The status-quo of play-based pedagogies in Western Australia: Reflections of early childhood education practitioners

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-42
Author(s):  
Sandra Hesterman ◽  
Anna Targowska
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Western Australia ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Education Practice ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Beliefs And Values ◽  
The Status ◽  
Study Participants

This paper discusses the findings of a qualitative research project conducted in 2017 that explored practitioners’ experiences and perceptions of the provision of play pedagogies in contemporary Western Australian early childhood education contexts. Interviews were conducted with four play-based learning teachers and an open-ended survey was completed by 40 early childhood educators who were members of the audience at a Western Australia conference in 2017. The study participants discussed beliefs and values pertaining to quality play-based learning and tensions associated with the diminishing role of play in the early years of schooling and its impact on young children. They also highlighted several enablers and barriers that influence and shape current early childhood education practice. The findings of this study provide further evidence for the issues identified in recent Early Childhood Australia (Western Australia) discussion papers and in other research surrounding play-based learning in the current social-political context.

Play and Learning in Early Childhood Education

2018 ◽  
pp. 147-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dalila Maria Lino ◽  
Cristina Parente
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Free Play ◽  
Reggio Emilia ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Learning And Development ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Learning Through Play

The key role of toys and play in early years education has been highlighted by several childhood pedagogues such as Froebel, Montessori, Weikart, and Malaguzzi, among many others. It is consensual among the international educational community that children now spend far more time being instructed and tested in literacy and math than they do learning through play and exploration exercising their bodies and using their imagination. This chapter aims to reflect on the power of play for children's learning and development and to analyze how three pedagogical models—the High Scope, Reggio Emilia, and Montessori—integrate play through their curriculum development. The chapter is organized in several topics, namely (1) the role of play in early childhood education (0 to 6 years); (2) the High Scope curriculum and opportunities given to children to engage in free play and play with purposes; (3) the Reggio Emilia approach: play through 100 languages; (4) the Montessori method, from hands-on activity and self-directed activity to collaborative play; (5) final remarks.

Leadership in Early Childhood Education

Education ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Thornton
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Leadership Development ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Distributed Leadership ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Education Sector ◽  
Highly Qualified ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
The Status

Leadership in early childhood education is a relatively young but expanding field of scholarship reflected in the early 21st-century nature of the literature in this entry. In many cases, the literature draws on existing leadership theories and relates it to the early childhood education context. Common theories of leadership such as transactional or transformational leadership have been rejected by those in the sector as these approaches do not reflect the collaborative nature of leadership in the early years sector. Conversely, broader leadership approaches commonly referred to in the wider education sector, such as pedagogical and distributed leadership, are seen as relevant to the early childhood education sector and sections of this entry are devoted to literature on these. Literature on Distributed Leadership and teacher leadership focuses on the practice of leadership rather than those in leadership roles and literature on the link between leadership practice and quality in early childhood is also included. Leadership is acknowledged to be contextual and this is particularly the case in the early childhood education sector where the status of the profession, the structure, and the terminology used varies widely across countries. Much of the writing in the field has come from countries such as Australia, New Zealand, England, and Nordic countries, where teachers and leaders are more highly qualified and where there is a greater level of recognition for the sector and the importance of leadership. In contrast some of the literature from North America reveals a sector in which the importance of leadership struggles to be acknowledged or respected. While there is a separate section on Leadership in Different Contexts, context is of relevance in the majority of literature included. Reasons for the lack of recognition for leadership in the sector include the lack of support for leadership development highlighted in the selection of articles focused on this entry. Tensions in the field are highlighted in a section on Challenges and Debates. The predominance of women in the sector appears to be another factor in the lack of recognition and this is reflected in the authorship of the literature with the majority of articles being written by women. While most of the literature referred to takes the form of articles, some books are included. These are mainly Texts and Guides for practitioners however some include theorization on the nature of leadership in the field.

