Men in Early Childhood Education: Their Emergent Issues

Using a focus group approach, this study explored emergent issues for men in early childhood education. Preservice teachers, classroom teachers, and male professors identified 6 categories of issues including low salaries, family, and other influences on entering the field, teaching beyond the basics, improving preservice education, recruitment of males, and advantages and disadvantages of males in the field. Implications of the study focus on ways to create gender-fair classrooms.     

印度儿童发展综合服务机构项目及其对我国的启示

印度儿童发展综合服务机构项目的服务对象为生活在农村及城市贫民区的妇女和儿童。该项目提供的是保育和教育服务。该项目通过对儿童早期教育工作者的培训,有效地提高了教育质量。该项目所取得的经验可为我国幼儿教育提供借鉴。     

Loving and Learning with Wemberly and David: Fostering Emotional Development in Early Childhood Education

Children enter the world with simple emotions and gradually add complex feelings to their repertoire of skills. As children grow and develop, they learn to label their emotions and regulate them in socially appropriate ways. Literature is one way early childhood educators can foster healthy emotional development. This article explains how emotions develop during the preschool years (3–5), shares why it is important for early childhood educators to understand the connection between emotional and literacy development, and suggests books and strategies that can be used to enhance young children’s emotional and literate lives.     

Evolving through tensions: preservice teachers’ conceptions of social justice teaching

ABSTRACT

This study utilized cultural historical activity theory to explore the evolution of nine preservice teachers’ (PSTs’) conceptions of social justice teaching while enrolled in a social justice-oriented teacher education program. From three interviews conducted over one year, findings show that tensions PSTs encountered while student teaching in high-poverty schools predominantly shaped their thinking. PSTs’ conceptions of social justice teaching evolved to include navigating inequitable systems, loving students critically, and viewing social justice teaching as uniquely personal. Implications include the importance of teacher educators leveraging inevitable student-teaching tensions as learning opportunities to further PSTs’ commitment to social justice teaching.     

Toward a Model for Early Childhood Environmental Education: Foregrounding,Developing, and Connecting Knowledge Through Play-Based Learning

Environmental education represents a growing area of interest in early childhood education, especially since the inclusion of environmental principles and practices in the Australian Early Years Learning Framework. Traditionally, these two fields of education have been characterized by diverse pedagogical emphases. This article considers how teachers in particular see different types of pedagogical play, such as open-ended play, modeled play, and purposefully framed play as providing opportunities for young children and teachers to develop knowledge through experiences about environmental education in early childhood settings. As a result of findings based on our qualitative research study involving early childhood teachers and children, an emerging model for thinking about environmental education in early childhood is proposed as a way of integrating these pedagogical emphases traditionally associated with environmental and early childhood education. Avenues for future research associated with this model are also identified.     

Implementing a Physical Activity Curriculum into the School Day: Helping Early Childhood Teachers Meet the Challenge

In Fall 2006, North Carolina kindergarten teachers were charged with the task of meeting the NASPE guidelines for providing daily physical activity to their kindergarten students. In turn, the teachers researched resources and consulted experts to design and develop a developmentally appropriate physical activity and physical play environment for their students. The purpose of this article is to disseminate useful information one group of kindergarten teachers believed would help other teachers in similar situations. The article discusses the planning process, suggestions for activities and necessary equipment for program implementation, and vignettes regarding the experiences the teachers and students have had during the physical activity and physical play program’s inaugural year.

Child Care and Early Education: Satisfaction with Services Among Rural Families

Parents were surveyed regarding their satisfaction with early childhood services. Participants were 65 families who had at least 1 child younger than 5 years of age enrolled in a child care center or an early education program in a rural county; a majority of respondents were single, African American females with annual incomes below $20,000. Parents responded to the 20 items of the questionnaire on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). The average score for overall level of satisfaction was 4.64 for the child care group and 4.37 for the early education group; the average for individual items ranged from a low of 3.85 to a high of 4.64. Differences between child care centers and early education programs were not statistically significant. Applications, implications, and recommendations for early childhood services are discussed.     

