Becoming economic subjects: agency,consumption and popular culture in early childhood

This paper considers how young children in early childhood education draw on popular texts and consumer goods in their constitution of subjectivities and social relations. The paper draws on poststructuralist theories of subjectivity, agency, consumption and power, to explore how performative practices of consumption figure in the constitution of economically oriented subjectivities. Drawing on data generated in research undertaken in early childhood centres in the culturally diverse outer metropolitan region of Greater Western Sydney, Australia, the paper considers how economic discourse informs children's cultural knowledges, shaping the ‘techniques of the self’ through their engagement with commercially available images and products. The argument is made that children make strategic use of their knowledge of popular culture and its potential to locate them advantageously in material and symbolic economies, and that the deployment of symbolic and material goods that shapes children's dress, play, and conversation is an important means of rendering oneself intelligible within normative discourses of economic participation.     

Early intervention: parental involvement,child agency and participation in creative play

Early intervention activities for very young disabled children are frequently linked to developmental targets and goals. A key challenge for parents and practitioners involved in early intervention programmes is to encourage their child to play and develop creatively through enjoyable, everyday childhood experiences. This paper reports on a small-scale ethnographic study involving two young children identified with Down syndrome participating in early intervention programmes and whether and how their creative process was supported through their play and activities with parents and professionals. The ‘in-the-picture’ method used within this ethnographic study was developed from a listening to children paradigm. This article provides examples of the ways in which early intervention that recognises child agency can support children’s play and self-directing ‘little c’ of creativity.     

Anonymous green painting: an artifact of resistance as danger and hope in an early childhood educational setting

A “child’s painting” is narrated as a contextualized artifact, situated in a school, a curriculum, and a society. It is a study of this object and the meanings that can be made by examining it in context, using an “ethic of resistance” and an analysis of curriculum spaces. This contextualization is designed to contribute to the continuing conversation about “go[ing] beyond all kinds of binary thinking”. The binary of interest here is that which positions “adults” and “children” within the constructs of power and powerlessness in educational settings.     

Shared reading as a practice for fostering early learning in an Early Childhood Education and Care centre: a naturalistic,comparative study of one infant's experiences with two educators

Early childhood educators are encouraged to read with infants, yet little is known about the educator–infant book‐focused interactions that occur in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) centres. This study provides a systematic linguistic analysis of the naturally occurring interactions between one focal child Charlie (aged 21 months and 13 days) and two of his educators, as they each engaged in shared reading with Charlie and one or more of his peers during a typical day in his infant room. While both educators engaged in shared reading for pedagogical purposes, the meanings realised in their talk differed in subtle ways, providing Charlie and his peers with tacit and sometimes contradictory messages about how to make meaning from words and pictures. One educator's proportionally greater use of mental processes and polar questions construed shared reading primarily as an interpretive activity, while the other educator's proportionally greater use of WH questions and directives construed shared reading primarily as an instructional activity. Differences were also observed in Charlie's verbal participation during the two shared readings. The findings reveal how educators, through their own talk, create particular contexts in which infants may or may not participate during shared reading experiences.     

Teacher agency in the Canadian context: linking the how and the what

Even though there is no common conceptual basis guiding teacher education in Canada, over the past two decades teacher educators both in Canada and around the world have called for teacher candidates to become agents of change. While researchers across Canada strive to demonstrate how to prepare pre- and in-service teachers to be agents of change, few scholars have examined in detail what teacher agency might mean in the Canadian context. This paper reviews the conceptualisation of agency from five theoretical perspectives (psychology, sociology, critical theory, historical studies, and post-structuralism) and examines how empirical studies in the Canadian contexts align with these perspectives. This paper makes explicit the connections between the how and the what of agency, and as such informs current approaches to preparing pre- and in-service teachers and their potential role as agents of change, and maps out how the notion of agency is taken up in a particular jurisdiction.     

芬兰《幼儿教育和保育国家课程指导》的内容与启示

《幼儿教育和保育国家课程指导》是芬兰政府颁布的指导芬兰幼教工作的纲领性文件。芬兰的幼儿教育和保育强调尊重儿童的内在价值,为儿童发展提供支持。在课程实施中体现公平性、整体性、集体性、环境舒适性、快乐性、语言中心等原则:课程内容主要包括数学、自然科学、社会-历史、艺术、道德和宗教一哲学等六个方面。芬兰《幼儿教育和保育国家课程指导》重视保障体系的建构,关注地方差异,强调政策的弹性,对我国具有借鉴意义。     

Pre-K Music and the Emergent Reader: Promoting Literacy in a Music-Enhanced Environment

Emergent literacy may be nurtured in an early childhood environment that integrates literacy experiences with meaningful music activities in which young children develop skills necessary for success in both areas simultaneously. Early childhood educators can develop the knowledge and skills needed to bring music into the classroom as an engaging and stimulating element of literacy education.     

