How to Support Toddlers’ Autonomy: Socialization Practices Reported by Parents

Autonomy-supportive parenting is found to foster children’s adjustment but relatively few studies have been conducted with toddlers. In the present exploratory study, parents (N = 182) reported what practices they use when asking their toddlers (M age = 26.9 months) to engage in important yet uninteresting activities. Parents rated twenty-six potentially autonomy-supportive practices, along with a well-known scale measuring the extent to which they have a positive attitude towards autonomy support. Research Findings: Using correlational and factorial analyses, eight practices were identified: various ways to communicate empathy, providing developmentally appropriate rationales, describing the problem in an informational and neutral way, and modeling the requested behavior. This subset of autonomy-supportive practices for toddlers was positively related with toddlers’ rule internalization, providing them with further validity. Practice or Policy: These preliminary findings may be useful in guiding future conceptual, empirical, and applied work on the support of toddlers’ autonomy and its assessment in an emotionally-charged and challenging context.     

Family Child Care Providers’ Perspectives Regarding Effective Professional Development and Their Role in the Child Care System: A Qualitative Study

This study examines family child care providers’ perspectives regarding effective professional development and their role in the early learning and care system. Four focus groups were conducted annually for 3 years involving a total of 54 licensed family child care providers. Supportive social relationships emerged as an important dimension of family child care providers’ professional development experience. Providers preferred a cohort design which enabled them to establish relationships with colleagues and a long-term relationship with the same instructor. Trust and a non-judgmental atmosphere were critical to the learning environment. A collaborative approach to evaluation and assessment that focused on a small number of specific items each month supported the continuous quality improvement process better than a single annual assessment by an objective evaluator. Family child care providers valued professionalism, but viewed their services as a unique segment of the early learning and care system worthy of distinct professional development and respect. Recommendations for designing and delivering effective professional development for family child care providers are discussed.     

Childcare Educators’ Perceptions of and Solutions to Reducing Sitting Time in Young Children: A Qualitative Study

Young children spend a high proportion of their time at childcare sitting. Reducing sitting time or breaking up prolonged periods of sitting may be positively associated with health outcomes among children. The purpose of this study was to identify childcare educators’ perceptions of what environmental and policy modifications could be made within early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings to reduce sitting time among children during childcare. Eighty-seven educators from 11 ECEC centres participated in 11 focus groups between September 2013 and November 2013. Each focus group was audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. A semi-structured schedule was developed to investigate the educators’ perceptions of the influences on children’s sitting time at childcare. A problem–solution tree was developed to determine potential solutions for reducing total and prolonged sitting time in young children at childcare. Most educators were unaware of the high levels of sitting time among young children. Educators identified that childcare practices, the physical environment and the weather were factors that influenced children’s sitting time. Potential solutions to reduce sitting time were to break-up prolonged sitting time by using movement breaks, standing desks, movement transitions between activities, relocating key facilities around the space to promote movement, and integrating movement during learning activities. Also, educators suggested that posters could be used to increase awareness among educators about the benefits of reducing sitting time. Educators identified key practices that could be modified to reduce young children’s sitting time in childcare. These potential solutions should be evaluated to understand their effectiveness.     

Teachers’ Commitment to the Field and Teacher–Child Interactions in Center-Based Child Care for Toddlers and Three-Year-Olds

Defining teacher characteristics that are associated with effective teaching continues to be a challenging task for the field of early care and education. Much of the research examining classroom quality has focused solely on teacher characteristics such as education and experience; However, teachers’ commitment to the field of early care and education defined as including job satisfaction, perception of the job as a long-term career, education level, years of experience, and membership in a professional organization may be an important characteristic to consider in teachers’ interactions with children in the classroom, especially teachers of very young children. Using the NICHD Study of Early Child Care data at 15, 24, and 36 months, the present paper examines characteristics of early childhood teachers’ commitment to the field and the assessed quality of teacher–child interactions in the classroom. Results indicate that overall, these characteristics significantly predict the quality of teachers’ emotional and cognitive support provided to children as measured by the Observational Record of the Caregiving Environment (ORCE). Characteristics of commitment to the field were stronger predictors of the cognitive support than the emotional support teachers’ provide in classrooms. The current work provides important information to consider in discussions of how characteristics of early childhood teachers influence their interactions with children in classrooms.     

Toddlers’ Self-Recognition and Progression From Goal- to Emotion-Based Helping: A Longitudinal Study

Research has typically used cross-sectional designs to draw conclusions on the development of helping. This study aimed to examine the development of instrumental and empathic helping behaviors as they emerge, and assess how self-recognition might moderate this progression. Seventy-two children (14- to 25-months at T1) were assessed over four monthly sessions. Participants’ individual response patterns showed instrumental helping to be a necessary precursor to empathic helping for 55.77%–67.92% of children who helped during the study. Self-recognition emerged before empathic but not instrumental helping, yet did not directly influence helping behavior.     

