Importance Of Early Years Research Articles

The Role of Parental Bonding Perception in Predicting Communication Patterns of Couples

Background: Parental bonding perception leads to different domains in future life. The goal of this study was to investigate the role of parental bonding perception in predicting the communication patterns of couples in Tehran. Methods: This correlational and descriptive study was done on 338 individuals in Tehran, Iran who voluntarily participated in the research in 2016. Communication Pattern Questionnaire (CPQ) and Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) were used to collect data. Pearson correlation method and multiple regression were used for data analysis using the SPSS v. 22 software. Results: Data revealed that in the husband group, father care was the only predictor of higher scores of the mutual constructive communication pattern. In the group of wives, father indifference was the predictor of lower scores of constructive communication pattern and mother encouragement of dependency was the predictor of the higher scores of the constructive communication pattern. Mother encouragement of autonomy was the only predictor of lower scores of husband demand/ wife withdraws but no variable predicted wife demand/ husband withdraw pattern. In addition, fathers’ encouragement of autonomy in husbands was predictive of spouses’ constructive communication patterns. Also, fathers’ encouragement of autonomy in husbands was predictive of spouses’ constructive communication patterns. Conclusion: The association between parental bonding perception and couple’s communication patterns highlight the importance of early years of childhood and parent-child relationship in future life.

Development of HM Government example menus for early years’ settings in England

AbstractEarly childhood is a critical time for growth and development, but diets of young children in England are not fully in line with dietary recommendations, and childhood obesity is a national and international concern. The importance of early years’ settings in promoting healthy food choices and helping to prevent obesity has been highlighted, and the extension in entitlement to funded early education and childcare in England over recent years provides an opportunity to encourage more children to develop good eating habits. Food provision in early years’ settings is required to be ‘healthy, balanced and nutritious’, and voluntary food and drink guidelines were published in 2012 to support settings in England to meet this requirement. However, since these guidelines were developed, revised Dietary Reference Values for energy, sugars and dietary fibre have been published. As part of the government's Childhood obesity: A plan for action, Public Health England commissioned the Children's Food Trust to produce example menus for early years’ settings, to support provision of meals and snacks meeting current dietary recommendations. A multi‐sectoral external reference group was convened and advised on the protocol for developing two seasonal example menus, including revising the underpinning nutrient framework for 1‐4 year‐olds, and developing an appropriate framework for infants aged 6–12 months, as previous menus did not cater for this age group. This article describes the process of developing the example menus and associated guidance, which have since been published by HM Government, and offers recommendations for effective implementation.

Teachers’ understanding of the role of key competences in working with children: a study of the perceptions of early years educators in Southern Poland

ABSTRACT The nature of education has changed significantly in Poland recent years based on the rapidly changing reality of political, social and professional life and greater emphasis has been placed on a communicative model of teaching which has required the development of new sets of skills or competences by teachers. In this study research on the competences of early school education teachers was carried out in primary schools in the southern part of Poland in the area of Silesian Voivodship. A diagnostic survey was applied as a way of collecting information about the state of social awareness, opinions and views of the community of teachers. The research used a survey questionnaire (self-assessment) directed to a representative sample of 121 active early years teachers. The study analysed the respondents’ answers to four questions about the factors, activities, nature and role of competences in the work of a leading teacher, who is a form teacher of children in classes I–III. The results show the importance of early years teachers placed on different sets professional competences especially in relation to the preparation of the best materials for curriculum delivery, pupil motivation, and classroom organisation.

