Provision Of Early Childhood Services Research Articles

Short-term International Experience (STIE) and Students’ Understanding of Quality Early Childhood Service Provision

Exposing pre-service teachers to international professional experiences through a short-term visiting programme serves to challenge their understandings of good quality practice through disturbing assumptions and expectations previously formed through experiences in their own country/culture. Much of the research in international study focuses on pre-service teachers preparing to teach in primary, secondary or language classes. In this study we present the perceptions of pre-service early childhood students who underwent a short-term international experience. In particular we explore the ways in which their experiences impacted on their understandings of quality early childhood service provision. In the increasingly neoliberal Australian early childhood sector externally imposed standards define quality and this is enacted in relatively homogenous ways in practice, opportunities to observe practice arising from different understandings serves to challenge thinking, potentially leading to different world views (Piaget’s accommodation).

Linguistic Differences with Bilingual Parents Who are Immigrants: Words for Dialoguing About Young Children

While partnerships including meaningful, two-way, parent–teacher dialogue about young children during early childhood program and school meetings are critical, linguistic differences between bilingual parents who are immigrants and early educators can impede communication and lead to inequitable services. In this article, we focus on one aspect of linguistic differences for educators and bilingual parents: English-language adjectives used by teachers to describe young children. We highlight aspects of adjectives, their uses, and cultural contexts to illustrate potential misunderstandings that may lead to not only miscommunication but also challenges to partnerships and equitable early childhood service provision. Subsequently, we present recommendations to foster meaningful dialogue and greater understanding between educators and bilingual parents who are immigrants when dialoguing about young children.

The demand for and the provision of early childhood services since 2000: Policies and strategies

Since the Millennium Development Goals and Education for All targets were proclaimed in 2000, countries have made considerable progress in enhancing the well-being of young children. But many young children—including 78% in the Arab states and over 80% in sub-Saharan Africa—still have no access to this education. Obstacles to increasing the demand for early childhood development (ECD) services include structural and political factors, a lack of visibility of these services, poor quality (including their lack of adaptability to clients’ individual needs), high costs to both providers and consumers, and such cultural and contextual constraints as low parental and community awareness of the importance of ECD. Yet, societies can design policies and strategies to increase demand in a variety of ways. These include laws, policies, and action plans—and more financing—meant to expand affordable ECD services; increased parent and community awareness of ECD benefits; promotion of holistic, integrated approaches to early childhood; clear standards of quality for ECD services and for early learning and development; and strategies and programmes to identify and support those groups most in need of quality ECD services.

What factors contribute to positive early childhood health and development in Australian Aboriginal children? Protocol for a population-based cohort study using linked administrative data (The Seeding Success Study)

IntroductionAustralian Aboriginal children are more likely than non-Aboriginal children to have developmental vulnerability at school entry that tracks through to poorer literacy and numeracy outcomes and multiple social and health...

Challenges of planning a birth-to-three evaluation: A universal early childhood system evaluation

In an effort to bring rigorous research into the education and social sciences field, the past decade had seen an increase in the advocacy of randomized controlled trials. The argument in favor of using randomized controlled trial is that one can evaluate the impact of an intervention in comparison to a control group with confidence during a summative evaluation. However, before coming to the stage of conducting a randomized controlled trial, extensive effort in planning and conducting process evaluation is needed. This article examines the perspective of an early childhood evaluation in the United States, and particularly highlights the challenges that arise when a state’s whole system is being evaluated, where the system consists of a variety of program models and the provision of early childhood services is universal in the system. The challenges are highlighted so that future evaluators will be aware of such issues in planning their universal systemwide evaluation.

