加快推进《学前教育法》立法进程

学前教育是人生发展的奠基性教育,是基础教育的基础,对义务教育质量、国民素质提高和社会发展具有重要的奠基性作用。随着我国社会发展,特别是发展观的转变,学前教育的公益性及其重要的基础性作用日益为人们所认识。加快推进《学前教育法》立法进程,不仅是解决我国当前学前教育事业发展中诸多根本性问题的现实选择,而且是保障其健康、有序、可持续发展的迫切需要。建议突破思路,抓住核心问题,明确学前教育性质和政府职责,创新体制机制,争取在近年内制定出台《学前教育法》。     

差别性创造性对话性过程性——后现代视域下我国幼儿教育的应然选择

后现代主义是从20世纪60年代开始逐渐形成、发展、壮大的一种哲学思潮。它的一系列主张和观点对现代教育思潮和改革产生了深刻的影响，也对当前幼儿教育改革具有重要价值和意义。在后现代主义思潮影响之下，当前幼儿教育在教育目标、师生关系、课程设置和幼儿学习等方面都需要进行相应的调整和变革。     

Assessing Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care

Evaluating quality in early childhood education and care (ECEC) service internationally is increasingly important. Research to date indicates that it is ‘high-quality’ programmes that boost and sustain children's achievement outcomes over time. There is also growing interest in the accountability of public funds used for ECEC programmes and the types of measures that assess ECEC quality. This article reviews eleven existing instruments that were designed to assess global ECEC programmes and examines them in terms of their strengths and weaknesses as quality measurement tools and the adequacy of the measures to sufficiently reflect the context and purposes of the assessment. Through this process the authors identify directions for the development of new measures that are both theoretically and psychometrically sound.     

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。     

童年的主要特质及其教育意蕴

儿童不是小大人",是现代儿童观的一个基本原理。为什么说儿童不是小大人,儿童的世界与成人世界究竟有什么不同?这种不同对教育而言又意味着什么?本文尝试从五个方面,即儿童"热衷于游戏活动","喜欢读童话一类的儿童文学作品","能基于本能和无意识主动自发地学习","存在发展的敏感期或关键期","心理发展遵循一定的顺序",对上述问题作了系统的解答。     

Education for sustainability in higher education; Early Childhood Studies as a site for provocation,collaboration and inquiry

Fifteen years after they were created, the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have reached their expiration date. The United Nations asserts that surveys conducted in September 2015 suggested that only 4% of the UK public had heard of the MDG’s. The renewed focus on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer opportunities for higher education institutions (HEIs) to work alongside students to create a shared and contextualised awareness of sustainable development within Early Childhood Education. This aim is pertinent for those students studying Early Childhood Studies (ECS) degrees with the potential goal of working with babies, young children and their families. The research was situated within a paradigm of critical educational research to establish a shared understanding of sustainable development within a newly validated BA (Hons) ECS programme at a HEI in the Northwest of England. Visual provocations were used as a pedagogical intervention to present a disorientating dilemma, critical reflection on personal perspective and an examination of world views. Findings suggested that visual methodologies supported students to appreciate the ambiguity and contested limits of knowledge, and to draw upon wider sources related to moral and ethical principles and to established rights and responsibilities.     

日本"幼小衔接"热潮剖析

本文在对近几年日本出现的"幼小衔接"热潮的发展历程和主要特点进行研究的基础上,对其原因进行了分析,认为地方分权化的推动、"小一问题"的驱使和终身教育思潮的影响是当今日本出现"幼小衔接"热潮的主要原因.     

