Joanne Lehrer
Université du Québec en Outaouais, Sciences de l'éducation, Faculty Member
- Early Childhood Education, Play, Childrens Geographies, Early Childhood, Sociology of Children and Childhood, Researching the transition from reception to year one in primary schools., and 14 moreTransition to Kindergarten, Forest Kindergarten Program, Preschool Education, Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education, Preschool to Kindergarten Transition, Childhood studies, Early Childhood Care and Education, Children and Families, Anthropology of Children and Childhood, Children's Play, Childcare policy, Family Involvement in early childhood programs, Intensive Parenting, and Poetic Inquiryedit
Le concept de l’image de l’enfant illustre les croyances d’un individu, d’un groupe, d’une societe envers la definition de l’enfance. La conception de l’image de l’enfant influence le type d’education qui leur est offert. A Reggio Emilia,... more
Le concept de l’image de l’enfant illustre les croyances d’un individu, d’un groupe, d’une societe envers la definition de l’enfance. La conception de l’image de l’enfant influence le type d’education qui leur est offert. A Reggio Emilia, une pedagogie particuliere est developpee s’articulant autour de la vision d’un enfant competent. L’approche vise l’exploration et valorise les relations sociales. Le programme educatif quebecois valorise l’implication de l’enfant dans son milieu de garde. Il presente l’enfant comme un etre ayant des besoins et il vise la stimulation. L’inspiration de l’approche de Reggio Emilia en service de garde au Quebec engendre donc une demarche reflexive quant a l’image de l’enfant preconisee.
Research Interests:
This article critically examines Quebec policy and programs related to children’s transition to kindergarten, with a particular focus on “hard to reach” families (Hong, 2009; Mapp et Hong, 2010): those that are low-income, have limited... more
This article critically examines Quebec policy and programs related to children’s transition to kindergarten, with a particular focus on “hard to reach” families (Hong, 2009; Mapp et Hong, 2010): those that are low-income, have limited levels of formal education, are part of racialized groups, speak a mother tongue other than English or French, and/or are recent immigrants. A conceptual analysis of parent pedagogicalization (Popkewitz, 2003) and of the difference between the transition to school and school readiness is followed by a review of the literature on children from “hard to reach” families beginning school. Five themes are identified in the literature: socio-demographic characteristics and academic achievement, the neighbourhood environment, transition practices, parent perspectives, and classroom processes. The article concludes with implications for policy, practice, and further research in order to support children’s transition to kindergarten from a strength-based, as o...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The transition from kindergarten to Grade 1 is marked by a sudden decrease in children’s play time (Broström, 2005; Hartmann & Rollett, 1994). This study sought to examine 69 Montreal-area Grade 1 children’s beliefs about out of school... more
The transition from kindergarten to Grade 1 is marked by a sudden decrease in children’s play time (Broström, 2005; Hartmann & Rollett, 1994). This study sought to examine 69 Montreal-area Grade 1 children’s beliefs about out of school play, as well as their parents’ (N = 56) perceptions of their play. Findings indicate that parents value play for their child’s development and education, for building relationships and self-esteem, for processing emotional experiences, for relaxation, and for fun. Many parents expressed a preference for active outdoor play, as well as pretend and creative play, board games, and puzzles, explaining that they discouraged television and video games, aggressive play, and play with sexual themes. Children reported enjoying active outdoor play, toys, construction and art activities, and video game play, with parents, siblings, friends, and pets. Limitations to play included lack of neighbourhood children, parents or siblings who did not play, and restricti...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This chapter presents a narrative multi-case study that draws on a postocolonial and postmodern narrative theoretical framework and methodology. The narratives recounted by three mothers, four educators, and home-childcare communication... more
This chapter presents a narrative multi-case study that draws on a postocolonial and postmodern narrative theoretical framework and methodology. The narratives recounted by three mothers, four educators, and home-childcare communication documents concerning the children's upcoming transition to school and educator-parent relationships are presented. For example, Marie-Eve’s narrative is centred around her own sense of comfort at the childcare centre; focuses on the difficulties of transitioning between educators for her son, Mateo; and explains why she believes that he will do well in school. She also identifies home routines to modify once her son starts school. Anne, Mateo’s educator, describes Marie-Eve’s involvement in centre activities, and blames Marie-Eve’s difficulty with Mateo’s transition from group to group on the fact that she is a single mother of an only child. Nicholas has two different educators, Suzanne and Nadia. His mother Audrey is thrilled with her experienc...
