Early Childhood Education And Care Services Research Articles

Early Childhood Education and Care Challenges for Muslim Immigrant Families in South Korea

This qualitative research focused on exploring Muslim immigrant parents’ early childhood education and care (ECEC) experiences, including the challenges they face before, during, and after they enroll their children in childcare settings. For the purpose, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 5 Muslim immigrant families including both parents. Using inductive thematic analysis, 5 themes were identified: pursuing ECEC, considerations while selecting the ECEC setting, experiences with ECEC settings, value of ECEC, and religious dilemmas and discrepancies. Results are as follows. First, the first theme was identified as pursuing ECEC which focused on difficulties in the process of deciding the proper type of institution. Second, the theme is related to the consideration in selecting the appropriate ECEC setting for their children. Third, the theme is about the experiences while using ECEC services, indicating the difficulties in communication and interaction between parents and teachers. Fourth, the theme was identified as relating to the value of ECEC including positive and negative aspects. The specific contents were classified into the beneficial factors to the child, negative effects, and the parent participation. The fifth them was about cultural and religious dilemmas and discrepancies which parents experienced while using the ECEC services. Based on the results, implications were discussed for future research related to the provision of appropriate early childhood and care service for the Muslim families and their children. Recommendations were also suggested to practitioners who are associated to the multicultural education including teachers, administrators, and educators to support children with diverse religious and cultural background.

Building the skills and confidence of early childhood educators to work with parents: study protocol for the Partnering with Parents cluster randomised controlled trial

BackgroundIn the early years of life, the benefits of parental engagement in children’s learning are well documented. Early childhood educators are a potentially effective source of support, having opportunity to engage with parents on key issues related to children’s learning and development. Educators report a need for more practical strategies for building positive partnerships with the parents of children in their care. To address this need, we have developed a practice support system, Partnering with Parents, to guide educators in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) through practical strategies for working with parents. Partnering with Parents is designed to be embedded in everyday service delivery.MethodsUsing a cluster randomised controlled trial (cRCT) with intervention and wait-list control groups, we aim to evaluate the effectiveness of the Partnering with Parents practice support system under normal service conditions. The intervention is being trialled in ECEC services across Victoria, Australia. Services in the intervention group implemented the 10-week intervention before the control group commenced the intervention. Educators and parents of children attending the participating services are taking part in evaluating the intervention by completing questionnaires online at three time points (before, immediately after, and 3 months after the intervention group received the intervention).ResultsOne hundred eighteen educators and 302 parents recruited from 19 participating ECEC services have consented to take part in the trial.ConclusionsThere is considerable potential for ECEC services to improve everyday interactions with parents and potentially child outcomes, by implementing this practice support model. Future research in this field can examine long-term effects of improving the parent-educator relationship. The intervention has potential to be widely embedded in educator training or professional development.Trial registrationAustralian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR): ACTRN12619000488101. Prospectively registered 25 March 2019.

“Did My Child Sleep Today?”: Communication Between Parents and Educators in Early Childhood Education and Care Settings

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) services have the potential to influence or disrupt sleep patterns given that ECEC attendance coincides with the normative transition towards napping cessation. In light of the evidence that sleep patterns in early childhood are foundational to lifelong health, this study investigated parent–educator communication about children’s 24-h sleep cycles. Communication is critical in ensuring regularity and responsiveness to children’s sleep behaviours, yet knowledge about if and how this happens is limited. We sought to address this gap. This study draws upon survey data, both numeric and text, from 116 parents and 39 educators across 25 ECEC services in Brisbane, Australia. The type and regularity of communication strategies between ECEC educators and parents were analysed to establish frequency and demographic patterning. Qualitative analyses investigated the content of sleep-related communication between educators and parents. Most educators and parents reported discussing children’s sleep through in-person communication at pick-up and drop-off times. Qualitative analysis of the content of parent–educator communication identified three key themes: sleep quantity, quality and practices. Communication focused primarily on the quantity of children’s sleep while attending ECEC settings, and communication about sleep quality and home practices were less frequent. Educators communicated more sleep-related information with parents than parents did with educators. This study highlights the need for frequent, bi-directional parent–educator communication. Providing practices which support regularity of sleep across home and ECEC settings and responding to the developmental transition toward napping cessation promotes children’s sleep health.

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.

Interactive acculturation of Turkish-Belgian parents and children in Flanders: A case study of Beringen

This article tackles the relationship between Turkish-Belgian families with the Flemish society, within the specific context of their experiences with early childhood education and care (ECEC) system in Flanders. Our findings are based on a focus group with mothers in the town of Beringen. The intercultural dimension of the relationships between these families and ECEC services is discussed using the Interactive Acculturation Model (IAM). The acculturation patterns are discussed under three main headlines: language acquisition, social interaction and maternal employment. Within the context of IAM, our findings point to some degree of separationism of Turkish-Belgian families, while they perceive the Flemish majority to have an assimilationist attitude. This combination suggests a conflictual type of interaction. However, both parties also display some traits of integrationism, which points to the domain-specificity of interactive acculturation.

