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International Journal of Early Childhood

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ISSN (Print) 0020-7187 - ISSN (Online) 1878-4658
Published by Springer-Verlag

[2216 journals]

Daycare Children of Divorce and Their Helpers
- Abstract: Abstract Caring for children of divorce may prevent emotional and behavioural problems. This study investigates daycare staff’s beliefs about caring for young children who have experienced parental divorce. Q methodology was applied for this purpose, and 33 participants sorted 40 subjective statements. The Q factor analyses resulted in four factors or viewpoints: (1) child-sensitive helpers, (2) insecure helpers, (3) confident helpers, and (4) distant child helpers. The results show both coherence and diversity between the daycare staff’s viewpoints. Practical implications of the four main views regarding daycare staff and children of divorce are discussed. Education and counselling for daycare staff in dealing with children of divorce are suggested.
  PubDate: 2013-04-01
Panel of Referees During 2012
- PubDate: 2013-04-01
Editor’s Letter
- PubDate: 2013-04-01
The Problem with ADHD: Researchers’ Constructions and Parents’ Accounts
- Abstract: Abstract An enduring controversy over the nature of ADHD complicates parents’ decisions regarding children likely to be diagnosed with the condition. Using a fallibilist perspective, this review examines how researchers construe ADHD and acknowledge the controversy. From a systematic literature search of empirical reports using parents of ADHD-diagnosed children as primary informants, 36 reports published between 1996 and 2008 (corresponding to 30 studies) were selected. Data on the studies’ characteristics and methodologies, definitions of ADHD, and extent of the acknowledgment of the ADHD controversy were extracted, as were data on a wide range of parental concerns and experiences. Researchers in 27 of 30 studies define ADHD as a valid disorder, in 22 studies they tend to recommend parental adherence to the biomedical view, and in eight studies they specifically acknowledge an ADHD controversy. This body of studies reports varied and poignant observations on parents’ situations and dilemmas. Still, it largely reflects a Western-ethnocentric view and appears greatly preoccupied with parents who do not medicate their children, ignoring parents’ rationales for using medications.
  PubDate: 2013-04-01
Pedagogical Play Types: What Do They Suggest for Learning About Sustainability in Early Childhood Education?
- Abstract: Abstract Sustainability education is increasingly understood as necessary for young children. An important aspect of early childhood sustainability education is associated with how best to integrate the conceptual basis of sustainability education with existing play-based pedagogies. Play-based pedagogies can be understood as occurring along a continuum, including more open-ended and freely chosen play to more teacher orientated play-based activities. Each of these play types suggests different opportunities for teacher's engagement with children’s learning. This paper examines how three different types of play-based pedagogy, including open-ended, modelled and purposefully framed play, prompt teacher planning for children’s learning about biodiversity as a knowledge subset of sustainability education. Vygotsky’s description of combinatorial activity is used to consider the extent to which each play type prompts teachers to plan for children’s engagement with biodiversity concepts in ways that are most likely to support knowledge construction.
  PubDate: 2013-03-06
Intuitive and Informal Knowledge in Preschoolers’ Development of Probabilistic Thinking
- Abstract: Abstract Preschoolers develop a wide range of mathematical informal knowledge and intuitive thinking before they enter formal, goal-oriented education. In their everyday activities young children get engaged with situations that enhance them to develop skills, concepts, strategies, representations, attitudes, constructs and operations concerning a wide range of mathematical notions. Recently there is scientific interest in linking children’s informal and formal knowledge in order to provide them with opportunities to avoid biases aiming at formulating, perceiving, reflecting on and exercising probabilistic notions. The current study investigates preschoolers’ (N=90) intuitive understanding of the likelihood of events in a probabilistic task with spinners. Participants, at the age of 4 to 6, are tested on their predictions of the most probable outcome prior to and after an instructive session of reasoning. The probabilistic task, based on constructivist principles, includes methodological alterations concerning the sample space and the themes of the stimuli. Educational implications are further discussed under the general point of view that in order to link informal to formal mathematical learning in preschool classroom, the subject content and the cognitive capacity of children are important to match.
