‘Parents don’t want their children to speak their home language’: how do educators negotiate partnerships with Chinese parents regarding their children’s use of home language and English in early childhood settings?

This study investigated five Australian early childhood educators’ negotiation of the complex terrain of working in partnership with Chinese parents regarding their children’s language usage in early childhood settings. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken to explore educators’ views on children’s language usage in early childhood settings, their perception of Chinese parents’ language expectations and their strategies in resolving the tension between parental expectation and educator views on children’s language usage under the current regulatory frameworks. Educators reported that many Chinese parents expected their children to use only English in early childhood settings. Such a practice would not align with educators’ views of permitting children to use languages freely. The educators developed different strategies to address the tension between their desire to achieve positive outcomes for children and their need to work in partnership with families. Implications for the further preparation of educators are discussed.     

我国农村学前教育发展中的问题、困难及其发展路向

长期以来我国农村学前教育处于发展的边缘地带,缺乏政府部门应有的关注和政策支持。农村学前教育机构教学设施简陋、课程设置随意、师资队伍素质不高、安全隐患大等现象普遍存在。农村幼儿园之间的恶性竞争激烈、小学化倾向严重、政府管理缺位等难题更是严重制约了农村学前教育的发展。为促进农村学前教育发展,政府部门应从农村学前教育的公益性出发,加大财政投入力度,建立健全农村学前教育宏观管理和运行体制,规划农村学前教育发展布局,促使农村学前教育实现从作坊式发展到规范化发展的转变。     

The immediate impacts of preschool attendance on Turkish children’s mathematics achievement

This study was conducted to investigate the immediate impacts of preschool attendance on Turkish children’s mathematics achievement. The participants were 200 children who attended or did not attend preschool. The number and operation task and the geometric shapes sorting task were used as the data collection tools. The children who attended preschool performed significantly better on the number and operation task and the geometric shapes sorting task than the children who did not attend preschool. Indeed, the multivariate regression analysis demonstrated that preschool attendance is the most important predictor of the success of children in number and operation task and the geometric shapes sorting task.     

地区学前教育发展水平及其影响因素的研究

我国不同地区学前教育在教育质量、教育投入以及教育公平方面存在较大差异。阐述构建我国学前教育综合发展水平指标的依据,并对我国学前教育综合发展水平指标体系设计、地区学前教育发展水平及影响因素进行分析,提出提高地区学前教育发展水平的相关建议：一是转变政府对学前教育的投入模式;二是地方根据发展状况增加学前教育经费的转移支付;三是建立经济困难家庭学前教育补助机制。     

Phonological Awareness and Bilingual Preschoolers: Should We Teach It and, If So, How?

This article briefly reviews recent research on teaching phonological awareness skills to preschoolers as well as the benefits of different types of bilingual education. A more in-depth analysis of research on cross-language transfer of phonological awareness/metalinguistic skills follows. The major recommendation resulting from this review is that the teaching of phonological awareness skills in both the home language and school language of preschoolers is the preferred intervention.     

Patterns of Home‐ and Classroom‐based Toy Play of Preschoolers With and Without Intellectual Disabilities

Children with and without intellectual disabilities were observed playing with toys during both home‐based independent play and classroom‐based freeplay situations. Categorical and sequential play was analysed for within‐ and between‐group patterns. Within‐group patterns during classroom freeplay were similar for both groups. There were no significant differences among home‐based categorical play variables for children with intellectual disabilities; however, children without intellectual disabilities engaged in significantly more constructive play than other home‐based categorical play types. Between‐group analyses of home–classroom difference scores revealed greater variability in play for children with intellectual disabilities than children without intellectual disabilities. The analyses presented complement and extend extant work on contextually‐based variation of children’s toy play supporting a more positive ability profile for children with intellectual disabilities than that engendered by classroom‐based observations. Results have implications for (a) perceptions of and attitudes toward children with intellectual disabilities held by stakeholders, and (b) how intervention targets are determined.     

中印两国学前教育的发展历史比较

印度的学前教育与中国的学前教育在发展之初都受到宗教团体的影响,受过相同的学前教育思想的影响,也都曾探讨过本民族的学前教育应如何发展,在农村学前教育问题上甚至有过类似的做法,今天的中国与印度也还面临着相似的问题。