Tensions Between Discourses of Development, Religion, and Human Capital in Early Childhood Education Policy Texts: The Case of Indonesia

In this paper we consider how particular discourses have come to dominate early childhood education (ECE) policy in Indonesia. We briefly explain the governance of Indonesian ECE and then our approach to policy analysis using critical discourse analysis. Three prevalent discourses are identified and discussed: ‘developmentalism’, ‘religious faith’ (specifically Islam) and ‘human capital’. We highlight the internal contradictions of each of these discourses and the ways in which they exist in tension with one another, arguing that these tensions both reflect and construct early childhood service provision, and the ways in which children, childhood and education in general are understood. We conclude by speculating on two aspects of ECE in Indonesia supported by the convergence of these discourses: private provision and an increasing ‘sharia-ization’ of services.

Has a National Policy Focus on Early Childhood Made a Difference for Indigenous Children? An Analysis of LSAC Data

Abstract The Australian policy environment has undergone significant changes with a move towards evidence-based policy development. It is in this climate that the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) began collecting data. The study began in 2003 with 2 cohorts of children (birth-1 year and 4–5 years) and the 5th wave of data collection occurred in 2011/12. In this analysis we use the data from the first wave of data (collected in the 6 months between August 2003 and March 2004) and the third wave, collected in the 9 months between July 2007 and April 2008. This latter was a time when a range of initiatives addressing Indigenous disadvantage through early childhood interventions had been in operation for some time: both early childhood and Indigenous policy was strongly focused on the quality of early childhood service provision, with a strong focus on evidence-based service development. In this paper we present a comparison of outcomes for Indigenous and non-indigenous Australian children who have grown up in these 2 different policy eras.

A Content Analysis of Early Childhood Teachers’ Theoretical and Practical Experiences With Infants and Toddlers in Australian Teacher Education Programs

In Australia, the growth in the provision of early childhood services for very young children aged birth to three years has placed increased demands on pre-service teachers as new policy stipulates the need for qualified early childhood teachers. While many teacher education programs offer early childhood courses, they have traditionally had a greater focus on kindergarten and the formal years of schooling. Less is known about the amount of time devoted to developing the specialist educational capacity for teaching and caring for infants and toddlers. This paper explores 55 Australian early childhood teacher undergraduate education programs to provide data regarding what pre-service teachers learn about children from birth to three years of age during their formal program of study. It explores: if pre-service teachers engage in practical experiences with this age range; what content they learn; and how knowledge for this age range is assessed. Utilising information from fully accessible public program websites, data in the form of course details were examined to reveal the extent and nature of courses inclusive of teaching and learning focusing on children aged from birth to three years. Of the 55 programs, 18 programs provided practical experience with infants and toddlers, and to a lesser extent content was evident and assessed. Most of the programs which included a focus on birth to three years of age were delivered by Victorian institutions. Findings are important for the future of early childhood teacher education in Australia and hold key messages for teacher registration bodies.

Integrated services in Australian early childhood education and care: what can we learn from our past?

Recent Australian interest in the integration of early childhood services is largely informed by international research and policy developments, particularly from the United Kingdom. Service integration is widely recognised as an effective means of holistically meeting the needs of children and families and ameliorating disadvantage. What is less well known is that Australia has a history of integrated early childhood services. This paper focuses on three points in 20th century Australia when advocacy for integrated early childhood service provision was evident: post‐World War I when the first Mother and Baby Welfare Clinic was established; during the late 1930s to mid 1940s with the advent of the Lady Gowrie Centres; and in the 1970s when several reports recommended the integration and co‐ordination of early years services. Attending to this history acknowledges this innovative Australian work, and provides potentially valuable, and somewhat cautionary, lessons for contemporary advocacy for integrated early childhood services.