  PubDate: 2013-02-23
Sustainability and Relationality Within Early Childhood Care and Education Settings in Aotearoa New Zealand
- Abstract: Abstract This paper discusses one aspect of a recently completed two-year study, that of the enactment of relationality within early childhood care and education practice. The research project, Titiro Whakamuri, Hoki Whakamua. We are the future, the present and the past: caring for self, others and the environment in early years’ teaching and learning, involved ten early childhood centres from across New Zealand (Ritchie et al. 2010). Relationality refers to our lived relation to other human beings, other living creatures, and to the non-living entities with whom we share our spaces and the planet. The study has demonstrated some ways in which early childhood educators were able to extend children’s understandings of their relationality, their connectedness to others, and to the natural world, following theoretical underpinnings of the Indigenous Māori, such as manaakitanga (caring, generosity) and kaitiakitanga (environmental stewardship) (Tikanga Māori. Living by Māori values, Wellington, Huia, 2003), and of western epistemologies such as an ethic of care (The challenge to care in schools: An alternative approach to education, New York, Teachers College Press, 2005a; Educating citizens for global awareness, New York, Teachers College Press, 2005c, Philosophy of education, Boulder, Westview Press, 2007).
  PubDate: 2013-02-21
Children Crossing Borders: School Visits as Initial Incorporation Rites in Transition to Preschool Class
- Abstract: Abstract Most research about transition in educational settings describes how children enter into new contexts, especially transition from preschool to school. However, the overall research focus in this article is to gain knowledge about how the transition process can be characterized at the end of the preschool period before the actual transition. The data reported in this article was generated through visits to preschool class which have the intention to prepare children before the transition. The results support the conclusion that the transition process can be characterized as circular rather than linear, or maybe a spiral process that loops back and forth. The children in this study engage in a number of border encounters and border crossings between preschool and preschool class during the spring semester before the actual entering. After each border crossing they return to preschool and seem to reconstruct their experiences and expectations of preschool class. This looping movement highlights the identity deconstructions as a social learning process over time. It is shown that children enter the transitions process long before they actually (physically) enter or visit school. The results also propose that the transition is a period when the constructing of identities as ex preschool children may be important. In this process, the teachers in preschool have an important role to facilitate the children’s disengagement from preschool. The study also implies the need for teacher collaboration to make the transition transparent and explicit for the children.
  PubDate: 2013-02-21
Assessment of the Psychosocial Development of Children Attending Nursery Schools in Karen Refugee Camps in Thailand
- Abstract: Abstract The Karen, an ethnic minority group in Burma, have experienced a prolonged state of exile in refugee camps in neighboring Thailand because of ethnic conflict in their home country. Nursery schools in the three largest Karen refugee camps aim to promote the psychosocial development of young children by providing a child-centered, creative, learning-friendly environment. Psychosocial development and potentially concerning behaviors of two to five-year-old children in nursery schools were examined by use of a psychosocial checklist. The results showed that psychosocial development of the children increased with age, with most five year olds being proficient in playing cooperatively with other children. Sadness or emotional outbursts were observed for a third of the children. Difficulty separating from parents was also observed. The results also showed that children who attended the nursery schools for more than a year were better at playing cooperatively with other children and were more aware of their own and others’ feelings. On the other hand, children who were newer to the nursery schools were more polite and better at following rules and controlling their feelings when frustrated. The results indicate that nursery schools can be a promising practice to promote healthy psychosocial development of children in protracted refugee situations.
  PubDate: 2013-02-01
Contextual and Conceptual Intersubjectivity and Opportunities for Emergent Science Knowledge About Sound
- Abstract: Abstract The purpose of the present article was to gain knowledge about what aspects of, and in what way, contextual and conceptual intersubjectivity contribute to emergent science knowledge about sound. Starting from a Vygotskian theoretical base, the article rests on the work of Fleer (early learning and development. Cultural-historical concepts in play, 2010), Hedegaard and Fleer (studying children—a cultural historical approach, 2008), and Hedegaard et al. (motives in children’s development, 2012). Data analyses were carried out on video recordings and transcripts of teachers’ process of ongoing science work with ten preschool children aged 4–6 years. During the work, teachers took the role of planning activities in which play and playful experiences were used as means, in accordance with the preschool tradition. The results show that emergent science knowledge is developed when it is enhanced by teachers’ double move between conceptual and contextual intersubjectivity. The use of contextual and conceptual intersubjectivity, and their connectedness during the double move process, shows how teachers combine play and learning and contribute to emergent science knowledge. Further, in this way, they also contribute to bridging children’s everyday understandings to scientific concepts.
