Researcher intersubjectivity: a methodology for jointly building an interactive electronic early childhood quality involvement/rating scale

Researching quality in early childhood settings has been operationalized in many ways, within and across countries. Nevertheless, despite some consensus on what might constitute a universally recognized view of what is considered essential for young children’s development, there are strong indicators that locally developed assessment tools are likely to give more contextually relevant results. Yet, little appears to be known about how to develop localized tools for assessing quality, especially in culturally diverse research contexts. Further, it would seem that not much is understood about the ways researchers and research participants have worked together to achieve reciprocal outcomes. In drawing upon cultural-historical theory, this paper goes beyond the traditional binary of an emic–etic perspective and instead describes a dialectical model for creating conditions for generating research intersubjectivity. An example of how researchers and participants worked together to develop an interactive e-quality rating scale in Vietnam is presented with the research exchange methods of Dialogue through the technology, Capturing moments of localized quality, Community walk, and Research selfies. These methods together acted to underpin the methodology that foregrounds what we have termed research intersubjectivity.     

Learning about democracy at school: an action research project in early childhood education

This article examines part of an action research project carried out in a Spanish public school. We explain the complex reality of an early childhood education classroom. Focusing on early childhood education, the project was developed in collaboration with a teacher from one of the classrooms of four year olds. Several of the children in the class have serious behaviour problems. The teacher (Lucía) is very concerned because they take their anger and frustration out on objects, classmates and adults by hitting them. She has a lot of difficulty working with these problem children. This research work deals with transforming the practices of the researcher, the pupils and the teacher. One of the first critical challenges was to turn classroom discussions into opportunities for addressing the injustices that the children experience daily. Teaching should serve to empower children. Programmed classroom discussions can be a place where pupils are given the chance to speak out about conflicts, and where important decisions are made to address them.     

What troubles early childhood educators in New Zealand: a 20-year cross-sectional study of ethical difficulties in early childhood practice

For more than 20 years, the New Zealand early childhood (EC) sector has had guidance about how to deal with situations of ethical difficulty in daily practice through the ECE Code of Ethics. This paper reports on three surveys undertaken at 10-year intervals that sought to understand EC educators’ experiences of such situations, and how they addressed them within their EC settings. An analysis of educators’ stories of ethically troubling situations from the three data-sets traced shifts and similarities in the content reported, and in how educators responded to these challenges over the two-decade period. We situate this analysis alongside changes in the New Zealand ECE policy context during the same time frame. We argue that a connection exists between the reported situations and teachers’ responses to them, and changes within the policy and professional context of daily EC practice.     

Analyzing teacher narratives in early childhood garden-based education

Learning gardens can provide dynamic learning and developmental experiences for young children. This case study of 12 early childhood teachers explores how teachers describe (1) learning across numerous school readiness domains and (2) how to support this learning by promoting opportunities for autonomy, relatedness, and competence. Participants worked at a university-affiliated early education program with a learning garden in the midwestern United States. Data included 19 narrative, photo-elicitation interviews during two growing seasons. Iterative qualitative analyses informed the creation of a Gourd Tee-Pee Model that describes learning across multiple domains and integrates self-determination theory into early childhood garden education. This framework can inform the design and evaluation of early childhood garden education programs.     

Renovating early childhood education pedagogy: a case study in Vietnam

Since 2003, the Vietnamese government has prioritised curriculum reform efforts and commitment to improving the quality of the national curriculum. The Vietnamese early childhood education renovation has encountered considerable changes and challenges, particularly in the area of pedagogical approaches. Many early childhood teachers continue to favour direct instruction over more appropriate teaching practices for early childhood. This paper reviews the implementation and renovation of the revised curriculum over the past 10 years in Vietnam, and examines the changing realities of early childhood teachers' work to explore ways to implement and sustain changes in pedagogy in Lam Dong Province, Vietnam. The paper explores how changing societal expectations and the changing educational philosophies and resultant pedagogy have impacted on the beliefs and practices of early childhood teachers. The teaching profession, as a whole, is facing ongoing change and challenge; not only are ongoing educational reforms redefining teachers' work, but increasing teacher attrition and turnover also creates problems for Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in Lam Dong province. The paper concludes with suggestions for areas for future research in Vietnam in the field of ECEC.     