Play-based Learning and Intentional Teaching: Forever Different?

2017 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 4-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Curriculum Innovation ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Children’S Learning ◽  
Children's Learning

PLAY-BASED LEARNING IS a cornerstone of early childhood education provision. Play provides opportunities for young children to explore ideas, experiment with materials and express new understandings. Play can be solitary, quiet and reflective. Play can also be social, active and engaging. While play is commonly understood as the basis for learning in early childhood education, this is not always the situation in all settings. Cultural variations in learning and play suggest that social interactions and observational learning also create powerful pedagogical learning environments for young children. International and national research highlights the value of sustained and reflective interactions between children and educators in promoting children's learning. Increasingly, the notion of quality in play-based pedagogy invites educators to integrate traditional beliefs about play with new insights into the role of social interactions, modelling and relationships in young children's learning. Overseas, the movement towards quality play-based pedagogy reflects debate and policy initiatives captured by the notion of intentional teaching. In Australia, the Early Years Learning Framework makes explicit reference to intentional teaching. Intentional teaching arguably engages educators and children in shared thinking and problem solving to build the learning outcomes of young children. However, the pedagogical relationship between play-based learning and intentional teaching remains difficult to conceptualise. This is because the value placed on the exploratory potential of play-based learning can appear to be at odds with the role of intentional teaching in promoting knowledge development. This paper reaches beyond binary constructs of play and intentional teaching, and invites consideration of a new Pedagogical Play-framework for inspiring pedagogical and curriculum innovation in the early years. This paper was a keynote address at the 2016 Early Childhood Australia National Conference addressing the theme Inspire-be inspired to reach beyond quality.

Tradition and Transformation in Danish Early Childhood Education and Care

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Ida Dannesboe ◽  
Bjørg Kjær
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Public Provision ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Historical Processes ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
Role Of Parents

Denmark has a long tradition of public provision of early childhood education and care (ECEC) as part of what is known internationally as the Nordic welfare model. Both traditions and transformations within Danish ECEC are parallel to the establishment and development of this model. The emergence of child-centered pedagogy, so characteristic for Danish ECEC, is part of specific historical processes. Since the 1960s, the ECEC sector has undergone significant expansion and in 2020, most children in Denmark between the ages of 1 and 6 attend an ECEC institution. This expansion has positioned ECEC as a core universal welfare service, including a special focus on preventing injustice and inequality and on taking care of the vulnerable and disadvantaged. Early 21st-century international discourses on learning and early intervention have influenced political reforms and initiatives addressing ECEC institutions and the work of “pedagogues” (the Danish term for ECEC practitioners with a bachelor’s degree in social pedagogy). Since the 1990s, there has been growing political interest in regulating the content of ECEC, resulting in various policies and reforms that have changed the nature of Danish ECEC by introducing new learning agendas. This has been accompanied by an increased focus on the importance of the early years of childhood for outcomes later in life and on the role of parents in this regard. These tendencies are embedded in political initiatives and discourses and shape the conditions for ECEC, perceptions of children and childhood, the legitimacy of the pedagogical profession, the meaning of and emphasis on young children’s learning, the importance of inclusion, and the changing role of parents. These changes in social reforms and pedagogical initiatives interact with national historical processes and international tendencies and agendas at different levels.

Everyday Environmental Education Experiences: The Role of Content in Early Childhood Education

2006 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 13-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Cutter-Mackenzie ◽  
Suzy Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Environmental Education ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Content Area ◽  
Early Childhood Curriculum ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Early Years Education ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractIn recent years discussions surrounding early childhood curriculum has focused on the movement from developmental to sociocultural theory. A further area worthy of investigation involves the role of content in early childhood education, specifically the relationship between content, context and pedagogy. The paper draws on teacher vignettes to consider how environmental education can be represented as a content area in early years education. Issues associated with environmental education as an emerging area of importance in early childhood education are also discussed.

