Providing High-Quality Support Services to Home-Based Child Care: A Conceptual Model and Literature Review

ABSTRACT

Research Findings: Home-based child care accounts for a significant proportion of nonparental child care arrangements for young children in the United States. Yet the early care and education field lacks clear models or pathways for how to improve quality in these settings. The conceptual model presented here articulates the components of high-quality support to child care providers; related factors; and hypothesized provider, family, and child outcomes. The model is based on a literature review of research on home-based child care, home visiting, early childhood mental health consultation, coaching, and family services. We hypothesize that high-quality support to home-based child care that offers relationship-based services focused on quality caregiving (individual home visiting and group supports such as training and networking) and sustainability (materials, equipment, referrals) is most likely to positively impact quality caregiving for children and families. Practice or Policy: Current federal efforts and policy initiatives to increase the supply and quality of infant–toddler child care focus on the development of systems that support home-based providers. The conceptual model of high-quality support described here will inform future program development and research on how to improve quality in home-based child care for the millions of low-income children in these settings.     

The problematic place of a woman physical education instructor: an historical case study

In this article the author's problematize the position of women in state school physical education, focusing in particular on the ‘instructors’ who were appointed to work with women teachers and senior girls, and prepare trainees at the Teachers College in South Australia. In exploring this little researched area, the article explores shifting representations of the woman ‘instructor’ from the 1920s to the late 1940s, highlighting the interplay of key discourses associated with age, gender, marital status, character, disciplinarity and physical activity. In addition, the authors explicate ways in which these discourses were interwoven in the career of May Cleggett, who for most of the period was the only woman physical education instructor in South Australian state schools.     

“What is an author?” Contemporary publishing discourse and the author figure

Martin Amis’ novel The Information was published in paperback in May 1995. For a number of convergent reasons, the publication became, in itself, a major media event. In examining this occasion., the economic and cultural imperatives that shaped the marketing of The Information and the wider context of contemporary book publishing and its relation to other media, this paper problematises the relationship between cultural and economic value. It considers the discourse around what an author is “worth” in a late capitalist society of fiercely competitive consumer choice, and how the representation of an avowedly “literary” author is mobilised in the marketplace in ways that aim not to threaten to compromise the investment in the difference between literary and popular fiction.     

Willingness to Pay for Submerged Maritime Cultural Resources

Many consider salvage value and tourism expenditures as the only economic values of a historic shipwreck. This paper looks at one alternative, the non-market value generated by management of shipwrecks as submerged maritime cultural resources. We consider the question: How much are people willing to pay to maintain shipwrecks in their pristine state? The contingent valuation method was implemented during summer 2001 as part of a telephone survey to households in eastern North Carolina. We find that households are willing to pay about $35 in a one-time increase in state taxes. Willingness to payis internally validated by expected relationships with prices and income but fails to pass the scope test. We speculate that we inadvertently succumbed to the well-known “birds” problem. The double-bounded willingness to pay questions are not incentive compatible and are subject to starting point bias, despite efforts to minimize these effects.     

Middle years teacher education: New programs and research directions

Teacher education programs focussing on the development of specialist teachers for ‘the middle years’ have proliferated in Australian universities in recent years. This paper provides some insights into middle years’ teacher education programs at the University of Queensland, Edith Cowan and Flinders Universities with regard to their: philosophical underpinnings; specific educational context; scope and nature of the program. In addition, some of the research directions and efficacy strategies utilised in conjunction with the programs will be shared, along with some early findings from a longitudinal study in one of the programs. We propose that the pattern of programmatic growth heralds a new time for teacher education, and we speculate about the production of new kinds of teacher identities as graduates take their place in the profession.     

Denmark's two university centers: The quest for stability,autonomy, and distinctiveness

In the 1970's Denmark established two new institutions called university centers which were to differ from the traditional universities in terms of academic organization and curriculum. The first center, Roskilde, was established near the national capital while the second center, Aalborg, was established in a provincial area. The development of these two centers, though emanating from the same plan, has been strikingly different particularly in terms of institutional stability, autonomy and distinctiveness.This article presents case studies of these two institutions from their opening in 1972 and 1974 respectively to the summer of 1979 and attempts to explain the different patterns of development.