Research Interests:
Cet article presente les resultats d’une etude multicas sur le role des centres de la petite enfance (CPE) au Quebec dans la preparation de la transition vers la maternelle des enfants et de leurs familles. La recherche s’appuie sur un... more
Cet article presente les resultats d’une etude multicas sur le role des centres de la petite enfance (CPE) au Quebec dans la preparation de la transition vers la maternelle des enfants et de leurs familles. La recherche s’appuie sur un modele de co-construction de la transition vers l’ecole et sur une vision d’une relation partagee des relations avec les familles. L’analyse des entretiens avec les educatrices et les meres de sept enfants de quatre ans revele trois themes de discussion : la preparation de l’enfant, le soutien au parent, et les rituels de transition. Ces themes font reference aux pratiques de transition formelles et informelles, aux attitudes et aux perceptions au sujet des besoins des enfants pour etre « prets » pour l’ecole et sur le fonctionnement de la maternelle.
Research Interests:
The de velopmental model of transition Pianta and colleagues outlined emphasizes the interconnected relationships among the child, teacher, family, peers, and community that are developed across time (Pianta & Kraft -Sayre, 2003). Thi s... more
The de velopmental model of transition Pianta and colleagues outlined emphasizes the interconnected relationships among the child, teacher, family, peers, and community that are developed across time (Pianta & Kraft -Sayre, 2003). Thi s study focused on the use of transition practices as perceived by parents and teachers. Parents (8 groups) and 23 teachers of 95 children engaged in focus group discussions at the beginning and during the kindergarten year. Overall, teachers reported similar school-mandated practices, such as gradual entry, small group meetings on the fir st day of school, and a parent orientation meeting on the night before school starts. The se transition practices were welcomed by parents and were consistent with the majority of transition practices reported in other kindergarten studies in North America (e.g., La Paro, Pianta, & Cox 2000; Nelson, 2004; Yeom, 1998). Both parents and teachers valued communication; however, parents oft en found it diffic ult to navig...
Research Interests:
HALL, E. L. & RUDKIN, J. K. Seen & heard: Children’s rights in early childhood education. London, ON: Althouse Press. (2011). 115 pp. $28.95 (Paperback). (ISBN 978-0-920354-72-8).
This study presents the results of a narrative inquiry into the roles of early childhood educators and centres in preparing four-year-old children and their parents for their upcoming transition to kindergarten (the first year of school),... more
This study presents the results of a narrative inquiry into the roles of early childhood educators and centres in preparing four-year-old children and their parents for their upcoming transition to kindergarten (the first year of school), in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Participants were seven mothers and the seven educators working with their children. Results revealed four themes: preparing the child; supporting the parent; transition rituals; and a rupture. Educators and parents described formal transition practices, often discussed in the literature, as well as informal transition practices, rarely acknowledged in research studies; and educator and parent attitudes and perceptions regarding what children need in order to be ‘ready’ for school as well as what will happen once they begin school.
Research Interests:
The objective of this study was to examine how childcare quantity, type, and quality are related in predicting externalising and internalising behaviours of 36-month-old children attending childcare from infancy. The association between... more
The objective of this study was to examine how childcare quantity, type, and quality are related in predicting externalising and internalising behaviours of 36-month-old children attending childcare from infancy. The association between childcare attendance and children’s behavioural difficulties appears to be better understood when taking into account childcare quantity, type, and structural and process quality (e.g. Jacob, 2009). However few studies have considered dynamic relationships between these variables. The ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner 1979, 2005, Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998) nests child development in the centre of a multi-layered ecological system. Based on this, Mashburn and Pianta (2010) have conceptualised how some childcare variables. The sample included 70 children who attended the same childcare service from the age of 10 months. At 24 months-old, data on the childcare quantity, type and quality were collected through questionnaires and observation s...