浅论叶芝早期诗歌中的凯尔特色彩

作为爱尔兰文学的代表人物,叶芝将以凯尔特传统为代表的爱尔兰文化充分注入到自己早期的诗歌作品中,形成了较为独树一帜的创作风格。本文试图对叶芝早期诗歌中所体现的凯尔特特性做出简要梳理与分析,并阐述其所带来的重大影响。     

More than a shortage of early childhood teachers: looking beyond the recruitment of university qualified teachers to promote quality early childhood education and care

In Australia and internationally, government policies aim to increase the supply of early childhood teachers and thus improve the quality of early childhood education and care services. In this paper, we suggest that such a policy-quality trajectory in Australia is not as straightforward as policy discourses suggest. From industrial relations and broader policy contexts, we argue that the early childhood profession is a profession on the margins and that this marginalisation complicates efforts to enhance numbers of early childhood teachers. Mindful of this marginalisation, we draw upon preliminary findings from a study exploring the motivations, beliefs and expectations of mature age postgraduate students to highlight practical issues pertaining to students and early childhood teacher education programs that further complicate policy drives to increase the supply of early childhood teachers. We propose that the success of such policy drives is dependent on a comprehensive addressing of the complexities raised in this paper.     

Schematising activities in early childhood education

The purpose of this study was to determine the importance of introducing schematising to children in early childhood and to determine whether schematising can be taught to children. This was done using a longitudinal, quantitative study with a quasi-experimental design (N = 133). In this study, the use of schematising was taught to an experimental group of children to determine if it is possible to realise significantly improved results in schematising tasks for an experimental group in comparison to a control group of children who were not taught schematising. Pupils in the experimental group demonstrated significantly better results on schematising, which cannot be explained by maturation. In our future research, we will investigate the mathematical performances of these experimental and control groups in the next grade of the primary school curriculum.     

Policy-to-practice contexts for early childhood mathematics in England

This article considers the relationship between policy and practice in the early childhood mathematics curriculum for reception-class (RC) children of five years in England. It explores what the policy requires RC teachers to do in terms of curriculum implementation; what RC teachers’ views and understanding of the early childhood mathematics curriculum are; how RC teachers implement early years mathematics policy; and how RC children respond. A case study design included interviews with elite participants who influenced the policy-making process, survey of RC teachers and a detailed investigation of RC classes on three school sites. As elite interviews underlined, international comparison studies have had an important influence on early childhood mathematics policies by creating top-down pressure for standards. Elites and practitioners drew attention to a tension between a play-based pedagogy and a standards agenda. Tensions in policy text were reflected in mixed and ambivalent views and reported practices by elites and practitioners. RC teachers did not merely receive and implement policy expectations but brought their own values and understandings to practice. The study reveals interplay between local and global influences in a context of changing views of early childhood, early learning and early years pedagogy.     

A model for portfolio assessment in early childhood education programs

It is necessary for teachers to consider alternative means of evaluating their students. One method proving to be effective for gathering and organizing student productivity, growth, and development is the portfolio approach. This article describes the Early Childhood Portfolio Assessment Preparation (ECPAP) Model that was used to facilitate the use of student portfolios in two different early childhood education programs. The goals of the model, the six steps followed and the participants' responses to this project are discussed. This article may serve early childhood directors and supervisors who are preparing teachers to implement student portfolios as a supplement or an alternative to the existing assessment and evaluation programs. Also early childhood teacher education students can benefit from the design and implementation of ECPAP.     

一半是空中传恨--论张炎艳情词的新变

宋亡前张炎唱的是爱情欢歌，宋亡后吟的是充满沧桑之慨与禾黍之悲的苦情离绪，词作情调的变化依稀可见词人那难以与人言说的深悲巨痛，于是，张炎的艳情词为传统情词注入了新的因素，赋予了情词新的面貌。     

