Mathematical pedagogical content knowledge in early childhood education: A study in initial teacher education in Portugal

The study aims to explore the specificity of mathematics Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Early Childhood Education Pedagogy. The pedagogy of ECE (Siraj-Blatchford, 2010) and the didactics of ECE (Pramling & Pramling-Samuelsson, 2011) suggest dimensions of knowledge that require strong content and PC knowledge of teachers. Recent studies about PCK of ECE teachers highlight similar specific dimensions: organization of educational environment and interactions with children (Lee, 2010, McCray, 2008, Rojas, 2008). The current framework for ECE Teacher Education in Portugal (since 2007) focuses both content knowledge and subject didactics. PCK has been labelled the 'great unknown' in ECE (Rojas, 2008) in traditions where the child's development is considered as the main knowledge base for ECE (Chen & McNamee, 2006, Cullen, 2005, Hedges & Cullen, 2005). We studied the perspectives of 27 initial teacher education students about knowledge for teaching and about ECE Pedagogy. We used one open-ended questionnaire and students' analysis of episodes focusing children's answers or discourse relevant for mathematics (about high numbers and square root). The questionnaire was anonymous and students’ permission to use the answers was obtained. In the questionnaire, interactions with children (62%) and organization of the educational environment (38%) are highlighted as the most important focus for the teacher. Students suggested tasks that were adult planned and oriented to further the situations presented in the episodes. Very few references to children's exploratory actions (Bonawitz et al., 2011) were made. The specificity of ECE (child initiated activities, e.g.) needs to be further developed in initial teacher education.

Early childhood education for sustainability : Queensland and Australian perspectives

Introduction Early childhood education for sustainability is an emerging field within education – a synthesis of early childhood education and education for sustainability. As a distinct field of educational inquiry and practice, it is less than 20 years old in Australia. My personal story is one that emerged from a background in primary school teaching where I worked in an Indigenous community teaching Aboriginal children. These experiences made me question the marginalization of Indigenous peoples in Australian society, the colonizing impacts of education, gave me deeper understandings of human-environment interactions, and the effects of poverty and powerlessness on options for Indigenous people both in Australia and elsewhere where peoples and their lands have been exploited. These teaching experiences took me back to university to undertake a degree in environmental studies to help me to better understand the nexus between society, environment and economy. Hence my background in education for sustainability comes as much from the social sciences as from the biological/ecological sciences...

I-Spi: innovative shared practical ideas: a support guide for literacy and numeracy in the early years of schooling, for home tutor/supervisors in distance education

Innovative Shared Practical Ideas (I-Spi) is a guide to help you and your children learn together. It is designed to affirm, support and strengthen your role as home tutor/supervisors in your daily learning sessions with your children. In this guide particular emphasis is given to the value of talk, formal and informal early literacy and numeracy practices (including ideas from distance school lessons, from home tutor/supervisors, research, and beyond), assessment of these practices together with informal assessment ideas for gauging your children’s literacy and numeracy progress, and stepping in and building on strategies

Review of Beginning Reading: A balanced approach to teaching literacy during the first three years at school by Yola Centre

Beginning Reading: A Balanced Approach to Literacy Instruction during the First Three Years at School by Yola Center is intended for those involved in teaching and supporting literacy practices in regular classrooms and addresses literacy practices for learners with disabilities and those experiencing difficulties in literacy learning.

Re-thinking discourses of teacher professionalism in early childhood education: An Australian perspective

The professionalism of early childhood teachers has been the subject of increasing attention globally for over a decade (Moss, 2006; Osgood, 2012; Urban, 2010. In order to understand ways pre-service early childhood teachers make sense of professionalism, this chapter examines some of the discourses of early childhood teacher professionalism, and focuses on qualifications as one way in which being professional is discursively produced. In particular, the chapter makes visible some of the discursive tensions involved in student intentions to pursue careers in primary school teaching/specialist early childhood teacher in primary school, rather than in the child care sector. In doing so, it makes visible some of the effects of particular discourses of professionalism and the ways they may be taken up by students as they make important career decisions.

The impact of professional development on early childhood educators’ confidence, understanding and knowledge of education for sustainability

In recent times, Australia has recognised and enacted a range of initiatives at service, system and community levels that seek to embed sustainability into the early childhood sector. This paper explores the impact of a professional development (PD) session that provided opportunities for early childhood educators to learn and share ideas about the theory and practice of sustainability generally and early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS) specifically. The PD was entitled ‘Living and Learning about Sustainability in the Early Years’ and was offered on three occasions across Tasmania. A total of 99 participants attended the three PD sessions (one 5 hour; two 2 hour). The participants had varying levels of experience and included early childhood teachers, centre based educators and preservice teachers. At the start and end of the PD, participants were invited to complete a questionnaire that contained a series of likert scale questions that explored their content knowledge, level of understanding and confidence in regards to ECEfS. Participants were also asked at the start and end of the PD to ‘list five words you think of when you consider the word sustainability.’ A model of teacher professional growth was used to conceptualise the results related to the changes in knowledge, understanding and confidence (personal domain) as a result of the PD related to ECEfS (external domain). The likert-scale questions on the questionnaire revealed significant positive changes in levels of knowledge, understanding and confidence from the start to the end of the PD. Differences as a function of length of PD, level of experience and role are presented and discussed. The ‘5 words’ question showed that participants widened their understandings of ECEfS from a narrow environmental focus to a broader understanding of the social, political and economic dimensions. The early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector has been characterised as having a pedagogical advantage for EfS suggesting that early childhood educators are well placed to engage with EfS more readily than might educators in other education sectors. This article argues that PD is necessary to develop capability in educators in order to meet the imperatives around sustainability outlined in educational policy and curriculum documents in ECEC.