An integrated system of early childhood education and care governance in Turkey: views of policy-makers,practitioners, and academics

Despite a wealth of evidence showing the benefits of early childhood education and care (ECEC), in Turkey participation remains low and inequitably distributed, even though access to services is soaring. Drawing from previous findings, this paper will focus on different stakeholders’ views on a more integrated system of ECEC governance in Turkey. The research shows that Turkey, a country at the crossroads of forming the foundations of early childhood services, should consider the adverse effects of the current split system and focus on the integration of services to foster holistic development with the aim of offering quality and equity for all children.     

Exploring parental involvement in early years education in China: development and validation of the Chinese Early Parental Involvement Scale (CEPIS)

This study developed and validated an instrument, the Chinese Early Parental Involvement Scale (CEPIS), that can be widely used in both local and international contexts to assess Chinese parental involvement in early childhood education. The study was carried out in two stages: (1) focus group interviews were conducted with 41 teachers and 35 parents in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Teachers and parents were found to hold different perceptions of parental involvement. Responses further revealed that Chinese parents practiced more home-based involvement than preschool-based involvement, and that Chinese parents also have layers of responsibilities that limit their level of involvement in children's early development; (2) items of the CEPIS were developed using focus group responses. To validate the scale, 319 parents were asked to complete the new CEPIS. Results from principal-components factor analyses established that the resultant 26-item CEPIS consists of six parental involvement dimensions. Further analyses revealed that parental involvement differed as a function of parents' marital status and employment status. The major findings, implications and limitations of this research are discussed, together with directions for future research.     

Supporting inclusion in early childhood settings: some possibilities and problems for teacher education

Aotearoa New Zealand, like other countries, has legislation and policies that support inclusion and promote the participation of all children and families in early childhood education. We might expect therefore to see a culture of inclusion resonating through policy and practice in early childhood settings. There are early childhood teachers who support such legislative and policy goals, who are committed to inclusion, and who are developing more inclusive early childhood services. Yet, it is also evident that discrimination and exclusion is experienced by many. Teacher education plays an important role in supporting inclusion and assisting teachers’ development of knowledge, skills and attitudes that will support them to teach all children. In this paper, we write as a group of teacher educators and demonstrate the challenges we took up to move beyond traditional approaches to inclusive education and to open up theoretically and practically diverse possibilities for thinking and doing inclusion differently in early childhood teacher education.     

Science in early years education: introducing floating and sinking as a property of matter

In the present study we test the effectiveness of a teaching intervention concerning the phenomenon of floating and sinking as a property of the matter the bodies are made of. The treatment, designed for children aged four to six years, comprises two units of hierarchically sequenced activities. The children experiment with objects having specifically designed characteristics aiming at shifting children's attention from the objects to the material(s) these are made of. Both solid and hollow objects were used. The activities were developed collaboratively by a researcher and early years teachers and were implemented by the teachers of the work group in their own public school classes in a sample of 104 children. Action research processes were used to optimise classroom practices. Teacher preparation took place within the work group before implementation. Concept cartoons were used for the children's final assessment. Analysis of classroom data recorded during the course of the activities showed gradual redirection of the children's attention from the objects to the materials of which they were made. The results of the post-instructional assessment revealed high percentages of pupils understanding the kind of material as the determining factor for the bodies' behaviour in water.     

Professional roles and responsibilities in meeting the needs of children with speech,language and communication needs: joint working between educational psychologists and speech and language therapists

There is a large population of children with speech, language and communication needs who have additional special educational needs (SEN). Whilst professional collaboration between education and health professionals is recommended to ensure an integrated delivery of statutory services for this population of children, formal frameworks should be developed for the exchange of information during identification and assessment of needs and planning of intervention strategies. In this study an audit was carried out to examine practical and conceptual issues which might arise in a piloted communication system between educational psychologists and speech and language therapists. Whilst it was found that 62.8% of newly referred children with SEN had some history of co‐existing communication and education needs, it was shown that duplication of work exists and communication is onerous. It was also shown that schools were not fully informed about children’s needs. Joint commissioning of services is required to facilitate individual practitioners in collaborating to serve the needs of these children.     