英国学前教育督导的内容、特点及启示

英国《学前教育督导手册》作为督导工作的重要文件依据,规定了英国学前教育督导的指标、等级、组织及实施等内容,从督导前、督导中、督导后三个阶段阐述了督导人员及学前教育机构的职责。文章尝试对最新版本的内容与特点进行分析,突出改进重点,把握督导理念,旨在为我国学前教育相关工作提供借鉴与启示。     

幼儿教育小学化倾向的表现原因及解决对策

幼儿教育是针对学龄前儿童的教育,目前幼儿教育往往是有严重的小学化倾向。为了解决当前幼儿教育中小学化的趋势,有必要分析其表现和形成原因,最终制定完善的解决策略,提高幼儿教育的效率,使儿童在良好的教育体系下实现健康稳定的发展目标。     

Relative importance of early childhood development domains for schooling progression: Longitudinal Evidence from the Zambia Early Childhood Development Project

While the effects of early childhood development on later educational outcomes have been widely studied in western countries, rigorous evidence from sub-Saharan African countries is limited. This longitudinal study uses Zambian children’s developmental outcomes at age six as predictors of educational enrollment and attainment at age 15. Fine motor, receptive language, and early literacy skills were most strongly associated with on-track enrollment. Fine motor skills were most predictive of enrollment. Cognitive, socio-emotional, and executive functioning skills predicted grade repetition. Overall, the results suggest substantial heterogeneity in the associations between domains of early childhood development and adolescent schooling outcomes in Zambia.     

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.     

Evaluating the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS): Assessing differences between the first and revised edition

Before 1998, most large-scale studies of center-based child care programs measured quality using the 1980 version of the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS). To know whether data from studies conducted after 1998 using the revised ECERS-R can be fairly compared to data from studies using the 1980 ECERS, simultaneous assessments using both measures in a sample of 68 classrooms were conducted. The results suggest that the original ECERS and ECERS-R can be viewed, as their authors intended, as comparable measures of quality. Scores were highly correlated and similarly distributed. Principal components analysis resulted in two factors for both measures. Both measures fall short in addressing staff stability and key components of culturally sensitive practice, such as communicating with families in their home language.     

Teacher professional learning in Early Childhood education: insights from a mentoring program

In Australia, as is the case in other countries around the world, the Early Childhood workforce is in the process of ‘skilling up’ to meet government demands related to quality service provision. This paper sets out to identify what constitutes effective teacher professional learning through mentoring. Guided by critical realism and social practice as theoretical perspectives, the paper uses data drawn from the State-wide Professional Mentoring Program for Early Childhood Teachers (2011–2014), Victoria, Australia. The findings identify four C’s essential to effective professional learning – Context: the association between individual aspirations and systemic requirements; Collegiality: the positioning and importance of collegial relationships; Criticality: critical deliberation in ‘safe’ learning environments; and Change: recognition that teacher learning takes place in the domains of professional dispositions, pedagogical knowledge and social capital. These findings point to the need to consider teachers’ contexts of practice in the design of professional development programs such as mentoring, and to conceptualise learning as a socially situated practice rather than a detached pedagogic event.     

日本教习对中国幼教事业初期发展的影响

清朝末年,清政府在全面模仿日本学制的基础上正式确定了幼儿教育作为学制第一阶段的法律地位.为弥补国内幼教师资的不足,除了选派学生留学日本外,新设立的幼稚园或蒙养院都争先恐后地聘请日本教习,由她们主持幼教机构开办章程与课程设置,并承担具体的保教工作.随着女子受教育禁忌的打破,女子师范学堂及私立幼教师资培训机构也积极聘请日本教习,为中国培养了最早的一批幼教师资.因此实事求是地说,虽然大量引入和倚重日本教习产生了"东洋化"等弊端,日本教习对推动中国学前教育的初期发展还是做出了积极的贡献的.     

Can social integration in schools be mandated: Evidence from the Right to Education Act in India

