Where to from here? Career choices of pre-service teachers undertaking a dual early childhood / primary qualification

Recent Australian government initiatives in the early childhood education and care sector are placing demands for an increase in the number of degree qualified early childhood teachers. Many universities are now offering courses with dual qualifications as a way to provide alternate career opportunities for pre-service teachers; however it cannot be assumed that an equal number of graduates will filter into both primary school and early childhood education jobs. This paper presents a study which examined the expected career choices of pre-service teachers from two Victorian universities who were undertaking a dual early childhood / primary qualification. The findings of the study have implications for teacher education curriculum design in relation to the practical components of courses. The authors therefore argue that more attention needs to be focused on the practical components of teacher training courses considering issues of quality and timing.

First choice : early childhood

The report provides recommendations to inform the development of the DEECD First Choice: Early Childhood program through the identification and documentation of early childhood student teachers’ expectations and perceptions of their workforce destination after graduating with a teaching qualification that enables employment in both a primary school and an early childhood education and care setting. The focus is on understanding the reasons impacting on the choices and perceptions of early childhood student teachers as to their employment destination.

Tracking of dietary intakes in early childhood : the Melbourne InFANT program

Background/Objectives: The objectives of the present study were to describe food and nutrient intakes in children aged 9 and 18 months, and to assess tracking of intakes between these two ages.

Subjects/Methods: Participants were 177 children of first-time mothers from the control arm of the Melbourne Infant Feeding Activity and Nutrition Trial (InFANT) Program. Dietary intake was collected at 9 and 18 months using three 24 h diet recalls. Tracking was assessed for food and nutrient intakes using logistic regression analysis and estimating partial correlation coefficients, respectively.

Results: Although overall nutrient intakes estimated in this study did not indicate a particular risk of nutrient deficiency, our findings suggest that consumption of energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods occurred as early as 9 months of age, with some of these foods tracking highly over the weaning period. Intakes of healthier foods such as fruits, vegetables, dairy products, eggs, fish and water were also relatively stable over this transition from infancy to toddlerhood, along with moderate tracking for riboflavin, iodine, fibre, calcium and iron. Tracking was low but close to ρ=0.3 for zinc, magnesium and potassium intakes.

Conclusions: The tracking of energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods has important implications for public health, given the development of early eating behaviours is likely to be modifiable. At this stage of life, dietary intakes are largely influenced by the foods parents provide, parental feeding practices and modelling. This study supports the importance of promoting healthy dietary trajectories from infancy.

Mediators of dietary patterns in an intervention to improve early childhood nutrition

This thesis assessed the effect of a novel health promotion intervention on early childhood nutrition. It found that improved maternal nutrition knowledge and reduced maternal use of rewards in child feeding were important contributors to improving child dietary patterns.

Myths, mysteries and mates : the experiences of culturally diverse early childhood student teachers.

An initial finding of a PhD study to explore the experiences of culturally diverse early childhood student teachers was that participants found the first year of study the hardest, with peer friendships being critical to success. Through narrative interviews, recent early childhood teacher education graduates reported that making friends proved to be an important survival strategy, restoring a positive sense of self. Vartuli (2005) highlighted the importance of positive self-perception in student teachers, linking this to ongoing teaching practice. This paper discusses the importance of student friendships in relation to successfully completing the first year of teacher education.

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.

Mentoring for early childhood teachers: research report 2012

This report presents an exploration of mentoring, mentoring models and evaluates the capacity of the early childhood sector to support mentoring of early childhood teachers. Included in the report is the investigation of the mentoring model used by VIT for provisionally registered teachers and other models currently employed by cluster managers and local governments.

Findings from a previous project which involved a review of the literature surrounding effective professional learning models for supporting early career early childhood teachers (Mayer & Nolan, 2008) informed the early stages of this work. Mayer and Nolan’s (2008) work highlighted supportive models of professional learning implemented both nationally and internationally and the important role mentoring played within successful models. This work provided the stimulus for a more focused and updated literature review and also provided the background to a more localised study of mentoring models currently being implemented across Victoria.

The research mapped programs that were currently on offer to kindergarten teachers across the state providing information about program design, delivery and content. The DEECD, whilst not holding information relating to the availability of alternative mentoring programs, did have anecdotal information that these mentoring initiatives did exist in varying forms across regions.

A health promotion intervention can affect diet quality in early childhood

Initiatives to promote children’s nutrition and prevent childhood obesity are vital. Dietary patterns are a useful way to characterize whole diets, though no previous early childhood health promotion trial has assessed intervention impact using this approach. This research aimed to assess the effect on young children’s dietary patterns of a healthy eating and physical activity intervention. The Melbourne Infant Feeding Activity and Nutrition Trial (InFANT) Program was a health promotion cluster-randomized controlled trial involving 542 families. Child diets were assessed by multiple 24-hour recalls post-intervention, at approximately 18 months of age. An Obesity Protective Dietary Index was created, and dietary patterns were also assessed by principal components analysis. These outcomes were used to compare intervention and control participants to test the effectiveness of the intervention. Children in the intervention arm scored significantly higher (15.6 ± 5.9) than those in the control arm (14.5 ± 6.7) for the Obesity Protective Dietary Index (scores out of 30, p=0.01). Three dietary patterns were identified by principal components analysis, however, scores were not significantly different between intervention and control arms. In conclusion, this paper presents novel results in both the evaluation of an early childhood health promotion intervention and in the assessment of child dietary patterns. The results highlight the capacity for such an initiative to improve child diets, and the need for further research in this area.

Early childhood predictors of toddlers' physical activity: longitudinal findings from the Melbourne InFANT program

Background: