Fathers' participation in family work and children's sex-role attitudes

The relation between fathers' participation in family work (child care and home chores) and children's sex-role attitudes was examined in an interview study of 160 Caucasian middle-class families. Children were stratified by age level (5-year-olds and 10-year-olds), sex, and maternal employment status. 5 types of paternal participation were assessed--for example, total interaction time, performance of traditionally feminine home chores--using joint estimates by fathers and mothers. Children's attitudes were measured by questionnaire; their occupational aspirations were also assessed. Data are provided on the extent of fathers' participation for each of the 5 types assessed. The direct effects of paternal participation per se on children's attitudes were weak. Among fourth graders, mother's attitude toward the male role was the strongest predictor of stereotyping; children with nontraditional mothers were significantly less stereotyped.     

How money matters for young children's development: parental investment and family processes

This study used data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and its 1997 Child Development Supplement to examine how family income matters for young children's development. The sample included 753 children who were between ages 3 and 5 years in 1997. Two sets of mediating factors were examined that reflect two dominating views in the literature: (1) the investment perspective, and (2) the family process perspective. The study examined how two measures of income (stability and level) were associated with preschool children's developmental outcomes (Woodcock-Johnson [W-J] Achievement Test scores and the Behavior Problem Index [BPI]) through investment and family process pathways. Results supported the hypothesis that distinct mediating mechanisms operate on the association between income and different child outcomes. Much of the association between income and children's W-J scores was mediated by the family's ability to invest in providing a stimulating learning environment. In contrast, family income was associated with children's BPI scores primarily through maternal emotional distress and parenting practices. Level of income was associated with W-J letter-word scores and income stability was associated with W-J applied problem scores and BPI, even after all controls were included in the models.     

New technologies,new multimodal literacy practices and young children's metacognitive development

This paper discusses concepts of learning through ‘collaborative multimodal dialogue’. It draws on an ESRC‐funded study (RES‐000‐22‐2451) investigating 3‐ and 4‐year‐old children's encounters with literacy as they engage with a range of printed and digital technologies at home and in a nursery. The study goes beyond analysis of spoken language, giving a more complete understanding of literacy learning processes through detailed analysis of how children use multiple communicative modes as they experience literacy in different media. These experiences underpin metacognitive development and are crucial to children's abilities to act strategically in future situations. Drawing on notions of literacy as social practice, this paper discusses how the advent of new technologies has introduced new dimensions into young children's literacy learning, the implications of which have not yet been fully recognised in early years policy guidance, training or practice.     

Parental involvement in literacy development: using media texts

This paper reports on a small‐scale project which aimed to build upon the existing home literacy practices of a group of three‐ and four‐year‐old children living in the UK. The purpose of the project was to develop literacy materials and resources which could be borrowed from nursery and used within the home to promote children’s literacy development. Children’s informal literacy practices at home were identified using literacy diaries, which 18 families completed over a four‐week period. These documented children’s reading of both printed and televisual texts. In addition, interviews were conducted with 15 parents and carers. The paper reports on the findings from this stage of the project, which indicate that much of children’s reading was focused on popular cultural and media texts. Media boxes were developed as a literacy resource for use by parents and children in the home. The use of these media boxes by three families was documented and the initial findings, which suggest that the use of such resources draws on families’ cultural capital, discussed.     

The role of drawing in young children's journeys towards literacy

The focus of this article is the role of drawings in the journeys of young children towards literacy. The argument is that young children learn from home contexts a wide range of approaches towards literacy. At school their flexibility in using these approaches is reshaped into narrow versions of literacy based on learning to read, write and become numerate. Children continue to explore alternative modes of representation at home and amongst their peer group in informal learning contexts outside school. The argument is illustrated with examples from a project, which followed the changes in seven young children's drawing behaviours as they made the transition from home to school. It is suggested that we need a radical reappraisal of what it means to be a literate child in 2004; and that the literacy curriculum in early childhood settings needs to be reframed to reflect this reappraisal.     

