'Bad Days don't Kill You; They Just Make you Stronger': A case study of an early childhood educator's resilience

What enables some early childhood educators to sustain their commitment to a career in children's services despite multiple adverse conditions that lead to high rates of attrition from the field? The case study documented in this article seeks to address this question by identifying influences contributing to the resilience of an Australian early childhood educator. The findings highlight the importance of personal qualities, contextual features, and the interplay between the personal and the contextual. I conclude by suggesting that fostering resilience could contribute to efforts to address the escalating staffing shortfall in children's services in Australia and internationally. Qu'est-ce qui permet quelques e´ducateurs de la premie ¤ re enfance de soutenir leur engagement a ¤ une carrie ¤ re dans le service des enfants en de´pit des conditions contraires divers qui menent aux hauts taux d'attrition dans ce champ? L'e´tude de cas documente´e dans cet article cherche a ¤ adresser cette question en identifiant des influences contribuant a ¤ la re´sistance demontre´e par un e´ducateur Australien de la petite enfance. Les de´couvertes soulignent l'importance des qualite´s personnelles, les caracte´ristiques contextuelles, et l'interaction entre ce qui est personnel et ce qui constitue le contexte. Je conclus en sugge´rant que la stimulation de cette re´sistance pourrait contribuer aux efforts qui abordent une manque croissante de personnel dans les services des enfants dans l'Australie et dans le cadre international. Que´ permite a algunos educadores de la primera infancia a sostener su compromiso a una carrera de servicios para nin ¨ os a pesar de variadas condiciones adversas que llevan a altas tasas de desgaste de personal en este campo? El caso documentado en este art L ´culo procura contestar esta pregunta identificando las influencias que contribuyen a la resistencia de un educador de la primera infancia australiano. Las conclusiones destacan la importancia de las caracter L ´sticas personales y contextuales y de la interaccio´n entre lo personal y lo contextual. Concluyo sugiriendo que al fomentar la resistencia se podr L ´a contribuir a los esfuerzos que se hacen para solucionar el de´ficit creciente de personal en los servicios para nin ¨ os en Australia y en el plano internacional.     

Emergent Supervisors: Comparing Counseling Center and Non‐Counseling‐Center Interns' Supervisory Training Experiences

Predoctoral interns' responses to an internship supervision training questionnaire indicated that counseling center interns supervised more trainees, received more supervision in their supervisory roles, reported more supervision training activities, and yielded higher supervisor development scores than did non‐counseling‐center interns. A qualitative analysis of participants' responses showed that non‐counseling‐center interns desired more supervision training and opportunities to provide supervision during their internship year than did counseling center interns.     

Exit cards: creating a dialogue for continuous evaluation

This study explored the use of Exit Cards, which are formative evaluations of student knowledge and instruction undertaken at every class meeting. Its results are based on Exit Card data from two undergraduate research methods courses. Thematic analysis indicated that students used Exit Cards to communicate (1) what they learned, (2) challenges with course material, (3) experiences with peers, (4) requests for help, (5) challenges with coping, and (6) successes. While the present study is an initial exploration of the use of Exit Cards, it contributes to knowledge on the utilization of informal formative assessments.     

In the shadow of Sputnik: a transnational approach to Menzies support for science education in Australia, 1957–1964

Abstract

This paper examines prime minister Robert Menzies decision to support science education in Australian schools in 1963. This was a landmark shift in policy for the federal government, but in many ways mirrors the decision of Eisenhower who brought down the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) in 1958. The paper uses a transnational approach to offer a new way of looking at the 1963 decision by focusing on the need for science education and the environment which supported science advocacy rather than the traditional interpretation of political expediency to court the Catholic vote.     

From old to new learning: global imperatives,exemplary Asian dilemmas and ICT as a key to cultural change in education

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) represent a crucial force for cultural change in both education and society and possible transitions between old and new learning as well as social values. This is especially so in East Asia, where the young have informally embraced ICTs but learn in formal contexts often still dominated by traditional transmission models of learning rather than the new learner‐centred theories which inform policy imperatives for innovation and reform. Educational contexts like Singapore and Hong Kong are particularly exemplary because they have been so progressive in policy initiatives for ICT integration and reform in formal education, imperatives which conflict in practice with still dominant traditional learning expectations, teaching practices and models of assessment. As typified by such contexts, this paper investigates how the pedagogical dilemmas of a tension between old and new models of learning need to be understood and approached in terms of related and overlapping institutional and social dilemmas of change.     

An Investigation of How Culture Shapes Curriculum in Early Care and Education Programs on a Native American Indian Reservation

This article investigates how culture shapes instruction in three early care and education programs on the Flathead Indian Reservation. Interviews with eight early childhood teachers as well as classroom observations were conducted. The investigation is framed by the following research question: How does the culture of the family and community shape curriculum? Data analysis suggested that ongoing communication with parents and community about teaching within a culturally relevant context, building a sense of belongingness and community through ritual, and respecting children, families, and community were essential to defining the Native American Indian culture within these early learning programs.     

The craftivists: Pushing for affective,materially informed pedagogy

The idea of making as a form of activism or, as we refer to it in this paper, craftivism, underpins our ambition to transform pedagogical environments into spaces of possibility through sensory and affective making practices. A craftivist agenda pushes for open teaching and learning with materials so that students can inhabit a what if space which ruptures institutional time and space. Beginning with a theorization of disruptive making and dissensus and then moving on to foreground a materialist stance on making, the paper illustrates how students experience materialities across two very different classroom environments and how these experiences led to greater presence, voice and agency for students. There is an underlying focus in the paper on embodied responses and affective flows. After theorizing craftivism, there are three sections that explore making, teaching and feeling through craftivist, postdigital methods.