Practice In Early Childhood Education Research Articles

Diverse Practices of Early Childhood Educators

Diverse Practices of Early Childhood Educators

A GoPro Look on How Children Aged 17–25 Months Assess and Manage Risk during Free Exploration in a Varied Natural Environment

Research indicates that risky play has positive effects on children’s development, learning and health, and ability to assess and manage risk, but there is a lack of knowledge on how toddlers engage in risky play. This study aims to investigate how toddlers assess and manage risk in free exploration in a varied natural environment and was conducted within an explorative qualitative approach. Observations were collected through head-mounted GoPro cameras while seven toddlers freely explored a natural environment. The results show that toddlers are able to assess and manage risks in challenging natural environments. They develop their own risk management skills and assess risks directly and indirectly. The results also show that practitioners sometimes perform risk assessment/management on behalf of the child and thus override the child’s own actions. The findings suggest implications for an early childhood education and care (ECEC) practice where children even as young as 17–25 months should be allowed to explore challenging environments and learn how to assess and manage risks.

Caring about and with Imaginary Characters: Early Childhood Playworlds as Sites for Social Sustainability

We investigate the concept of care in adult-child joint play through two cases that illustrate ways in which the development of care relations among researchers, pedagogues, and children—and the imaginary characters they create through their joint play—shape and sustain early childhood education and care research and practice. We focus on the ways that early childhood education and care pedagogues’ approaches to care provide insights into practices of social sustainability, specifically social inclusion. The cases we present are drawn from recent studies of early childhood play. The studies belong to a corpus of international research projects that are researcher-teacher collaborations. These studies explore a unique form of adult-child joint imaginary play known as playworlds. Playworlds are based on cultural historical theories of development and art, Gunilla Lindqvist’s studies of playworlds, and local theory and practice of early childhood education and care. Our analyses of playworlds are based, in part, on Winnicott’s concept of transitional objects. The two cases are drawn from ECEC playworlds in Finland and the US. Each exemplifies how playworlds, as forms of participatory design research, make social sustainability possible. Furthermore, these cases highlight how, by working with the boundaries between and moving between real and imagined, the participants are able to develop new ways of being that are radically inclusive. We argue that they do so by facilitating and maintaining the development of care relations among researchers, teachers, children, and, importantly, imaginary characters, in ways that create what we call transitional subjects. We conclude that social sustainability, like care, should be conceived of as an ecology of caring practices.

Unmasking Sustainability in Early Childhood Education: Teachers' Voices from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Slovenia.

Education for sustainable development is one of the key components of the 2030 Agenda. Previous research emphasizes the importance of access to education as early as possible in accordance with the goals and contents of sustainable development. It is assumed that educational policies have incorporated education for sustainable development (ESD) into key documents regulating the early childhood education (ECE), although the existence of legislation is not a guarantee that the practice follows the educational policy. Preschool teachers are key persons who can integrate content that promotes and encourages acceptance of the concept of sustainability into the ECE setting. In order to determine ECE teachers’ understanding of the concept of sustainability and contents that promote a sustainable lifestyle, an empirical study with a qualitative approach was conducted, where 91 ECE teachers from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia participated. The participants presented their views on the socio-cultural, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability, as well as gave many practical examples that, in their view, promote a sustainable lifestyle. They evaluated the efficacy of the researched segments of sustainability as well. Deductive content analysis was used for the analysis of the ECE teachers’ answers. In order to get a real image of sustainability in ECE practices, responses were coded using the SOLO Taxonomy and the OMEP ESD Rating Scale. The empirical study showed that ECE teachers often understand sustainability differently from that described in educational policy documents but also pointed to creative approaches to implementation.

Evidence-Based Early Childhood Education Practices

Evidence-Based Early Childhood Education Practices

Reimagining joy as a performative force in early childhood education

In this conceptual paper, the affective intensity of joy is approached as becoming. Following a relational ontology, joy is attended to both as performed in relation to others (human and more-than-human) and as a performative agent. This paper is based on an empirical exploration of the remarkableness of young children's everyday lives in a Finnish early childhood education context. This study contributes to the emerging field of affective and embodied research practices in early childhood education by disrupting and reimagining the way in which joy is thought about and researched. Exploring joy from a post-qualitative methodological approach and drawing on a relational ontology will afford novel research insights and new knowledge about joy as a phenomenon beyond the individual human. By reading diffractively and drawing on a ‘practical provocation’, the author aims to increase understanding of joy as a performative force, which is important for early years practitioners and researchers. Acknowledging the relational and performative aspects of young children's joy within intra-action reveals the remarkable and transformative possibilities in seemingly unremarkable and mundane events.

The use of information and communication technology in pedagogical documentation: an investigation of early childhood education in China

ABSTRACT Pedagogical documentation has been regarded as an important practice in early childhood education (ECE) settings because it provides an opportunity to observe children’s learning and help teachers plan for learning experiences. This article focuses on teachers’ use of information and communication technology (ICT) in pedagogical documentation in an under-researched context. A qualitative study was conducted in three kindergartens in Nanjing, China, over five months. The Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) model was adopted to understand participants’ decision-making about pedagogical documentation. Findings indicate that ICT-supported pedagogical documentation aimed to help children learn from peers’ experiences and reflect on their own learning. Participants considered pedagogical documentation as a tool for initiating discussion with children, though few used it to plan for future learning experiences. A gap between practice and policy in relation to pedagogical documentation was found in the study, and implications for both areas are discussed.

Pedagogical documentation for a more inclusive early childhood education

ABSTRACT The present study intends to understand how pedagogical documentation contributes to consolidating more inclusive practices in early childhood education. It addresses education of children with disabilities and relates the ideal of education for all to participatory pedagogies. EMEI [Municipal Early Childhood Education School] Luciana Azevedo Pompermayer – São Paulo/Brazil is presented as a professional development unit and is based on research results regarding the construction of participation at three levels: (i) internal to the school context – children and adults in learning experiences; (ii) intermediary – families and the local community; and (iii) external to the school context – sharing good practices. The exploratory and case study method were defined as complementary qualitative research procedures (Yin [2001]. Estudos de Caso: planejamento e métodos. Porto Alegre: Bookman; Stake [1995]. The Art of Case Study Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage; Bogdan and Biklen [1994]. Investigação qualitativa em educação: uma introdução à teoria e aos métodos. Portugal: Porto Editora; Denzin and Lincoln [2005]. The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage). This text focuses on reflections about the communication possibilities of school work and its effects for social transformation.

Self-Efficacy in Early Childhood Educators: The Impact of Online Teaching During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, several early childhood education programs in the United States and around the world were forced to shift to online instruction. While virtual learning was found to be challenging for all age groups, this mode has been especially challenging for early childhood educators. The present study explored the challenges that teachers faced when adjusting their early childhood education practices to an online format during the COVID-19 health crisis and also explored those activities that teachers found most effective. Furthermore, this study explored the role of online teaching in teachers’ senses of self-efficacy and assessed whether support from families and program administration played a role in teacher self-efficacy. Lessons for the role of online education in early childhood, with implications for practice, are discussed. As online instruction becomes more prominent in all areas of education, the lessons learned during the pandemic should prove informative long after the crisis is overcome.

TRAINING AND PERCEPTION OF ASSESSMENT PRACTICES OF EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHERS IN THE TEMA WEST METROPOLIS, GHANA

The study sought to assess the training and perception of assessment practices of Early Childhood Education teachers in the Tema West Metropolis, Ghana. Two research objectives guided the study and they were to assess the training of Early Childhood Education teachers and examine the teachers’ perception about assessment during early years’ education as well as the professional qualification and gender differences of teachers’ perception in the Tema West Metropolis, Ghana. Again, two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. A descriptive survey design was used for the study. The instrument for data collection was a self-constructed 4-point Likert-type scale questionnaire. The study covered 200 ECE teachers within 40 basic schools in the Tema West metropolis. The census technique was used to select the participants for the study. Descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) were used to analyze data obtained with respect to each research question. Again, One Way ANOVA and Independent sample T-test were used to test hypothesis 1 and 2 respectively. It was evidenced from the study that the teachers in the Tema West Metropolis have an understanding of Early Childhood Education (ECE) assessment practices which suggests an indication that the teachers have some level of training. Again, ECE teachers in the metropolis possess positive perceptions about the need for assessing children during their early years’ education. While the perception of ECE teachers differs significantly across their professional qualifications, there was no statistically significant difference in their perception about assessment in early years’ education and gender. The study concludes therefore that training and perception of ECE teachers were no deterrents nor challenges to the administration of effective assessment practices in the Tema West Municipality. Although the teachers possess some level of knowledge about assessment practices in ECE, it is recommended among others that the educational directorate in the metropolis through the help of the Ghana Education Service (GES) should ensure continuous professional development in the form of in-service training for the teachers. This will help abreast their knowledge and assessment practices in the metropolis.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0917/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Toddlers as soul workers: A critical take on emotions and well‐being in early childhood education

In this article, we provide a critical philosophical analysis of contemporary early childhood education practices on emotions and well-being. We develop our argument against the backdrop of an intensifying preoccupation, since several decades, with the psychological, social and emotional well-being of pupils and students. Our focus is on one exemplary case: Het Toverbos (The Magical Forest), a Flemish nursery educational method evoking the principles of psychodrama to support the socio-emotional development of toddlers. Drawing on the work of Italian philosopher Franco Berardi, we explore to what extent Het Toverbos promotes a kind of learning that seemingly prefigures a contemporary work ethic putting to work human affects, communication and creativity. We argue that the method seems to approach toddlers’ emotions, imagination and peer interaction as immaterial resources that can (and should) be mined in the name of their proper development. What seems to be cultivated is a willingness to endlessly reinvent the self and in line with Berardi, we suggest a link with the cultural psychopathologies of our time: panic, depression and burnout. We also explore how the method's permanent imperative to express oneself seems to subject everything to the claim of transparency and knowledgeability, thereby limiting the possibility of the child's ‘otherness’ or ‘newness’. We conclude by situating our Berardian take on these early childhood education practices on emotions and well-being within the broader pedagogical tradition in which the potentiality engendered by the child's ‘newness’ is emphasised and articulated in various ways.

Is more child-initiated always better? Exploring relations between child-initiated instruction and preschoolers’ school readiness

Although research suggests that the use of child-initiated vs. teacher-directed instructional practices in early childhood education has implications for learning and development, the precise nature of these effects remains unclear. Using data from the Midwest Child-Parent Center (CPC) Expansion Project, the present study examined the possibility that a blend of child- and teacher-directed practices best promotes school readiness among preschoolers experiencing high levels of sociodemographic risk and explored whether the optimal blend varies based on child characteristics. Sixty-two CPC preschool teachers reported their instructional practices throughout the year, using a newly developed questionnaire—the Classroom Activity Report (CAR). The average reported proportion of child-initiated instruction was examined in relation to students’ end-of-year performance on a routine school readiness assessment (N = 1289). Although there was no main effect of child-initiated instruction on school readiness, there was a significant interaction between instruction and student age. Four-year-olds’ school readiness generally improved as the proportion of child-initiated time increased, while 3-year-olds showed a U-shaped pattern. The present findings add to the evidence that child-initiated instruction might support preschoolers’ school readiness, although they also suggest this relation may not always be linear. They also point to the importance of examining instructional strategies in relation to student characteristics, in order to tailor strategies to the student population. The CAR has potential as a brief, practical measurement tool that can support program monitoring and professional development.

Can We Talk About Life Without Taking Death Into Account? Early Childhood Educators' Self-Perceived Ability to Approach the Topic of Death With Children.

The current explorative cross-sectional study evaluated the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of early childhood educators towards death education and their self-perceived comfort to approach the topic of death in the classroom. All data were collected from June to July 2020. One hundred eight (108) early childhood educators participated in the study. The study was promoted through early childhood educators' support groups and social networks. Demographic characteristics, an ad hoc questionnaire, and the Greek version of the Death Attitude Profile-R questionnaire were used to assess the educators' comfort and attitudes. Results showed that participants' self-perceived ability to approach the topic of death in the classroom was affected by gender and personal attitudes towards death (specifically death avoidance and fear of death). Overall, this study emphasized early childhood educators' role in extreme situations which their students may face as death.