Changing personal epistemologies in early childhood pre-service teachers using an integrated teaching program

This study investigated changes in pre-service teachers’ personal epistemologies as they engaged in an integrated teaching program. Personal epistemology refers to individual beliefs about the nature of knowing and knowledge and has been shown to influence teaching practice. An integrated approach to teaching, based on both an implicit and explicit focus on personal epistemology, was developed by an academic team within a Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood). The teaching program integrated content across four units of study, modelling personal epistemologies implicitly through collaborative reflexive practice. The students were also required to engage in explicit reflections on their personal epistemologies. Quantitative measures of personal epistemology were collected at the beginning and end of the semester using the Epistemological Beliefs Survey (EBS) to assess changes across the teaching period. Results indicated that pre-service teachers’ epistemological beliefs about the integration of knowledge became more sophisticated over the course of the teaching period. Qualitative data included pre-service teachers’ responses to open ended questions and field experience journal reflections about their perceptions of the teaching program and were collected at the end of the semester. These data showed that pre-service teachers held different conceptions about learning as integration, which provided a more nuanced understanding of the EBS data. Understanding pre-service teachers’ epistemological beliefs provides promising directions for teacher preparation and professional enrichment.

Early childhood education : the natural starting point for environmental education

Young children are most vulnerable to, and most at risk from, environmental and sustainability challenges. Early education investments aimed at addressing such issues, until recently however, have been neglected or under-rated. Fortunately, this is changing. A groundswell of practitioner interest in early childhood environmental education/ education for sustainability is emerging, in contrast to the ‘patches of green’ that have characterised previous decades. Indeed, an international coalition for early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS) is beginning to develop, evidenced by The Gothenburg Recommendations on Education for Sustainable Development (2008) that identifies early childhood, within a framework of lifelong learning, as a ‘natural starting point’ for all ongoing education for sustainability. This document is important as it is the first international statement to explicitly identify ECEfS as contributing to education for sustainability. The next challenge for ECEfS is for practitioner mobilisation to be matched by research activity aimed at broadening and deepening practice-based responses. This is the next exciting frontier in the legitimisation of ECEfS.

Integrating early childhood teachers into long day care : building respectful relationships

Amongst the current reforms in early childhood in Australia is the requirement for four year university degree-qualified teachers to be employed to provide a kindergarten program for four-year-old children in the year prior to school entry. The possibility for long day care to provide a funded kindergarten program, with an early childhood teacher (ECT) presents a change for the field. With this change come challenges, though also opportunities to think in new and different ways about what long day care and working in long day care might look like.

ICT and internet usage in early childhood education : a comparative study of Australian and Malaysian teachers' beliefs and current practices

The thesis is a comparative study of ICTs and Internet use of Australian and Malaysian early childhood teachers in terms of their personal and professional comfort with ICTs, pedagogical beliefs, and their reported classroom practice. The study discovered teachers from both countries as relatively comfortable with digital technologies and the Internet, with most teachers held positive beliefs about ICT usage. The structural barriers in classrooms include lack of Internet access and the wide gap that exists between teachers’ positive beliefs and classroom practice. The study suggests the need for strategic and targeted professional development for teachers.

Teachers in early childhood policy

This paper examines teacher accountability and authority in early childhood policy. It reports on data from a study that investigated the influences affecting early childhood teacher decision-making at the preschool level in Victoria, Australia. Using a question raised by Ball ‘Where are the teachers in all this [policy]?’ provided a starting point for the critical discourse analysis into how forms of control, teacher authority, obligation and constraint within policies potentially influenced teachers’ curriculum decisions. The study found that despite no government-mandated curriculum framework at the time, teachers were held accountable for their curricular practice. Yet as professionals, early childhood teachers were denied public acknowledgement of their expertise as they were almost invisible in policy. In the four policies analysed, proprietors of early childhood settings and preschool agencies held authority over curriculum. Subsequently, teachers’ authority as professionals with curricular knowledge was diminished.

What works and why? Early childhood professionals' perspectives on effective early childhood education and care services for Indigenous families

Investment in early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs is a cornerstone policy of the Australian Government directed toward increasing the educational opportunities and life chances made available to Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) children. Yet, ECEC programs are not always effective in supporting sustained attendance of Indigenous families. A site-case analysis of Mount Isa, Queensland was conducted to identify program features that engage and support attendance of Indigenous families. This first study, reports the perspectives of early childhood professionals from across the entire range of group-based licensed (kindergarten and long day care) and non-licensed (playgroups, parent-child education) programs (n=19). Early childhood professionals reported that Indigenous families preferred non-licensed over licensed programs. Reasons suggested for this choice were that non-licensed services provided integration with family supports, were responsive to family circumstance and had a stronger focus on relationship building. Implications for policy and service provision are discussed.