Australian Early Childhood Education Research Articles

Moving beyond ‘gender-neutral’: creating gender expansive environments in early childhood education

ABSTRACT In this research, feminist post-structuralism and queer theory were used to examine Australian early childhood educators’ views on children’s gender identity development, and the content on gender in the Australian Government’s Early Years Learning Framework. The methodology and study design were based upon qualitative phenomenological research methods. The participants consisted of 12 early childhood educators who worked in kindergarten and long day care settings. The data was collected through semi-structured focus groups and semi-structured interviews. Feminist post-structuralist discourse analysis was used to identify discourses deployed within participants’ responses in relation to how they may enable or constrain pro-diversity spaces. Implications of this research include the need for further support and guidance for educators through policy, curriculum, resources and teacher education. This research highlighted the need to trouble the notion of ‘gender-neutral’ and the value of fostering gender expansive environments in early childhood education.

"It's Embedded in What We Do for Every Child": A Qualitative Exploration of Early Childhood Educators' Perspectives on Supporting Children's Social and Emotional Learning.

Early childhood educators play an important role in supporting children’s social and emotional development. While a growing body of research has examined the impact of curriculum-based social and emotional learning (SEL) programs on child outcomes, the approaches educators use to strengthen children’s social and emotional functioning through their everyday practices are less defined. This study explored Australian early childhood educators’ perspectives on children’s social and emotional development, the approaches educators use to encourage children’s social and emotional skills, the enablers and barriers to SEL within the preschool environment, and the additional support needed. Thirty Early Childhood Education and Care professionals participated in semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. Findings suggest children’s social–emotional development is at the forefront of educator planning, practice, and reflection. Participants described utilising various approaches to support children’s social and emotional skills, embedded within interactions and relationships with children and families. Specifically, strategies could be grouped into four broad categories: a nurturing and responsive educator–child relationship; supporting SEL through everyday interactions and practice; utilising the physical environment to encourage SEL; and working in partnership with caregivers. There was, however, inconsistency in the variety and type of approaches identified. Time constraints, group size, educator confidence and capability, high staff turnover, and limited guidance regarding high-quality social and emotional pedagogy were identified as key barriers. Participants sought practical strategies that could be embedded into daily practice to build upon current knowledge.

Data Practices in Australian Early Childhood Programs for Children With Additional Needs

AbstractAlthough the use of data is important for informing inclusive practice, research into Australian early childhood educators’ data practice is limited. Types of data collected in early childhood settings and the use of these data were investigated. Surveys completed by 105 early childhood educators across Australia indicated that anecdotal written records, photos, and children’s work samples were the predominant data collection strategies used for both children with and without additional needs. More educators reported that they collected counted or timed behaviour data for children with additional needs than for those without additional needs. One third of educators did not indicate that they collect this type of data. The majority of educators indicated that they value the use of data in their practice, reported that they use data for progress monitoring and modification of activities to meet the needs of individuals with additional needs, and perceived that they were confident in using the data collection strategies that they nominated. The data that these Australian early childhood educators used were predominantly qualitative, suggesting that training is needed for educators to collect and utilise both qualitative and quantitative data to assist with instructional decision-making.

“That’s your right as a human isn’t it?” The emergence and development of leading as a socially-just practice in early childhood education

This article reports on an Australian study of the emergence and development of leadership that supports children’s rights and their access to high-quality early childhood education (ECE). The qualitative study contributes to a growing body of research on ECE leadership practice; specifically, the area of site-based leadership cultivation and development. Complexity leadership theory was used to situate leadership within the Australian ECE context; accounting for the competing purposes of high-quality education programs and for the complex array of practices required for leadership to be effective. Additionally, the theory of practice architectures was employed as an analytical tool. The theory of practice architectures helped to identify socially-just leadership practices that uphold children’s rights, and to understand the organisational arrangements that enabled and constrained those practices within each site. Study findings illuminate how leadership can be cultivated and developed in ECE. As a result of the study, organisations are encouraged to create the cultural-discursive, material-economic and social-political arrangements that shape leadership within ECE sites. The paper argues for the development of ECE leadership as a socially-just practice, that upholds the rights of children and their access to high-quality early childhood education.