Book Review of Foundations and Best Practices in Early Childhood Education

Book Review of Foundations and Best Practices in Early Childhood Education

Digital disruption in early childhood education: A qualitative research from teachers’ perspective

In the digital era, teachers need to behave more positively attitude about ICT. In this study, we investigated the perception of early childhood teachers regarding the use of ICT in the online learning process during the Covid-19 pandemic through a qualitative interview. For the data collection, we interviewed 53 early childhood teachers in Indonesia. The data collected from interviews were analyzed using thematic coding techniques. The research obtained particular information on how the perception of the teachers to digital disruption during the Covid-19 pandemic within five main themes: 1) ICT benefits (8 sub-themes), 2) the importance of ICT competencies (2 sub-themes), 3) promotion of the ICT training (5 sub-themes), 4) the uses of ICT (6 sub-themes), and 5) barriers in using ICT (5 sub-themes). The results indicated that ICT training that supports ICT use among early childhood teachers needs to be promoted more. This study contributes to the body of knowledge on the use of ICT in the early childhood teaching process. In addition, this study also increases the empirical study findings that are useful for reporting the online learning practice in early childhood education.

The Development of the Multidimensional Pre-school Teacher’s Acceptance Efficacy Scale: Consideration aimed at utilization in Early Childhood Education and Care Practices

The Development of the Multidimensional Pre-school Teacher’s Acceptance Efficacy Scale: Consideration aimed at utilization in Early Childhood Education and Care Practices

O que podemos no encontro com a infância? um convite a um olhar heterotópico

This paper aims to propose an invitation to look at the kind of childhood we have been constructing from the practices of Special Education, in articulation with the practices of Early Childhood Education. It problematizes the discursive webs formed in this articulation, considering the way that Special Education teachers working with Early Childhood in public schools regard childhood. Such discussions have derived from the uneasiness of thinking about how we have been producing childhood, given the policy of expanding mandatory attendance to four-year-old children. The analytical exercise, inspired by the discourse analysis proposed by Michel Foucault, has enabled us to question the production of subjects, truths and realities in the “confessions” of the interviewed teachers, in which we have identified two ways of thinking about and producing childhood: captured childhood, which is produced through the operationalization of normalization practices by Special Education, determined by the will to knowledge and the will to power over childhood; and childhood as heterotopy, produced as a powerful movement of resistance and denaturalization of normalizing practices – childhood regarded from other places, as an infinite, multiple, non-nameable, ever undetermined becoming, as an invitation to thought: what can we do in the encounter with childhood(s)?

Pedagogical photo documentation for play in early childhood education and care

ABSTRACT This study explored options for pedagogical photo documentation in early childhood education and care (ECEC) practices to hear the voices of children, parents, and guardians in ways that make developing the documentation manageable for practitioners. Two Japanese kindergartens participated in an action research project entitled ‘Wall Newspapers for Children’. Classroom teachers composed and provided daily pedagogical photo documentation focused on children’s free play and later shared it with the children and their parents or guardians. A total of 194 parents and guardians completed a questionnaire about the documentation’s influence. Narrative episodes of children’s play revealed that the documentation mediated the following dispositions of children’s participation: (1) encouraging children to participate in their new environment and get involved in subsequent play activities for several days, and (2) getting the children to develop and create play activities by themselves. The questionnaire results showed that the documentation enhanced the parents’ and guardians’ communication with their children and with other parents, practitioners, and children in the classroom, encouraging them to talk about their children’s play and learning. The implications of these findings for capturing and improving the quality of ECEC through meaning-making discourse are discussed.

Development of a learning disabilities test: a case study at elementary school

Development of a learning disabilities test: a case study at elementary school

Followers and following in early childhood education workplaces: A narrative review of the followership literature

Typically, leadership is identified as a key to constructing high-quality early childhood education services and creating provisions to promote children's successful outcomes. However, leadership does not occur in isolation. Organisational management scholars point out that success in organisations is mostly reliant on effective followers. Despite a long tradition of attention to the value of followership in organisational management literature, little attention is given to followership in early childhood education literature. This article reviews conceptualisations of followership from a broad body of literature from organisational management and higher education studies, and a small number of studies in early childhood education literature that mentioned followership. This small body of early childhood education literature is critiqued in connection with the broader body of literature. The analysis reveals three key themes concerning followership in early childhood education literature: the dominance of leader-centric ideas; a lack of conceptual clarity about the role and practices of followership; and early childhood educators’ qualifications typically determine who follows and who leads. This review contributes to increased understandings of the potential value of followership theories and practices in early childhood education.