Research Interests:
We are five early childhood researchers, from across Canada, thrown together amongst a series of alarming discourses, where developmental, economic, and neuroscientific rationales for ECEC drown out alternative theoretical perspectives,... more
We are five early childhood researchers, from across Canada, thrown together amongst a series of alarming discourses, where developmental, economic, and neuroscientific rationales for ECEC drown out alternative theoretical perspectives, as well as personal experience, values, subjective knowledges, and the fierce passion we feel for our work. In the midst of this “throwntogethness” (Massey, 2005), how do we bring our situated knowings and desires to these discursive material relational mashups? How do we engage with the throwntogetherness that is the Canadian ECEC field as we knit together alternative ways of being, doing, and acting, figuring out what resonates in localized situations (Osgood, 2006)? To begin to answer these questions, we think with feminist theory (Bezanson; 2018; Langford et al., 2016; Prentice, 2009); the politics of the event of place, (Massey, 2005) and relational and spatial networked discursive entanglements (Massey, 2005; Nichols et al., 2012; Ingold, 1995;...
Research Interests:
Cette etude longitudinale documente l’evolution des habiletes et des pratiques de communication des parents issus de familles ayant des besoins complexes avant, pendant et apres que leur enfant frequente un service de garde ou se deroule... more
Cette etude longitudinale documente l’evolution des habiletes et des pratiques de communication des parents issus de familles ayant des besoins complexes avant, pendant et apres que leur enfant frequente un service de garde ou se deroule un stage novateur. Mis en place au sein d’un programme d’education a l’enfance il vise a preparer les futures educatrices a etablir des relations avec les familles, en partenariat avec un centre jeunesse. Seize parents et quatre formatrices ont participe a l’etude. Les donnees proviennent d’un questionnaire sur les interactions des parents avec le personnel de la Halte-garderie. Les resultats suggerent que les habiletes relationnelles des parents avec le personnel de la Halte-garderie se sont ameliorees entre le debut et la fin du programme et que les habilites parentales se sont aussi ameliorees de facon significative. La discussion aborde le type de soutien offert aux familles a la Halte-garderie qui influe positivement sur la qualite des relations entretenues entre les etudiantes-stagiaires et les parents en situation de vulnerabilite ainsi qu’entre les parents et leurs enfants.
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT This article explores how documents play a role in shaping perceptions of children, professionals, and parents during the transition from childcare to kindergarten in Québec. Positioning analysis was used to explore... more
ABSTRACT This article explores how documents play a role in shaping perceptions of children, professionals, and parents during the transition from childcare to kindergarten in Québec. Positioning analysis was used to explore governmentality, documentality, and interobjectivity in the communication agendas and child assessment documents of seven children. Results revealed that communication agendas constructed different images of the ideal child, professional, and parent in childcare and in school. Assessment documents in both settings categorise children as either ‘doing well’ or ‘at-risk’, position professionals as experts, and parents as playing a supportive and often passive role with regard to their children’s education.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT Rethinking Readiness in Early Childhood Education seeks to reimagine the current educational worlds and standards for young children. Iorio and Parnell challenge traditional conceptions of readiness in early childhood education... more
ABSTRACT Rethinking Readiness in Early Childhood Education seeks to reimagine the current educational worlds and standards for young children. Iorio and Parnell challenge traditional conceptions of readiness in early childhood education by sharing concrete examples of practice, policy and histories that rethink readiness and its various social, cultural, political and economic constructions. Offering alternatives to the narrowing early childhood curriculum and creating space for debate, the editors and contributors ask the reader to take an active role in shaping children's education through responsive and responsible policies and practices that place the children, families, educators, and voices of the school community first.
