More? Great? Childcare? A discourse analysis of two recent social policy documents relating to the care and education of young children in England

This paper considers the overt and covert discourses in two contemporary policy documents in England and Wales, The Nutbrown Review: Foundations for Quality ([DfE] Department for Education Department for Education. 2012. ‘The Nutbrown Review: Foundations for Quality: The Independent Review of Early Education and Childcare Qualifications.' DFE-00068 2012. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/175463/Nutbrown-Review.pdf.) and More Great Childcare (MGC) ([DfE] Department for Education. 2013. ‘More Great Childcare: Raising Quality and Giving Parents More Choice.' DFE-00002-2013. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/219660/More_20Great_20Childcare_20v2.pdf.), which advocated a number of significant changes to Early Years provision. It employs Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to ask questions about relationships between language and society, specifically how these are managed in policy documents. Drawing on Foucauldian analysis on the power behind the words and utilising [Fairclough, N. 2010. Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd.] CDA, indications of underlying values and assumptions, overt and covert agendas were explored. Findings suggest a significant shift in concepts of quality, professionalism and childcare that positions the child as an investment in the future as a strong feature of the discourse within MGC as well as an increase in top-down frameworks. Both documents assert that quality and professionalism will only occur with top-down regulation and inspection. They propose a consumer market based model of practice that has implications for professionalism of the workforce and quality of children's experiences.     

More than ‘just play’: picking out three dimensions of a balanced early years pedagogy

ABSTRACT

This paper addresses the incompletely resolved tension between play-based and direct teaching approaches to early years pedagogy and practitioners’ resultant difficulties in understanding and delivering high-quality practice. Previously, we argued for the importance of infusing playfulness into all classroom interactions and activities in order to assist practitioners in forming a useful mental model of early years practice. Here, we extend the playful image to present a new, coherent framework for early years practice, based on three dimensions: the degree of playfulness in the activity taking place, the locus of control of the action during the activity and the nature of the learning taking place. We lay out the framework and describe its relation to free play as a prelude to discussing how it applies to classroom play and other types of early years classroom activity, illustrated by cameos. It is argued that the full range of each dimension should be well sampled through choosing a variety of activities and that such an approach will preserve high levels of child engagement. The framework provides a useful tool to prompt reflective practice and professional development.     

‘Certified to make a difference’: the motivation and perceptions of newly qualified early years teachers in England

The last 20 years have brought numerous workforce reforms to the early years sector, enacted in the name of professionalisation, including the recent introduction of a new postgraduate qualification, the Early Years Teacher Status. This article features data from interviews with 22 participants who had just completed this award and situates their views in the relevant policy context and alongside a discussion of what it means to professionalise the early years sector and create a graduate led workforce. The data support findings from similar studies of Early Years Professionals, namely that the interviewees are passionate about working with young children. They view the sector as in need of change, and themselves as potential leaders and agents of change. The participants endorse the view that up-skilling the workforce is essential to the professionalisation of the sector and improving the quality of early years education.     

Reform,inequalities of process and the transformative potential of communities of practice in the pre-school sector of England

The integration of care and education across pre-school sectors of several European countries is currently a key policy priority. In England this necessitates reform aimed at re-modelling a traditionally hierarchical and divided workforce. Drawing on research with early years professionals, this article explores the micro-politics of reform with a focus on the extent to which workers in pre-school settings are engaging in new collaborative ways of working. In particular, the transformative potential of the communities of practice model in shaping changes to the early years workforce is discussed. Findings reveal the intersection of social class as labour-market position with several cross-cutting issues and their importance in perpetuating continuing inequalities of process. These present a challenge to the emergence of any new form of collaborative inter-professional working arrangements within the English early years context.     

Work‐to‐School Mentoring: Childcare Center Directors and Teachers’ Return to School

As supervisors of preschool teachers, childcare center directors are well‐situated to mentor their staff to pursue higher education. Telephone interviews with 78 directors examined their role as mentors in encouraging preschool teachers to take college classes. Educational mentoring was shown to be distinct from career mentoring. Logistic regressions showed that the director’s educational mentoring of teachers and teachers’ aides was associated with greater college attendance, whereas career mentoring was related to less attendance. Furthermore, the director’s confidence staff members’ ability to complete an Associate’s degree promoted college enrollment. Finally, some directors appeared to be transformational leaders who created an education‐friendly climate for their entire staffs. These findings suggest that the workplace is an under‐researched, critical context for work‐to‐school mentoring.     

Early childhood educators’ experiences and perceptions of professionalism and professionalisation in the Asian context

Increasingly early childhood educators are referred to as “professionals,” but how do they view themselves in terms of professionalism? What does it mean to be an early childhood professional? This study explored the views of 78 Asian early childhood educators who were upgrading their qualifications to degree level. In groups of five to eight, participants visually created and explained metaphors of professionalism as a class activity. The visual metaphors were analysed using Gleeson’s polytextual thematic analysis with Rogoff’s personal, interpersonal and institutional planes as the theoretical framework. Findings revealed that the educators’ perspectives of professionalism and professionalisation related to their work–life roles, their cultural understandings and relationships, and how they believed they were viewed by others in relation to the status of early childhood education. This study provides an insight into perceptions and challenges related to the developing professionalism and professionalisation of early childhood educators in Asian contexts.     