  PubDate: 2013-02-01
Systematic Quality Work in Preschool
- Abstract: Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the meaning that Swedish preschool teachers ascribe to systematic quality work. In Sweden, all preschools are required to work systematically with quality issues. This involves several interdependent steps that follow each other in a specific order. Although the concept of systematic quality work might be novel, the practice of following up, documenting, and evaluating preschool activities has a long tradition as means of discovering whether and in what ways preschool has contributed to children’s learning and what children have learnt by being there. The study, which was performed in Sweden, is based on interactionist perspectives and draws on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory and a critical ecology of the early childhood profession. The sample consists of 15 preschools in the country’s two major cities, Stockholm and Gothenburg, and 15 preschools from the rural area of Mälardalen in mid-Sweden. From each of the 30 preschools, one preschool group and one preschool teacher were recruited as participants. To study teacher competence, individual and semi-structured interviews were conducted. The meaning given to systematic quality work in preschool is presented under three themes: documentation and evaluation in preschool; foci of documentation and evaluation; and how, why and when to document and evaluate in preschool, and for whom. The results reveal the complexity of documenting children’s learning processes and the need for development of competence in this area.
  PubDate: 2012-12-01
Listening to Children: Exploring Intuitive Strategies and Interactive Methods in a Study of Children’s Special Places
- Abstract: Abstract Stemming from the UNCRC, childhood researchers have proposed a variety of methodological strategies for upholding children’s rights and understanding their perspectives. This paper aims to advance the conversation on engaging children’s perspectives by presenting data collection methods used in a qualitative study exploring children’s special places. Place attachment and identity theories, as well as, contemporary sociological understandings, informed the study design, particularly, in viewing children as active agents continually constructing their own places in the world. Five interactive methods (book discussions, representational art, child-led place tours, informal interviews, and puppets) are presented in order to emphasize the importance of listening to children, building positive relationships, allowing children to take the lead, and fostering creative expression. While it may never be possible for the adult researcher to fully understand children’s perspectives, it is possible for researchers to implement intuitive strategies by reflectively adapting their methods to honor children’s diverse needs.
  PubDate: 2012-11-01
Ethical Issues in Pedagogical Documentation: Representations of Children Through Digital Technology
- Abstract: Abstract Documentation for pedagogical purposes is an increasingly important practice in Sweden, in Europe, and in the United States. This article focuses on the ethical aspects that need to be addressed in documentation practices in preschool. The empirical material is drawn from the blogs of Swedish preschool teachers who recorded their thoughts on pedagogical documentation while attending a university course on the subject. Today, digital technology (e.g., digital cameras, mobile phones, and tablet computers) make it easy to create visual documentation in the form of moving and still pictures. Moreover, webcams, USB sticks, and interactive whiteboards can be used to share documentation with others, mainly teachers and parents. In the communication process, the documented children are involved to different degrees; however, they are mainly positioned as subjects being looked at. In the discussion, research about children’s role as participants is related to different notions of the child in pedagogy and society. Ideas for the future are also raised.
  PubDate: 2012-11-01
Seeking Children’s Perspectives on their Wellbeing in Early Childhood Settings
- Abstract: Abstract Interest in children’s wellbeing has been steadily increasing across political, social and educational contexts. While the importance of children’s wellbeing–particularly in relation to learning and development–is undisputed, there are conflicting perspectives on what ‘wellbeing’ actually is, let alone how to measure and promote it. The purpose of this paper is to examine the context, complexities and challenges associated with understanding children’s wellbeing–specifically children’s perspectives on their wellbeing in the early childhood setting. This paper argues that in order to support children’s wellbeing in early childhood settings, we need to know how young children subjectively experience wellbeing. This requires the adoption of a constructivist, child-centred approach to the conceptualisation of wellbeing in early childhood research to promote effective programme provision.
