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.     

An ecological footprint for an early learning centre: identifying opportunities for early childhood sustainability education through interdisciplinary research

In this study, engineers and educators worked together to adapt and apply the ecological footprint (EF) methodology to an early learning centre in Brisbane, Australia. Results were analysed to determine how environmental impact can be reduced at the study site and more generally across early childhood settings. It was found that food, transport and energy consumption had the largest impact on the centre’s overall footprint. In transport and energy, early childhood centres can reduce their impact through infrastructure and cultural change, in association with changed curriculum strategies. Building design, the type of energy purchased and appliance usage can all be modified to reduce the energy footprint. The transport footprint can be reduced through more families using active and public transport, which can be encouraged by providing information, support and facilities and appropriate siting of new centres. Introducing the concept of ecological footprint in early childhood education may be an effective way to educate children, staff and parents on the links between the food they eat, land usage and environmental impact. This study responds directly to the call in this journal for research focused on early childhood education and for more to be made of interdisciplinary research opportunities.     

Legal considerations concerning public support for private higher education

RESURGENT POLITICS AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRESSIVISM IN THE NEW SOUTH: NORTH CAROLINA, 1890–1913 by H. Leon Prather, Sr. Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Press, Inc., 1979. 303 pp. $20.00.

CHILD AND STORY: THE LITERARY CONNECTION by Kay E. Vandergrift. New York: Neal‐Schuman Publishers, Inc., 1980. 340 pp.

THE HUMANITIES IN AMERICAN LIFE, Report of the Rockefeller Commission on the Humanities. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1980. 205 pgs. $3.50 paperback, $12.50 cloth.

ON HIGHER EDUCATION: THE ACADEMIC ENTERPRISE IN AN ERA OF RISING STUDENT CONSUMERISM by David Riesman. San Francisco: Jossey‐Bass, 1980. xxxiv + 421 pp. $16.95.     

文化学习与幼儿教育

幼儿应该学什么?什么时候开始学?如何才能学得好?我怎样才能知道我已经回答了上述三个问题?第一个问题主要是关于课程的目标与目的,第二个问题是关于如何看待儿童长远发展问题,第三个问题是关于如何贯彻课程计划,第四个问题是关于评估。这四个问题是所有打算制定幼儿教育课程的人必须回答的。本文对这四个问题作了初步讨论。     

Issues in early childhood education

Abstract

This paper raises some of the key issues affecting the educational opportunities of children from birth to seven. These include: services for children under five, four‐year‐olds in primary school classes, equal opportunities, training and status of early years professionals. The paper emphasises the influence of concepts of early childhood and the need for UK policy makers to recognise babies and very young children as people, and to acknowledge their capabilities.     

Financing early childhood education and care services

After exploring how the goals, organization and content of early childhood education and care relate to costs and financing, this chapter addresses three central topics: 1) the level of early childhood education and care spending; 2) the mechanisms used to generate and distribute resources; 3) the financial contributions by governments, business, social organizations, and parents. Special attention is given to the contrasting examples of Sweden, the United States, and Mexico. A final section presents general conclusions and identifies issues for policymakers and academics.     

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.     

浅谈幼儿家庭劳动教育

家庭劳动教育是幼儿教育不可或缺而又极易被忽视的重要组成部分,本文根据现实生活、工作及学习中了解到的情况,结合部分学者的研究,提出广大幼儿家长和幼教从事者在幼儿家庭劳动教育中应注意的问题,对正确劳动教育观念养成、使用正确的劳动教育方法等方面进行简单思考并提出若干建议。     

Avoiding sexism in early childhood education

Conclusion Television, other media, and adults in their daily interactions give children cues about what's appropriate for girls and for boys. It is the daily, continual combination of these events, occurring without thought of the hidden messages they convey to children, which creates an environment organized around sex roles. The message to all of us who work with young children is clear: Provide equal access of space and materials to every child; expect children to engage in all kinds of activities regardless of sex; expect children to exhibit a full range of behavior and reinforce them without regard to sex; and, finally, “liberate” the teacher's role by providing equal access and choices to adults and expecting a full range of responses from men and women alike. Above all, we must recognize that the maintenance of sexist environments and practices prevents every one of us from realizing his or her fullest potential.     

Robust hope,democracy and early childhood education

This paper discusses a recent Australian study of boys' education using case studies to determine successful practices. It focuses on an early childhood site where access to ‘discourses of power’ for students and parents and a valuing of students' ‘action knowledge’ created a particular democratic culture achieving improved outcomes for boys. The data are drawn from focus groups with families, interviews with educators, conversations with children and on‐site observations over two days. The findings are discussed in terms of those factors deriving from Henry Giroux's work on democracy and hope. In addition, we build on the work of Giroux by discussing the site as an exemplar of what we have come to call ‘robust hope’.     

Training of early childhood education and care staff

This chapter examines the training of early childhood education and care workers, taking six countries (Denmark, France, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, and the United States) as cases to explore variations and issues. It is argued that country approaches to staff training need to be understood in relation to the structure, purposes, and underlying values of services in that society, and the dominant constructions of young children and early childhood workers. The chapter identifies subjects meriting further investigation and considers options for future policy development.     

