Early years research

Early years research is increasingly concerned with the everyday lives of young children and adults in the cut-and-thrust of early years contexts. It is concerned with what happens in situ, that is, in the everyday lives of those within the context. It is concerned with understanding young children and adults in the contexts of their lives; but it goes beyond understanding to transforming their contexts such that children and adults have the best possible chances, now and in the future. The dual focus of understanding and transforming makes early years research a powerful force for change. This chapter explores key theoretical underpinnings of early years research and presents key aspects of conducting research in ethical and sustainable ways. Early years research, here, refers to research conducted by early years practitioner researchers in the context of their own setting. It may involve research around their own practice and/or research around a particular issue or phenomenon of importance in their setting – the focal point may be children, families or practitioners or combinations thereof. The research may be a seamless part of the daily routine of the setting or may be a discreet project, clearly delineated with a timeframe for commencement and conclusion. The research may be used for ongoing reflection and planning with the setting and/or for dissemination in research reports or scholarly publications.

Parent views of play in the Preparatory Year in Queensland

Over the past ten years, Queensland has experienced a period of significant education reform including the introduction in 2007 of a Preparatory Year of schooling for children aged five years. Recently, the development of a new Australian Curriculum represents a further curriculum reform impacting on Prep in Queensland, as Prep is, for the first time, part of the broader school curriculum and specific content is to be taught. The place of play as a context for learning is a current topic of interest during this period of change, and this thesis argues that consideration of parent views with regard to play and its place in Prep is timely and strategic. This thesis reports the findings of a research project that used case study to elicit and describe the ways in which eight parents viewed play in Prep. Analysis of parent interviews identified four themes: (1) parents interpreting play in Prep, (2) play and learning in Prep, (3) the Prep teacher's role in play and (4) parent tensions regarding play and learning in Prep. The results of the study suggest that variation exists in the ways in which parents may view and interpret play in Prep in Queensland. Analysis of the data further suggests that these interpretations may reflect parents' understanding of the Prep program and their attitudes to play and school generally. This thesis suggests that parents may spend limited time in Prep classrooms, which may impact on their understanding of play as a theoretical tenet in Prep and may highlight limitations in parent-teacher partnerships. The results of this study suggest that more attention be given to engaging parents in early childhood programs and eliciting their views on these programs. The results also suggest the importance of early childhood teachers advocating on behalf of play with their teaching colleagues, school leaders and policy makers.

Diversity and Differentiation

New ways of working are being embraced by early childhood educators as they cope with demands from national reforms and changing communities. While reformers are pressing for social equity and improved outcomes for families and children, communities are diverging in terms of ethnicity, culture, language and socioeconomic status. As a consequence, early childhood educators are being challenged to expand their existing repertoire of practices in order to more effectively provide quality learning experiences for every child in their care. Practice enhancement and differentiated pedagogy are needed to address the additional needs of an increasing number of diverse learners. Community expectations are particularly focused on better educational supports for children in five cluster areas: • Culturally diverse and Indigenous backgrounds • ‘at risk’ because of socio-economic and abuse conditions • Communicative, emotional and behavioural disorders • Disabilities and learning difficulties and • Recognised gifts and talents This chapter focuses on some everyday ractices that can be used strategically to better support all children, including those with additional educational needs. All practices are well supported in the literature and are substantiated by either research findings or strong, socially determined values. They also very ‘doable’ and sustainable in today’s dynamic and multifaceted early childhood settings. Seven keys practices will be introduced, together with examples of how they can be applied to both enhance the learning of individual children and to strengthen a sense of group belonging. The practices are: • Having positive beliefs about all children • Learning about each child • Building meaningful relationships around the child • Creating supportive learning environments for the child • Providing engaging learning experiences for the child • Differentiating instruction for the child • Using child progress data to improve learning and teaching

Is quality more important if you’re quirky? A review of the literature on differential susceptibility to childcare environments

Evidence concerning the impact of child care on child development suggests that higher-quality environments, particularly those that are more responsive, predict more favourable social and behavioural outcomes. However, the extent of this effect is not as great as might be expected. Impacts on child outcomes are, at best, modest. One recent explanation emerging from a new theoretical perspective of development, differential susceptibility theory, is that a minority of children are more reactive to both positive and negative environments, while the majority are relatively unaffected. These 'quirky' children have temperamental traits that are more extreme, and are often described in research studies as having 'difficult temperaments'. This paper reviews the literature on such children and argues for the need for further research to identify components of childcare environments that optimise the potential of these more sensitive, quirky individuals.