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT The objective of this longitudinal study was to examine the relationship between screen time (ST) and children’s motor proficiency. The amount of time 113 children spent watching television, using a computer, and playing video... more
ABSTRACT The objective of this longitudinal study was to examine the relationship between screen time (ST) and children’s motor proficiency. The amount of time 113 children spent watching television, using a computer, and playing video games as reported by parents at ages 4, 5, and 7 was measured and children’s motor skills were evaluated at age 7 with the short version of the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency Second Edition. The results revealed that children who spent more time in front of a screen at age 4 also do so at ages 5 and 7. A negative relationship was observed between ST at ages 4, 5, and 7 and motor proficiency at age 7. Mediation analysis suggested that the negative effect of ST at age 4 on motor competence was mediated by ST at age 7. This result emphasizes the adverse influence of ST stability on motor proficiency.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
We are five early childhood researchers, from across Canada, thrown together amongst a series of alarming discourses, where developmental, economic, and neuroscientific rationales for ECEC drown out alternative theoretical perspectives,... more
We are five early childhood researchers, from across Canada, thrown together amongst a series of alarming discourses, where developmental, economic, and neuroscientific rationales for ECEC drown out alternative theoretical perspectives, as well as personal experience, values, subjective knowledges, and the fierce passion we feel for our work. In the midst of this "throwntogethness" (Massey, 2005), how do we bring our situated knowings and desires to these discursive material relational mashups? How do we engage with the throwntogetherness that is the Canadian ECEC field as we knit together alternative ways of being, doing, and acting, figuring out what resonates in localized situations (Osgood, 2006)? To begin to answer these questions, we think with feminist theory (Bezanson; 2018; Langford et al., 2016; Prentice, 2009); the politics of the event of place, (Massey, 2005) and relational and spatial networked discursive entanglements (Massey, 2005; Nichols et al., 2012; Ingold, 1995; Haraway, 2016) as we untangle three vignettes related to advocating for a competent universal public ECEC system; writing post-developmental curriculum frameworks; and weaving productive relationships between university researchers and early childhood practitioners. These vignettes illuminate our struggles to "stay with the trouble," as Haraway (2016) suggests, stubbornly hanging on to the hope of producing new terms of belonging (Burns & Lundh, 2011) as a form of resistance, allowing us to open up spaces to imagine, tell alternative stories (Moss, 2014), and create real change within our local contexts.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This study presents the results of a narrative inquiry into the roles of early childhood educators and centres in preparing four-year-old children and their parents for their upcoming transition to kindergarten (the first year of school),... more
This study presents the results of a narrative inquiry into the roles of early childhood educators and centres in preparing four-year-old children and their parents for their upcoming transition to kindergarten (the first year of school), in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Participants were seven mothers and the seven educators working with their children. Results revealed four themes: preparing the child; supporting the parent; transition rituals; and a rupture. Educators and parents described formal transition practices, often discussed in the literature, as well as informal transition practices, rarely acknowledged in research studies; and educator and parent attitudes and perceptions regarding what children need in order to be 'ready' for school as well as what will happen once they begin school.
Research Interests:
This article explores how documents play a role in shaping perceptions of children, professionals, and parents during the transition from childcare to kindergarten in Québec. Positioning analysis was used to explore governmentality,... more
This article explores how documents play a role in shaping perceptions of children, professionals, and parents during the transition from childcare to kindergarten in Québec. Positioning analysis was used to explore governmentality, documentality, and interobjectivity in the communication agendas and child assessment documents of seven children. Results revealed that communication agendas constructed different images of the ideal child, professional, and parent in childcare and in school. Assessment documents in both settings categorise children as either ‘doing well’ or ‘at-risk’, position professionals as experts, and parents as playing a supportive and often passive role with regard to their children’s education.
Research Interests:
Certains auteurs opposent la « qualité » comme un concept universel, objectif et normé à une approche de « faire sens » contextualisée, dynamique et subjective. Au-delà de différences culturelles, il paraît par contre possible de partager... more
Certains auteurs opposent la « qualité » comme un concept universel, objectif et normé à une approche de « faire sens » contextualisée, dynamique et subjective. Au-delà de différences culturelles, il paraît par contre possible de partager une base commune quant à ce qui est bénéfique pour le développement, l'apprentissage et le bien-être des enfants. Une approche hybride entre la qualité et le faire sens comporterait trois défis dont il sera question dans cet article. Ce texte conclut qu’une base commune solide est pertinente, mais qu'utiliser aveuglément un instrument américain pour la mesurer hors des États-Unis peut comporter un risque latent de transmission de valeurs étrangères.
