Effects of Video Interaction Guidance on early childhood teachers

An experimental study showed that a video feedback intervention improved the interaction skills of early childhood education and care teachers. The teachers who had received the Video Interaction Guidance training appeared more stimulating in their behavior, were more sensitive and more verbally stimulating than teachers from the control group. The training results were still apparent three months after the training. An analysis of the behavior of teachers at micro-level also revealed positive outcomes. These findings show that video feedback training for early childhood educators is a promising method to increase their socio-emotional support and verbal stimulation in childcare practice.     

Providence talks: A citywide partnership to address early childhood language development

Early research has shown that there may be inconsistencies in how parents in different socioeconomic classes prepare their children to learn to read. Previous research has highlighted a “word gap” between children from low-income families and high-income families. Effects of this “word gap” are evident at the start of kindergarten and contribute to the current nationwide achievement gap in educational outcomes for low-income children. Providence Talks (PT) is a city-wide initiative launched in 2014 in an effort to close this gap. PT helps caretakers learn about the importance of speaking with their children at an early age and supports them in their ability to improve the language environments within their home. We uncover positive results for the efficacy of a citywide intervention dedicated to improving outcomes for vulnerable children across the urban landscape.     

Pedagogical beliefs, activity choice and structure, and adult–child interaction in nursery classrooms

A qualitative analysis of four cooking activities undertaken in two nursery classes reveals relationships between the adults' pedagogical beliefs, the choice and structuring of activities, and the nature of adult–child participation. Four adults each planned and carried out separately, one cooking activity of their choice with a small group of children, as part of a normal nursery session. The activities were video recorded and transcribed, and a grounded theory approach was adopted to analyse the adult–child interactions. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with the adults which provided insight into their pedagogical beliefs and rationale for their teaching approaches. Analysis of the data reveals a dichotomy in the cooking activity choices made by the adults between baking recipes which required a high level of adult control, and other cooking activities which required minimal adult intervention. Observations of the cooking activities demonstrate differences in the structure of the activities and the nature of adult–child participation. The interviews reveal how the teachers' pedagogical beliefs and intentions informed their choice and structure of the cooking activities. This study provides an illustration of the relationship between the adults' pedagogical beliefs, activity structure, and the interactions between the adults and children in one type of activity in a nursery setting. The appropriateness of the design and feasibility of the observation method is also considered.     

Diversity in New Zealand early childhood education: challenges and opportunities

The early childhood education (ECE) sector in New Zealand has long been recognised for the diversity of service types and range of organisations involved in delivering ECE. However, less attention has been paid to diversity within individual ECE services. This article draws on a national survey carried out as part of a larger project, The Diversity of Diversity in Early Childhood Education, focusing on teachers’ perceptions of challenges and successes encountered when working with children from diverse family backgrounds. Educators’ attitudes towards diversity clearly influence whether they perceive working with diverse children and families positively or as a challenge. We argue that possessing positive dispositions and attitudes that enable educators to truly welcome, acknowledge and embrace diversity, together with access to professional knowledge and support services, are critical. The implications of this for policy and practice are then considered.     

Improvisation: An analytic tool for examining teacher–child interactions in the early childhood classroom

This article explores the use of improvisation (improv) as a lens for viewing and describing teacher–child interactions. The author describes the relationship between the principles of improv and the characteristics of responsive teaching, and how improv can be used as a lens for seeing relational activity. The author hypothesizes that improv would provide a valuable tool for understanding and describing what is happening between teachers and children. An in-depth case study was conducted of an experienced early childhood teacher in a play-based classroom. Analysis was done using both the codes derived from the teacher–child interaction literature and improv theory. Improv analysis offered a nuanced picture of what early childhood teachers are doing in practice. The findings revealed that using improv provides a lens for seeing teacher–child interactions as an ensemble activity and what the teacher is doing in terms of its usefulness to the activity. While this study focused on a single teacher in one classroom, the findings demonstrate the potential of an improv lens for developing and deepening our understanding of early childhood teaching.     