陕西省地方性师范院校体育专业存在的问题与发展对策探析

本文通过对陕西省地方性师范院校体育专业现状和存在问题的分析,提出了4点建议：整合教育资源,提高办学层次;调整专业结构,改革课程体系;注重与社会结合,加强创业教育;加强内部管理,引入现代企业管理理念.通过以上改革与调整,以期促进陕西省地方性师范院校体育专业健康、稳步的发展.     

幼儿园户外运动性活动区活动的有效开展探研

幼儿园户外运动性活动区是利用幼儿园户外场地环境划分的多个不同运动类型区域,是幼儿进行体育活动的场所。文章从幼儿园教育实践出发,剖析运动性活动区存在的问题,并针对问题从场地利用、规章制度建设、活动内容安排、教师指导等方面提出具体举措。     

Early childhood education and care educators supporting parent-child relationships: a systematic literature review

Building strong relationships between children and parents is vital for children’s social and emotional development. A majority of children attend early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings where they experience a range of relationships (educator–child, educator–parent, parent–child). Educators build relationships with children and parents, yet their influence on parent–child relationships is not well understood. Therefore, an evaluation of interventions/programs designed to promote parent–child relationships in ECEC settings (long day care, occasional care and preschool) and a range of settings (play groups, community groups and health centres) was conducted. The search revealed 21 peer-reviewed studies and seven interventions: two conducted in ECEC settings and five in a range of parent–child support settings. All studies reported intervention efficacy, yet none examined educators’ influence on parent–child relationships. Investigation into current educator practices is recommended to ensure educators are supported to promote and nurture parent–child relationships, consequently strengthening children’s social and emotional development.     

可持续性早期儿童发展政策的理念和实施——亚太地区国家早期儿童发展政策制定的进展

早期儿童发展政策是一个社会性政策,它通过政府的投入对有关早期儿童发展重要问题的解决提供指导,为儿童及其家庭提供服务。这一政策应具有社会、政治、经济和人力资源方面的可持续性。政策的组成部分包括理想与目标、活动、管理和财政。政策制定的过程强调多方人员的参与以及有据可依。亚太地区多个国家近年来在早期儿童发展政策的制定方面取得了很大的进展,但同时在政策的实施、管理和财政方面仍面临很大的挑战。     

Parental expectation of early childhood education: comparison between China, Japan, and Korea

This study investigates 727 parents from China, Japan, and Korea by a self-devised scale and compares the differences in their expectation of early childhood education in cross-cultural backgrounds. The result shows that parents from the three countries have a positive attitude toward their children's development. The main effect of nations on such factors as individual development, close attention to diet, willpower training, moral judgment, and emotional exchange with adults is significant, while the two-way interaction between nations and child gender, nations and child age, and the three-way interaction between nations, child gender, and child age are not significant. Translated from Xueqian Jiaoyu Yanjiu 学前教育研究 (Studies in Preschool Education), 2006, (4): 60–62     

The Measuring Early Learning Quality & Outcomes initiative: purpose,process and results

ABSTRACT

Measuring Early Learning Quality & Outcomes (MELQO) was initiated to address needs for child development and quality of early childhood education (ECE) data, specifically for low- and middle-income countries. Drawing from existing tools, MELQO convened a consortium to create open-source tools to be adapted to national contexts, simultaneously informing global and national population-level monitoring. Beginning with the rationale and context for creating MELQO, we outline the process of creating the tools; highlight results from psychometric evaluation; and describe how the data have been used to reveal patterns of inequity and levels of learning and classroom quality. While psychometric analyses of MELQO indicate that scores should not be used to compare quality of child development between countries, country experiences suggest that data from MELQO tools within countries identify priorities for improvement of preprimary classrooms. MELQO also highlights the importance of local leadership to generate high-leverage data on ECE.     