Towards the Right of New Zealand Children for Free Early Childhood Education

Abstract This paper provides an historical and policy overview of early childhood education in New Zealand. The analysis is framed around the introduction, in July 2007, of the government’s policy of 20 hours-a-week free early childhood education for three and four year old children in teacher-led early childhood programmes. This initiative extended a raft of policies intended to improve quality participation in early childhood as part of the Government’s ten year Strategic Plan Pathways to the Future: Ngã Huarahi Arataki 2002–2012. A key plank of this policy is that by 2012 all adults working in teacher-led services will have teaching qualifications. Realising this has been challenging and the implementation of the ‘20 hours free’ policy became a controversial media story. From age five, all New Zealand children have long had a ‘right as a citizen’ to free schooling. There was a level of expectation from parents that this ‘right’ had been extended to early childhood education. The policy was not so bold. This paper outlines the journey towards matching the rights of the school aged and preschool aged child for free education. The ‘20 hours free’ policy is an important step in the process. The paper concludes with an early commentary on the issues that this policy raises in relation to: the rights of children and parents, the costs of quality, and the conflicting roles of government, community, and private enterprise in the provision of early childhood services.

Children’s risk‐taking behaviour: implications for early childhood policy and practice

The safety of children as they learn and develop is of prime concern for parents, teachers and legislators alike. Legislation governing the provision of early childhood services provides guidelines and procedures for reducing the likelihood of children being exposed to injuries and unsafe environments. Such strategies, however, only take account of aspects of the physical environment that can be manipulated to ensure the safety of children and do not consider those aspects of the individual child’s behaviour that may contribute to unintentional injury. One such factor is children’s risk‐taking behaviour. The paper presents a critical review of current risk‐taking literature. Components of risk taking, including sensation seeking and optimism bias, and contributory factors such as gender, temperament, and parent socialization practices are examined in light of the current legislative and accountability documents relating to the provision of early childhood services in the Australian state of New South Wales. The aim is to explore the role that these factors play in reducing children’s exposure to risk and to identify directions for future research.

Parents' Perceptions of Planning for and Provision of Early Childhood Services in Rural and Regional NSW

The project reported in this article was carried as part of study for the degree of Master of Early Childhood, Institute of Early Childhood, Macquarie University. The ongoing development of early childhood services in Australia reflects a focus on meeting the demands of changing family needs. Simultaneously, there is a growing concern that quality services must reflect the needs and culture of individual children. Rural contexts are acknowledged as unique situations in this discussion. This study considers the perceptions of eighteen parents in rural New South Wales as a means of gathering data on the appropriateness of current service provision models for a range of rural settings. Parents identified cost, inflexibility of existing services, lack of specific service and distance as factors that need to be considered in planning for rural early childhood services. Innovative approaches for enriching experiences of children and families in the rural context were suggested by the participants: flexible use of existing facilities, more outreach services, programs to encourage local development of services, sporting and cultural opportunities and initiatives to entice trained experienced professionals to rural areas.

Learning to Develop as Early Childhood Professionals

The pressure towards increasing professionalism on the part of those practitioners who care for and educate young children has grown considerably over the past decade (Rodd, 1994). The need for improvements in the quality of early childhood service provision has been recognised by growing numbers of early childhood carers and teachers, many of whom already put a great deal of time and effort into their programs and services. In addition, the past decade has witnessed a broadening of the number of roles and responsibilities that early childhood professionals undertake in relation to the changing needs of young children and their families. It seems that the goal of ‘developing and implementing good practice’ which has motivated and underpinned the work of many early childhood practitioners has been achieved to a large extent.

Day Care for Children in Need: Universal Provision or a Targeted Service?

This paper is concerned with local authority provision for a particular group of children, those considered to be ‘in need’ and aged under 5, in the context of the debate about universal versus selective services. It explores the provision of early childhood services, in particular day care, within the framework of welfare policies and the concept of need. After outlining the development of day care policy in Britain the paper considers how, within the current policy of targeting day care on children ‘in need’, local authorities might attempt to make provision available to a wider range of families, in line with the messages from current research that more emphasis needs to be placed on services to support families at an early stage rather than intervening later only when their needs are acute. It concludes that local authorities need to adopt a strategic and coordinated approach to early childhood services, working with other agencies and local communities, to ensure that a range of services are available to support children and families at different levels of need.