Challenging partnerships in Australian early childhood education

Partnerships that form to advance early childhood education are influenced by history and purpose. They are enacted in diverse social, cultural, economic, geographic and educational contexts. Using the theme of ‘strong and equal partnership’ between family and school, and taking a theoretical standpoint that values social cohesion and the agency of the child, this paper investigates ways in which partnership developed in three different Australian contexts. Particular early childhood programs in Queensland and Western Australia, and a literacy support program in New South Wales fostered education partnerships between parents and teachers, and among professionals, as a key component of effective curriculum. The prevailing management approaches and conceptions of power in the contexts enabled partnerships to be enacted in different ways. Reflection on the program management of curriculum work may be valuable in settings where players are working to achieve a cohesive approach to early education, especially an approach that foregrounds the agency of the child.     

Service-learning in early childhood teacher education: Using service to put meaning back into learning

Service-learning is defined as a teaching/learning method that connects meaningful community service with academic learning, personal growth, and civic responsibility. In this study, conducted at an American University, we describe a cascading model of integrating early childhood teacher education and service-learning for preservice teachers who then implemented the combined model in their field classrooms with young children. Examples of the projects from the two cohorts of 25 and 26 undergraduate students are provided. We demonstrate that service-learning projects provide an instructional avenue for preservice students to teach in an integrated and/or experiential manner in their field classrooms and discuss why service-learning is an appropriate and meaningful strategy to use with preservice teachers and children.     

Brokering to support participation of disadvantaged families in early childhood education

This paper discusses findings from an evaluation of the New Zealand Ministry of Education's Early Childhood Education (ECE) Participation Programme that targeted local areas where there are high numbers of children starting school who have not participated in ECE. The aim of the programme is to increase participation of these low‐income ‘priority’ children in ‘quality’ ECE. In this paper, two policy initiatives and features that supported participation in ECE are analysed. Engaging Priority Families (EPF) involves a coordinator working with families to encourage ECE participation, home learning and a positive transition to school. Targeted Assistance for Provision (TAP) grants are intended to increase local supply by helping establish new services and child spaces in communities where they are needed. The study used mixed methods: data on enrolments, surveys of Participation Programme providers, interviews with programme staff, surveys of families engaged in each initiative and interviews with a small group of families. The results show that cost, availability and cultural relevance of ECE services are the main barriers to participation of ‘priority’ families. Through brokering, both initiatives helped address complex social issues faced by the families by connecting families with health, housing and social agencies, and brokering understanding of ECE. The results support the argument that national policy initiatives and local actions can help address inequities in participation in ECE associated with socioeconomic status.     

Assessment in early childhood education: threats and challenges to effective assessment of immigrant children

Research indicates that early childhood professionals gather assessment information to monitor child development and learning, to guide curriculum planning and decision making, to identify children who may have special needs, to report and communicate with others, and to evaluate programmes. A review of literature indicates that immigrant children have low achievement assessment scores as compared with mainstream American children, also immigrant children enter kindergarten already behind their mainstream American peers. The current study explored early childhood teachers' perceptions of assessment measures used with immigrant children and the challenges faced when assessing immigrant children. Findings of the study reveal that there are several factors that make early childhood teachers fail to gather effective assessment information from immigrant children. Unless the factors are addressed, planning for effective curriculum for immigrant children using assessment data will continue to be a challenge for early childhood teachers. Factors that continue to affect gathering effective assessment data from immigrant children include language barriers, cultural clashes, socio‐economic factors, and culturally and linguistically biased assessment measures.     