Poverty,food insecurity and nutritional deprivation in rural China: Implications for children's literacy achievement

Globally, food insecurity is a significant contextual aspect of childhood. About 850 million people were undernourished worldwide during the period 2006–2008, including 129.6 million people, or 10 percent of the population, in China (FAO, 2011, pp. 45–46). Implications of food insecurity for children's schooling in developing country contexts are poorly understood. Analyses of a survey of children from 100 villages in northwest China show that long-term undernourishment and food insecurity strike the poorest disproportionately, but not exclusively; long-term undernourishment matters for literacy via early achievement; and, after adjusting for socioeconomic status, long-term undernourishment, and prior achievement, food insecure children have significantly lower literacy scores.     

Preschool teachers' beliefs about children's print literacy development

Beliefs have often been considered important because of their relation to practice. Little is known about the literacy beliefs of preschool teachers, particularly their print literacy beliefs, even though young children's experiences with print have implications for formal schooling. Therefore, this study explored the print literacy beliefs of preschool teachers in a large multicultural area of central Canada. Interviews were conducted with eight preschool teachers based on a previous study in Australia. There were five themes that emerged from this research: uncertainty and variation in beliefs about how and when children learn to read and to write; isolation from other preschools and limited access to professional literacy knowledge; the importance of parent involvement in children's literacy development and the need to inform; increased literacy knowledge required; and variation in practices for fostering print literacy development. This study has important implications for preschool teaching as well as for educators of preschool teachers.     

Evolution and development of folk knowledge: Implications for children's learning

Abstract

A central theoretical issue in evolutionary developmental psychology concerns the relation between evolved systems of folk knowledge and academic learning in modern schools. A model for conceptualizing motivational biases, cognitive competencies (e.g., language), and children's inherent developmental activities that compose these systems of folk knowledge is presented. Implications for children's learning of culture-specific academic competencies, such as reading, and associated motivational and instructional issues are then discussed. The thesis is that the motivational, cognitive, and developmental systems that compose folk knowledge are not sufficient for academic learning, but are the foundation from which academic competencies are built. Implications for educational theory and research are profound     

Observing young children's creative thinking: engagement,involvement and persistence

This paper looks at young children's creative thinking as inferred through observations of their activities. A total of 52 episodes of child-initiated and adult-initiated activities in 3- to 4-year-olds in an English Children's Centre were analysed using the Analysing Children's Creative Thinking (ACCT) Framework. Results showed that activities such as gardening and construction were as valuable for supporting creative thinking as ones traditionally associated with creativity, for example, music and painting. Outdoor play of all kinds and socio-dramatic play were particularly effective contexts. All adults played a significant role in facilitating children's initial engagement in activities, and at supporting their speculative thinking and use of prior knowledge. Teachers were often more successful than other adults in supporting the acquisition of new knowledge. Child-initiated activities featured the highest levels of involvement, and were associated with trying out and analysing ideas, flexibility and originality, imagining and hypothesising. This was particularly evident in group or pair play. Children were also more persistent in child-initiated activities. Evidence of risk-taking behaviour was low, although more apparent in child-initiated activities than adult-initiated activities, or activities in which adults were present.     

Assessing young children's social concept development

A number of questions regarding the nature of social concept development in young children were investigated in this study. In an earlier study, a social concept picture-sorting task was developed to obtain normative data on young children's social concept development. For this replication study, a larger more heterogeneous sample was used consisting of 64 kindergarten and 65 first grade public school students from lower to upper middle-class socioeconomic levels. Profile analysis was used to compare grades, sex, and racial groups. All three variables had a significant impact on performance. Significant differences in difficulty were found among the nine concepts measured. Three of the most difficult concepts (family-not family, those who protect us, and past-present) are commonly included in early childhood curriculum. These results suggest that the level of concept development needs to be considered in planning social studies curriculum and instruction for young children.     

Parental perceptions of life context variables for involvement in their young children's education

The purpose of this study was to discover Turkish parents’ perceptions of life context variables, including personal knowledge and skills and personal time and energy for involvement activities in their young children's education. The scales used in this study were based on parents’ self-report, and included: (1) Parental Perceptions of Personal Knowledge and Skills for Involvement Activities and (2) Parental Perceptions of Personal Time and Energy for Involvement Activities. Moreover, a demographic survey was developed and used as the second instrument in this study. The results suggested that parents as a group tend to have positive perceptions of life context variables for involvement in their young children's education and their income is the strongest predictor of these perceptions.     

