A Comparative Analysis of the Function of Coordination of Early Childhood Education and Care in France and Italy

In several European countries professionals are in charge of the coordination of Early Childhood Education and Care provision at local community level. For the past 20 years the number of this personnel has grown considerably in Italy and in France. This study provides a comparative analysis of the function of coordinating Early Childhood Education and Care services in these two countries as emerges from two surveys carried out in French and Italian municipalities on the status, training, and tasks of early childhood coordinators. The implications of the coordination function in the promotion of the quality of Early Childhood Education and Care are discussed. Dans plusieurs pays europe´ens, il existe des professionnels charge´s de la coordination de la petite enfance au niveau des communes. Au cours de ces vingt dernie ¤ res anne´es, le nombre de ces personnels a conside´rablement augmente´ en Italie et en France. Cette e´tude fournit une analyse comparative de la fonction de coordination des services de la petite enfance dans ces deux pays a ¤ partir de deux enquetes mene´es dans des municipalite´s italiennes et franc¸aises sur le statut, la formation et les taches des coordinateurs de la petite enfance. Les implications de la fonction de coordination dans la promotion de la qualite´ des soins et de l'e´ducation dans les services de la petite enfance seront discute´es. En varios pa L ´ses europeos, hay profesionales responsables de la coordinacio´n de la educacio´n de la primera infancia y de la provisio´n del cuidado de nin ¨ os a nivel de la comunidad local. Durante los u´ltimos veinte an ¨ os el nu´mero de este personal ha crecido considerablemente en Italia y en Francia. Este estudio proporciona un ana´lisis comparativo de la funcio´n de coordinacio´n de los servicios de la educacio´n de la primera infancia y del cuidado de nin ¨ os en estos dos pa L ´ses como ha sido presentado en dos estudios realizados en municipios franceses e italianos sobre el estado, entrenamiento, y tareas de los coordinadores de la primera nin ¨ ez. Las implicaciones de la funcio´n de coordinacio´n en la promocio´n de la calidad de coordinacio´n de la educacio´n de la primera infancia y del cuidado de nin ¨ os sera´n discutidas.     

Minor phenomena and major processes of interaction with objects and peers in day care centres

The aim of this paper is to analyse the relation between interaction with objects and interaction with peers in children attending day care centres. The day care centre provides the child with an opportunity to interact with peers and for new cognitive experiences. It also provides researchers with an opportunity to study the relationships between peers and objects in the child’s cognitive construction. These two domains — peer interaction and interaction with objects — represent the two poles of a unitary system which allows the child to consolidate and acquire different kinds of knowledge. The two poles can be differently activated in the child’s cognitive construction. Their integrated study affords greater understanding of a series of behavioural phenomena which occur among peers in day care centres. Naturalistic observations on early peer interaction and object-related activities will be used to illustrate the analysis. The study of the processes involved in the child’s object- and peer-related interaction and the related behavioural phenomena can provide educational suggestions in order to ensure their actual emergence and to support their positive aspects.     

Interference control in a new rule use task: age-related changes, labeling, and attention

Three experiments examined 3- to 6-year-olds' interference control using a task in which children saw 2 corresponding sets of colored cards, a large set in front of them and a small set behind them. A colored candy (Smartie) was placed on a large card with mismatching color, and children could win the Smartie by selecting the small card that matched the color of the large card. Three-year-olds performed poorly whereas older children performed well. Having children label the correct color before responding improved 3-year-olds' performance (Experiment 2), as did pointing to the large card (Experiment 3); decreasing the affective salience of the stimuli (colored beads vs. Smarties) did not (Experiment 3). Results reveal the role of selective attention in action control.     

New educational provision for young children in Italy

A widespread latent demand for educational provision for under 3s exists in Italy. This demand emerges from different material and psychological needs of families. In the last twenty years a large network of day care centers for infants and toddlers, asilo nido, have been installed by local governments in many regions of Central and Northern Italy. These facilities provide daily child care within an educationally oriented context. More recently, new types of facilities have been set up. They stem from the public asilo nido in both cultural and organizational terms and are integrated, together with all the other services, into a local network of educational facilities for young children and their families. The new facilities are aimed at quantitatively expanding the supply of educational provision and at broadening the range of choice for families with respect to their different needs. This paper provides an overview of the new facilities.     

Mothering young children: Child care, stress and social life

This study focuses on mothers’ and young children’s everyday social experience by analyzing their social relationships, social support in child care, mother-child interaction, and mothers’ evaluations of all these aspects. Three hundred and eighty-four mothers with a child aged between I and 3 years, living in a city in Central Italy, were interviewed. A Principal Components Analysis was performed on items concerning mothers’ and children’s social experience and mothers’ evaluations. Four PCA generated factors were regressed on the mother’s and Four PCA generated factors were regressed on the mother’s and child’s characteristics. Results show that, even in a context characterized by social conditions supportive to mothering, there is a comparatively widespread desire for social interaction with other mothers and children. A stress related to intensive mothering was found in a minority of the mothers and was predicted by the mothers’ continuous commitment in child care during the whole day. Results are discussed in relation to the hypothesis that social contacts with other mothers may have a mitigating effect on mothers’ stress. One implication is that early educational services that provide the opportunity for social intercourse among parents can be an important resource for them.