Supporting fathers in the transition to parenthood

Knowledge of the experience of parenthood is usually from a woman’s perspective. The resulting outcome is that knowledge about the experience of fatherhood has been limited. Fathers are starting to change this situation by sharing their experience as is evidenced by the overall response of 267 fathers to this study. This paper focuses on the exploration of 22 men’s feelings and beliefs about fatherhood; and their expectations and views about parenting. The paper will also investigate how fathers’ antenatal expectations matched the reality of early family life including emotional well-being, attitudes to parenting, adjustment to family life and sources of support. The quantitative and qualitative data of the 22 fathers who responded to both the antenatal and postnatal questionnaires used within this paper are drawn from a larger Queensland survey of women and men during the antenatal and postnatal period.

deepBlue early research

A video of an early deepBlue performance at The Block, Queensland University of Technology, Creative Industries Faulty, 2006

Parametric building development during early design stage

Objectives The objectives of this project were two-fold: • Assess the ease with which current architectural CAD systems supported the use ofparametric descriptions in defining building shape, engineering system performance and cost at the early stages of building design; • Assess the feasibility of implementing a software decision support system that allowed designers to trade-off the characteristics and configuration of various engineering systems to move towards a “global optimum” rather than considering each system in isolation and expecting humans to weigh up all of the costs and benefits. The first stage of the project consisted of using four different CAD systems to define building shells (envelopes) with different usages. These models were then exported into a shared database using the IFC information exchange specifications. The second stage involved the implementation of small computer programs that were able to estimate relevant system parameters based on performance requirements and the constraints imposed by the other systems. These are presented in a unified user interface that extracts the appropriate building shape parameters from the shared database Note that the term parametric in this context refers to the relationships among and between all elements of the building model - not just geometric associations - which will enable the desired coordination.

Non-adversarial advocates and gatekeepers : lawyers, FDR practitioners and co-operative post-separation parenting

The compulsory dispute resolution requirements in family law parenting cases create new roles and obligations for both lawyers and family dispute resolution (FDR) practitioners. This article will discuss how the legislative provisions impact on both sets of professionals in practice. It will also highlight the increased non-adversarial role of lawyers and a new role for FDR practitioners as “gatekeepers” to family courts in cases requiring FDR certificates.

Linking early design decisions across multiple disciplines

The early stages of the building design process are when the most far reaching decisions are made regarding the configuration of the proposed project. This paper examines methods of providing decision support to building designers across multiple disciplines during the early stage of design. The level of detail supported is at the massing study stage where the basic envelope of the project is being defined. The block outlines on the building envelope are sliced into floors. Within a floor the only spatial divisions supported are the “user” space and the building core. The building core includes vertical transportation systems, emergency egress and vertical duct runs. The current focus of the project described in the paper is multi-storey mixed use office/residential buildings with car parking. This is a common type of building in redevelopment projects within and adjacent to the central business districts of major Australian cities. The key design parameters for system selection across the major systems in multi-storey building projects - architectural, structural, HVAC, vertical transportation, electrical distribution, fire protection, hydraulics and cost – are examined. These have been identified through literature research and discussions with building designers from various disciplines. This information is being encoded in decision support tools. The decision support tools communicate through a shared database to ensure that the relevant information is shared across all of the disciplines. An internal data model has been developed to support the very early design phase and the high level system descriptions required. A mapping to IFC 2x2 has also been defined to ensure that this early information is available at later stages of the design process.

Literacy, numeracy and learning in school-aged children identified as having speech and language impairment in early childhood

The progress of a nationally representative sample of 3632 children was followed from early childhood through to primary school, using data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). The aim was to examine the predictive effects of different aspects of communicative ability, and of early vs. sustained identification of speech and language impairment, on children's achievement and adjustment at school. Four indicators identified speech and language impairment: parent-rated expressive language concern; parent-rated receptive language concern; use of speech-language pathology services; below average scores on the adapted Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III. School outcomes were assessed by teachers' ratings of language/literacy ability, numeracy/mathematical thinking and approaches to learning. Comparison of group differences, using ANOVA, provided clear evidence that children who were identified as having speech and language impairment in their early childhood years did not perform as well at school, two years later, as their non-impaired peers on all three outcomes: Language and Literacy, Mathematical Thinking, and Approaches to Learning. The effects of early speech and language status on literacy, numeracy, and approaches to learning outcomes were similar in magnitude to the effect of family socio-economic factors, after controlling for child characteristics. Additionally, early identification of speech and language impairment (at age 4-5) was found to be a better predictor of school outcomes than sustained identification (at aged 4-5 and 6-7 years). Parent-reports of speech and language impairment in early childhood are useful in foreshadowing later difficulties with school and providing early intervention and targeted support from speech-language pathologists and specialist teachers.