Subjective and objective measures of literacy: Implications for current results-oriented development initiatives

Data from Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in Ethiopia and Nicaragua shed light on two practical questions that arise when turning “Education for All” goals of high literacy and universal primary school completion into more specific targets. First, how should we measure literacy? Second, how many years of schooling should be universalized? Evidence presented here suggests two conclusions. First, objective literacy measures (based on simple tests) should be preferred to more frequently employed subjective measures (based on opinions of household respondents regarding their own literacy and the literacy of other members of their households), especially where school attainment levels are low, if we are to avoid overestimating literacy rates. Second, if a main goal of primary education is to render most students literate by objective measures, then at least 5 years of schooling should be universalized, even though subjective literacy rates reach high levels after only 3 or 4 years of schooling.     

Building on existing informal learning in Traveller communities through family literacy programmes: an Irish case study

Focusing on Ireland, this paper explores the potential role family literacy programmes can play in influencing educational attainment and in fostering positive attitudes towards formal learning in Traveller families. It is often claimed that members of the Traveller community tend to undervalue learning; that they are uninterested in their children's education and perceive it holds little relevance to adult life. However, research shows that significant forms of learning do take place within the family, for example, skills-based work-related learning. Further, there is evidence to suggest that some Traveller parents believe there is value in educating their children and there is a growing recognition, especially by mothers, that children need to achieve academically, particularly where there are concerns that migrant workers are accessing the jobs, Travellers have traditionally performed. Drawing on Bourdieu's concepts of habitus and field, the author argues that family literacy programmes can potentially offer an alternative space in which to engage Travellers in formal education and that such engagement has the potential to impact positively on the academic attainment and achievement of Traveller children by helping mothers recognise, and build on, the informal learning in which they are already engaged.     

What teachers can learn from parents' perceptions of young children's literacy learning

Research in the last ten to fifteen years has provided a strong knowledge base for understanding how children learn to read and write in naturally developing ways. *These findings and conclusions are drawn from the wealth of early literacy research. The research provides a keener understanding of how the learning environment contributes enabling children to construct their own personally meaningful rule systems for making written language work for them, even at very young ages.Stevie Hoffman is Professor of Early Childhood Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, and Larry Kantner is Professor in the Departments of Curriculum and Instruction and Fine Arts, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO.     

Constructing cultural‐historical tools for supporting young children's concept formation in early literacy and numeracy

Over the past 10 years, early childhood professionals have been increasingly influenced by cultural‐historical theory. In order to support professionals evolving their practice, the Australian government commissioned a set of cultural‐historical resources specifically designed to build literacy and numeracy experiences for children from birth to the age of five years. This paper reports on an investigation of how teachers and families used the tools for supporting concept formation in literacy and numeracy and how they came to understand cultural‐historical theory. A sample of 349 people (families, and qualified and unqualified early childhood professionals) were either surveyed online or interviewed in relation to the resources. The findings indicate that teachers focused more explicitly on cognitive outcomes for children as a result of using the resources, and most families interacted differently with their children in everyday situations after having piloted the resources.     

Increasing young children's contact with print during shared reading: longitudinal effects on literacy achievement

Longitudinal results for a randomized-controlled trial (RCT) assessing the impact of increasing preschoolers' attention to print during reading are reported. Four-year-old children (N = 550) in 85 classrooms experienced a 30-week shared reading program implemented by their teachers. Children in experimental classrooms experienced shared-book readings 2 or 4 times per week during which their teachers verbally and nonverbally referenced print. Children in comparison classrooms experienced their teachers' typical book reading style. Longitudinal results (n = 356, 366) showed that use of print references had significant impacts on children's early literacy skills (reading, spelling, comprehension) for 2 years following the RCT's conclusion. Results indicate a causal relation between early print knowledge and later literacy skills and have important implications concerning the primary prevention of reading difficulties.