scholarly journals Trends in Early Childhood Education Practice and Professional Learning with Digital Technologies

Pedagogika ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Murcia ◽  
Coral Campbell ◽  
George Aranda
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Digital Literacy ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
International Perspective ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Digital Products ◽  
Education Practice ◽  
Childhood Education

This literature-based article explores key trends in the integration of digital technologies in education and aims to highlight issues and challenges in the relationship between technology, pedagogy and early years’ education practices. The article explores how technology, teacher training initiatives and productive play-based pedagogy could be used to improve digital literacy outcomes for early childhood learners. While situated within the Australian context, more global literature is also reviewed to provide an international perspective. This review of trends in the integration of digital technologies in education is timely due to the national and international focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education, arguably for economic sustainability and the quality standards expected in early childhood education. The role of digital technologies in early childhood is increasingly discussed and negotiated in learning centres. Educators are wanting support in understanding how young children can be creators of technology rather than simply being consumers of digital products.

scholarly journals Child Education in the Pedagogy Course: Lessons from the Internship

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 357
Author(s):  
Ivone Garcia Barbosa ◽  
Nancy Nonato de Lima Alves ◽  
Telma Aparecida Teles Martins Silveira
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Primary Education ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Public Institution ◽  
The Political ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Child Education

Abstract: this article presents research results comparing Federal Public Institution of Higher Education. The place of Early Childhood Education and the role of the internship in the Pedagogy course. Based on the socio-historical-dialectic perspective, we analyzed the Political-Pedagogical Project of the Course and the Supervised Internship Project in Early Childhood Education and Early Years of Primary Education, considering the possibilities of the internship in the constitution of dialogues between the formative ideology and the realization of the educational praxis in its specificities. The results show that Pedagogy courses still subordinate the pedagogical proposals and practices of Early Childhood Education to Primary School models. A Educação Infantil no curso de Pedagogia: lições do estágio Resumo: este artigo apresenta resultados de pesquisas cotejando Instituição de Ensino Superior pública federal. Problematiza-se o lugar da Educação Infantil e o papel do estágio no curso de Pedagogia. Com base na perspectiva sócio-histórico-dialética, analisamos o Projeto Político-Pedagógico do Curso e o Projeto de Estágio Supervisionado na Educação Infantil e Anos Iniciais do Ensino Fundamental, considerando as possibilidades do estágio na constituição de diálogos entre o ideário formativo e a realização da práxis educativa em suas especificidades. Os resultados evidenciam que os cursos de Pedagogia ainda subordinam as propostas e práticas pedagógicas da Educação Infantil a modelos do Ensino Fundamental.

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.

scholarly journals Finnish Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions of Perceived Competence in Early Childhood Physical Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 6454
Author(s):  
Anne Soini ◽  
Anthony Watt ◽  
Arja Sääkslahti
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Teacher Training ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Motor Skills ◽  
Perceived Competence ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Childhood Education

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) teachers have a central role in supporting young children’s physical activity (PA) and overall development in the early years. However, the value of early childhood education teacher training (ECETT) programmes is not widely understood. This study aimed to investigate pre-service teachers’ perceptions of perceived competence when (1) supporting a child’s PA, (2) teaching PE, and (3) observing and assessing a child’s motor skills and PA. These self-evaluations were compared with a range of individual, educational, and behavioural characteristics. Final-year Bachelor degree pre-service teachers (n = 274; 54%) from seven universities in Finland participated in the self-report questionnaire. The results of the linear regression models showed that the relevant PE studies and previous experiences of pre-service teachers predicted higher perceived competence of supporting a child’s PA, teaching PE, and observing and assessing a child’s motor skills and PA. Thus, the study findings demonstrated how teacher training could positively influence perceptions and attitudes to increase a person’s perceived competence when implementing PE in the early years. Overall, results reinforce the importance of PE in ECETT, and the time devoted to this syllabus area should be maintained or increased.

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