More than play: The impact of playgroup participation on culturally and linguistically diverse parents’ and carers’ degree of social support, connectedness and self-efficacy

Supported playgroups are a common form of intervention offered in Australian early childhood education. This study used interviews and quantitative measures to examine whether attending supported playgroups benefits culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) parents’ or carers’ social support, connectedness, and parental self-efficacy (PSE). Thirty-five playgroup attendees completed three validated measures assessing social support, isolation, and PSE. Seven mothers, two carers, and two playgroup staff participated in semistructured interviews. The quantitative and qualitative data indicated that CALD parents and carers show high levels of isolation and low social support. The qualitative data indicated that most parents or carers felt more supported and connected as a result of attending the playgroup, and just over half stated that the playgroup had improved their confidence. This study highlights the need to consider the social resources of CALD families when planning and delivering services, and calls for future longitudinal studies of the benefits of playgroups.

Pedagogical documentation and systematic quality work in early childhood: Comparing practices in Western Australia and Sweden

Pedagogical documentation has been understood as an important way for early childhood educators to provide high-quality learning environments for children. The authors explore the contested nature of quality and its interpretation in two cultural contexts: in Western Australia, where pedagogical documentation is a relatively uncommon practice, and in Sweden, where pedagogical documentation is a relatively common practice. These locations were selected to provide a comparison between educators from these two different cultural and policy contexts. The main purpose of pedagogical documentation within the Swedish preschool system is to gain knowledge of how to systematically improve the quality of the preschool. This contrasts with the demands on Australian early childhood educators to ensure children meet achievement standards in the Foundation Year. Six preschool educators in each country responded to interview questions regarding what enables or hinders their systematic quality work. The participants in both countries were using some form of pedagogical documentation in their professional practice. This article draws on interview data and elaborates on the ways these educators understood the role of pedagogical documentation in what they regarded as systematic quality work. The findings provide insight into the impact of both policy and cultural contexts on individual educators' practices when using pedagogical documentation as a means to promote quality. The results indicate that differences in early childhood education policies between countries may lead to important differences in how pedagogical documentation is used by educators in their practice.

Sharing is Caring: A Study of Food-Sharing Practices in Australian Early Childhood Education and Care Services.

Food connects people, and can significantly impact the physical, social and emotional development of young children. Food sharing and family-style mealtimes can support healthy eating practices and psychological well-being among young children, and carersother than family members, such as Early Childhood Education and Care staff, play an important role in the provision of these practices. Despite increasing numbers of Australian children attending Early Childhood Education and Care services, there is often reluctance among staff to promote such mealtime practices, to the detriment of children’s social and emotional development. The aim of this paper was to focus on the potential role of Early Childhood Education and Care services in facilitating food sharing and family-style mealtime practices in the earliest stages of the lifespan. A qualitative, netnographic approach was used, and data was collected as part of the broader ’Supporting Nutrition for Australian Childcare’ (SNAC) study, via online conversation threads, observations and qualitative interviews. Findings demonstrated that whilst many Early Childhood Education and Care services are committed to supporting food sharing and family-style mealtime practices, a number of barriers were reported. These included the perception that babies and toddlers could not participate in these practices, concerns about food hygiene and cross contamination of allergens, and negative parental influences on food sharing. In conclusion, this paper supports the practice of food sharing in Early Childhood Education and Care settings and calls for them to become embedded in everyday operations to support the physical, social and emotional development of Australia’s future generations.

Educational Leaders and the project of professionalisation in early childhood education in Australia

This paper reports the ways in which Educational Leaders in Australian early childhood education workplaces are interpreting and implementing their mandatory role. Interviews with 20 Educational Leaders in two Australian government jurisdictions were analysed using cultural-historical activity theory. Our analysis suggests a significant gap between government policy orientation toward quality improvement and the project of professionalisation of the field that motivates Educational Leaders. We argue the work of Educational Leaders is primarily oriented towards raising the status and capacity of their colleagues as a pre-requisite for high-quality outcomes, and that concepts of quality operate instead as mediating tools. In this sense, a focus on professionalisation subsumes the international policy focus on quality.