Public investment in care services in Turkey: Promoting employment & gender inclusive growth

Recent policy debates on macroeconomic tools to counteract the prolonged global economic recession point to the potential of fiscal policies with appropriate sectoral targets for simultaneously boosting effective demand while alleviating inequalities through employment generation. This paper contributes to the debate by pointing to the social care services sector –in particular early childhood education and care (ECEC) — as an effective target of fiscal spending for robust employment generation and gender inclusive growth. We use a macro-micro simulation model to examine the aggregate and gender employment impact of increasing public expenditures on ECEC services, an underdeveloped sector in Turkey versus physical infrastructure and construction, a common target of stimulatory spending. Our methodological approach combines input-output analysis on aggregate employment effects with a statistical microsimulation approach to assess distributional outcomes. We find that an expansion of ECEC services creates not only significantly more jobs but also does so in a more gender-equitable and fiscally sustainable way than the a construction boom.

Early Childhood Education and Care Physical Environment and Child Development: State of the art and Reflections on Future Orientations and Methodologies

In relation to the growing attention to the quality of physical space in early childhood education and care (ECEC), the present scoping review aims to define the state of the art regarding the relationship between the physical environment of ECEC services and the psychological development of children. After 50 years of research in this field, this contribution should promote understanding of what scientific studies have achieved so far, in order to prompt useful reflections for education professionals and identify future directions of research. A systematic analysis of the psychological and educational databases has provided 88 publications on the topic. The contents of the studies identified refer to two main thematic areas: “perception of physical environment,” which includes both children’s and adults’ perceptions, and “relation between physical environment and child development,” which includes behavioral, cognitive, and emotional aspects of development. Although the studies included have used several methods and investigated different aspects of environment, systematic analysis has enabled the identification of some topics that recur among the studies, such as the significance of adults’ awareness about their perception of space, the importance of a child-centered approach, and the relevance of the participation of stakeholders in the design processes. Finally, these main findings are summarized and reflections on future conceptual and methodological orientations in the field are discussed.

Comparing regulatory and non-regulatory indices of early childhood education and care (ECEC) quality in the Australian early childhood sector

This study examines associations between Australia’s regulatory ratings of quality in early childhood education and care (ECEC)—the National Quality Standard (NQS)—and two research-based quality rating scales. The analytic sample consisted of 257 ECEC services across three Australian states. Results indicated (1) modest positive associations between NQS ratings and scale scores; (2) some specificity between NQS quality areas (educational programs and practice; relationships with children) and one research scale—the Sustained Shared Thinking and Emotional Wellbeing (SSTEW) scale; (3) variability in quality scales scores within each NQS designation; and (4) mitigation of these associations when the time-gap between ratings exceeded 24 months. Findings suggest NQS and research scales tap some common core of quality, yet capture different aspects of quality, suggesting both could be used to raise standards of quality in Australian preschools, where the research scales potentiate raising quality to even higher levels than NQS.

Transitions in ECEC services: the experience of children from migrant families

ABSTRACTThe study explored the experience of young children from migrant families during their first entry into an early childhood education and care (ECEC) service and analysed how the children cope with the new context, which is socially, culturally and linguistically different from their home. The activities and social behaviour of two groups of children, aged from 18 to 36 months and 36–48 months, respectively, were filmed during everyday life in the ECEC service. Videos were integrated with ethnographic notes produced by teachers. The analysis showed the difficulties children from migrant families experienced during the transition from home to the ECEC service, as well as the competences they used to face the new experience. The analysis also highlighted how their experience in the service developed over the year and which practices supported their wellbeing, participation in activities and interactions with peers and adults. The findings provide useful suggestions for improving practices in ECEC contexts characterized by super-diversity.

Positive Discrimination Policies and Indigenous-Based ECEC Services in Bogota, Colombia

This article aims to present a few tensions and contradictions when implementing children’s rights using the case of three Casas de Pensamiento Indígena (CPI)—indigenous childcare services—in Bogotá. It questions global policies and local interpretations of early childhood education. Its main purpose is to find insights on what it means to attend to young children from minority groups. Could early childhood education and care (ECEC) services be reduced to ethnic backgrounds? In the struggle to deal with global, local, and community discourses, policy makers see positive discrimination not only as a way to justify their actions and their policies but also as a way to respond to the question of equity and diversity, regardless of equality. Therefore, this article highlights this discussion on positive discrimination as a way to intensify social inequality or reproduce inequalities at another level with a different name. Rancière’s dissertation on politics (Rancière 1998) and on the different meanings of politics and politique is used to understand the subtle relationship between equity and diversity. Considering all of this, it was decided to do fieldwork to comprehend the daily lives of CPI settings and the complexity of their formalization/institutionalization. The study highlights how CPI both differs from and is part of conventional services, and how indigenous caregivers and children face an institutional script that asks them to perform indigenism.

