Inquiring minds: theorizing children’s interests

Children’s interests are a common foundation for early childhood curricula. Yet, little research is available about the fundamental nature of children’s interests and analytical ways to recognize and engage with these. Early work on children’s interests adopted a psychological perspective and associated interests with activity choices. Recent work has taken a sociocultural perspective, arguing that more analytical interpretations of children’s interests can occur through a deeper understanding of children’s funds of knowledge from their lives in their families and communities, and their inquiries that result. This paper draws on a qualitative, interpretivist study in two early childhood centres in Aotearoa New Zealand to extend this work and argue that children’s ‘real questions’ are the fundamental source of their interests. The interpretations presented of children’s questions also challenge earlier psychological research that suggested children cannot imagine their future selves until late in the early childhood period. A revised continuum of children’s interests and examples of interpretations of children’s real questions are proffered for further consideration in other early childhood contexts. Further, the paper argues that interests-based curriculum is justifiable in the early years through likely leading to a range of long-term outcomes valued by societies.     

Is Effective Teaching Stable?

The authors examined the ecological validity of using observation-based scores to evaluate individual teachers’ effectiveness, mirroring their use by school administrators. Using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System, the authors asked (a) how similar are teachers’ emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support scores from each other; and (b) to what extent are these scores stable from day-to-day? Using a time-series, single-case methodology, the authors examined patterns of eight Kindergarten teachers’ performance in all lessons within a 4–5 week, thematically coherent science unit. Thus, the opportunity for identifying within-teacher stability was maximized. Teachers' instructional quality was significantly less effective than their emotional supportiveness and classroom organization. Furthermore, teachers’ effectiveness ratings varied markedly from one lesson to the next, for all three dimensions.     

Effects of Orthographic,Morphological and Semantic Overlap on Short-Term Memory for Words in Typical and Atypical Development

Little is known about implicit morphological processing in typical and atypical readers. These studies investigate this using a probe detection task with lures sharing morphological, orthographic, or semantic overlap with the probe. Intermediate and advanced readers (reading ages = 9;1–12;9) perform more poorly when there is more linguistic overlap. Novice readers (reading ages = 5;7–8;0) were influenced only by orthographic overlap and not by semantics, indicating that use of orthographic processes typically precedes integration of semantic and morphological skills. Children with otitis media (repeated ear infections) had phonological awareness difficulties but performed age appropriately on the probe detection task, indicating that morphological processing is not constrained by phonology. In contrast, dyslexic children’s performance reflected a failure to remember distinctions between words sharing root morphemes. Dyslexic children are sensitive to morphology but may over-rely on root morphemes. This pattern differed from reading-ability-matched children and children with circumscribed phonological difficulties.     

Ko wai Au? Who am I? Examining the multiple identities of Māori youth

In this paper, we present preliminary findings from a unique collaborative research project involving six Deaf Māori rangatahi (youth) in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland), Aotearoa New Zealand. This study utilized kaupapa whānau (research family) protocols, established in consultation with two cultural advisory groups within New Zealand and the young people themselves, combined with elements of photovoice methodology, to explore the identities of these youth. Emerging findings highlight the complex nature of these youth’s cultural identity as well as specific issues related to access to and participation within te ao Māori (the Māori world). Specific and critical reflections on the research process are also included.     

An Analysis of the Presentation of Art in the British Primary School Curriculum and its Implications for Teaching

This article presents an analysis of the way art is conceptualised in the British primary school curriculum and provides an historical framework that maps an evolution of ideas that have shaped the way art is presented in the modern day primary curriculum. In order to achieve this a Foucauldian style genealogical analysis is utilised to trace the discourses (systems of meaning) surrounding the nature of children's artistic development and how these discourses are used in the present day British primary curriculum to construe art in different ways. The analysis in this article is threefold. It explores the presentation of art in the curriculum as (1) an expressive subject, (2) a skills based subject, (3) a subject which focuses on art history and art appreciation. Second, the teaching positions associated with each approach are identified as follows (a) the facilitator, (b) the expert and (c) the philosopher; as well as the issues teachers face when adopting these positions. Third, attention is given to how these theoretical principles might be linked to practice. In so doing this article contributes to the debate surrounding the value of art in the primary curriculum and the way in which the curriculum serves to shape teaching practice.     