The status-quo of play-based pedagogies in Western Australia: Reflections of early childhood education practitioners

This paper discusses the findings of a qualitative research project conducted in 2017 that explored practitioners’ experiences and perceptions of the provision of play pedagogies in contemporary Western Australian early childhood education contexts. Interviews were conducted with four play-based learning teachers and an open-ended survey was completed by 40 early childhood educators who were members of the audience at a Western Australia conference in 2017. The study participants discussed beliefs and values pertaining to quality play-based learning and tensions associated with the diminishing role of play in the early years of schooling and its impact on young children. They also highlighted several enablers and barriers that influence and shape current early childhood education practice. The findings of this study provide further evidence for the issues identified in recent Early Childhood Australia (Western Australia) discussion papers and in other research surrounding play-based learning in the current social-political context.

‘I want to share this video with you today.’ Children’s participation rights in childhood research.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child foregrounds the right to participate. Contributing to decision-making on matters concerning children’s lives is fundamental to rights education. This paper discusses ethical and methodological considerations of children’s rights-based epistemology, arguing that children are competent to reflect upon and exercise their participation rights. The present study explores 4/5-year-old children’s perspectives on play in an Australian early childhood education service. It aims to identify ethical spaces in research involving children. The findings address children’s participation choices; including conditional assent, dissent, and their influence on the research. These outcomes are important because a) little is known about the ways children choose to participate, and b) they raise questions about the realisation of children’s participation rights. This paper concludes by examining the implications for research that acknowledges children’s demonstration of their participation rights in physical, creative, and social-emotional spaces.

Food allergy management in Early Childhood Education and Care Services in Australia.

To assess Australian Early Childhood Education and Care Services (ECEC) staff on their preparedness to manage children with food allergy (FA) and anaphylaxis. An online survey addressing training, knowledge, skills and staff confidence to manage FA and anaphylaxis was emailed to 5956 ECEC services nationally (excluding Western Australia, where this survey had been previously implemented); 494 surveys were completed and analysed. One in 10 (9.5%) ECEC services did not require staff to undertake anaphylaxis training, indicating non-compliance with current legislation. Staff felt confident in managing FA and anaphylaxis, regardless of their level of training. Against recommendations, 37% of participating ECEC services stored adrenaline autoinjectors (AAI) in a locked location. Only 51.4% of ECEC services reported having an AAI trainer device. Victoria reported the highest level of anaphylaxis management training (P < 0.05), and staff were significantly less likely to store their AAI devices in a locked location compared to New South Wales and Queensland (P < 0.001). New South Wales and Queensland had a significantly lower proportion of services with AAI training devices than Victoria (P < 0.001). ECEC staff self-reported high levels of training, knowledge, skills and confidence in FA and anaphylaxis management. However, we identified gaps in staff knowledge and skills, particularly in how to correctly store and administer an AAI device. Compliance with appropriate FA and anaphylaxis policies and emergency response plans need to be prioritised.

Vaccination uptake among Australian early childhood education staff: assessing perceptions, behaviours and workplace practices

BackgroundEarly Childhood Education Centre (ECEC) staff are strongly recommended to receive several immunizations including influenza and pertussis. However, evidence regarding the uptake is either old or lacking across all Australian States/Territories. This study aimed to explore the attitudes and barriers around ECEC staff vaccination and the immunisation policy/practices employed at their workplaces.MethodsAn online cross-sectional survey was undertaken of staff members (administrators and childcare center staff) in early 2017. We compared the individual’s knowledge, attitude and practices as well as the centre’s policy and practice variables between the vaccinated and unvaccinated respondents. A logistic model was used to identify the factors associated with uptake of the different vaccines.ResultsA total of 575 ECEC staff completed the survey. Sixty percent reported being aware of the recommendations about staff immunisation. While participants did acknowledge that they could spread diseases if unvaccinated (86%), 30% could not recall receiving a dTpa in the last 10 years. Private centres were less likely to provide free or onsite vaccination compared to other categories of centres. Less than half reported receiving any encouragement to get the influenza vaccine and only 33% reported that their centre provides onsite influenza vaccination. Regarding the introduction of mandatory policies, 69% stated that they would support a policy.ConclusionEmployers should consider supporting methods to maximize vaccination of their employees including providing free onsite vaccination. Participants were open to idea of mandatory vaccination; however, this needs to be explored further to determine how vaccine costs and access issues could be resolved.