International Research Projects in Early Childhood Development in Australia,Malaysia and Singapore: Pertinent Issues from Three Studies

The field of early childhood education has been the focus of increased research and public concern in recent years. This paper highlights three research projects funded by the Bernard van Leer Foundation in the eighties in Australia, Malaysia and Singapore. It focuses on four research issues raised from these three studies which span three diverse communities and cultures. In particular, the question of a single integrative approach towards early childhood development programmes, the intersecting needs of children and women, the range of training and dissemination systems to be made available, the role of the different forms of fundamental partnerships in early childhood research and the strengthening of the research-to-policy link will be discussed.     

Towards an Understanding of the Social Issues in Information Technology: concerning computers,intelligence and education

ABSTRACT

Information technology has numerous social and political implications. This paper is primarily concerned with beginning to outline some of the more important issues for teacher educators. An understanding of these implications is required before we, as teacher educators or as teachers in schools, can begin to address the issues in our work around information technology in colleges or in the classroom. This article outlines the issues rather than exploring how to present them in colleges.

There are important debates occurring around information technology, the nature of intelligence, and education, which have profound implications for society. This article argues that the kind of work done in schools on computers, and generally on information technology, supports implicitly the more traditional ideas in education. In order to take a more balanced position, and to give students a chance to realise how their futures may be affected, it is argued that the social implications of information technology must be addressed centrally in colleges of education.     

Transforming Education through School-community Partnerships: Lessons from Four Rural Early Childhood Development Schools in Zimbabwe

This article presents and discusses the findings of a multi-case study that was conducted in four remote rural early childhood development (ECD) schools located in the Chiredzi district, in Masvingo province, Zimbabwe. The article explored how school heads enhanced resources mobilisation in remote rural ECD schools through school-community partnerships in order to improve teaching and learning conditions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the school heads, deputy heads and teachers in charge. Document reviews and observations were also used to augment data from interviews. Invitational leadership was used as an analytic tool for the study. The findings suggest that the school heads succeeded to some degree in bringing parents and various stakeholders to the ECD schools to deal with the challenges facing them. Various strategies were used including tapping into local knowledge to ensure that parents who could afford to pay fees managed to do so.     

游戏教学法在幼儿园教育教学中的应用研究

幼儿阶段是人生良好行为习惯养成与优秀道德品质培养的黄金阶段,游戏作为贴近幼儿内心需求的活动方式,对幼儿身心健康发展具有重要作用。采用游戏教学法,能激发幼儿学习兴趣,调动幼儿学习的积极性,提升幼儿社会交往能力,有利于促进幼儿的全面发展。文章对游戏教学法在幼儿园教育教学中的应用进行研究。     

Cognitive Development in Gifted Children: Toward a More Precise Understanding of Emerging Differences in Intelligence

To truly understand gifted performance, it is necessary to merge research on giftedness with current thinking in cognitive development and intelligence. This article presents traditional research on gifted children's cognitive development then considers how the application of newer models and theories from the field of cognitive development can be combined with research on giftedness to change the way people think about gifted performance. First four factors that have often been associated with giftedness are discussed from the perspectives of cognitive developmental psychology and gifted education. Next, emphasis is placed on investigating the strategic development of gifted children. Specifically, R. S. Siegler's (Emerging Minds: The Process of Change in Children's Thinking, Oxford University Press, New York, 1996) model of strategy development is addressed in terms of what it may contribute to understanding gifted cognition. Finally, future lines of research using models from cognitive development and complex systems models of development are recommended.     

Family, Friend, and Neighbor Child Caregivers: Results of a Statewide Study to Determine Needs and Desires for Support

Family, friend and neighbor (FFN) child caregivers represent a significant proportion of caregivers for young children. Yet, these caregivers receive little support for their services. In 2003, the First 5 California Children and Families Commission (First 5 California) began a study to determine the work-related needs of FFN caregivers in California. This paper reports on the results of all study activities, including focus groups and interviews with caregivers and parents. It details the specific needs related to licensing, materials and equipment, education and training, and support systems that were identified by FFN caregivers, parents, and other stakeholders as being important to improve the quality and working conditions of FFN care. It also discusses needs of agencies that provide services to FFN caregivers, including awareness of and knowledge about the population, funding and other resources, and professional development topics.