Strong Foundations: Evidence informing practice in early childhood education
Chapter 9 acknowledges children as capable agentic citizens in their own right, with the chapter ... more Chapter 9 acknowledges children as capable agentic citizens in their own right, with the chapter describing what children’s agency looks like and how educators can facilitate it. The chapter discusses research findings that have implications for practice, showing how educators can identify and support children’s agency. An expanded theorization of children’s agency is shared, to provide children with opportunities to enact their agency in ECEC settings.https://research.acer.edu.au/strong-foundations/1008/thumbnail.jp
Australia is a vast country. It is the largest country in Oceania and the sixth largest country i... more Australia is a vast country. It is the largest country in Oceania and the sixth largest country in the world by total area. The Commonwealth of Australia comprises 6 states and 2 territories with a total population of over 25 million people, mainly focused down the south-eastern coast line and concentrated in the capital cities of each state and territory. With respect to early childhood education and care (ECEC), the development of services across the country has changed considerably over time. From families making their own informal care arrangements decades ago, to the more recent era where the Federal government has widened and increased access to ECEC with the aim to raise the quality of children’s learning and development outcomes. Using readily available government documents, this article follows the development of ECEC in Australia from its informal beginnings to recent times where the sector has been through a reform phase resulting in the National Quality Framework (NQF) guiding the nation’s ECEC quality agenda. With a view to higher educational outcomes leading to better employment and advancement in social conditions, there remain considerable obstacles to realizing a full and seamless quality implementation. In this article, we discuss some of the challenges that lay ahead for ECEC in Australia, and provide some suggestions on how these challenges can be addressed
In recent times, education policy and reform discourses have become increasingly politicised by n... more In recent times, education policy and reform discourses have become increasingly politicised by neo-liberalism, with critical policy methodologies struggling to catch up. Critical policy sociologists have noted that critical commentaries rarely succeed in changing or impacting dominant education policy pathways. This article presents a framework for critical engagement in education policy drawing on Foucauldian notions of governmentality, with the aim to imagine a path to policy discourse intervention, or truth-telling. The ‘affirmative discourse intervention’ model comprises three interrelated processes to engage and respond to discourse as a function of governmentality: discourse recognition, discourse disruption and discourse agency. The article outlines the affirmative discourse intervention model and its theoretical underpinnings, then draws on data from the recent and ongoing Australian early childhood quality reform policy to illustrate the affirmative discourse intervention ...
Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, 2016
This chapter introduces, explores, and analyzes Australian policies with respect to early childho... more This chapter introduces, explores, and analyzes Australian policies with respect to early childhood education (ECE). It does this by using the 3A2S framework: accessibility, affordability, accountability, sustainability, and social justice. The last decade has seen large-scale and significant changes to the Australian early childhood sector, an ambitious reform agenda that is still in process. The major features of these changes have seen early childhood education move from a sanctuary for children’s health and safety while their parents worked to settings advocating for young children’s educational development. Discourse has shifted from ECE viewed as a “cost” to government and families to an “investment” for the future of the social and economic growth of the country, leading to a more highly educated workforce.
Abstract It has been seven years since the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) was introduced i... more Abstract It has been seven years since the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) was introduced in Australia and four years since the National Quality Standard (NQS) was implemented. To gain insight into how educators are understanding practice in the Australian early childhood and care context, the study draws on a praxeological frame where educators have the opportunity to inquire and critically reflect on practice in a supported research environment. Data were analysed using critical discourse analysis, enabling a close examination of participant reflections and understandings about practice. Findings reveal that educators are confident when describing their teaching using familiar educational discourse, whereas educators were apprehensive when confronted with new and unfamiliar concepts. The third finding illustrates the ways educators gain confidence with unfamiliar policy discourse. The study’s findings add to limited empirical evidence about how early childhood educators understand key concepts introduced by the EYLF and NQS.
This final report documents the completion of the Practice Review on support for children and fam... more This final report documents the completion of the Practice Review on support for children and families at risk of experiencing vulnerability in early years transitions for the Victorian Department of Education and Training (DET). The data that has informed this report is state-wide (Victoria). Provided within this report are many encouraging examples of effective and promising practices from Victorian DET regions across the State informed by the accounts of those involved. While the data is not exhaustive, it showcases and illustrates many promising transition practices happening throughout Victoria. A rapid literature review, commissioned by DET and conducted by Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and the Brotherhood of St Laurence (Kochanoff, Krakouer, Mitchell & Trevitt, 2016), informed the methodology and findings of this report.
Young children’s spatial reasoning is critical to mathematics learning from an early age. Recent ... more Young children’s spatial reasoning is critical to mathematics learning from an early age. Recent reviews have drawn attention to the importance of mathematical experiences in the early years; however, an explicit focus on research in spatial reasoning can contribute to a more coherent account of the field. This paper reports a scoping review of qualitative studies (n = 37) during the years 2009–2021. The studies analysed in this review provide insight into children’s embodied spatial concepts and non-verbal expressions such as gesture and the relationship between spatial reasoning and mathematics learning in early childhood (birth to 8 years). Four main themes were found: (i) children’s manipulation and transformation of objects, (ii) children’s bodily engagement with and within spaces, (iii) children’s representation and interpretation of spatial experiences, and (iv) contexts for spatial learning. While the review illuminates a deeper awareness and a more holistic and embodied vie...