Sociometric stability and the behavioral correlates of peer acceptance in early childhood

This paper presents findings from an Australian study examining the behavioral correlates and stability of social status for preschool-aged children. The social status of an initial sample of 187 (94 boys and 93 girls) preschool children (mean age 62.4 months, SD = 4.22) was determined through sociometric assessment. Children classified as rejected, neglected and popular (n = 70) were selected for observation. Children were observed for a total of 25 minutes over a three-month period engaging in free play within their preschool centers. Results indicated that children classified as popular were more likely than rejected or neglected children to engage in cooperative play, ongoing connected conversation and to display positive affect. Popular children were less likely than rejected or neglected children to engage in parallel play, onlooker behavior or alone directed behavior. Six months after initial sociometric classification, sociometric interviews were repeated to test for stability and change. Results indicated that preschool-aged children’s social status classifications showed a moderate to high rate of stability for those children classified as popular, rejected and neglected.

Gender differences in children's classroom behaviour and teacher-child relationships in early childhood: An Australian Study

Background: In the early school years, children need positive attitudes to school and experiences that promote academic and social competence. Positive relationships between children and teachers make a significant contribution to school achievement and social competence. Girls are more likely to display positive classroom behaviours and positive approaches to learning than boys. Gender differences have also been noted in teacher-child relationships. This study investigated the relationship between gender differences in classroom behaviour and gender differences in teacher-child relationships in the early years. Method: Data were drawn from The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). LSAC is a cross-sequential cohort study funded by the Australian Government. In these analyses, Wave 1 (2004) and Wave 2 (2006) data for 4464 children in the Kindergarten Cohort were used. Children, at Wave 2, were in the early years of formal school. They had a mean age of 6.8 years (SD= 0.24). Measures included a 6-item measure of Approaches to Learning (task persistence, independence) and teacher ratings on the SDQ. Teachers rated their relationships with children on the short form of the STRS. Results: Girls were found to have more positive relationships with their teachers and to display more positive classroom behaviours than boys. Teachers described their relationships with boys as less close than their relationships with girls and rated girls as displaying more positive approaches to learning and fewer problem behaviours than boys. Positive teacher – child relationships were significantly related to more positive classroom behaviours. The quality of the teacher-child relationship at time 1 (Wave 1) was the best predictor of the quality of the teacher-child relationship at time 2 (Wave 2). Conclusions: Findings highlight the importance of developing positive learning related classroom behaviours in understanding successful school transition and the key role played by early positive teacher-child relationships in promoting school adjustment.

Certainties and uncertainties : ethics and professional identities of early childhood educators

This study is an inquiry into the professional identity constructions of early childhood educators, where identity is conceptualised as social and contextual. Through a genealogical analysis of narratives of four Queensland early childhood teachers, the thesis renders as problematic universal and fixed notions of what it is to be an early childhood professional. The data are the four teachers’ professional life history narratives recounted through a series of conversational interviews with each participant. As they spoke about professionalism and ethics, these teachers struggled to locate themselves as professionals, as they drew on a number of dominant discourses available to them. These dominant discourses were located and mapped through analysis of the participants’ talk about relationships with parents, colleagues and authorities. Genealogical analysis enabled multiple readings of the ways in which the participants’ talk held together certainties and uncertainties, as they recounted their experiences and spoke of early childhood expertise, relational engagement and ethics. The thesis concludes with suggestions for ways to support early childhood teachers and pre-service teachers to both engage with and resist normative processes and expectations of professional identity construction. In so doing, multiple and contextual opportunities can be made available when it comes to being professional and ‘doing’ ethics. The thesis makes an argument for new possibilities for thinking and speaking professional identities that include both certainty and uncertainty, comfort and discomfort, and these seemingly oppositional terms are held together in tension, with an insistence that both are necessary and true. The use of provocations offers tools through which pre-service teachers, teachers and teacher educators can access new positions associated with certainties and uncertainties in professional identities. These new positions call for work that supports experiences of ‘de-comfort’ – that is, experiences that encourage early childhood educators to step away from the comfort zones that can become part of expertise, professional relationships and ethics embedded within normative representations of what it is to be an early childhood professional.