Invisible suffering: breathlessness in and beyond the clinic

Invisible suffering: breathlessness in and beyond the clinic

Election gives sector the perfect platform

WE ARE fast approaching the general election and between writing this and you reading it, we should (hopefully) have heard much more about what each party plans to do for education. So far, we have heard promises of increased free entitlement hours, among other things, but with no real commitment to overhauling the funding system, putting the early years on at least a par with primary and secondary funding, then any commitment seems lacklustre. Politicians, our message to you is, ‘show us you really care’. You want our vote, you want more mums in the workplace, you want real choice, then it comes at a cost. Of course, politicians will be hearing this from all quarters and it will be di­ cult to compete with their backers and friends in high place, but we must make our case and help them to realise that throwing money at a problem is not as e€ ective as making sure there isn’t a problem in the ‚ rst place. We hear the rhetoric often enough. We hear about the importance of early years, of tackling disadvantage in the early years, of the vital developmental importance of the early years... but platitudes, expectations and recriminations (we’re looking at you Mr Wilshaw), simply bring no rewards. One look at the ‚ gures is all it takes to see how valued the early years really is in the halls of power, how little it is still understood and how much work we have to do. † ere is only so long you can ask people to perform wonders on hand-outs and praise. † is message is doubly relevant for those in government. Settings can only a€ ord to subsidise the shortfall in free entitlement funding for so long, and those on the frontline doing the work will only stay in the industry for so long with the wages on o€ er. If the people go, the settings go, the places go and mothers and fathers stay at home to care for their children. † is is the opposite of what the government wants and yet it is doing very little to head o€ any potential crisis. Which seems strange. While it would be great to think that all those who are ‚ ghting the good ‚ ght will be enough to turn the political tide, it is down to each of us to make that happen. I have said it before in this column and the member organisations are also saying it (see Neil Leitch’s column, page 7 and Purnima Tanuku’s, page 8), it is time to talk directly to your MP. Whether as an individual, as a team or in a local partnership, you need to make the case, you need to make them listen, you need them to convince you that they are doing all they can for the youngest and most vulnerable children in this country. Talk to your sitting MP, talk to your local opposition MPs, talk to your local councillors, talk to local business leaders and talk to your local press. If ever there was a time to make a di€ erence, it is now. Ahead of the general election and with the A€ ordable Childcare Committee about to publish its report (surveys from both the Alliance and the NDNA reveal the shortfall), there may never be a better time. In the next issue of

AnInvestigation of Relationship between Parents’ SocialEconomic Status and Participation in Development of Early Childhood Education and DevelopmentProgrammes(ECDE) in GithunguriKiambu, Kenya

The study aimed at theinvestigation of relationship between parents’ social-economic status and participation in development of early childhood education and development programmes in in Githunguri Kiambu, Kenya. Literature review outlined poverty situation in Kenya, causes of poverty, improving child quality, provision of quality education and importance of early years of a child in Early Childhood Education and Development Centre.Target population comprised of all the private and public pre-schools in the district. The sample of the study included five pre-school head teachers, twenty five parents and fifty pre-school children. Random and stratified methods were used to arrive at a random and representative sample for the study. Survey research designwas used for the investigation. Research instruments used included questionnaires, interview schedules for the head teachers and parents and, Observations and records on ECDE education in the district.Data collection was through face to face interactions with the respondents, through questionnaires given out to the respondents with appropriate instruction on how to complete them and through secondary sources, like ECDE programme records in the District Education Office and the internet.Data was analysed with the aid of computer software (SPSS V17.0) for data processing. Results were displayed through descriptions, explanations and categorizations. The study found out strong relationship between parent socialeconomic status and their involvement in ECDE Programmes’ development. The study recommended sensitization of parents on the importance of involvement in development and management of ECDE Programmes in the district and Kiambu County Government to over the management of ECDE education across the county.

Language Acquisition in Late Critical Period: A Case Report

Studies carried out to support the existence of a critical period for language acquisition have concentrated mainly on the case of being in total deprivation from language contact, and in particular deprivation from auditory input in the entire time span before puberty. While arguing for a useful distinction between early and late critical periods, we attempt to investigate the written language production of a profoundly deaf young woman, here referred to as Maryam, who has missed the early years, before her official education as a deaf person began at the age of 54 months. During the study, several texts that we asked her to write were analysed. In addition, we held a test in which she was required to set disordered sentences in the right order. The results of text analysis indicated that despite her ability to communicate through written Persian, a considerable number of syntactically and morphologically ill-formed structures were observed in the texts she produced. While confirming the idea that some aspects of language, such as syntax and morphology, are affected much more than semantics and vocabulary, the existence of these deficits seems to strengthen the importance of early years in acquiring a language.

