scholarly journals Editorial: Opening for debate and contestation: OECD’s International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study and the testing of children’s learning outcomes

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Claudia Diaz-Diaz ◽  
Paulina Semenec ◽  
Peter Moss
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Early Learning ◽  
Comparative Assessment ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Standardized Measures ◽  
Childhood Education

This special issue aims to bring critical perspectives to bear on a growing phenomenon in education: comparative assessment of educational performance using standardized measures of outcomes or ‘international large-scale assessments’. We focus on one of its latest examples: the International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study. Proposed by the Organisation for the Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, n.d.a) in 2012, this study is now being put into practice, targeting early childhood education and young children in particular. The articles in this edited collection offer varied critiques of this project as well as critiques of the influential role that the OECD is playing in how member countries design, implement and assess their early childhood education.

scholarly journals The Shape of Things to Come and what to do about Tom and Mia: Interrogating the OECD’s International Early Learning and Child Well-Being Study from an anti-colonialist perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathias Urban
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Early Learning ◽  
Frame Of Reference ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Child Characters ◽  
To Come

In this article, I discuss the International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study (IELS), which is currently being rolled out by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. I summarise the development of IELS and the critique that has been voiced by early childhood scholars, professionals and advocates. I then move to an aspect of IELS that has so far been absent from the discussion: the actual conduct of the test, using the two stylised child characters Tom and Mia. I provide a provisional reading of the Tom and Mia imaginary through the lens of post-colonial and neo-colonial analysis. Applying the concept of colonisation as a frame of reference opens a space for introducing resistance and anti-colonial practices as productive forces to challenge the global hegemony. I draw on Pedro Sotolongo’s concept of the power of marginal notions to argue that experiences made on the margins of society, both geographically and socially, offer very practical alternatives to reconceptualising early childhood education, and services for young children, families and communities.

scholarly journals The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study: The scores are in!

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-171
Author(s):  
Peter Moss ◽  
Mathias Urban
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Comparative Studies ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Early Learning ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
The Way

This is the fourth colloquium for Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study, and marks the recent publication by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development of reports on the first round of this study. In it, the authors discuss what the results tell us, what they do not and what might come next. They conclude by supporting the need for comparative studies of early childhood education, but argue that the International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study is not the way to go.

scholarly journals Neoliberalism, neoconservativism, and globalisation: The OECD and new images of what is ‘best’ in early childhood education

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-70
Author(s):  
Andrea Delaune
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Michel Foucault ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Early Learning ◽  
Childhood Education

This paper analyses the International Early Learning and Child Well-Being Study, undertaken by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in order to draw attention to the neoliberal, neoconservative, and globalising discourses which underpin the study and generate an image of what is ‘best’ in early childhood education. The theories of Michel Foucault frame the analysis, illuminating the International Early Learning and Child Well-Being Study as a technology of governance which elicits new relationships of power between teachers, children, families, governments and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and offering ways of conceiving power/knowledge relationships as productive and therefore hopeful for those who seek to resist dominant paradigms.

scholarly journals The Shape of Things to Come and what to do about Tom and Mia. Interrogating the OECD’s International Early Learning Study from an anti-colonialist perspective

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathias Urban
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Early Learning ◽  
Frame Of Reference ◽  
Learning Study ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Child Characters ◽  
To Come

In this article, I discuss the International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study (IELS), which is currently being rolled out by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and De-velopment (OECD). I summarise the development of IELS and the critique that has been voiced by early childhood scholars, professionals and advocates. I then move to an aspect of IELS that has so far been absent from the discussion: the actual conduct of the test, using the two stylised child characters Tom and Mia. I provide a provisional reading of the Tom and Mia imaginary through the lens of post- and neo-colonial analysis. Applying the concept of colonisation as a frame of reference opens a space for introducing resistance and anti-colonial practices as productive forces to challenge the global hegemony. I draw on Pedro Sotolongo’s concept of the power of marginal notions to argue that experiences made on the margins of society, both geographically and socially, offer very practical alternatives to reconceptualising early childhood education, and services for young children, families and communities.