Play meets early childhood teacher education

Recent policy changes connect play in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings explicitly to learning, and to later school-learning outcomes, calling on early childhood (EC) educators to incorporate intentional teaching into their practice. Given these recent policy changes, the purpose of this propositional article is to raise awareness and promote discussion about the current place of play in initial early childhood teacher education programs in Australian universities and the vocational education and training (VET) sector. The article initiates dialogue by contributing a rhizomatically-informed analytical snapshot of publicly available information from course outlines and subject guides in EC initial teacher education (ITE) in 20 Australian universities and the VET sector. This rhizomatically-informed analytical snapshot showed that the word ‘play’ was absent or occurred at relatively low frequency in course and subject descriptive material. The least frequent occurrence was in materials from ITE degree-level courses. While the snapshot does not delve into the full course and subject content (and makes no claims to do so), the rhizomatic methodological approach used leads us to ask whether ‘play’ is being overlooked in the delivery of ITE and VET courses for ECE. Recent quality ratings of ECEC services in Australia support the idea that for beginning and experienced educators, the knowledge base may be less robust than assumed when it comes to combining intentional teaching with play-based learning and the achievement of child outcomes. At the very least, we propose that this warrants further investigation.

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 and participation at stake. Polish migrant children about (mis)recognition of their needs in Norwegian ECECs

ABSTRACTIn the European context, Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) is seen as the foundation for later success in life in terms of educational performance, well-being, and social integration. The Nordic model is known for recognizing the inherent value of childhood and organizing ECEC services around children’s play, cooperation, and participation. However, non-Nordic children’s access to these services and their participation in them remain concerns. This paper reports on a study with ten Polish children, who share with the researcher their experiences in Norwegian ECECs and their transition to Norway. The results underscore belonging and participation in the main ECEC activities as aspects of great importance. Participation in a play-based ECEC, however, depends on children’s capital, which is devalued during migration. The findings presented in this paper address various pedagogical approaches for including newcomer children in ECECs.

Management in the 24/7-society raises concerns of fairness and social responsibility

PurposeDespite the pressure on work-family polices arising from the increase in nonstandard working times in various sectors, only a few studies have addressed management practices in 24/7 workplaces. This paper aims to investigate the challenges Finnish managers face in meeting the various tensions stemming from nonstandard working hours and services operating 24/7. Two typical 24/7 work contexts are focused: the hospitality and retail industries and flexibly scheduled early childhood education and care (ECEC) services. The emphasis is on management practices relating to the planning of work shifts and children’s care schedules.Design/methodology/approachStudy 1 comprises focus group interviews with middle managers (N = 20) working in hotels, stores and service stations with restaurants and shopping facilities. Study 2 uses survey data on directors (N = 20) of centers offering flexibly scheduled ECEC services.FindingsThe results showed that management in 24/7 workplaces raises issues of fairness and social responsibility. Managers in both sectors were faced with constantly varying service demands, leading further to changes and unpredictability in employee working times. Alongside organizational goals, the business managers reported needing to consider employee needs and the ECEC service directors the well-being of parents and children. They also reported seeking the most cost-effective way to deliver services at a time of budget cuts.Research limitations/implicationsThe relatively small sample sizes and non-representative nature of the data restrict the generalizability of the results.Practical implicationsService organizations need to design a 24/7 strategy that includes organizational communication and guidelines on fair work scheduling. Key issues in management are finding ways to enhance predictability within unpredictability, discussing the most common ethical problems and developing the skills needed to manage diversity. These are elements that should be included in management training.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the literature by focusing on seldom studied issues and innovately approached by comparing two work sectors.

Strengthening the quality of educator-child interactions in early childhood education and care settings: a conceptual model to improve mental health outcomes for preschoolers

ABSTRACTHigh-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) programmes can strengthen the social, emotional and cognitive skills that are crucial for future learning and wellbeing. Teacher–child interactions are the most vital component of ECEC service quality in terms of children’s social-emotional functioning. However, many children are not consistently exposed to the quality of interactions required for optimal development. We propose a conceptual model to encourage social and emotional learning in preschoolers by targeting the quality and intentionality of teacher–child interactions. We draw upon two frameworks relevant in early childhood settings, the Teaching Through Interactions Framework, describing the type of interactions associated with positive child outcomes, and The Pyramid Model for Supporting Social Emotional Competence in Infants and Young Children, a tiered, systematic approach to implement strategies that improve social-emotional health. This model could inform the development of social and emotional learning programmes that support educators to apply responsive techniques through everyday interactions.