Political prioritization of early childhood education in low- and middle-income countries

Despite a growing evidence base and global consensus on the importance of Early Childhood Education (ECE), it remains under-resourced and comparatively neglected as a policy issue. This paper seeks to better understand which factors facilitate or impede efforts to make ECE a political priority in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), applying a framework used primarily in global public health. We draw on a comparative analysis of four countries: Ethiopia, Liberia, Pakistan (Punjab Province), and Tanzania. Even though each of these countries has undertaken recent, concrete efforts to scale ECE, the political economy conditions to support sustained commitment are only partially present. National policymakers have responded to global efforts to advance early childhood development, and ideas about the benefits of ECE have gained significant traction. With few exceptions, however, civil society mobilization around ECE is relatively weak, and focusing events and prominent champions for ECE are uncommon. Taken together, these factors are consistent with a strong rhetorical commitment to early learning but a lack of sustained follow-through and resource provision.     

Personal epistemology and relational pedagogy in early childhood teacher education programs

Over the last decade, research related to personal epistemological beliefs has offered insight into how to promote effective teaching and learning across educational settings. Personal epistemological beliefs reflect an individual's views about what knowledge is, how knowledge is gained, and the degree of certainty with which knowledge can be held. However, there has been no research that specifically investigates the relationship between such epistemological beliefs and early childhood practice. This paper draws together current research findings on epistemological beliefs and tertiary learning to provide a conceptual framework which can be used in early childhood teacher education programs to provide a basis for investigating early childhood teachers' understanding about their own learning and how they use this knowledge in their practice.     

Exploratory analysis of decentralized governance and its implications for the equity of early childhood education services in four countries of Europe and Central Asia

We conducted a qualitative study in four countries of the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region and explored the Early Childhood Education (ECE) policy landscape with an emphasis on the challenges and opportunities decentralization has presented for the provision of services. We content-analyzed ECE policies and documents to map national approaches to ECE. Key informant interviews were conducted to assess the implementation of decentralized ECE governance. An analytical framework that combined core constructs of ECE systems and key domains of decentralization (autonomy, institutional capacity and accountability) was developed and applied. Our analysis points to four overarching processes that contribute to the perpetuation and possible increase of inequitable ECE including (1) sparse mechanisms for participatory and autonomous policy formulation, with few systematic efforts to strengthen local institutional capacities; (2) fragmented policy approaches to promote the assessment and strengthening of quality at scale; (3) funding frameworks and financing schemes that tend to benefit enrolment in contexts of higher levels of economic development; and (4) few mechanisms for coordination to ensure operational coherence across the ECE sector.     

Governance of early childhood education and care: recent developments in OECD countries

Since the 1990s, many OECD countries have expanded their early childhood services and developed more coherent and coordinated policies. Through this process, countries have adopted very different approaches to governing their early childhood systems. Drawing from findings of a 12‐country comparative study, this article explores cross‐national approaches to the governance of early childhood systems, as well as some possible implications for future policy development. The article discusses the roles of the national government, the local authorities, the private sector and other stakeholders, such as teachers and parents, in making key decisions about how the system operates in different countries. The article calls for empirical research on the effects of governance on the nature of policies and programmes for young children and their families in different nations.     

Fluctuating child–staff ratio: governing by numbers in finnish early childhood education

ABSTRACT

This article explores the deployment of numerical criteria in the practices of steering by presenting a local case of governing early childhood education (ECE). In this case, a specific numerical tool for governance, namely, child–staff ratio is used in various ways in the everyday life of preschools. This paper uses data from interviews of preschool teachers and city administrators in charge of organization of ECE in one Finnish municipality and policy documents. The concepts of assemblage are used to explore how child–staff ratio receives various roles in steering the everyday life of preschools. The paper also explores the roles of teachers in the policy assemblages related to child–staff ratio. Focusing on these local-level practices, the article demonstrates that teachers are central components of the fluctuating ECE policy assemblages that involve governing by numbers.     

