scholarly journals Perceptions of classroom quality and well-being among Black women teachers of young children

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 56
Author(s):  
Erica B. Edwards ◽  
Nicole Patton Terry ◽  
Gary Bingham ◽  
Jeremy L. Singer

Concerns about preschool effectiveness have increasingly led to early childhood education policy changes focused on teacher quality. While these reforms intend to ensure children’s educational well-being, they rarely consider the impact policies have on teachers. Additionally, child care work is a feminized profession with distinct social experiences along lines of race and class. Black women who are early child care teachers live in poverty at rates disproportionate to their white counterparts. Through Black feminist focus group research, this paper documents perceptions of early childhood education quality mandates in Georgia and their impact on the well-being of 44 Black women teachers of infants, toddlers, and preschool age children. Findings suggest that the call for quality complicates Black teachers’ work, adds undue financial and emotional stress that takes a toll on their well-being, and interrupts personal dynamics with their loved ones. The paper calls for antiracist and antisexist structural support to interrupt both the stressors exacted by the field and the sociohistorical processes devaluing Black women’s work with children.

2020 ◽  
pp. 68-81
Author(s):  
Lori Huston ◽  
Elder Brenda Mason ◽  
Roxanne Loon

This paper draws on the traditional sharing circle at the SPARK conference held at the University of British Columbia in 2019. The sharing circle was led by an Elder and two early childhood educators sharing knowledge from their perspectives and experiences of the Anishininiiwi Awaashishiiw Kihkinohamaakewi Niikaanihtamaakew Indigenous Early Childhood Education Leadership Program (IECELP). The sharing circle at SPARK was delivered in the Indigenous research method of a wildfire circle consistent with the summative research conducted across four First Nation child care centres to measure the impact of the IECELP. We propose alternative ways of transferring knowledge in Indigenous culturally responsive ways to be welcomed and encouraged in academia and in early childhood education.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanna Heikka ◽  
Sanni Kahila ◽  
Harri Pitkäniemi ◽  
Eeva Hujala

The planning, assessment and development (PAD) of pedagogy carried out by early childhood education (ECE) teachers is an important quality factor in ECE. In Finland, the working hours reserved for PAD tasks for ECE teachers were increased from 8 to 13% in 2018. The purpose of this study was to investigate ECE teachers’ and centre directors’ perceptions of the impact of increased PAD hours on the well-being of ECE staff. Based on the mixed-methods approach, 325 ECE teachers and 107 ECE centre directors participated in the study. The results of the study indicated that, apart from the atmosphere in the work community, the impact of working hours on the well-being at work was positive. In particular, the reform has increased the well-being of teachers at work. The increased PAD hours have had only a minor impact on the well-being of all staff.


2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (7) ◽  
pp. 637-640 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merete Moe ◽  
Anne B. Reinertsen

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 .


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-37
Author(s):  
Runumi Sharma ◽  
Mamta Aswal

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.


Author(s):  
Clare Wells

The report of the Early Childhood Education Project Future Directions: Early Childhood Education in New Zealand was launched in September, 1996. The report “focuses on the structures and funding required to deliver high quality education services for young children” (Early Childhood Education Project, 1996a, p. 2). This article briefly describes the context within which the project was initiated. It outlines the aims of the project, the process undertaken to develop the report and highlights its key findings, goals and recommendations. This article sets out NZEI Te Riu Roa’s strategy in promoting the report and concludes with a broad overview of the impact of the report in shaping government policy direction.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (75) ◽  
pp. 958
Author(s):  
Iram Siraj ◽  
Steven J. Howard ◽  
Denise Kingston ◽  
Cathrine Neilsen‑Hewett ◽  
Edward C. Melhuish ◽  
...  