How do Early Childhood Education Teachers Perceive Their Expertise? A Qualitative Study of Child Care Providers in Lapland, Finland

Every preschool age child in Finland has the right to child care. Well-educated staff consists of all-round experts who work in versatile contexts with various children in a multi-professional collaboration. This staff is one of the strengths of the Finnish child care system. The aim of this article is to clarify the expertise of those early childhood education teachers, who have the competence of kindergarten teachers (n = 80) and discuss how the development of early childhood education teachers’ expertise could be supported in a small country like Finland, and more specifically, in its northernmost part, the province of Lapland. This was a qualitative study. The data consisted of the early educators’ stories of their growth toward expertise. The analysis method was content analysis. Four themes emerged from the analysis of the early educators’ growth toward expertise. According to the informants, education, work experience, personal life history and personal attitudes toward work had been the most influential variables in the process of growth toward their expertise. This research showed that the development of early childhood education teachers’ expertise necessitates new kinds of working methods and measures for educational planning. In addition, there is need for individual development plans as the work has become more and more collegial and it is necessary to expand a notion of individual expertise into the realm of collaborative and socially shared expertise.     

How to Strengthen Child Learners’ Self-confidence

Self-confidence is closely related to L2 learning.In order to make their learners enjoy English learning,English teach ers need to strengthen the learners’English learning confidence.This article is to find out English teachers’role to strengthening learners’self-confidence in ELL by means of class observation.The writer concludes improving speaking ability;giving praise and offering gentle error correcting can help to strengthen the learners’confidence.     

Solution Stories: A Narrative Study of How Teachers Support Children’s Problem Solving

Young children’s self-regulation and problem-solving skills are significant predictors of school success. While early childhood educators shape the development of these skills, providing effective and timely assistance can be challenging. Drawing on complementary theories of Vygotsky, Pekrun, and Lerner, this article chronicles the instructional approaches and strategies employed by one team of teachers to support preschool children’s solutions to complex functional and social problems in the classroom. Findings from this narrative study highlight the focal teachers’ use of modeling, mindful language, and other proactive strategies to develop students’ problem-solving skills and foster independence. In an age of results-focused education, this article argues for the importance of cultivating intentional teacher pedagogies that build young children’s autonomy and efficacy by working through problems, as opposed to seeking resolution only. In so doing, this study elucidates the value of these intuitive and often nuanced aspects of early childhood educators’ classroom practices.     

Children’s Preferences for Group Musical Activities in Child Care Centres: A Cross-Cultural Study

This paper reports on a cross-cultural research study of children’s preferences for group musical activities in child care centres. A total of 228 young children aged 4–5 years in seven child care centres in Hong Kong and in the Adelaide City of South Australia participated in the study. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected via a mixed method approach. Result showed that dancing/moving was children’s most preferred musical activity in centres. Significant differences were found between children’s cultural contexts and their preferences for three activities: (1) Singing; (2) Listening; and (3) Playing instruments. Qualitative data further revealed the social phenomena of these two cultural contexts which influenced children’s preferences. Implications for the curriculum planning of early childhood music education arising from these findings are discussed.     

The Quality of Early Childhood Educators: Children’s Interaction in Greek Child Care Centers

Though quality in early childhood education and care has attracted last decades enormous research interest there is still not a unanimous agreement about its definition. Yet, almost all definitions attempted include interaction, group size, adult:child ratio and early childhood educators’ level of education, as important indices of quality. Relationships are key resources for young children. There is agreement among researchers that the quality of caregiving by professional caregivers in child care centres has been established as an important influence on various aspects of child development. Thus, structural characteristics have been proven to affect programs’ quality of services provided. The purpose of this research study was twofold: (1) to explore the quality of interaction between Greek early childhood educators and children; and (2) to record the structural characteristics of Greek child care centres. Correlations among structural characteristics and type of interaction were also examined. Research data indicate that Greek early childhood educators are positive but at the same time detached and permissive during their interaction with children, a finding that disputes their positive interaction. Thus, Greek child care centres have been found to adopt, based on Greek legislation, high ratios and group sizes, a finding which raises questions about the effects on children’s well being and development. Limited correlations have been found between the type of interaction and the structural characteristics. Research data highlight the need for further research to undergone and for changes in Greek legislation, concerning the operation of Greek child care centres.     

The Context of Child Care for Toddlers: The “Experience Expectable Environment”

An experience expectable environment in child care classrooms is one in which teachers consistently provide positive and nurturing interactions within daily routines and activities to enhance children’s learning. Growing numbers of children are being enrolled in child care at earlier ages and staying for longer periods of time each day which is heightening the need to attend to the context of child care for very young children. Several large scale studies in social policy, biology, and human development have confirmed the links between children’s early experiences and later outcomes, and recent brain research and research in child care classrooms has highlighted the importance of these consistent, responsive, and respectful patterns of interaction, especially for very young children’s development. Yet, examination of the quality of child care has indicated interactions in these classrooms that may not support optimal development and/or that could be considered harmful. Given toddlers’ need for consistent and nurturing care, coupled with the current substandard quality of care for very young children, discussing the context of child care in terms of an experience expectable environment provides a perspective to understand the context of toddler child care. This perspective underscores the connections of routines and interactions to children’s development of neural pathways, thus setting the foundation for optimizing learning and development.     