The relationship between children's emotional and cognitive self-regulation at 2 to 3 years and prosocial behavior in the early years of school

This study used data from Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) to investigate how parent report of children’s emotional and cognitive regulation at age 2-3 years was associated with teacher ratings of children’s prosocial behaviors in the early years of school. A sample of 2,392 children was drawn from the LSAC Birth Cohort for the analyses. The analyses used structural equation modeling to estimate parameters of the relationships between key variables. Within the model, estimates of mother-reported emotional and cognitive regulation at age 2 to 3 years were significantly associated with teacher-reported prosocial behavior at 6 to 7 years. Emotional regulation was a slightly stronger indicator of prosocial behavior than cognitive regulation. Being female and from a family with a higher socioeconomic position were also associated with higher levels of prosocial behavior. Results are discussed in relation to the role of early childhood teachers in fostering children’s self-regulatory behaviors and in providing environments in which empathic and prosocial behaviors are modeled, guided, and scaffolded so that foundations are laid for caring behaviors to be understood and internalized by children.

Still valuing play

Play has had a prominent position in early childhood education and care (ECEC) for over 200 years. As educators, we tend to talk about young children learning through play as a matter of fact. In our first national Early Years Learning Framework (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, 2009), play is promoted as the right of all children, an integral part of being a child and as the prime context for learning in the early years. While the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) defines its use of the term ‘play’, there are differing perspectives on what constitutes play, the relationship between play and learning,and the educator’s role in play. In this context, it might be interesting to go a little deeper, and to look at some different perspectives on play and learning.

Child-related factors that influence teacher-child relationships using an Australian national sample

This study assessed the extent to which child-related factors had an impact on teacher-child relationships in Australian childcare settings. Analyses used data from Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). The sample consisted of 1577 two to three year old children (M= 33.9 months, SD=2.93; 51.5% male). Two separate hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the relation between teachers’ perceptions of their relationships with children and (a) gender, (b), indigenous status, (c), language background other than English, (d), socio-economic position, (e) special health care needs, (f) expression and receptive language concerns, (g) psychosocial competence and problems and (h) temperament factors (approach, persistence and reactivity). Results indicated that special health care needs, receptive language concerns and all three temperament scales (approach, persistence and reactivity) significantly predicted conflict in teacher-child relationships. Close relationships were predicted by being female, indigenous status, higher socio-economic position, not having a special health care need and no expressive language concerns.

Choroidal thickness in childhood

Purpose To examine choroidal thickness (ChT) and its spatial distribution across the posterior pole in pediatric subjects with normal ocular health and minimal refractive error. Methods ChT was assessed using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) in 194 children aged between 4-12 years, with spherical equivalent refractive errors between +1.25 and -0.50 DS. A series of OCT scans were collected, imaging the choroid along 4 radial scan lines centered on the fovea (each separated by 45°). Frame averaging was used to reduce noise and enhance chorio-scleral junction visibility. The transverse scale of each scan was corrected to account for magnification effects associated with axial length. Two independent masked observers manually segmented the OCT images to determine ChT at foveal centre, and averaged across a series of perifoveal zones over the central 5 mm. Results The average subfoveal ChT was 330 ± 65 µm (range 189-538 µm), and was significantly influenced by age (p=0.04). The ChT of the 4 to 6 year old age group (312 ± 62 µm) was significantly thinner compared to the 7 to 9 year olds (337 ± 65 µm, p<0.05) and bordered on significance compared to the 10 to 12 year olds (341 ± 61 µm, p=0.08). ChT also exhibited significant variation across the posterior pole, being thicker in more central regions. The choroid was thinner nasally and inferiorly compared to temporally and superiorly. Multiple regression analysis revealed age, axial length and anterior chamber depth were significantly associated with subfoveal ChT (p<0.001). Conclusions ChT increases significantly from early childhood to adolescence. This appears to be a normal feature of childhood eye growth.

Playing with Grammar in the Early Years : Learning about Language in the Australian Curriculum : English

