Swedish Child Care and Early Childhood Education in Transition

This paper focuses on recent changes in the Swedish system of child care and early childhood education. These changes are described and analyzed in relation to the economic and socio-political context of which they are a part. It is argued that the early childhood education sector in Sweden has been and still is an important part of the welfare society which in its turn now is in a state of transition. Neo-liberal ideas and the economic conjuncture have implied severe cuts and changes in childcare policies. The implications of these changes are discussed in the final section of the paper.     

An Investigation of Japanese and American Early Care and Education

Staff interviews and classroom observations based on predetermined observation criteria and open-ended questions were conducted at early care and education programs in Kakunodate, Akita, Japan; Tazawako, Akita, Japan; Butte, Montana; and Missoula, Montana. Differences in curriculum, classroom structure and educational strategies were found. For example, group instruction was more prevalent in Japan and individual instruction was more common in the United States. Physical environments reflected these differences; Japanese schools had gymnasiums, swimming pools, pianos and televisions for large group activities and American schools had learning centers and computers for individual and small group activities. American teachers reported developing curriculum and activities based on individual child development and Japanese teachers reported developing curriculum based on promoting community and regard for others. Further study of Japanese early care and education is suggested to assist American educators in partnering with Japanese and Japanese-American families in providing more culturally relevant curriculum.     

欧盟国家发展私立学前机构的经验探究

欧盟国家发展私立学前机构的经验主要体现在四个方面:关注私立学前机构的三大功能,将其作为建设福利国家的重要手段;努力兴办"付得起"的学前教育,为私立学前机构提供政府拨款;通过加强学前教育立法,促进私立学前机构的健康发展;重视国家和地方政府之间的分工与合作.     

Implementation of an Early Care and Education Partnership: Perspectives of Diverse Stakeholders

ABSTRACT

Communities are investigating new ways to expand access to high-quality early education. A new early care and education partnership initiative in a mid-Atlantic state offered publicly-funded preschool slots to eligible children in private early childhood programs and provided quality supports to participating private programs. This qualitative study examines the implementation of this partnership initiative from the perspectives of administrators, early childhood program staff, and family members of enrolled children. Researchers conducted 15 focus groups with these stakeholders across five communities and used a directed content analysis approach to analyze the data. Research Findings: The thematic findings from this study suggest that ECE partnerships can improve implementation processes by developing intentional communication plans and paying attention to the needs and preferences of early childhood program staff and families. The study findings also suggest that private programs may be able to counter the loss of preschool enrollment slots to public schools by participating in ECE partnerships. Practice and Policy: Policymakers may use these findings to inform the design of new ECE partnership initiatives or other initiatives that involve collaboration among early care and education programs. Practitioners may use these findings to inform planning for new partnerships they are engaged in.     

Early Care,Education, and Family Life in Rural Fiji: Experiences and Reflections

As a member of a delegation of educators, physicians, and lay people to rural Fiji the author shares her experiences and reflections of early care, education, and family life on a small, remote island. She discusses her visits to the village and boarding school, and her interactions with teachers, children, and parents in the early childhood classroom and community. Her understanding of teacher education and preparation, the primary educational system, and curriculum goals and revisions of the country are highlighted.     

A Nordic Perspective on Early Childhood Education and Care Policy

The national policies and historical roots of early childhood education (ECE) vary from society to society. In the Nordic countries, early childhood education and care (ECEC) policies have been built in the context of the welfare state. As such, they are closely connected to other welfare policy areas such as social policy, family policy and education policy, in addition to which a close relationship with labour policy is also evident. This article sheds light on the historical roots of Nordic ECEC policies by describing the commonalities and differences between the Nordic countries. The ‘Nordic model’ is commonly described as integrated. Education, teaching and caring form an integrated unit and the term early childhood education and care is therefore typically used when describing the ‘Nordic model’. It is also said to be based on a child-centred, holistic approach with an emphasis on participation, democracy, autonomy and freedom, while its track record of high quality ECE services is considered to be due in part to the use of a well-trained workforce. The Nordic countries are, however, developing and redefining their ECEC policies in the global economic and cultural context, in which governments have to choose their priorities. Pressure to standardize ECE services is also apparent, and signs of erosion of the key elements of the Nordic model have been seen in recent policy debates. This paper discusses the current direction of Nordic ECE policy making and the future of the Nordic model.     