Models of supervision in early childhood programs: Implications for training

Many child care directors inherit their role of supervisor without having had adequate training or experience. Given the wide disparity in the field with respect to staff preparation, child care directors, in their role as supervisors, are called on to develop, train, evaluate, and appraise child care workers on a daily basis. The literature in the field suggests that there are common threads among supervisory models in early childhood and that directors of child care programs can benefit from in-service training that specifically addresses their supervisory functions. “The most difficult part of my job as Director is trying to get my staff to change certain practices.” Director, Church Preschool Program “I don't feel comfortable with my role as evaluator; I guess I don't like telling people they're doing something wrong.” Director, Day Care Center     

The limitations of multiculturalism in Norwegian early childhood education

In Norway, 9 out of 10 children between the ages of one and five participate in an educational formation programme which, despite around half of the kindergartens being privately owned, is regulated by a common law and relatively detailed regulations describing what the content of kindergartens should be. Norwegian kindergartens therefore represent a central institution for integration and transfer of values and morals in today's multicultural Norwegian society. The relatively new situation of multicultural diversity is challenging earlier cultural hegemonies where Christian heritage and tradition combined with a strong social democratic movement were important components. The issue discussed in this paper is how this cultural diversity is dealt with in the early childhood education documents, with emphasis on understanding where the limits of multiculturalism are set. I argue, in dialogue with three standpoints of multiculturalism, that while Norwegian early childhood education embraces cultural diversity, it is unclear about the limits to its political implications.     

儿童早期的心理创伤对成年后心理的影响

以案例呈现方式列举了儿童早期受惊吓、被忽视的6个案例,针对案例中的当事人症状剖析了童年时的经历,分析了成年行为与童年经历之间的关系。指出家长和学前教育工作者应努力给幼儿创设安全的心理环境,以使其成年后有幸福的人生。     

Early means early: understanding popular understandings of early childhood development in South Africa

Scientific and policy advances are putting early childhooddevelopment (ECD) at the center of efforts to improve humandevelopment. This study was undertaken to understand whatknowledge and attitudinal barriers exist that 25 hinder the full-scaleroll-out of services for the youngest children and their families.We used anthropological methods honed by the FrameworksInstitute to plumb beliefs about early childhood development amongmembers of the public and implementation and policy stakeholders,and compare those with the findings from ECD research. Whilemembers of the public and stakeholders agree on the importance ofECD, as demonstrated in other country settings, a major barrier todirecting services to the youngest children is a perceptual tendencyto ‘age up’. That is, to consider learning and other important skillsas being acquired in the pre-school rather than infancy period.Communication strategies that incorporate debate are neededto give full effect to the ECD and related policies, especiallyaround the topics of prioritizing the youngest 40 children, physicalpunishment, child rights, and the pervasiveness Q5 of threats toECD arising from poverty and disadvantage.     

英国幼儿教育的历史发展与改革研究

英国幼儿教育起步较早但发展缓慢。90年代以来,在儿童中心观、自由游戏观、发展主义观的哲学背景下,英国政府重建课程框架,颁布《基础阶段课程指南》,并建立＂视导制度＂进行教学质量监督,由此明确了早期教育的标准,提高了教育质量,其改革的一系列措施对我国发展学前教育具有借鉴意义。     

Frameworks for change: four recurrent themes for quality in early childhood curriculum initiatives

This paper reports on the first phase of a case study that investigated how early childhood teachers experience organisational change. As one of three levels of quality improvement, State government‐funded curriculum initiatives were developed with an aim to promote change. Three curriculum documents, one each focusing on literacy, pedagogy and health, were released in a short time frame. Analysis of the content of these documents reveals four themes of change that reflected the theories underpinning the waves of change flowing across New South Wales, Australia, in the years 2001–02.     

Family strategies to support and develop resilience in early childhood

Early childhood is an important time for the development of resilience. A recently completed study has followed three cohorts of resilient children and young people living in disadvantaged areas in Victoria, Australia, through different transitions in their educational careers. This paper focuses on the early childhood cohort, where we have followed children from kindergarten/preschool into primary school. Using data gathered primarily through interviews with parents (mothers in each case), this paper presents a qualitative naturalistic sub-study that used deductive thematic analysis to explore the different strategies used by families to support their child’s resilience. Our findings highlight that resilience was a salient concept for all of the mothers in the study and each mother articulated a range of strategies they used within the family to try and support their child’s development and resilience. These strategies were constrained by the settings in which the families lived.