Although Affirmative Action policies have been enforced in many countries, their consequences are highly understudied, especially in the context of developing economies. Section 12(1)(c) of the Right to Education (RTE) Act enforced in 2009 is the first attempt to introduce affirmative action in primary schools in India. The act requires all private schools to reserve at least twenty five percent seats for children from economically weaker sections. To understand the effect of the act on i) social integration and ii) academic outcomes, we asked 1500 children (grades one to three) from four schools to answer friendship surveys and short tests in Mathematics and English. The schools in our sample vary considerably in constitution and were intentionally chosen to understand the impact of the act in different school settings. The friendship surveys show strong homophily i.e. non-RTE students cite other non-RTE students as friends, while RTE students chose to be friends primarily with other RTE students. Trends in test scores reveal that students admitted under the RTE quota score significantly lower than non-RTE students. However, RTE students who have a higher share of non-RTE friends have better test scores, suggesting that affirmative action may have a positive influence on learning outcomes for RTE children. Further we note that commitment from the school authorities and systematic monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the act will go a long way in bringing out some of the benefits that this act was designed to achieve. Our findings have important policy implications with respect to ensuring proper implementation of the Section12(1)(c) of the RTE act in schools across the country.     

幼儿教育小学化倾向的表现、原因及解决对策

幼儿教育小学化倾向在我国仍然普遍存在,主要表现为:在教育内容上,重视智力教育,轻视德、体、美、劳教育;在教育方法上,重视知识传授,轻视幼儿自主学习;在教育评价上,重视结果评价,轻视过程评价.幼儿家长、教师以及行政主管部门的利益诉求是造成幼儿教育小学化倾向的直接原因.为改变这一现状,需要积极开展家园共建活动,形成幼儿教育合力;需要遵循幼儿成长规律,做好幼小衔接工作;需要加大教育主管部门的监管力度.     

Bicultural Development in Early Childhood Care and Education in Aotearoa/New Zealand: Views of teachers and teacher educators

Recent years in Aotearoa/New Zealand have seen a resurgence, led by Ma¨ori, the indigenous people, in terms of the revitalisation of Ma¨ori language and culture. Mainstream educational settings have struggled to meet this demand beyond merely token and ineffectual ways. However, despite the growth of the Ko¨hanga Reo and Kura Kaupapa (Ma¨ori immersion education) movements, the majority of Ma¨ori children are still attending mainstream early childhood centres and schools, and are largely being taught by teachers who are monolingual in English, and who may also lack knowledge of tikanga Ma¨ori (Ma¨ori culture and values). This paper considers the views of a range of early childhood educators on the role of early childhood care and education settings in terms of delivery of biculturally relevant programmes.     

浅谈幼儿早期教育问题与反思

在过去一段时间里,中国的教育存在一个主要的特点,即父母外出工作,祖辈带孩子。例如我们幼儿园早教班的60多名2~3岁的幼儿,98%的孩子父母外出工作没有精力照顾孩子,孩子主要是由祖辈抚养。而长辈仍然存在传统的教育观,普遍对孩子较为溺爱,孩子在家总是衣来伸手,饭来张口。在这种环境中,孩子极易养成以自我为中心的个性。本文以此为背景对孩子的早期教育问题提出建议及反思,以期使家庭教育得到进一步的完善。     

Starting School: Welcoming Young Children and Families into Early School Experiences

Throughout the world, young children and their families anticipate the start of school with expectations and hopes, as well as concerns. Although the approaches and customs differ from one nation, region, or culture to another, one constant is the recognition that a collaborative effort is needed to welcome young children and their families into formal schooling experiences. The transition process should be proactive and responsive to the children’s needs. This article addresses four key components of appropriate support for young children who are starting school: (1) a consideration of the developmental characteristics of young children, (2) a recognition of factors that affect adjustment to new situations, (3) the establishment of relationships with families, and (4) the implementation of strategies that assist young children in making this important transition. Strategies for assisting children who are beginning their school careers are shared.     

Lesson Study with preservice teachers: Lessons from lessons

This article examines a 2-year process of integrating Lesson Study—a form of teacher-led professional development—into an introductory course on the principles of teaching for students majoring in early childhood education. The course is taught in conjunction with beginning practicum work in area schools. We describe obstacles, modifications, and outcomes as we adapted the Lesson-Study process to help preservice teachers pay closer attention to instructional strategies (such as questioning techniques, anticipating student responses, and how lesson flow affects student understanding), and become more comfortable with constructive criticism by focusing on the lesson plan rather than the teacher.