Playgroups: Moving in from the Margins of History, Policy and Feminism

PLAYGROUPS BEGAN IN AUSTRALIA in the early 1970s, at the same time as significant changes in early childhood education and care (ECEC) began taking place. This paper explores how early playgroups were positioned in the ECEC policy, and the experiences of playgroup organisers in New South Wales. Methods used were documentary analysis of Project Care (Social Welfare Commission, 1974) and interviews with key players. Findings were that playgroups grew rapidly in response to grassroots demand from mothers wanting their children to learn through quality play, besides the demand for adult social support. Since Project Care was strongly influenced by feminist lobbying and the objective of enabling women to engage in paid work—and playgroups relied on mothers to deliver the service—playgroups were an uneasy fit in the ECEC policy. Although Project Care integrated playgroups into its recommendations for ECEC services, subsequent funding was at a low level. Today, ECEC services would benefit from a strengthening of the community playgroups model.

Immigrant-born workers and quality early childhood education and care in the Northern Territory, Australia

This paper focuses on the growing immigrant-born population of early childhood education and care (ECEC) workers in the Northern Territory of Australia, who represent a committed but poorly understood group within this workforce. The recent reforms to the ECEC workforce in Australia aim to achieve high-quality ECEC services by (a) growing this workforce size to meet the demand for services; (b) meeting the higher educator-to-children ratios; and (c) raising the overall level of qualifications of ECEC workers. By combining the statistical data in an innovative way, this paper shows that even when the growing numbers in this group are combined with newly qualified, immigrant-born and Australian-born entrants, the total number of workers may still be too small to fully implement recent reforms. It concludes by identifying data quality issues and future research directions that would help inform and develop a new strategy for the Northern Territory ECEC workforce.

Insider perspectives: the ‘tricky business’ of providing for children’s sleep and rest needs in the context of early childhood education and care

Sleep and rest provision in early childhood education and care (ECEC) is commonly enacted as a routine – a standard time-period during which children are required to lie down even if they do not sleep. Yet contemporary ECEC policies emphasise responsive pedagogical practice that includes children in decision-making and respects each child’s developmental and sociocultural context as appropriate pedagogical practice. To understand current practices, analyses of numeric data and textual accounts from a survey of Australian ECEC service providers, leaders and educators (N = 247) was undertaken. Two broad challenges to enabling responsive practice and inclusion of children in decision-making were identified: (1) Provisions – organisational interpretations of national policy and attendant resourcing set the structural parameters for achievement of responsive pedagogical practice. (2) Practices – individual and communal demands on educators and their professional philosophy set interactional parameters. Service leadership played a pivotal role in determining whether sleep–rest practices were Routine (84%) or Responsive (16%). Responsive leaders were characterised by strong professional advocacy for child rights and child-focused pedagogy. They instigated professional reflection and communication strategies within their service and removed expectation that educators could undertake alternative activity while providing for children’s sleep and rest.

Found in translation: an analytical framework to explore national and regional Early Childhood Education and Care systems

This article explores the German discourse of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) as it has emerged and changed over time. The conceptual elements of the triad of care, child raising and education (Betreuung, Erziehung und Bildung) are described and illustrated by salient points in the development of German ECEC services. Indicators for each of these concepts are discussed. This analytical framework reveals the reciprocal influences of path dependency and of underlying assumptions about the relationship between the state, parents and children. Here, I demonstrate how it renders visible details of the German system that are often lost in larger comparative studies. It provides a tool for policy-makers, researchers and practitioners to compare ECEC systems and learn from other countries. It also serves as a warning against crude attempts of policy borrowing from other countries and can aid insights on why some of these attempts encounter difficulties.

Data- and research-informed improvement work in ECEC

Abstract The article describes an approach to data-and research-informed improvement work in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) that is used by the Laboratory for Research-based School Development (LSP) at Aalborg University, Denmark. The approach includes collaboration between research, policy and practice and it incorporates two current policy priorities in the field of Danish education: evidence-informed decision making and the continuous improvement of the learning environment. The approach is based on the core idea that it takes a collective effort and widely distributed leadership to ensure the well-being and learning of all children. Additionally, the approach rests on the hypothesis that the use of evidence assists ECEC services to accomplish goals of high-quality learning environments, and the improvement work can drive efforts to use knowledge from data and research. Consequently, in this approach, data-and research-based knowledge is used as an essential indicator of quality and as a trigger for professional learning and development (PLD) of the teaching staff. Furthermore, leadership is seen as essential in relation to the PLD of the teaching staff and their use of evidence.