Group psychotherapy for adult women mistreated as children by pathological mothers

In this paper, group psychotherapy for adult women having similar backgrounds of abusive, pathological mothers is described. The goals of the group included: providing a support system to help the members cope with their destructive mothers, helping them to recognize how the conflictual relationship with their mothers generalized to other conflictual relationships particularly with abusive men, and helping the members to increase their behavioral repertoire for coping with their mothers' illogical and unreasonable demands. Unlike most treatment groups which take considerable time to develop trusting relationships, intimacy and cohesiveness among group members, the women in this group developed almost instant solidarity. This appeared due to their having a common bond based on sharing equally traumatic backgrounds and on their attraction to men as abusive to them as their mothers. Prior to the group, they felt that no one (including the individual therapist) could understand what their lives had been like. The solidarity in this group grew more intense with time which permitted deeper investigation of topics such as fear of unworthiness, closeness, and abandonment. Findings from a self-report questionnaire suggested that three of the five group members had achieved significant improvements in coping with their troublesome relationships with pathological mothers and abusive men. These three members attributed their gains to their new coping behaviors learned in group, the group's supportive environment, and the group's permission to examine fully the range of feelings they harbored toward their mothers and themselves.     

The Mathematical Quality of Instruction (MQI) in Kindergarten: An Evaluation of the Stability of the MQI Using Generalizability Theory

Research Findings: We evaluated the score stability of the Mathematical Quality of Instruction (MQI), an observational measure of mathematics instruction. Three raters each scored, independently, 100 video-recorded lessons taught by 20 kindergarten teachers in the spring. Using generalizability theory analyses, we decomposed the MQI’s score stability into potential sources of variation (teachers, lessons, raters, and their interactions). The 13-item (3-domain) Ambitious Mathematics Instruction scale and the Whole Lesson scale each explained about one third of the variance attributed to differences in the main construct of interest (teachers’ instructional strategies). The MQI’s Errors and Imprecision scale was not relevant at the kindergarten level; there were virtually no errors and/or ambiguities observed across the 100 mathematics lessons. In a series of decision studies, we examined improvements in reliability with combinations of up to 6 raters and 8 lessons. Only the Richness of Mathematics domain scores and the Whole Lesson scores achieved acceptable reliabilities. Practice or Policy: The findings have important implications for the use of observation measures to document teachers’ mathematics practices in the early years of school.     

Who Influences Policy in Early Childhood Services?

This edition of the journal explores some of the ideas about policy‐making in early childhood services. In this introductory article I review ideas about policy‐making processes and policy agendas and what processes shape them, with particular reference to the relationship between research and policies on early childhood services. I write as a researcher working within a child development framework, and as someone who has been a participant in such policy making processes at a European and at a UK level. In this introduction I also set a context for the other articles which follow.     

Impact of North Carolina's Early Childhood Programs and Policies on Educational Outcomes in Elementary School

North Carolina's Smart Start and More at Four (MAF) early childhood programs were evaluated through the end of elementary school (age 11) by estimating the impact of state funding allocations to programs in each of 100 counties across 13 consecutive years on outcomes for all children in each county‐year group (n = 1,004,571; 49% female; 61% non‐Latinx White, 30% African American, 4% Latinx, 5% other). Student‐level regression models with county and year fixed effects indicated significant positive impacts of each program on reading and math test scores and reductions in special education and grade retention in each grade. Effect sizes grew or held steady across years. Positive effects held for both high‐ and low‐poverty families, suggesting spillover of effects to nonparticipating peers.