Understanding the Work of Australian Early Childhood Educators Using Time-Use Diary Methodology

ABSTRACTStudies of early childhood educators’ perceptions of work intensity and complexity have shown that ensuring a good balance between workload and the time needed to complete the work is critical for work quality, work satisfaction, and staff retention. This article explores the possibilities of time-use data for making visible the diversity and complex patterns of early childhood work. Pen-and-paper time-use diaries were completed for one full day by 21 educators working in preschool and child care centers, generating a total of 168 hours of data. Diary entries were coded using the Taxonomy of Early Childhood Work to identify the types of activities performed, the time spent in each activity, and changes in work activities across the day. On average, educators worked an 8-hour day, of which 60% was spent in direct contact with children in intentional teaching, routine care and transition, “being with” children during play, and providing emotional support. Other activities included organizing the indoor/outdoor play areas, administration, planning/evaluation, professional learning, and staff breaks. The findings demonstrate the benefits of time-use methodology as a means of objectively identifying and quantifying the diversity, complexity, and intensity of early childhood educators’ work.

Australian early childhood educators and infant feeding: a qualitative analysis using social cognitive theory

ABSTRACT Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services are vital in the establishment of optimal infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices and long-term health. This qualitative study, informed by Social Cognitive Theory, aimed to describe ECEC infant feeding environments. Nineteen formal long day care and family day care ECEC services and 124 educators in metropolitan and regional Queensland, Australia participated in interviews and professional conversations. Inductive and deductive analysis identified three key themes: ‘agency’, ‘IYCF environment’, and ‘monitoring/surveillance’. This research has identified the key environmental, behavioural and cognitive factors that contribute to optimal IYCF practices in Australian ECEC. Tensions and negotiation between educators, parents, infants and the regulatory framework operate to develop collective agency. Key recommendations are: increasing the visibility of infants in ECEC policy frameworks and building educator and parent self-efficacy in supporting infant agency in order to meet shared goals related to optimal infant health and well-being.

‘The thing that keeps me going’: educator resilience in early learning settings

ABSTRACT Educators in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) have experienced changes in policies, accountability and curriculum. Concerns arise for educators regarding rapid staff turnover, pressure of expectations, and burnout. Although increased research has examined teacher resilience, less has focused on the perspectives of ECEC educators and what helps them continue in their work and maintain wellbeing. We examine perceptions of Australian early childhood educators about the challenges they face and the personal and contextual resources they harness to cope and demonstrate professional resilience. An ecological framework is used to understand educators’ experiences and perspectives of macro-, micro- and personal-system level challenges and resources. Fourteen leaders and educators were interviewed, with data coded deductively to identify personal and contextual challenges and resources at each system level. Inductive coding revealed key themes relating to each system. Findings showed that the educators experienced several macro-system level challenges. In the micro-system, relationships acted both as challenges and supports. In the personal-system, the focus was on resources as individuals used a variety of specific strategies to maintain physical and mental wellbeing. The paper concludes with implications for the ECEC sector relating to the different system levels.