As teacher/researchers interested in the pursuit of socially-just outcomes in early childhood education, the form and function of language occupies a special position in our work. We believe that mastering a range of literacy competences includes not only the technical skills for learning, but also the resources for viewing and constructing the world (Freire and Macdeo, 1987). Rather than seeing knowledge about language as the accumulation of technical skills alone, the viewpoint to which we subscribe treats knowledge about language as a dialectic that evolves from, is situated in, and contributes to a social arena (Halliday, 1978). We do not shy away from this position just because children are in the early years of schooling. In ‘Playing with Grammar’, we focus on the Foundation to Year 2 grouping, in line with the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority’s (hereafter ACARA) advice on the ‘nature of learners’ (ACARA, 2013). With our focus on the early years of schooling comes our acknowledgement of the importance and complexity of play. At a time where accountability in education has moved many teachers to a sense of urgency to prove language and literacy achievement (Genishi and Dyson, 2009), we encourage space to revisit what we know about literature choices and learning experiences and bring these together to facilitate language learning. We can neither ignore, nor overemphasise, the importance of play for the development of language through: the opportunities presented for creative use and practice; social interactions for real purposes; and, identifying and solving problems in the lives of young children (Marsh and Hallet, 2008). We argue that by engaging young children in opportunities to play with language we are ultimately empowering them to be active in their language learning and in the process fostering a love of language and the intricacies it holds. Our goal in this publication is to provide a range of highly practical strategies for scaffolding young children through some of the Content Descriptions from the Australian Curriculum English Version 5.0, hereafter AC:E V5.0 (ACARA, 2013). This recently released curriculum offers a new theoretical approach to building children’s knowledge about language. The AC:E V5.0 uses selected traditional terms through an approach developed in systemic functional linguistics (see Halliday and Matthiessen, 2004) to highlight the dynamic forms and functions of multimodal language in texts. For example, the following statement, taken from the ‘Language: Knowing about the English language’ strand states: English uses standard grammatical terminology within a contextual framework, in which language choices are seen to vary according to the topics at hand, the nature and proximity of the relationships between the language users, and the modalities or channels of communication available (ACARA, 2013). Put simply, traditional grammar terms are used within a functional framework made up of field, tenor, and mode. An understanding of genre is noted with the reference to a ‘contextual framework’. The ‘topics at hand’ concern the field or subject matter of the text. The ‘relationships between the language users’ is a description of tenor. There is reference to ‘modalities’, such as spoken, written or visual text. We posit that this innovative approach is necessary for working with contemporary multimodal and cross-cultural texts (see Exley and Mills, 2012). We believe there is enormous power in using literature to expose children to the richness of language and in turn develop language and literacy skills. Taking time to look at language patterns within actual literature is a pathway to ‘…capture interest, stir the imagination and absorb the [child]’ into the world of language and literacy (Saxby, 1993, p. 55). In the following three sections, we have tried to remain faithful to our interpretation of the AC:E V5.0 Content Descriptions without giving an exhaustive explanation of the grammatical terms. Other excellent tomes, such as Derewianka (2011), Humphrey, Droga and Feez (2012), and Rossbridge and Rushton (2011) provide these more comprehensive explanations as does the AC:E V5.0 Glossary. We’ve reproduced some of the AC:E V5.0 glossary at the end of this publication. Our focus is on the structure and unfolding of the learning experiences. We outline strategies for working with children in Foundation, Year 1 and Year 2 by providing some demonstration learning experiences based on texts we’ve selected, but maintain that the affordances of these strategies will only be realised when teaching and learning is purposively tied to authentic projects in local contexts. We strongly encourage you not to use only the resource texts we’ve selected, but to capitalise upon your skill for identifying the language features in the texts you and the children are studying and adapt some of the strategies we have outlined. Each learning experience is connected to one of the Content Descriptions from the AC:E V5.0 and contains an experience specific purpose, a suggested resource text and a sequence for the experience that always commences with an orientation to text followed by an examination of a particular grammatical resource. We expect that each of these learning experiences will take a couple if not a few teaching episodes to work through, especially if children are meeting a concept for the first time. We hope you use as much, or as little, of each experience as is needed. Our plans allow for focused discussion, shared exploration and opportunities to revisit the same text for the purpose of enhancing meaning making. We do not want the teaching of grammar to slip into a crisis of irrelevance or to be seen as a series of worksheet drills with finite answers. Strategies for effective practice, however, have much portability. We are both very keen to hear from teachers who are adopting and adapting these learning experiences in their classrooms. Please email us on b.exley@qut.edu.au or lkervin@uow.edu.au. We’d love to continue the conversation with you over time.

Friendships in the early years

Having a best friend or close friend is closely connected to children’s health and well being in the early years. Having friends safeguards children from social isolation and is associated with academic attainment and social success. In early childhood, children often make friends through play or other shared activities. This chapter investigates friendships and children’s well being in the early years of schooling. Drawing on direct accounts and representations from interviews with young children about friendships, the chapter outlines characteristics of friendship and strategies children use to make friends and manage disputes as they negotiate roles in play and shared spaces. Three key dimensions of friendship are evident in the children’s accounts: friendship is enduring, friendship is mutual and friendship involves an emotional investment. This chapter provides educators with an understanding of the important role that friendships have for happiness and wellbeing in the early years.