Research Interests:
Cet article présente les résultats d'une étude multicas sur le rôle des centres de la petite enfance (CPE) au Québec dans la préparation de la transition vers la maternelle des enfants et de leurs familles. La recherche s'appuie sur un... more
Cet article présente les résultats d'une étude multicas sur le rôle des centres de la petite enfance (CPE) au Québec dans la préparation de la transition vers la maternelle des enfants et de leurs familles. La recherche s'appuie sur un modèle de co-construction de la transition vers l'école et sur une vision d'une relation partagée des relations avec les familles. L'analyse des entretiens avec les éducatrices et les mères de sept enfants de quatre ans révèle trois thèmes de discussion : la préparation de l'enfant, le soutien au parent, et les rituels de transition. Ces thèmes font référence aux pratiques de transition formelles et informelles, aux attitudes et aux perceptions au sujet des besoins des enfants pour être « prêts » pour l'école et sur le fonctionnement de la maternelle.
Research Interests:
Le concept de l'image de l'enfant illustre les croyances d'un individu, d'un groupe et d'une société envers la définition de l'enfance. La conception de l'image de l'enfant influence le type d'éducation qui lui est offert. À Reggio... more
Le concept de l'image de l'enfant illustre les croyances d'un individu, d'un groupe et d'une société envers la définition de l'enfance. La conception de l'image de l'enfant influence le type d'éducation qui lui est offert. À Reggio Emilia, une pédagogie particulière est développée s'articulant autour de la vision d'un enfant compétent. L'approche encourage l'exploration et valorise les relations sociales. Au Québec, le programme éducatif présente l'enfant comme un être ayant des besoins et vise sa stimulation. L'inspiration de l'approche de Reggio Emilia en service de garde québécois soulève une démarche réflexive quant à l'image de l'enfant préconisée. Cet article décrit les contextes éducatifs de Reggio Emilia et du Québec ainsi que l'image de l'enfant véhiculée dans chacun d'eux.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The current study examined how parental perceptions of child care quality were related to external quality ratings and considered how parental perceptions of quality varied according to child care context (home-based or centre-based... more
The current study examined how parental perceptions of child care quality were related to external quality ratings and considered how parental perceptions of quality varied according to child care context (home-based or centre-based settings). Parents of 179 4-year-old children who attended child care centres (n = 141) and home-based settings (n = 38) in Montreal, Quebec, as well as their educators, participated in the study. Parents were interviewed using the Child Care Satisfaction Rating Scale, a measure of parent perception of child care quality. The home-based and centre-based child care settings were evaluated by research assistants using the Quebec Educational Quality Observation Scale. Correlational analyses revealed significant associations between global satisfaction and quality scores, as well as subscale scores for parental and observational assessments of child care quality. In addition, Chi-square analyses revealed that parental satisfaction with the parent–educator relationship and with their child’s emotional well-being in child care was stronger for children in home-based settings than in centre-based care. This research provided empirical support for parents’ ability to discriminate quality child care. It is argued that quality assessment should take the perspectives of multiple stakeholders into account.
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Play and Children's Play
This article explores the views of professionals from the Centre for Assistance and Support to Initiatives, Organisations, and Professionals in Early Childhood (CASIOPE) and its member organizations on how reflective practice in early... more
This article explores the views of professionals from the Centre for Assistance and Support to Initiatives, Organisations, and Professionals in Early Childhood (CASIOPE) and its member organizations on how reflective practice in early childhood professional learning is understood, put into practice, and evaluated. Findings from this case study reveal that CASIOPE used principles of constructivist learning theories to develop their own reflective process, but that this process is understood incompletely and variably by the majority of its members. Findings are presented in the context of a current struggle to define early childhood professional learning between, on the one hand, a means of improving programme quality, and, on the other hand, a right to which all early childhood professionals are entitled. This study suggests that, in practice, both goals are important to childcare administrators in Montreal, while CASIOPE’s staff members prioritize building relationships, helping people, adapting their services to the needs of all those involved, and professional empowerment.