<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>


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-151
Author(s):  
Yara Pinto Ferreira Kurutz ◽  
Levi Hülse ◽  
Joel Cezar Bonin

O presente estudo apontou os desdobramentos da utilização do Role-Playing Game (RPG) explorando temas relacionados ao Folclore na educação infantil. Assim sendo, o texto que segue é resultado do desenvolvimento de todas as etapas que foram criadas para a aplicação do projeto de pesquisa. As etapas aqui apresentadas são uma síntese dos tópicos mais importantes que foram utilizados para o desenrolar da atividade central do projeto, a saber, a criação e a aplicação do jogo de RPG sobre o folclore brasileiro para crianças do Ensino Fundamental I, de um núcleo educacional da cidade de Porto União-SC. Dessa forma, o texto aqui apresentado se divide nas seguintes etapas: 1 – o brincar e o aprender e sua conexão com o RPG; 2 – a relação brincar/aprender com a nova BNCC; 3 - o brincar e sua relação com o desenvolvimento infantil; 4 – A aplicação do RPG para o ensino do folclore; 5 – a metodologia da pesquisa; 6 – uma breve explanação sobre o produto educacional; 7 – resultados e discussão e 8 – considerações finais. Vale destacar que como metodologia optou-se pela pesquisa descritiva vinculada a abordagem qualitativa. Esta forma de pesquisa teve como foco principal a intenção de aproximar o conhecimento da vida dos estudantes da faixa etária pré-escolar com os saberes populares ligados ao folclore. Os resultados alcançados correspondem com a finalidade primordial pensada para o projeto, a saber, a capacidade de ensinar um conteúdo diferente com um método de ensino igualmente diferente. Não há dados estatísticos para mensurar o nível de aprendizagem, pois a verdadeira intenção do projeto foi a de ensinar brincando. Palavras-chave: Educação Infantil. Role-Playing Game (RPG). Folclore. Produto educacional. ABSTRACT: The present study pointed out the consequences of using the Role-Playing Game (RPG) exploring themes related to Folklore in early childhood education.  Therefore, the text that follows is the result of the development of all the steps that were created for the application of the research project.  The steps presented here are a synthesis of the most important topics that were used to carry out the central activity of the project, namely, the creation and application of the RPG game about Brazilian folklore for elementary school children, from an educational center in the city of Porto União-SC.  Thus, the text presented here is divided into the following stages: 1 - playing and learning and its connection with the RPG; 2 - the play / learn relationship with the new BNCC; 3 - playing and its relationship with child development; 4 - The application of RPG for teaching folklore; 5 - the research methodology; 6 - a brief explanation of the educational product; 7 - results and discussion and 8 - final considerations. It is worth mentioning that as a methodology, we opted for descriptive research linked to a qualitative approach. This form of research had as main focus the intention of bringing the knowledge of the life of the students of the preschool age group with the popular knowledge linked to folklore.  The results achieved correspond to the primary purpose thought for the project, namely, the ability to teach different content with an equally different teaching method. There is no statistical data to measure the level of learning, as the real intention of the project was to teach while playing. Keywords: Early Childhood Education. Role-Playing Game (RPG). Folklore. Educational product.


Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 4247
Author(s):  
Lynne M. Z. Lafave ◽  
Alexis D. Webster ◽  
Ceilidh McConnell ◽  
Nadine Van Wyk ◽  
Mark R. Lafave

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) environments influence children’s early development and habits that track across a lifespan. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of COVID-19 government-mandated guidelines on physical activity (PA) and eating environments in ECEC settings. This cross-sectional study involved the recruitment of 19 ECEC centers pre-COVID (2019) and 15 ECEC centers during COVID (2020) in Alberta, Canada (n = 34 ECEC centers; n = 83 educators; n = 361 preschoolers). Educators completed the CHEERS (Creating Healthy Eating and activity Environments Survey) and MEQ (Mindful Eating Questionnaire) self-audit tools while GT3X+ ActiGraph accelerometers measured preschooler PA. The CHEERS healthy eating environment subscale was greater during COVID-19 (5.97 ± 0.52; 5.80 ± 0.62; p = 0.02) and the overall score positively correlated with the MEQ score (r = 0.20; p = 0.002). Preschoolers exhibited greater hourly step counts (800 ± 189; 649 ± 185), moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) (9.3 ± 3.0 min/h; 7.9 ± 3.2 min/h) and lower sedentary times (42.4 ± 3.9 min/h; 44.1 ± 4.9 min/h) during COVID-19 compared to pre-COVID, respectively (p < 0.05). These findings suggest the eating environment and indices of child physical activity were better in 2020, which could possibly be attributed to a change in government-mandated COVID-19 guideline policy.


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