A Study on How to Enhance Students’ English Reading Proficiency

The major problems affecting students in reading are lacking time, vocabulary, background knowledge and reading skills. Among them, lacking vocabulary is the utmost problem, therefore, special attention still need to be paid on vocabulary teaching. To solve the above mentioned problems, countermeasures such as enlarging vocabulary, building background information and reading skills as well as reading extensively are put forward.     

Associations Among Mothers’ Depression,Emotional and Learning-Material Support to Their Child,and Children's Cognitive Functioning: A 16-Year Longitudinal Study

This study examined the associations among maternal depression, mothers’ emotional and material investment in their child, and children's cognitive functioning. Middle-class Chilean mothers and children (N = 875; 52% males) were studied when children were 1, 5, 10, and 16 years (1991–2007). Results indicated that highly depressed mothers provided less emotional and material support to their child across all ages, which related to children's lower IQ. Children with lower mental abilities at age 1 received less learning-material support at age 5, which led to mothers’ higher depression at child age 10. Mothers’ low support was more strongly linked to maternal depression as children got older. Findings elucidate the dynamic and enduring effects of depression on mothers’ parenting and children's development.     

Teaching Nature of Science to Preservice Science Teachers: A Phenomenographic Study of Chinese Teacher Educators’ Conceptions

Drawing from the phenomenographic perspective, this study investigated Chinese science teacher educators’ conceptions of teaching nature of science (NOS) to preservice science teachers through two semi-structured interviews. The subjects were twenty-four science teacher educators in the developed regions in China. Five key dimensions emerged from the data on the conceptions of teaching NOS, including value of teaching NOS, NOS content to be taught, incorporation of NOS instruction in courses, learning of NOS, and role of the teacher. While some of these dimensions share much similarity with those reported in the studies of conceptions of teaching in general, some are distinctively different, which is embedded in some unique features of teaching NOS to preservice science teachers. These key dimensions can constitute the valuable components of the module or course to train science teachers or teacher educators to teach NOS, provide a framework to interpret the practice of teaching NOS, as well as lay a foundation for probing the conceptions of teaching NOS of other groups of subjects (e.g., school teachers’ conceptions of teaching NOS) or in other contexts (e.g., teaching NOS to in-service teacher).     

Infant Educators’ Use of Pedagogical Questioning: Relationships With the Context of Interaction and Educators’ Qualifications

Research Findings: This study investigated the prevalence of pedagogical questions posed by 27 early childhood educators as they interacted with infants in each of two naturally-occurring contexts: book-focused interactions and educator mediated play. The pedagogical questions expressed by educators to infants were coded as confirm (yes/no), specify (what, who, where, when) or explain (why, how) on the basis that these question types present infants with different opportunities to use their developing communication skills to provide information to others. We sought to determine associations between question use, activity context and educators’ qualification levels. Explain questions were used very rarely, while confirm and specify questions were more frequent, comprising 7.60% and 8.32% respectively of the messages expressed by educators to infants. A 2 (activity context) × 2 (qualification level) mixed factorial MANOVA, supplemented with post-hoc qualitative analyses, demonstrated that, in specific activity contexts, degree qualified early childhood teachers used pedagogical questioning in ways which differed from their less-qualified counterparts. Practice or policy: The findings provide much needed data on how educator questioning is used with children under two, how questioning affords context-specific language learning opportunities for infants in ECEC centres, and how educator qualifications may be implicated in these opportunities.     

Early Childhood Educators’ Use of Language-Support Practices with 4-Year-Old Children in Child Care Centers

The importance of encouraging language skills in early childhood has been well documented. Educators who are responsible for children in daycare services have many opportunities to use rich and stimulating educational practices that support language acquisition. The purpose of this study was to assess the language-support practices used by 22 educators in ECE centers with 174 children (87 girls and 87 boys) aged 55.7 months on average (SD = 4.2). The Teacher Interaction and Language Rating Scale developed by Girolametto et al. (Teacher interaction and language rating scale, Hanen Centre, Toronto, 2000) was translated and adapted for use in French. Analyses reveal the heterogeneity of language support provided to 4-year-old children attending early childhood education centers in Québec (Canada). Results are discussed in relation to the importance of the educational setting and specific training on language skill development provided to educators around promoting language skills in children, a fundamental prerequisite for educational success.     

The Educators’ Attitudes Toward Disability Scale (EADS): A Pilot Study

This article presents the Educators’ Attitudes toward Disability Scale (EADS). This scale was developed from the Social Workers Attitudes toward Disability Scale (SWADS). A sample of 128 postsecondary educators from one college and one university in Ontario, Canada completed the EADS, the Attitudes toward Disabled Persons scale (ATDP), and a demographic questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis was employed to verify that the subscales from the original SWADS (i.e. affect, behaviour/practice, and cognition) were present in the EADS. Pearson’s correlation was also calculated between the scores on the Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons-Form B (ATDP-B) and the EADS as a measure of validity. Finally, Cronbach’s alpha was calculated for the purpose of internal reliability among the items in the EADS. Preliminary findings suggest that the EADS may be a valid and reliable instrument, but measures attitudes unidimensionally.