The economics of early childhood education and day-care

This article discusses the economic rationale of providing educational and day-care facilities to young children, using an expanded social cost-benefit frame-work. The benefits side, in particular, includes the direct lifetime productive gains by working mothers and the indirect earnings increments of the recipients of these social services via the boosting of early abilities and eventual higher scholastic achievement. Recently compiled statistics in OECD Member Countries are used to support the argument that we know very little about the socio-economic effects of providing kindergarten and nursery facilities. An interdisciplinary research agenda is proposed to increase our understanding in this elusive area of social policy.

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Zusammenfassung Im Rahmen einer ausgeweiteten Kosten/Nutzen-Untersuchung befaßt sich dieser Artikel mit der wirtschaftlichen Begründung für die Unterhaltung von Erziehungs- und Tagesstätten für Kleinkinder. Die Nutzenseite schließt insbesondere die direkten Arbeitserträge beruflich tätiger Mütter ein sowie die indirekten Einkommenserhöhungen der Empfänger dieser Sozialdienste durch die Förderung früher Fähigkeiten und späterer besserer Schulleistungen. Neuere Statistiken von OECD-Mitgliedsstaaten werden zur Unterstützung des Arguments herangezogen, daß wir noch sehr wenig über die sozio-ökonomischen Auswirkungen der Errichtung von Kindergärten und Kinderhorten wissen. Der Verfasser schlägt ein interdisziplinäres Forschungsprogramm vor, um unser Verständnis dieses schwer zu erfassenden Gebiets der Sozialpolitik zu erweitern.

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Résumé L'auteur de cet article s'interroge sur l'éventuel intérêt économique que présentent les services éducatifs et les garderies pour jeunes enfants dans le cadre élargi de l'analyse coûts sociaux-avantages sociaux. Au rang des avantages sociaux on compte le gain direct de toute l'existence productive de la mère qui travaille au dehors et le gain indirect provenant ultérieurement de la capacité productive des bénéficiaires de ces services dont les perspectives de progression scolaire sont améliorées par un démarrage précoce. Les statistiques établies récemment par les Pays Membres de l'OCDE montrent que les notions que nous avons des effets socio-économiques des jardins d'enfants et des services de garderie sont minimes. Un programme de recherche interdisciplinaire a été proposé afin de développer nos connaissances dans ce domaine encore nébuleux de la politique sociale.

     

Philosophical differences between early childhood education and special education: Issues for school psychologists

Increasingly, professional psychologists are extending their services from school-age children to young handicapped children. Psychological intervention and education issues regarding this group of children are complicated by the fact that the field of early childhood special education itself is in its infancy. This article presents the emerging field of early childhood special education, clarifies some major concerns in educating young handicapped children, and raises issues for school psychologists working in this area.     

Widening participation on early childhood studies and early years education degrees

This paper describes an evaluation of a joint project in 2001 between Sheffield Hallam University, regional further education (FE) colleges and the Building Pathways team. The project's purpose was to develop clear progression routes into higher education (HE) for FE students studying on Advanced Diploma, Higher National Certificate and Higher National Diploma courses in childcare and education. The work reported here represents the first part of the evaluation and seeks to illuminate some of the key factors involved in translating principles and objectives associated with widening participation into reality. The main aims of this evaluation were to review the process by which a set of widening participation agreements were reached, to identify key factors for success and to ascertain any issues arising from and during the process itself. The evaluation also sought to elicit information from respondents concerning possible future strategies to further develop the agreed progression routes. The second phase of the evaluation (2002–2003) will focus on the student experience and seek to understand factors that enable or hinder the success of those students who take advantage of these routes. The paper is set in the context of national widening participation policy developments since 1997, with FE and university responses to these developments relating to early childhood studies and early years education degrees. The paper discusses factors, identified by participants in the project, that facilitated or hindered attempts to widen and improve access for regional FE students onto the HE early years provision at Sheffield Hallam University.     

Defining professional needs in early childhood education

This article describes a research project, ‘Improving Learning: The Pupils' Agenda’ (supported by the Nuffield Foundation) in which a team of researchers from Homerton College, Cambridge and the University of Keele, investigated how schools were listening and responding to pupils' perspectives on effective teaching and learning. An account of the project is presented, outlining how the team carried out the investigation and the three themes on which was based. The article goes on to look at the strategies being developed in primary schools, using extracts from the data to illustrate the impact of these strategies in schools. In conclusion it is suggested that the answer to the question posed in the title — can listening and responding to pupils' views give new directions for school improvement — is clearly ‘yes’ and that the advantage of taking this approach lies principally in its potential for improving pupils' attitudes to learning.     

对幼儿教育中人文教育和科学教育的思考

对科学和人教育的理论、发展历史及现实进行深入的思考后可以发现，它们本质上不是两种不同的教育理念，在根本上有着相同的价值观，都注重人的知、情、意、行的全面发展。本就当前幼儿教育领域中科学教育和人教育两的关系．融合的可能性等问题进行了一定理论层次的思考。