two male elementary school teachers’ lives, which attend to issues of sexuality and social class in examining how gendered identity management impacts on pedagogical practices and philosophical approaches to teaching. This poststructuralist analytic inquiry, with its emphasis on interrogating essentialized notions of fixed identity, illuminates the contradictory practices of hegemonic masculinity in male elementary school teachers’ lives. Such empirical inquiry, it is further argued, is necessary given the failure of educational policy, in its insistence on the need for more male role models in elementary schools, to deal adequately with the complexities and significance of male teachers’ masculinities.     

An ecological exploration of young children’s digital play: framing children’s social experiences with technologies in early childhood

Abstract

This article outlines an ecological framework for describing children’s social experiences during digital play. It presents evidence from a study that explored how 3- to 5-year-old children negotiated their social experiences as they used technologies in preschool. Utilising a systematic and iterative cycle of data collection and analysis, children’s interactions with 24 technological resources were examined over a nine-month period and across three phases. Findings reveal that children played in clusters, exhibiting a multitude of social behaviours and interactions and varied degrees of social participation, and assumed various social status roles and technological positions. These behaviours formed part of a Digital Play System, which in turn was influenced by the Preschool System, which comprises children and practitioners as active agents, technological affordances, and the cultural systems, routines and practices of the early childhood setting. Ultimately, children’s social experiences during digital play cannot be determined by any single element of the ecological system.