Showing papers in "Early Childhood Education in 2004"

Yarning: A responsive research methodology

Abstract: This paper explores 'yarning' as a research method which emerged in a cross-cultural PhD as a means of building a research partnership between feminist and Indigenous leaders in early childhood education. This method created an avenue for the researcher, positioned as both insider and outsider, to hear and understand the voices ofthe Indigenous participants. This responsiveness became a strength of the research which enabled a profound, complex and subtle understanding to emerge across the contact zone (Pratt, 1992: 4) between academic research methods and Indigenous cultures, by bringing them into discursive relations with each other (Griffiths, 1998: 45).

Implementing a National Curriculum in Swedish Preschools

Abstract: This paper starts with a short presentation of the Swedish preschool, for children aged 1-6 years, and gives a background to the national policy on Early Childhood Education leading up to the first National Curriculum for the Preschool in 1998. Preschool education is considered to be the first important stage within the Educational system of Sweden. The structure of the curriculum is presented as well as the implementation in local municipalities and preschools. I will give some examples about how the concepts of the child, knowledge and learning are defined in the curriculum. Further more, I will illustrate how the curriculum has been implemented in some preschools. A nation-wide evaluation of the reform was presented in spring 2004, showing a very positive attitude to the curriculum and an impressive local achievement. However, the National Agency of Education also points out some crucial challenges; the variations in quality between different preschools, the lack of awareness when allocating resources, the tendency to define local goals in addition to the goals in the national curriculum and the problems arising when assessing small children, thus directing the attention towards the individual child and her/his family instead of towards the educational programme and environment.

Fractured identities: Exploring engagement and disengagement in the process of lifelong learning

Abstract: In early childhood education and care, research indicates that quality experiences for young children are a result of the partnership between committed professionals who facilitate collaborative, high-quality programs and dedicated parents who are interested and involved in their child’s educational development (Stonehouse, 1994; Hutchins & Sims, 1999; Carr, 2003; Moss, 2003). Parent involvement in schooling is considered in post-modern times to be an antidote to failure, i.e., children are more likely to succeed if parents are actively involved (Ball & Vincent, 2001; Popkewitz, 2003). It is reasonable to argue that children’s disengagement can be a result of lack of interest by parents (Limerick, 1988; Education Queensland, 1999). The authors question this point arguing that, while effective partnerships are important, they do not always result in positive experiences for children in the schooling process from infancy to adulthood. In this paper, the authors examine the relationship between parent engagement in schooling and children’s success or failure as lifelong learners. The authors also use aspects of post-structuralist theory - particularly notions of problematisation, categorisation and thinking otherwise (Foucault, 1984c) - to argue that how children are produced as learners exerts a greater influence over their engagement or disengagement in the process of formal learning. Furthermore, it is argued that there are many other factors to consider when examining engagement of learners in the schooling process (MacNaughton, 2003). Narratives of children’s experiences are used to illustrate the formation of their identities as learners and the way in which these identities contribute to engagement, or otherwise, in the life long learning process.

The link between different kindergarten attendance modesand the type of educational programs offered by teachers.

Abstract: Eighty six kindergarten teachers from three Tasmanian school districts participated in a study to investigate differences in the teacher-directed learning program provided for children who attend differing modes of kindergarten, and to ascertain whether these teachers have different perceptions of the learning program. Data collection was undertaken through the use of postal surveys and small group interviews. Results from the study indicated that many children in Kinder/Prep classes were being provided with structured academic programs, whilst their halfday peers were receiving less didactic programs. The use of big books for the teaching of early reading was undertaken on a weekly basis in the majority of kindergartens involved in the study. Kinder/Prep groups and classes taught by halfday/ full-day teachers were the highest users of photocopied worksheets each week. Kindergarten teachers who taught full days were found to hold similar perceptions regarding the learning program to teachers who only taught half-day sessions, although the practices of both teacher groups differed from their perceptions. Keywords: full-day kindergarten, half-day kindergarten, early literacy practices, literacy-based worksheets in kindergarten, academic pressure in kindergarten