Between education and care? Critical reflections on early childhood policies in Germany

This article identifies the responsibilities for early childhood care and education (ECCE) in the German child and youth welfare system and shows the expansion of children's services. The official German statistics demonstrate that almost every child from the age of three to school age attends ‘Kindergarten’. Current policies and measures are therefore mainly focused on extending provision for the under‐threes. There are still enormous differences in the number of places available for children under three years of age between the eastern and western parts of Germany. Due to the increased significance of early education and the educational curricula drafted in all 16 Länder over the past few years, the qualifications required of professional pedagogues today have changed considerably. There is a broad consensus in Germany that it is necessary to redefine the course content and structure and put them on a theoretical basis. The article pinpoints the problems of children with special needs, and especially of those whose family language is not German. Despite some positive developments in German ECCE little progress has been made with regard to effectively implementing the conceptual unity of education, care and upbringing.     

Relations Between Parenting Quality and Cognitive Performance of Children Experiencing Varying Amounts of Childcare

Associations between parenting quality and 3-year-olds' school readiness, receptive, and expressive language were examined in relation to the amount of time they spent in childcare, based on data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development ( N = 1,364). Associations for school readiness and receptive language were stronger among children who experienced medium amounts of childcare than among children who experienced high amounts of childcare, and they were not weaker than among children who experienced primarily maternal care. Contrary to expectations, the association between parenting quality and school readiness among children who experienced medium amounts of childcare was significantly stronger than among children who experienced predominantly maternal care.     

Early Childhood Parenting Predicts Late Childhood Brain Functional Connectivity During Emotion Perception and Reward Processing

Seventy-nine 3-year olds and their mothers participated in a laboratory-based task to assess maternal hostility. Mothers also reported their behavioral regulation of their child. Seven years later, functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired while viewing emotional faces and completing a reward processing task. Maternal hostility predicted more negative amygdala connectivity during exposure to sad relative to neutral faces with frontal and parietal regions as well as more negative left ventral striatal connectivity during monetary gain relative to loss feedback with the right posterior orbital frontal cortex and right inferior frontal gyrus. In contrast, maternal regulation predicted enhanced cingulo-frontal connectivity during monetary gain relative to loss feedback. Results suggest parenting is associated with alterations in emotion and reward processing circuitry 7–8 years later.     

Assessing the severity of behavior disorders: Rankings based on clinical and empirical criteria

School psychologists need to assess the severity of behavior disorders accurately to facilitate comprehensive diagnosis, to provide appropriate intervention, to enlighten research efforts, and to be in compliance with state and federal guidelines. Although clinicians in fields such as mental retardation categorize severity of behavior to make diagnostic and general treatment decisions, school psychologists rarely attempt to assess severity in any systematic or comprehensive way. The primary purpose of this study is to see how 92 practicing school psychologists rank 11 variables in their assessments of SED in school-age children. A secondary purpose is to examine the extent of school psychologists' reliance upon clinical and empirical criteria in assessing the severity of SED. It is concluded that school psychologists agree in their rankings of variables from most to least important and that they do not consider empirical criteria more important than clinically based criteria when assessing SED. Implications for practice are presented.     

Development and implementation of a three-dimensional (3D) printing elective course for health science students

Three-dimensional (3D) printing technology has become more affordable, accessible, and relevant in healthcare, however, the knowledge of transforming medical images to physical prints still requires some level of training. Anatomy educators can play a pivotal role in introducing learners to 3D printing due to the spatial context inherent to learning anatomy. To bridge this knowledge gap and decrease the intimidation associated with learning 3D printing technology, an elective was developed through a collaboration between the Department of Anatomy and the Makers Lab at the University of California, San Francisco. A self-directed digital resource was created for the elective to guide learners through the 3D printing workflow, which begins with a patient's computed tomography digital imaging and communication in medicine (DICOM) file to a physical 3D printed model. In addition to practicing the 3D printing workflow during the elective, a series of guest speakers presented on 3D printing applications they utilize in their clinical practice and/or research laboratories. Student evaluations indicated that their intimidation associated with 3D printing decreased, the clinical and research topics were directly applicable to their intended careers, and they enjoyed the autonomy associated with the elective format. The elective and the associated digital resource provided students with the foundational knowledge of 3D printing, including the ability to extract, edit, manipulate, and 3D print from DICOM files, making 3D printing more accessible. The aim of disseminating this work is to help other anatomy educators adopt this curriculum at their institution.     

Characteristics of project management at institutions sponsoring National Library of Medicine MedlinePlus Go Local

Objectives:

Through interviews with the National Library of Medicine''s MedlinePlus Go Local collaborators, an evaluation team sought to identify process characteristics that are critical for long-term sustainability of Go Local projects and to describe the impact that Go Local projects have on sponsoring institutions.

Methods:

Go Local project coordinators (n = 44) at 31 sponsor institutions participated in semi-structured interviews about their experiences developing and maintaining Go Local sites. Interviews were summarized, checked for accuracy by the participating librarians, and analyzed using a general inductive methodology.

Results:

Institutional factors that support Go Local projects were identified through the interviews, as well as strategies for staffing and partnerships with external organizations. Positive outcomes for sponsoring institutions also were identified.

Conclusions:

The findings may influence the National Library of Medicine team''s decisions about improvements to its Go Local system and the support it provides to sponsoring institutions. The findings may benefit current sponsoring institutions as well as those considering or planning a Go Local project.

Highlights

• Many project coordinators said they underestimated the level of work their National Library of Medicine (NLM) MedlinePlus Go Local projects would require, but most expressed dedication to the project and optimism about project sustainability.
• An institutional record of community service or outreach and a director who was supportive of the project were important factors in the progress and sustainability of Go Local projects.
• Go Local projects brought recognition to some sponsoring institutions from their parent institutions or their communities and provided opportunities to establish better relations with other libraries and institutions.
• Go Local projects ran more smoothly when a person, even a temporary hire, with dedicated time for the project was in charge during the initial building phase. Volunteer assistance has been difficult to motivate and sustain.

Implications

• NLM''s Go Local proposal guidelines accurately identify the factors that institutions should pay close attention to when planning a Go Local project.
• NLM should emphasize continuity plans to address project coordinator turnover.
• NLM should develop a more formal orientation plan for new project coordinators to assist program continuity at the sponsoring institutions.

     

Wirkungen zentraler Abschlussprüfungen im Mehrebenensystem Schule. Eine Zwischenbilanz internationaler und nationaler Befunde und Forschungsdesiderata

Statewide exit exams have become a central governance instrument at the end of secondary schooling in Germany. In the article, the current state of research in Germany is systematized from an international comparative perspective in relation to intended and unintended effects. Findings regarding state exam policies and effects at the school and instructional level are presented as an interim report on a comparably young field of research. The findings show differences by states, subjects and courses which suggest that there is no general effect of statewide exams. In this context, future research should account for the heterogeneity of exam procedures to a greater degree.