International Handbook of Early Childhood Education, 2018
In our introduction to the section on early childhood pedagogies, we point out and discuss some k... more In our introduction to the section on early childhood pedagogies, we point out and discuss some key features of the represented approaches: Frobel, HighScope, Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP), Waldorf, Cultural-Historical, Montessori, and Reggio Emilia. Each approach is briefly located in a cultural and historical frame. We then analyze and critically discuss the leading metaphors of the reasoning behind these approaches.
Drawing from recent research literature, this article analyses the paradigmatic and pedagogical s... more Drawing from recent research literature, this article analyses the paradigmatic and pedagogical shifts occurring in early childhood education due to the emergence of new digital technologies. Over the past decade the role that computers and other digital technologies have played in supporting young children’s learning have been well documented. However, new pedagogical possibilities to support children’s play, learning and inquiries are arising due to tablet technologies (For example, Apple iPads, Kindle or Google Chrome OS). This article has reviewed and analysed recently published research findings in the Australian early childhood context (preschool through to the first year of primary school) considering how tablet technologies are used and understood in this environment. A critical discourse analysis has identified pedagogical possibilities and limitations experienced by teachers, children and their families, when tablet technologies are used as a resource to support children’s play and learning.
Critical issues in early childhood education, Apr 1, 2005
At the dawn of the new century it was inevitable to reflect on the state of the world and our liv... more At the dawn of the new century it was inevitable to reflect on the state of the world and our lives in them. One of the most obvious manifestations of the change from one century to the next was the apprehension that surrounded the actual event. We were prepared for the ultimate disaster when it was predicted that our daily activities that relied so much on computer networks, would fail, public transport systems would be thrown into chaos and capitalism and commerce would disintegrate as records were lost and business halted. All ...
The study investigated early childhood teacher decision making at the preschool level in the stat... more The study investigated early childhood teacher decision making at the preschool level in the state of Victoria, Australia. Victorian teachers at the preschool level were in an interesting position in 2004. Unlike most other Australian states Victoria did not have a curriculum framework guiding educational content and pedagogy. Consequently, this study was able to take advantage of this situation and examine teacher decision making at a time when early childhood teachers were relatively autonomous in deciding curriculum content. The ...
Strong Foundations: Evidence informing practice in early childhood education
Chapter 9 acknowledges children as capable agentic citizens in their own right, with the chapter ... more Chapter 9 acknowledges children as capable agentic citizens in their own right, with the chapter describing what children’s agency looks like and how educators can facilitate it. The chapter discusses research findings that have implications for practice, showing how educators can identify and support children’s agency. An expanded theorization of children’s agency is shared, to provide children with opportunities to enact their agency in ECEC settings.https://research.acer.edu.au/strong-foundations/1008/thumbnail.jp
Australia is a vast country. It is the largest country in Oceania and the sixth largest country i... more Australia is a vast country. It is the largest country in Oceania and the sixth largest country in the world by total area. The Commonwealth of Australia comprises 6 states and 2 territories with a total population of over 25 million people, mainly focused down the south-eastern coast line and concentrated in the capital cities of each state and territory. With respect to early childhood education and care (ECEC), the development of services across the country has changed considerably over time. From families making their own informal care arrangements decades ago, to the more recent era where the Federal government has widened and increased access to ECEC with the aim to raise the quality of children’s learning and development outcomes. Using readily available government documents, this article follows the development of ECEC in Australia from its informal beginnings to recent times where the sector has been through a reform phase resulting in the National Quality Framework (NQF) guiding the nation’s ECEC quality agenda. With a view to higher educational outcomes leading to better employment and advancement in social conditions, there remain considerable obstacles to realizing a full and seamless quality implementation. In this article, we discuss some of the challenges that lay ahead for ECEC in Australia, and provide some suggestions on how these challenges can be addressed
In recent times, education policy and reform discourses have become increasingly politicised by n... more In recent times, education policy and reform discourses have become increasingly politicised by neo-liberalism, with critical policy methodologies struggling to catch up. Critical policy sociologists have noted that critical commentaries rarely succeed in changing or impacting dominant education policy pathways. This article presents a framework for critical engagement in education policy drawing on Foucauldian notions of governmentality, with the aim to imagine a path to policy discourse intervention, or truth-telling. The ‘affirmative discourse intervention’ model comprises three interrelated processes to engage and respond to discourse as a function of governmentality: discourse recognition, discourse disruption and discourse agency. The article outlines the affirmative discourse intervention model and its theoretical underpinnings, then draws on data from the recent and ongoing Australian early childhood quality reform policy to illustrate the affirmative discourse intervention ...
Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, 2016
This chapter introduces, explores, and analyzes Australian policies with respect to early childho... more This chapter introduces, explores, and analyzes Australian policies with respect to early childhood education (ECE). It does this by using the 3A2S framework: accessibility, affordability, accountability, sustainability, and social justice. The last decade has seen large-scale and significant changes to the Australian early childhood sector, an ambitious reform agenda that is still in process. The major features of these changes have seen early childhood education move from a sanctuary for children’s health and safety while their parents worked to settings advocating for young children’s educational development. Discourse has shifted from ECE viewed as a “cost” to government and families to an “investment” for the future of the social and economic growth of the country, leading to a more highly educated workforce.
Abstract It has been seven years since the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) was introduced i... more Abstract It has been seven years since the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) was introduced in Australia and four years since the National Quality Standard (NQS) was implemented. To gain insight into how educators are understanding practice in the Australian early childhood and care context, the study draws on a praxeological frame where educators have the opportunity to inquire and critically reflect on practice in a supported research environment. Data were analysed using critical discourse analysis, enabling a close examination of participant reflections and understandings about practice. Findings reveal that educators are confident when describing their teaching using familiar educational discourse, whereas educators were apprehensive when confronted with new and unfamiliar concepts. The third finding illustrates the ways educators gain confidence with unfamiliar policy discourse. The study’s findings add to limited empirical evidence about how early childhood educators understand key concepts introduced by the EYLF and NQS.
This final report documents the completion of the Practice Review on support for children and fam... more This final report documents the completion of the Practice Review on support for children and families at risk of experiencing vulnerability in early years transitions for the Victorian Department of Education and Training (DET). The data that has informed this report is state-wide (Victoria). Provided within this report are many encouraging examples of effective and promising practices from Victorian DET regions across the State informed by the accounts of those involved. While the data is not exhaustive, it showcases and illustrates many promising transition practices happening throughout Victoria. A rapid literature review, commissioned by DET and conducted by Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and the Brotherhood of St Laurence (Kochanoff, Krakouer, Mitchell & Trevitt, 2016), informed the methodology and findings of this report.
Young children’s spatial reasoning is critical to mathematics learning from an early age. Recent ... more Young children’s spatial reasoning is critical to mathematics learning from an early age. Recent reviews have drawn attention to the importance of mathematical experiences in the early years; however, an explicit focus on research in spatial reasoning can contribute to a more coherent account of the field. This paper reports a scoping review of qualitative studies (n = 37) during the years 2009–2021. The studies analysed in this review provide insight into children’s embodied spatial concepts and non-verbal expressions such as gesture and the relationship between spatial reasoning and mathematics learning in early childhood (birth to 8 years). Four main themes were found: (i) children’s manipulation and transformation of objects, (ii) children’s bodily engagement with and within spaces, (iii) children’s representation and interpretation of spatial experiences, and (iv) contexts for spatial learning. While the review illuminates a deeper awareness and a more holistic and embodied vie...
International Handbook of Early Childhood Education, 2018
In our introduction to the section on early childhood pedagogies, we point out and discuss some k... more In our introduction to the section on early childhood pedagogies, we point out and discuss some key features of the represented approaches: Frobel, HighScope, Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP), Waldorf, Cultural-Historical, Montessori, and Reggio Emilia. Each approach is briefly located in a cultural and historical frame. We then analyze and critically discuss the leading metaphors of the reasoning behind these approaches.
Drawing from recent research literature, this article analyses the paradigmatic and pedagogical s... more Drawing from recent research literature, this article analyses the paradigmatic and pedagogical shifts occurring in early childhood education due to the emergence of new digital technologies. Over the past decade the role that computers and other digital technologies have played in supporting young children’s learning have been well documented. However, new pedagogical possibilities to support children’s play, learning and inquiries are arising due to tablet technologies (For example, Apple iPads, Kindle or Google Chrome OS). This article has reviewed and analysed recently published research findings in the Australian early childhood context (preschool through to the first year of primary school) considering how tablet technologies are used and understood in this environment. A critical discourse analysis has identified pedagogical possibilities and limitations experienced by teachers, children and their families, when tablet technologies are used as a resource to support children’s play and learning.
Critical issues in early childhood education, Apr 1, 2005
At the dawn of the new century it was inevitable to reflect on the state of the world and our liv... more At the dawn of the new century it was inevitable to reflect on the state of the world and our lives in them. One of the most obvious manifestations of the change from one century to the next was the apprehension that surrounded the actual event. We were prepared for the ultimate disaster when it was predicted that our daily activities that relied so much on computer networks, would fail, public transport systems would be thrown into chaos and capitalism and commerce would disintegrate as records were lost and business halted. All ...
The study investigated early childhood teacher decision making at the preschool level in the stat... more The study investigated early childhood teacher decision making at the preschool level in the state of Victoria, Australia. Victorian teachers at the preschool level were in an interesting position in 2004. Unlike most other Australian states Victoria did not have a curriculum framework guiding educational content and pedagogy. Consequently, this study was able to take advantage of this situation and examine teacher decision making at a time when early childhood teachers were relatively autonomous in deciding curriculum content. The ...
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