Facetiming common worlds: exchanging digital place stories and crafting pedagogical contact zones

ABSTRACTChildren, educators, and researchers at a child care center in Victoria, Canada and Melbourne, Australia have been collaborating on an early childhood education pedagogical inquiry project that grapples with children’s relations with place and technologies. Resisting narratives of environmental stewardship and instrumental digital education that dominate in the settler colonial contexts of contemporary Canadian and Australian early childhood education, this article shares stories, practices, questions, and tensions generated within the inquiry. After outlining how we think with Facetime on iPhone within a common worlds pedagogies framework, we detail two practices generated in the inquiry: (1) exchanging digital place stories and (2) crafting pedagogical contact zones with place and technologies. These practices, we argue, make visible how our collaboration reconfigures children’s relationships with place and technologies in consequential ways, and risks generating uneasy, unfamiliar, and tentative pedagogies that respond to messy entanglements within digital, more-than-human common worlds.

Exploring Sense of Community among Early Childhood Education and Care Professionals through the Supporting Nutrition for Australian Childcare (SNAC) Website

OPTIMAL NUTRITION IN THE early years of life is essential for long-term health. The Australian early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector offers a significant health promotion setting, but evidence indicates that the potential to promote healthy eating environments is not fully utilised. Supporting Nutrition for Australian Childcare (SNAC) is a web-based nutrition education resource developed to support ECEC professionals in providing healthy eating environments. SNAC provided additional support through forums intended to foster an online community of practice in this space. This particular aspect of the study sought to understand if ECEC staff demonstrated a sense of community by means of engaging with the website, and if they valued this as an additional means of support. After 12 months, the SNAC community had 1045 members. The sense of community was measured quantitatively with SCI-2 (n = 183), and qualitatively by netnographic analysis of conversation threads (n = 1179) and interviews (n = 42). Shared emotional connection was the only statistically significant SCI-2 construct; and although social ties between individual members were not apparent, there was a stronger connection between some members and the first researcher. SNAC continues to develop as an important online community of practice in the ECEC sector and is valued by those striving to provide healthy eating environments. It is a valuable platform on which to base future interventions.

Infant feeding nutrition policies in Australian early childhood education and care services: a content and qualitative analysis

Early infant feeding practices are a critical part of education and care programs within Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings. With an increasing number of children attending ECEC services from a young age, adherence to best practice infant feeding will improve long-term health outcomes. This paper uses inductive and deductive thematic analysis informed by Social Cognitive Theory and inductive content analysis, to describe Australian infant feeding nutrition ECEC policy environments. Key Australian ECEC policy documents were analysed, revealing the invisibility of infants generally, and infant feeding specifically, in current quality standards. This was followed by analysis of 28 nutrition or infant feeding policies from 19 centre- and home-based ECEC services impacting over 1500 children in Queensland Australia. Five key themes characterising the content of service policies impacting infant feeding emerged: documentation, values, curriculum and pedagogy, supportive environments, and working in partnerships with parents. Service policies are required by legislation and set the foundation for a safe, supportive environment for infant feeding. The lack of infant feeding practice examples and invisibility of infants in legislation increase ambiguity, and health and safety risks. Opportunities exist to adopt separate infant feeding policies which will assist the provision of quality practice for the short-term and long-term optimal health of infants in ECEC settings.

‘Belonging’ in Australian early childhood education and care curriculum and quality assurance: Opportunities and risks

This article considers opportunities and risks arising from the prominence of the belonging motif in Australia’s Early Years Learning Framework and, more implicitly, in the National Quality Standard, against which the quality of the early childhood education and care services is assessed. A vignette constructed from case study data generated in the babies’ room in an early childhood centre in an Aboriginal community in rural Queensland is used to illuminate some of these opportunities and risks.

Music value and participation: An Australian case study of music provision and support in Early Childhood Education

There is a growing body of evidence that early engagement in active music-making impacts beneficially on children’s wider development. Recent research indicates that individual and shared music-making in family settings contributes to positive parenting practices and identity development in young children. Children who participate in shared music-making at age 3 are better prepared for school experiences at age 5. These findings suggest music should be a compulsory requirement in any early childhood programme. This article reports the findings of a case study investigation of the provision of music in an Australian Early Childhood Education Centre. Findings suggest that music provision is best supported when there is a high value for music amongst staff, there is a range of value-added as well as integrated uses of music, and there is sustained music professional development for all staff.