  PubDate: 2012-11-01
Open Appeal to Local, National, Regional, and Global Leaders to Secure the World’s Future
- PubDate: 2012-11-01
Letter from the Editors
- PubDate: 2012-11-01
Recognising Young Children’s Understandings and Experiences of Community
- Abstract: Abstract Since the introduction of the Child Friendly Cities Initiative in 1996, children and young people’s participation in consultation has become an increasingly important element of the planning and community development strategies of many government and community organisations throughout Australia. This has been the case in the city of Wodonga, Victoria, Australia, where commitment to the development of child-friendly communities has been enacted through a number of consultations with children and young people. In the period 2009–2010, a team comprising local council officers and researchers extended previous attempts to include children and young people’s perspectives of, expectations for, and experiences of their local community in future planning. In this paper, we report on part of this overall project. In particular, we report the views of 90 children aged 2–6 years and five early childhood educators who mediated and implemented the project with these children. Children shared their views through a variety of participatory rights-based approaches including drawing, modeling, photography, and conversations. Educators were interviewed about the children’s participation in the project and their own expectations of this participation. After thematic analyses, we highlight two themes in educator comments: perceptions of children’s communities; and young children’s perceived competence in sharing their views about their communities. We contrast educator perceptions with data from children and conclude that, despite the best of intentions, children’s participation was sometimes limited by the boundaries imposed by a restricted adult view of children’s competence and experience. This, in turn, meant that the diverse ways in which young children demonstrated their sense of belonging to place and community were not always recognised.
  PubDate: 2012-11-01
Listening to Children’s Voices: Children as Participants in Research
- Abstract: Abstract Recently, researchers have begun to investigate the ways contemporary childhoods are being shaped by a range of multimodal communicative practices (Kress, Literacy in the new media age, Routledge, New York, 2003; Lankshear and Knobel, New literacies: Changing knowledge and classroom learning, Open University Press, Milton Keynes, 2003). This is particularly relevant as the changing communication systems of the 21st century are influencing the ways children make meaning in their worlds. In this article, we discuss two case studies that occurred in two different urban Canadian contexts where we sought to privilege the voices, lives, and meaning making experiences of two young boys by involving them as active participants in research. Drawing on sociocultural and multimodal theories of learning, the purpose of this research was to investigate the complexity of the everyday communicative practices utilized by young Canadian children in and out-of-school, in an attempt to inform the future direction of literacy curricula for children. Although many researchers advocate for children’s “voices” to be taken into account in educational research, few report the evidence of engaging children in the research process. In the two cases, the data collection methods provided opportunities for children to express themselves, and revealed the meaning making practices that they valued. The findings also showed how the practices valued and promoted in the focal children’s classrooms generally reflected traditional and narrow modes of communication, specifically, printbased and teacher-directed practices.
  PubDate: 2012-11-01
Using Learning Study to Understand Preschoolers’ Learning: Challenges and Possibilities
- Abstract: Abstract This article reports a meta-analysis based on a multiple case study of the use of learning study (LS) to understand children’s learning in Swedish preschool. The aim is to investigate whether and how the LS model can be developed, adjusted and used to meet contemporary demands placed upon preschool teachers for increased content focus and improved cognitive outcomes. The research questions are (1) How can the LS model be adapted to understand preschool children’s learning? and (2) What challenges and possibilities arise in such process? The material consists of video documentation of eight meetings, 10 interventions and 237 individual, hands-on interviews with preschoolers collected within five LS projects in Sweden including seven researchers, 10 teachers/student teachers and 86 children. Four features (approach to learning, way of guiding the children, content focus and assessment of children’s learning) found to be possibly challenging in the tension between the school based LS model and the preschool context are used to demonstrate changes made to the LS that allowed it to be adapted to preschool settings. We conclude that the LS model may be applied and adjusted to preschool settings to deepen the teachers’ understanding of children’s learning, but the tradition of seeing learning in preschool as doing, having fun or playing should be challenged and revised in a new way unique to this setting. An educational practice combining play with learning in a more purposeful way has to be developed along with better methods to assess children’s learning.
  PubDate: 2012-09-01
Australian Children with Special Health Care Needs: Social-Emotional and Learning Competencies in the Early Years
- Abstract: Abstract This study examined the relationship between special health care needs and social-emotional and learning competence in the early years, reporting on two waves of data from the Kindergarten Cohort of Growing up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). Six hundred and fifty children were identified through the two-question Special Health Care Needs Screener as having special health care needs. Children with special health care needs were more likely to be male, to have been of low birth weight, to be taking prescription medications, to be diagnosed with a specific health condition and to be from families where the mother was less well educated. These children scored significantly lower on teacher-rated social-emotional and learning competencies prior to school compared to a control group of children without special health care needs. Multiple regression analyses indicated that being identified with a special health care need prior to school predicted lower social-emotional and learning competencies in the early years of school. Results are discussed in terms of the implications for policy and practice.
  PubDate: 2012-09-01