Sobrevoo e trilhas da pesquisa: caminhos para olhar a Educação Infantil

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 590-607
Author(s):  
Marta Nidia Maia
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Early Learning ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
Doctoral Thesis ◽  
Specific Field ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Children's Education ◽  
Children’S Education

Este texto está centrado no processo e estratégias de pesquisa de tese de doutorado já defendida. Seu objetivo é apresentar os caminhos trilhados para elaboração da tese que trata do Currículo da Educação Infantil e sua relação com datas comemorativas. Propôs-se a ouvir sujeitos envolvidos no cotidiano desse currículo – profissionais e crianças. A pesquisa é um exercício de compreensão do particular como forma de apreensão do real, olhando a especificidade como parte de um todo no qual se insere e representa. Os indícios encontrados no campo específico da pesquisa, dizem respeito a ele, mas não só. Dizem respeito à totalidade que o produz, aos sistemas, às escolas, aos sujeitos implicados com a Educação Infantil e seu currículo.  Palavras-chave:Pesquisa – Currículo – Educação Infantil This text is centered in the process and doctoral thesis research strategies already advocated. Your goal is to present the paths for the preparation of the thesis dealing with the curriculum of early childhood education and its relationship with anniversaries. It was proposed to hear those involved in the daily curriculum that - professionals and children. The research is a particular understanding of the exercise as real apprehension so, looking at the specificity as part of a whole in which it operates and is. The evidence found in the specific field of research, relate to it, but not only. They relate to all the produce, systems, schools, the subjects involved with the Children's Education and curriculum. Key words:Search - Curriculum - Early Learning                         

scholarly journals Understanding Early Childhood Science Education: Comparative Analysis of Australian and Finnish Curricula

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sari Havu-Nuutinen ◽  
Sarika Kewalramani ◽  
Nikolai Veresov ◽  
Susanna Pöntinen ◽  
Sini Kontkanen
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Science Education ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Science Curriculum ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Curriculum Framework ◽  
International Comparative

AbstractThis research is a comparative study of Finnish and Australian science curricula in early childhood education (EC). The study aims to figure out the constructivist components of the science curriculum in two countries as well as locate the similarities and differences in the rationale and aims, contents, learning outcomes, learning activities, teacher’s role and assessment. The curriculum analysis framework developed by Van den Akker (2003) was used as a methodological framework for the curricula analysis. Based on the theory-driven content analyses, findings show that both countries have several components of constructivist curriculum, but not always clearly focused on science education. The Australian Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) integrates children’s science learning within their five specific learning outcomes, whereas the Finnish national core curriculum for early childhood education and care has no defined learning outcomes in general. The Finnish curriculum more clearly than EYLF encompasses science and environmental education as a learning domain, within which children participate in targeted scientific activities to gain procedural knowledge in specific environmental-related concepts. More focus should be turned to the teachers’ role and assessment, which are not determined in science context in both countries. This international comparative study calls for the need of a considered EC curriculum framework that more explicitly has science domains with specifically defined rationale, aims, content areas, learning outcomes and assessment criteria. The implications lie in providing early childhood educators with tangible and theoretically solid curriculum framework and resources in order to foster scientific thinking in young children.

Poeticalization and Storying; www.mmm.com

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (7) ◽  
pp. 637-640 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merete Moe ◽  
Anne B. Reinertsen
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Sick Leave ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Work Environments ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Work World ◽  
Education And Care

A threshold situation is a kind of crisis of, for example, deteriorating health. Fall 2014, a project was conducted, focusing on writing for well-being with a former employee and leader at an Early Childhood Education and Care, now on long-term sick leave. Here is her story and poem; her writings/Sis. Our stories and theory/practice/data/interpretive poems; our writings/Merete and Anne: Our companionship, company, and compassion: Sis/Merete/Anne.Com . We aim at Deleuze and Guattarian safespace writing. In modern working life participation, empowerment, governance, and self-leadership is considered vital for creating good psychosociological work environments. Foucault’s concept governmentality aims to elucidate how we are created as subjects, looking at how we are governed by others and by ourselves according to norms and expectations in organizations, society, and from ourselves. We think with poetry to open up, explore, and fabulate. We call it poeticalization and storying and work and worlds and words or rather work/world/word/making/melding/mattering/Sis/Merete/Anne: www.mmm.com .

scholarly journals Contemporary Relevance of Bertrand Russell’s Views on Early Childhood Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-37
Author(s):  
Runumi Sharma ◽  
Mamta Aswal
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Character Development ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Holistic Development ◽  
National Education ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Historical Method ◽  
Secondary Sources

Bertrand Russell’s educational thoughts significantly deal with reforming education for school going children and he also supported pre-primary education. He favored early childhood education for physical, intellectual and character development. His emphasis on character development of a child shows the significance of early years of life for development of an individual. This paper aims at exploring Bertrand Russell’s thoughts on early childhood education. It is an attempt to understand the significance of early childhood education for the holistic development of the children. Though there are early childhood education is prevalent in our country, but it was not mandatory to get early childhood education till the approval of National Education Policy (N.E.P., 2020). It has included early childhood education in compulsory school education for promoting better learning and well being of a child. It is a qualitative research in which historical method has been used where data has been collected from primary and secondary sources. The finding of the study shows that Bertrand Russell’sthought on early childhood education is relevant in present Indian context for developing good values, physical and mental development as well as in future learning. This shows that the encouragement to early childhood education and Bertrand Russell’s thoughts on early childhood education would be helpful for holistic development of children.