Engaging with holistic curriculum outcomes: deconstructing ‘working theories’

International debates persist about what constitutes desirable outcomes from early childhood education experiences. The New Zealand early childhood curriculum brings together academic and social-pedagogic outcomes as interdependent holistic constructs named ‘dispositions’ and ‘working theories’. These constructs are complex notions that require interpretation by researchers and teachers in order to be recognised as outcomes by those with a vested interest in children's education: parents and policy-makers. This paper engages with the construct of working theories. It explains its genesis and outlines research activity thus far. The paper draws on findings from a two-year qualitative research project exploring children's interests, inquiries and working theories. The paper analyses two vignettes of working theories into mutually constitutive components of knowledge, skills and strategies, and attitudes and expectations. It argues that deconstructing working theories into elements able to be recognised by those outside early childhood education provides a way to demystify these innovative outcomes. Such scrutiny may assist parents and policy-makers to understand ways that the learning they value is present in the early years. Further, holistic outcomes are responsive to research and scholarship on appropriate pedagogy that encourages children to develop identities as learners, identities critical to living in the twenty-first century.     

Developing Timorese early years teachers’ pedagogy through an Australian mentoring programme

This paper explores the successful mentoring of Timor-Leste early years teachers by Australian teachers to expand their knowledge and practice of child-centred play-based pedagogy. The mentoring programme for the Timorese teachers occurred through an extended visit to a school in Victoria, Australia, for eight weeks to work with mentor teachers in their early years classrooms. Data were collected to explore the effectiveness of the programme through classroom observations and participant interviews. Observations were conducted in the classrooms of the mentees before the programme to provide context for the interviews and after the programme for indications of pedagogical change. The mentoring programme supported the Timorese teachers to reflect and review early years pedagogy. It led to changes in their teaching philosophy, design of learning activities and the inclusion of assessment practices. After two years the Timor-Leste teachers were using a child-centred play-based model of teaching and learning to guide the development, organisation and facilitation of learning activities at their kindergarten. The foundation of the mentor programme’s success was the trusted and equitable relationships between the teachers and the organisations involved. Understanding of cultural differences was acknowledged and supported the robust discussions and reflections that empowered teachers to take action.     

Pedagogy: the silent partner in early years learning

This paper sets out to look critically at the influences on pedagogy in early years education, at the ways in which it is enacted in practice and the pedagogical perspectives held by practitioners. The aim of the paper is to explore the current state of understanding and suggest areas to be included in an agenda for future research. The factors that influence practitioners’ actions are reviewed and the consensus around child‐centredness and play is challenged. Findings from two studies of pedagogy in action in the early years are presented and examined in terms of sociocultural theory and its implications for practice. The first of these studies draws attention to the varied nature of pedagogical interactions that support learning while the second looks at the experience of pedagogical innovation. The need for researchers and practitioners to find effective ways of communicating and working together is stressed throughout the paper.     

Collaborative Group Work and Individual Development of Metacognition in the Early Years

This paper tracks the individual development of metacognition in two five year old children over an academic year as they engage in a cognitive acceleration through science education programme CASE@KS1. Using qualitative analysis and case study methods it demonstrates how collaborative group work with small children impacts on the development of their individual metacognitive processing. Important variables that facilitate or hinder this development are teased out and relationships between the groups and the individual are analysed. Difficulties with the concept of metacognition and in particular how to assess and measure it are discussed. A framework of analysis based on verbal interactions is developed from the early theories of metacognition and this is combined with an in-depth grounded analysis. This approach provides insight into what we can mean when we speak of young children being metacognitive.     

Common pressures,same results? Recent reforms in professional standards and competences in teacher education for secondary teachers in England,France and Germany

Over the last decade, the introduction of professional standards and competences in initial teacher education for secondary teachers in England, France and Germany has provided the cornerstone of education reform in all three countries. The precise number and specific content of a measurable set of skills for teachers have offered challenges for policy makers, teacher educators, student teachers and teachers alike. The concept of standardised teacher education feeds into the idea that there is some convergence towards a uniform teacher ideal. However, an examination of the skills required of teachers in each of the three countries in this study reveals distinct education systems where path divergence is more evident.     

The synergy between research and practice: listening to the perspectives of key stakeholders about the development of an inclusive early years service

This paper analyses part of a consultation project a northern Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership (EYDCP) engaged with in the process of developing a charter for inclusion. This consultation included parents, families, service providers and service managers. Three main research strategies were employed including questionnaires, interviews and discussion groups. This project highlights the importance of listening to the various stakeholders and of allowing the voices of people at the sharp end of inclusive practice to be instrumental in the development of such services. Issues related to shared understandings of terminology and concepts, different perceptions of the drives for greater inclusive services, and the problematic nature of translating inclusive theory into practice in early years services for disabled children developed as important elements of this project. Although stakeholders enjoy some agreement regarding the philosophical notions of inclusion, there was some diversity in the perceptions of why inclusive services are being developed at all and also about how concepts of inclusion are translated into practice. Themes emerged about the organisation of an inclusive early years service relating to the 'adult factor' and the efficacy of a charter for inclusion. The partnership concluded that a pilot project following principles highlighted in this project was the next natural stage of developing a charter for inclusion: a charter of promises, rights and standards that is not rhetoric but realistic and, most importantly, is actually driven by the users and front-line service providers in the partnership.