A longitudinal study of motivation and competence in children with Down syndrome : early childhood to early adolescence

Background Motivation has been identified as an area of difficulty for children with Down syndrome. Although individual differences in mastery motivation are presumed to have implications for subsequent competence, few longitudinal studies have addressed the stability of motivation and the predictive validity of early measures for later academic achievement, especially in atypical populations. Method The participants were 25 children with Down syndrome. Mastery motivation, operationalised as persistence, was measured in early childhood and adolescence using tasks and parent report. At the older age, preference for challenge, another aspect of mastery motivation, was also measured and the children completed assessments of academic competence. Results There were significant concurrent correlations among measures of persistence at both ages, and early task persistence was associated with later persistence. Persistence in early childhood was related to academic competence in adolescence, even when the effects of cognitive ability at the younger age were controlled. Conclusions For children with Down syndrome, persistence appears to be an individual characteristic that is relatively stable from early childhood to early adolescence. The finding that early mastery motivation is significant for later achievement has important implications for the focus of early interventions.

Building for competitive advantage in early stage start-ups : the role of entrepreneurial capabilities

Recent theoretical work has suggested “entrepreneurial capabilities” themselves may provide the resource foundations to deliver competitive advantage for entrepreneurial firms. This paper empirically examines how start-ups use such entrepreneurial capabilities to build competitive advantage. We investigate the effects of technological and marketing expertise, knowledge of market trends, flexibility and networking on the ability to obtain a cost leadership or differentiation advantage. Using a large dataset of 1,108 start-ups obtained after random sampling of over 30,193 households, we find that differentiation strategies benefit from most resource advantages. Cost leadership strategies, however, seem only to benefit from technological expertise and flexibility and not related to market-based advantages. By doing so, this study contributes to both entrepreneurship and RBV-theories by showing how entrepreneurial capabilities lead to competitive advantages in nascent and early-stage start-ups.

Maltreated children in the early years : international perspectives on the teacher’s role

Child abuse and neglect is a significant health and social problem with serious consequences for children, families and communities. This chapter provides students, early childhood teachers, and administrators with an evidence base for understanding their role in relation to child abuse and neglect. The chapter draws from international and interdisciplinary research to address four key areas of responsibility: i) recognising signs of child abuse and neglect; ii) reporting child abuse and neglect; iii) supporting children in the classroom; and iv) teaching children to protect themselves (Watts, 1997).

Justifications in young children’s language in an early childhood classroom

This paper examines the interactional phenomenon of justification as it is produced in young children’s language. A justification provides a reason for one’s position and can be produced in children’s language at an early age. There are various pragmatic reasons for justifications. For example, justifications may be drawn upon by members to compensate for the disruption of the existing social order or to explain something that is possibly questionable. Justifications are also drawn upon to extend or close disputes. This study uses the analytical techniques of conversation analysis and membership categorisation to analyse video-recorded and transcribed interactions of young children (aged 4-6 years) in a preparatory classroom in a primary school in Australia. The focus is an episode that occurred within the block play area of the classroom that involved a dispute of ownership relating to a small, wooden plank. In analysing this dispute, justifications were frequent occurrences and the young participants drew upon justificatory devices in their everyday arguments. As the turns surrounding the justificatory language were examined, a pattern emerged: in each excerpt observed, a justification arose in response to a challenge. This pattern provided the basis for developing a model that helped to discern where, why and what type of justifications occurred in the interaction. To depict this interactional phenomenon, the model of ‘if x, then y’ was used, ‘x’ referring to the challenge or prompt, and ‘y’ referring to the justificatory response. Justifications related to the concepts of ownership and were used as devices by those engaged in disputes to support their positions and provide reasons for their actions. The children drew upon these child-constructed rules as resources to use in disputes with their peers, in order to construct and maintain the social order of the block area in the classroom.