Professional conversations : a collaborative approach to support policy implementation, professional learning and practice change in ECEC

In 2012, Australia introduced a new National Quality Framework, comprising enhanced quality expectations for early childhood education and care services, two national learning frameworks and a new Assessment and Rating System spanning child care centres, kindergartens and preschools, family day care and outside school hours care. This is the linchpin in a series of education reforms designed to support increased access to higher quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) and successful transition to school. As with any policy change, success in real terms relies upon building shared understanding and the capacity of educators to apply new knowledge and to support change and improved practice within their service. With this in mind, a collaborative research project investigated the efficacy of a new approach to professional learning in ECEC: the professional conversation. This paper reports on the trial and evaluation of a series of professional conversations to support implementation of one element of the NQF, the Early Years Learning Framework (DEEWR,2009), and their capacity to promote collaborative reflective practice, shared understanding, and improved practice in ECEC. Set against the backdrop of the NQF, this paper details the professional conversation approach, key challenges and critical success factors, and the learning outcomes for conversation participants. Findings support the efficacy of this approach to professional learning in ECEC, and its capacity to support policy reform and practice change in ECEC.

The prevention of childhood anxiety and promotion of resilience among preschool-aged children : a universal school based trial

This study is the first to examine the effectiveness of the Fun FRIENDS programme, a school-based, universal preventive intervention for early childhood anxiety and promotion of resilience delivered by classroom teachers. Participants (N = 488) included children aged 4–7 years attending 1 of 14 Catholic Education schools in Brisbane, Australia. The schools were randomly allocated to one of three groups, the intervention, active comparison and waitlist control group. Parents completed standardized measures of anxiety and behavioural inhibition (BI), resilience, social and emotional functioning and behaviour difficulties in addition to parental stress and anxiety, at pre- and post- and 12-month follow-up. Teachers also completed a parallel measure of social and emotional strength at the three time points. Comparable results were obtained for the intervention and comparison groups; however, the intervention group (IG) achieved greater reductions in BI, child behavioural difficulties and improvements in social and emotional competence. In addition, significant improvements in parenting distress and parent–child interactions were found for the IG, with gains maintained at 12-month follow-up. Teacher reports revealed more significant improvement in social and emotional competence for the IG. Clinical implications of the findings are discussed, along with limitations and directions for future research.

Children's perspectives on values and rules in Australian early education

In recent years, issues relating to moral and conventional values have been emphasized in educational policies. This study examines young children’s (100 children aged 4–8 years) own understandings of values and rules for how to treat others and participate in school. Eleven classrooms, within seven different elementary schools in Queensland, were visited. Children were interviewed regarding their views about moral and conventional issues, rules and participation in everyday school life. According to the children, ‘doing the right thing’ in school involved both a concern for others’ wellbeing and for the social order in school, including conventions, rules and behaviour connected with discipline. The children’s responsibility seemed, however, to be to adapt to the (school) system, rather than being an active participant in constructing the system.

Parental influences on physical activity behavior in preschool children

Objective To evaluate a conceptual model linking parent physical activity (PA) orientations, parental support for PA, and PA behavior in preschool children. Methods Participants were 156 parent-child dyads from 13 child care centers in Queensland, Australia. Parents completed a questionnaire measuring parental PA, parental enjoyment of PA, perceived importance of PA, parental support for PA, parents' perceptions of competence, and child PA at home. MVPA while attending child care was measured via accelerometry. Data were collected between May and August of 2003. The relationships between the study variables and child PA were tested using observed variable path analysis. Results Parental PA and parents' perceptions of competence were positively associated with parental support for PA (β= 0.23 and 0.18, respectively, p<0.05). Parental support, in turn, was positively associated with child PA at home (β= 0.16, p<0.05), but not at child care (β= 0.01, p= 0.94). Parents' perceptions of competence was positively associated with both home-based and child care PA (β= 0.20 and 0.28, respectively, p<0.05). Conclusions Family-based interventions targeting preschoolers should include strategies to increase parental support for PA. Parents who perceive their child to have low physical competence should be encouraged to provide adequate support for PA. © 2009 Elsevier Inc.

iPads in the Early Years : Developing Literacy and Creativity

Digital devices like smart phones and tablet computers are becoming commonplace in young children’s lives for play, entertainment, learning and communication. Recently, there has been a great deal of focus on the educational potential of devices like iPads in both formal and informal educational settings. There is now an abundance of educational ‘apps’ available to children, parents, and kindergarten and pre-school teachers that claim to enhance children’s early literacy and numeracy development and creativity. To date, though, there has been very little formal investigation of the educational potential of these devices. This book discusses the impact on children’s learning when iPads were introduced in three very different kindergartens in Brisbane, Australia. Chapters outline how researchers worked with pre-school teachers and parents to explore how iPads can assist with letter and word recognition, the development of oral literacy and talk around play. The book also considers the possibilities for using iPads for creativity and arts education through photography, storytelling, drawing, music creation and audio recording.