scholarly journals Comparing regulatory and non-regulatory indices of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) quality in the Australian early childhood sector

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (75) ◽  
pp. 958
Author(s):  
Iram Siraj ◽  
Steven J. Howard ◽  
Denise Kingston ◽  
Cathrine Neilsen‑Hewett ◽  
Edward C. Melhuish ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Quality Standard ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Childhood Environment ◽  
National Quality ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
Early Childhood Environment

<p>Este estudo analisa as associações entre as pontuações provenientes de processos regulatórios de avaliação da qualidade da educação infantil australiana (Early Childhood Education and Care – ECEC) do National Quality Standard (NQS)2 e das duas escalas de avaliação de qualidade (SSTEW – Sustained Shared Thinking and Well Being; e ECERS-E – Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Extension). A amostra consiste em 257 unidades de ECEC em três estados australianos. Os resultados indicaram: associações positivas modestas entre as pontuações do NQS e das escalas; alguma especificidade entre as áreas de qualidade do NQS (aspectos do projeto e práticas pedagógicas para as crianças; relações com crianças) e de uma escala de avaliação – a SSTEW; variabilidade das pontuações das escalas de qualidade dentro de cada classificação do NQS; e atenuação dessas associações quando  o tempo  entre  as avaliações  ultrapassa  24 meses. As conclusões sugerem que o NQS e as escalas de avaliação indicam um núcleo comum de qualidade, mas capturam aspectos diferentes da qualidade, sugerindo que ambos poderiam ser usados para melhorar os padrões de qualidade nas pré-escolas australianas, onde as escalas de avaliação potencializam a qualidade ainda mais do que o NQS.</p><p><strong>Palavras-chave:</strong> National Quality Standard, ECERS-E, SSTEW, Qualidade, Pré-Escola, Regulamentação</p><p> </p><p><strong>Comparando índices regulatorios y no regulatorios de calidad de la educación infantil en Australia</strong></p><p>Este estudio analiza las asociaciones entre los puntajes provenientes de procesos regulatorios   de evaluación de la calidad de la educación infantil australiana (Early Childhood Education and Care – ECEC) del National Quality Standard (NQS) y de las dos escalas de evaluación de calidad (SSTEW – Sustained Shared Thinking and Well Being; y ECERS-E – Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Extended). La muestra consiste en 257 unidades de ECEC en tres estados de Australia. Los resultados indicaron: asociaciones positivas modestas entre los puntajes del NQS y de las escalas; alguna especificidad entre las áreas de calidad del NQS (aspectos del proyecto y prácticas pedagógicas para los niños; relaciones con niños) y una escala de evaluación –  la SSTEW; variabilidad de los puntajes de las escalas de calidad dentro de cada clasificación del NQS; y atenuación de dichas asociaciones siempre que el tiempo entre las evaluaciones supera los 24 meses. Las conclusiones sugieren que el NQS y las escalas de evaluación indican un núcleo común de calidad, pero capturan aspectos distintos de la calidad, lo que sugiere que ambos se podrían utilizar para mejorar los estándares de calidad en el sistema preescolar australiano, en el que las escalas de evaluación potencian todavía más la calidad que el NQS.</p><p><strong>Palabras clave:</strong> National Quality Standard, ECERS-E, SSTEW, Calidad, Sistema Preescolar, Reglamentación</p><p> </p><p><strong>Comparing regulatory and non-regulatory indices of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) quality in the Australian early childhood sector</strong></p><p>This study examines associations between Australia’s regulatory ratings of quality in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) – the National Quality Standard (NQS) – and two research-based quality rating scales. The analytic sample consisted of 257 ECEC services across three Australian states. Results indicated (1) modest positive associations between NQS ratings and scale scores; (2) some specificity between NQS quality areas (educational programs and practice; relationships with children) and one research scale – the Sustained Shared Thinking and Emotional Wellbeing (SSTEW) scale; (3) variability in quality scales scores within each NQS designation; and (4) mitigation of these associations when the time-gap between ratings exceeded 24 months. Findings suggest NQS and research scales tap some common core of quality, yet capture different aspects of quality, suggesting both could be used to raise standards of quality in Australian preschools, where the research scales potentiate raising quality to even higher levels than NQS.</p><p><strong>Keywords</strong>: National Quality Standard, ECERS-E, SSTEW, Quality, Preschool, Regulation</p>

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