The joint influence of mother and father parenting on child cognitive outcomes at age 5

Few studies of parenting have considered the possibility that the association between one parent's supportive parenting and a child's early cognition is moderated by the other parent's supportiveness. We test this proposition using a low-income sample of coresident couples. In addition, we cross-classify parents within couples according to their parenting behaviors to test for homogamy. Mothers and fathers were videotaped during separate free-play dyadic interactions with their 2-year-old child, and each parent's behavior was coded according to six scales. K-means cluster analysis was used to describe each parent's pattern of parenting behaviors. Parents were then cross-classified within couples by pattern. There was mixed evidence of homogamous parenting styles within couples. After parents were consolidated into four primary pairings, children in each of these pairings were compared on age 5 math and language scores. Children with two supportive parents scored highest, while those with two unsupportive parents scored lowest. Among children with one supportive parent, the sex of that parent was inconsequential. There were no significant interactions between maternal and paternal supportiveness on either math or language. Thus, it appears that in this low-income sample the combined effects of maternal and paternal supportiveness are additive.     

The representation of the national quality framework in the australian print media: silences and slants in the mediatisation of early childhood education policy

ABSTRACT

While research investigating the mediatisation of education policy has primarily been undertaken in school contexts, this paper reports on a study conducted in the context of early childhood education. The paper examines how a major policy in early childhood education in Australia – the National Quality Framework – has been mediatised in selected newspapers. Drawing on Foucauldian, critical discourse analysis and mediatisation theorising, we utilised the corpus linguistic tools of WordSmith Tools 6.0 to inform content analyses of 121 articles from two major media corporations, News Corp and Fairfax. Our findings highlight the utility of treating our data as two distinct corpora, with each corporation found to have utilised discursive technologies to proffer competing positionings of the Framework. The contested nature of the Framework – generally purported in Fairfax to be a tool that supports quality early education, as opposed to News Corp’s framing of the policy as one that inhibits affordable childcare – poses implications for which advocacy groups are regarded by the media as having authority and thus likely to influence policy through the reporting of their voices. Implications for newspaper media as a discursive influence on parents’ childcare decision-making are also considered.     

Preservice teachers,caring communities,and parent partnerships: Challenges and possibilities for early childhood teacher education

Abstract

The creation of caring classroom communities and a heightened focus on the central importance of partnerships between teachers and parents are two significant features of the revised guidelines for developmentally appropriate practices [Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs, revised ed., National Association for the Education of Young Children, Washington, DC]. This article reports findings from a study of preservice primary grade teachers’ understandings of caring in which participants developed negative, adversarial beliefs about parents during their initial field placement period. The findings in this study indicate that in order to prepare preservice teachers to meet our expectations for high quality early childhood teaching practices, we must create teacher education programs and coursework specifically aimed at developing commitments to caring community and to parent partnership.     

Interactive TV as an option in early childhood teacher education

Abstract

The qualitative study examined the processes and approaches to collaboration, reflection, and dialogue of preservice and mentoring teachers who were engaged in a yearlong internship experience. Within the context of a university course grounded in constructivism, social constructivism, and the concept of teacher as researcher, the study explored the social interactions of the teachers throughout the course of the school day. Teachers were observed in the process of planning and reflecting on daily classroom activities through collaborative meetings with a focus on the teaching and learning process. The preservice teachers were educated in the use of the main principles described by the Reggio Emilia Approach ‐ collaboration reflection, and dialogue (Edwards, Gandini &; Forman, 1998) and thus, served as a guide for the collaborative interactions with the mentoring teachers.     

The relationship between early childhood teachers' instructional quality and children's mathematics development

This study examined how early childhood (EC) teachers' instructional quality predicted children's development in mathematics across two measurement occasions. Therefore, EC teachers' (n = 25) instructional quality was assessed using one standardized observation instrument covering both domain-specific and general aspects of instructional quality. Additionally, data on children's (n = 208) outcome in early number skills was collected applying a standardized test. Multilevel structural equation modeling was used accounting for nested data. Children's age and the average size of preschool groups were controlled for. Results revealed that EC teachers' instructional quality predicted children's development but was not associated with their initial achievement. The findings suggest that instruments covering domain-specific and general aspects might be helpful in order to measure EC teachers' instructional quality in mathematics and predict children's learning growth. Understanding the mechanisms between instructional quality and children's development may help EC teachers to enhance their math teaching in practice.