Children's Individual Experiences in Early Care and Education: Relations With Overall Classroom Quality and Children's School Readiness

This study examined relations among children's individual experiences, global classroom quality, and school readiness. Preschool children from low-income backgrounds (N = 138; M = 62.16 months; SD = 3.93; range = 55?70) were observed in their early care and education settings, and their language and cognitive skills were assessed. Research Findings: Individual children in classrooms with small group sizes had higher quality individual experiences even though global classroom quality was not necessarily better. Higher levels of global classroom quality did not ensure that every child in the classroom was engaged fully in available interactions and activities. Children with disabilities were generally enrolled in classrooms with higher global quality and had higher quality individual experiences than those without disabilities; however, children without disabilities enrolled in these inclusive classrooms did not necessarily have a higher level of individual experiences than those in non-inclusive classrooms. Children's individual experiences and the global quality of their classrooms were associated with their social skills. Only the quality of children's individual experiences was found to be related to the quality of their relationships with teachers. Practice or Policy: Ratings of children's individual experiences provide information beyond that provided by global ratings of classroom quality and have potential for informing efforts to individualize educational programs.     

Sociocultural Perspectives on Transition to School from Pacific Islands Early Childhood Centres

Sociocultural theories of learning and development underpin a number of studies of young children's experiences as they move from early childhood education centres to school settings. This paper summarises research designed to investigate children's transition to primary school from Pacific early childhood centres in New Zealand. The study records experiences of transition to school of families from each of five Pacific groups (Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa, Tokelau, and Tonga). The emphasis is on language and children's other experiences as they move from Pacific Islands early childhood centres into English-language primary schools. Findings from in-depth interviews with children, parents, early childhood teachers, and school teachers are summarised, and brief reference is also made to analyses of the content of the 19 participating schools' charters. The paper draws on sociocultural perspectives to comment on aspects of facilitating transition. Les the´ories socioculturelles d'apprentissage et de de´veloppement soutiennent un certain nombre d'e´tudes sur les expe´riences des petits enfants pendant qu'ils se de´placent des centres d'e´ducation de la petite enfance a ¤ un cadre d'e´cole. Cet article re´sume la recherche conc¸ue pour e´tudier la transition des enfants a ¤ l'e´cole primaire des centres d'e´ducation de la petite enfance d'iles Pacifiques en Nouvelle-Ze´lande. Cette e´tude enregistre des expe´riences de transition a ¤ l'e´cole des familles de chacun de cinq groupes Pacifiques (iles Cook, Nioue´, Samoa, Toke´lao, et Tonga). L'emphase est sur la langue et les autres expe´riences des enfants pendant qu'ils se de´placent des centres d'e´ducation de la petite enfance d'iles Pacifiques dans les e´coles primaires de langue anglaise. Des re´sultats des entrevues de´taille´es avec des enfants, avec des parents, avec des enseignants spe´cialise´s dans l'e´tude la petite enfance, et des enseignants d'e´cole sont re´sume´s, et on fait une re´fe´rence bre ¤ ve aux analyses du contenu des chartes des 19 e´coles qui participent. L'article tire sur des perspectives socioculturelles pour faire des observations sur des aspects de la facilitation de la transition. Las teori´as socio-culturales del aprendizaje y el desarrollo apuntalan un nu´mero de estudios sobre las experiencias de nin ¨ os pequen ¨ os cuando pasan de los centros de educacio´n para la primera infancia al medio de la escuela. Este ensayo resume la investigacio ´n disen ¨ ada para investigar la transicio´n de los nin ¨ os a la escuela primaria de centros preescolares del Paci´fico en Nueva Zelanda. El estudio registra experiencias de la transicio´n a la escuela de familias de cada uno de cinco grupos del Paci´fico (islas Cook, Niue, Samoa, Tokelau, y Tonga). El e´nfasis esta´ en el lenguaje y las otras experiencias por las que pasan los nin ¨ os al desplazarse de los centros pre-escolares de las Islas del Paci´fico a las escuelas primarias de lengua inglesa. Se resumen aqui´ los resultados de entrevistas detalladas con los nin ¨ os, los padres, los maestros de la primera infancia, los ensen ¨ antes de escuela y se hace breve referencia a los ana´lisis del contenido de los estatutos de las 19 escuelas que participan. El ensayo utiliza las perspectivas socioculturales para comentar sobre los aspectos de la facilitacio´n de esta transicio´n.     

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.     