Structure and agency in learning: a critical realist theory of the development of capacity to reflect on academic practice

Theories of learning typically downplay the interplay between social structure and student agency. In this article, we adapt a causal hypothesis from realist social theory and draw on wider perspectives from critical realism to account for the development of capacity to engage in reflection on professional practice in academic roles. We thereby offer a theory of professional learning that explores how social and cultural structures and personal emergent powers combine to ensure variation in the emergence of such reflective capacity. The influence of these factors on professional learning is mediated through reflexive deliberation and social interaction, with the exercise of one's personal powers specifically identified as a stratum of social reality. We consider further the role of concerns, intention and attention in professional learning, drawing together issues that are rarely considered within the same theory. We thus offer a comprehensive account of professional learning, showing how a focus on structure and agency increases the explanatory power of learning theory.     

Inclusion of children living with disability in early childhood development and education: construction of a stakeholder-informed framework

School-level data shows that a large number of Children living with Disability (ClwD) are not accessing Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) services in Nepal (Department of Education, 2020). This research explores the factors affecting the inclusion of ClwD in ECDE programs aiming at informing policy, plans and strategies about existing barriers to early intervention and education services for ClwD. Through interviews, focus group discussions with key stakeholders and document reviews, the research identified the interconnection of several organisational and contextual factors created multiple barriers to successful inclusion. Organisational factors were: policy, attitudes, teacher efficacy, resources, coordination, communication processes and parental engagement. Contextual factors were: spirituality, caste, ethnicity, language, economic status, and geographic location. The very interactive nature of organisational and contextual factors resulted in the development of an inclusive education framework to inform future policies.     

Parental engagement strategies in Greek and Nigerian preschool settings: cross-country comparison

Acknowledging the fact that parental engagement is more beneficial during early childhood compared to other developmental stages many countries have institutionalised parental engagement. In Nigeria, the government has taken initiatives in order to involve parents in their child's development by encouraging the establishment of School Management Boards in the public schools and Parents Teachers Association in the private schools. On the contrary, in Greece home and preschool settings have separate roles and parent/teacher relationships have a long way to go towards becoming partnerships. In order to examine how Greek and Nigerian parents engage in their preschool children's education, 30 Greek and 30 Nigerian early childhood educators filled in the School, Family, and Community Partnerships Survey. Results suggest that parental engagement activities in both countries are not yet part of the schools' programme and they need improvement. Results have implications for the status of ECEC in both countries and the state's intensions to open pathways for collaboration in order to foster an inspiring vision for childhood.     

Gudaga goes to school study: methods used in understanding school transitions and early education experiences of an urban Aboriginal cohort

The Gudaga Goes to School Study described the transition to school and early education experiences of 117 urban Aboriginal children and their families. This paper outlines the methods and design of the study. A life course approach, employing multidimensional and multi-theoretical frameworks was used to capture the complexity of issues surrounding the transition and early school experiences with multi-methods used to collect data from children, parents and teachers. Quantitative data included questionnaires, checklists and educational assessments to track children’s academic progress, school attendance, and social/emotional/behavioural development. Qualitative data consisted of semi-structured interviews and focus groups to gain the perspective of stakeholders. Children also participated using photography and drawing mediums. The community controlled study was conceived, designed and conducted in close consultation with the local Aboriginal community.     

Dearth of early education experience: a significant barrier to educational and social inclusion in the Western Balkans

The article summarises the socio-political, cultural, economic and educational background to the Western Balkans region and outlines the wider qualitative research study that provided the data on early and pre-school educational opportunities in the seven countries involved; Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo (under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244), the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. The authors examine international research and literature on early education that identifies it as an important means of enabling subsequent educational and social inclusion and attainment. They proceed to discuss and illustrate from the research data five inter-linked factors showing that provision of early education in the Western Balkans is inadequate and exclusive and that children who are already at greatest socio-economic and cultural disadvantage and at potential risk in elementary and secondary education are least likely to participate in, or benefit from, it. Some recent more encouraging developments are noted but the article concludes that substantially more investment and positive actions are needed in raising awareness of the importance of early education and in developing policies and provision for it that will benefit children currently at greatest disadvantage.