Importance of early years recognised by chancellor

Importance of early years recognised by chancellor

Teachers talking to young children: invitations to negotiate meaning in everyday conversations

ABSTRACT The purpose of the study reported in this article was to investigate conversations involving dialogue and negotiation of meaning, through which children will learn to talk and talk to learn. In kindergarten children will learn both to listen to language and to use language, but we have few studies of what characterises the qualities of their experiences. While there is ample evidence of the importance of early years to later development, we know relatively little about effective ways to provide all children with the boost in language learning and learning through language. We actually know little of what kind of teacher talk that might promote children’s language learning, encourage cognitive development, literacy, and learning of social understanding. In this study I have investigated how teachers may invite children to talk, for instance to share events, to think aloud or to argue for a point of view. The children are aged from 3‐ to 5‐years‐of‐age. The observations were carried out in small‐gr...

Social conditions and menarcheal age: the importance of early years of life.

Data on the historical trends for menarcheal age and socio-economic conditions in Norway are used to investigate whether the reproductive system in humans is especially sensitive to environmental stimuli during any particular short age periods. The method which has been used is based on the irregularity in the trend for socio-economic development. These irregularities are reflected in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a quantity for which official estimates are available from 1865 onwards. Estimates of menarcheal age for women born in each year from about 1840 have been calculated from information obtained from maternity clinic records. For the period between 1900 and World War II, a close correspondence is found between the GDP in a year, and the menarcheal age of women born in the same or the preceding year. For the years before 1900, the data on menarcheal age is less satisfactory, but the correspondence may be fairly good also for this period. When values of GDP corresponding to higher ages is used, the correlation is less satisfactory. Other information on the susceptibility of the reproductive system towards environmental influences is reviewed. The following conclusion is reached: during the period around or after birth, the processes leading to menarche are clearly more sensitive than at later ages. During adolescence, the maturation process may be influenced somewhat, but probably not much as long as the conditions are not adverse. These observations may be seen as illustrating that phenomena corresponding to the critical or sensitive periods described for animal species, are also observable during the longer-lasting process of human development.

WILD CHILDREN AND THE PRINCIPLE OF REINFORCEMENT

Wayne Dennis has recently returned to his discussion of alleged cases of children partially reared in isolation or in association with animals (2). His conclusions confirm his earlier analysis (3) and he insists utmost caution be used in accepting evidence on feral children. As he points out, it is difficult to see how such evidence can ever be anything but inconclusive. The more important aspect of discussions on wild children concerns applicability of such data as do exist to general question of socialization of human offspring. There is a tendency to regard these data as substantiation for hypothesis early conditions of nurture are important in future life of child. For purposes of analysis Dennis first accepts evidence and then proceeds to review six cases from Singh and Zingg (5) on which fullest data are available. Quite rightly, he refuses to accept his own analysis of these cases: that socialization which ordinarily takes place during early years is readily lost upon close contact with animals; animal influences are relatively permanent. As I understand it, Dennis is not in disagreement with hypothesis concerning importance of early nurture but wishes to be most exact in outlining its conditions. In present paper. I should like to carry analysis of Dennis' cases a step further and to discuss a principle which seems to overcome dangers of an over-simplified argument concerning importance or lack of importance of early years of rearing. I will also indicate nature of field investigations in India' which led to my utilization of this principle, tentatively called here the principle of reinforcement. It should be noted principle of reinforcement differs in important respects from reinforcement theory as employed in psycho-sociological studies of learning. Reinforcement as used in this paper means more than reward which reinforces response in a simple stimulus-response situation, a point which will be referred to in greater detail below.