Continuing Education in Control Engineering: Experiences and Perspectives of a Small Country

Maintaining the vitality of human resources is as important as maintaining the level of capital equipment. In this paper a model for the continuing education of industrial professionals in the field of control technology in Slovenia is presented. The main idea concerns a programme of courses that serve to disseminate knowledge through active learning. The programme was launched by means of a Tempus project. The main achievement is the cluster of eight courses that already runs on a regular basis. The first experiences, resulting from positive initial response from industry, are summarized and some of the problems and perspectives are outlined.     

德国学前教育的发展现况和未来趋势

德国的学前教育长期以来并没有形成统一的学前托管模式,入园率、师资等在原东德和原西德地区之间存在很大差异.德国的学前教育计划由各州自行制定、实施并监管,但联邦政府还是从政策和财政投入两方面积极推动学前教育的发展.为了使母亲有更多的就业机会,德国政府不断加强对学前教育的关注度和投入力度:从法律上保障儿童接受学前教育的权益;提供灵活多样的社会托管服务;将托管服务对象由3～6岁扩大到0～6岁并致力于改善托幼机构的育儿质量.     

Higher Education Science Student Perspectives on Classroom Instructional Methods: A Pilot Study

Abstract: Constructivist‐based inquiry instruction has been popularized for several decades in primary‐ and secondary‐science education, with overwhelmingly positive results across all sciences. Importantly, higher education faculties have begun to embrace inquiry instruction in many subject areas. In fact, a growing body of literature illustrates the positive impact of inquiry instructional methods on science student achievement, such as in Food Science. While it has long been shown that student's instructional preference has a positive impact upon achievement, very little work has been done to assess college student's instructional preferences, especially in lecture‐based classes. A recent study was conducted at the Univ. of Idaho to identify student preferences of generic instructional models. Students from 4 majors (Food Science, Geological Sciences, Secondary Education, and Elementary Education) participated in the study. A 35‐question survey was developed to gather data on student's instructional strategy preferences. The data were analyzed to determine (a) instructional preferences inclusive of all majors, (b) instructional preference within each of the 4 majors, (c) a comparison of preferences of each major to other majors, and (d) gender issues within and across majors. The results suggest that there is perceived value of particular instructional methods over others, both within and across majors. In addition a gender relationship with methodology exists, particularly within certain subject areas.     

Blended Perspectives: A Global Vision for High-Quality Early Childhood Education

What are the attributes of a high-quality early childhood education program worldwide? An group of experienced early childhood educators that represent diverse international backgrounds attempts to respond to this question by examining six dimensions of quality set forth by the Association for Childhood Education International: (1) philosophies and goals, (2) high-quality physical environments, (3) developmentally appropriate and effective pedagogy and curriculum, (4) attention to basic and special needs, (5) respect for families and communities, (6) professionally prepared teachers and staff, and (7) rigorous program evaluation. The article concludes with an annotated list of references, both in professional publications and online, that examine early childhood education from an international perspective.     

A Mixed Methods Content Analysis of the Research Literature in Science Education

In recent years, more and more researchers in science education have been turning to the practice of combining qualitative and quantitative methods in the same study. This approach of using mixed methods creates possibilities to study the various issues that science educators encounter in more depth. In this content analysis, I evaluated 18 studies from science education journals as they relate to the definition, design, and overall practice of using mixed methods. I scrutinized a purposeful sample, derived from 3 journals (the International Journal of Science Education, the Journal of Research in Science Teaching, and the Research in Science Education) in terms of the type of data collected, timing, priority, design, the mixing of the 2 data strands in the studies, and the justifications authors provide for using mixed methods. Furthermore, the articles were evaluated in terms of how well they met contemporary definitions for mixed methods research. The studies varied considerably in the use and understanding of mixed methods. A systematic evaluation of the employment of mixed methods methodology was used to identify the studies that best reflected contemporary definitions. A comparison to earlier content analyses of mixed methods research indicates that researchers' knowledge of mixed methods methodology may be increasing. The use of this strategy in science education research calls, however, for an improved methodology, especially concerning the practice of mixing. Suggestions are given on how to best use this approach.     

A Phenomenological Investigation of African American Counselor Education Students' Challenging Experiences

This study explored 11 African American doctoral students’ perceptions of challenging experiences in counselor education programs. The authors identified the following themes using critical race theory: feelings of isolation, peer disconnection, and faculty misunderstandings and disrespect. Implications for counselor education programs and policies are discussed.