scholarly journals Practitioners’ Views on Learning Using Children’s Peer Interactions Amongst Under Three Year Old Children in Selangor, Malaysia

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Farhana Wan Yunus
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Peer Interactions ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Social Difference ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Stimulated Recall

Research on children’s peer interactions shows many benefits for children’s development especially in developing children’s social competence. Drawing on a case study data from a study that investigated peer interactions among under-three-year-old children in three Malaysian childcare centres, this paper provides a picture of how the children’s peer interactions were understood by largely untrained practitioners at the start of the project, and how the complexity of children’s lived experiences remained hidden to the practitioners until they took part in the video-stimulated recall (VSR) interviews based on children’s peer interactions, and focus group discussions. The latter provided practitioners with an opportunity to deepen their thinking about children’s peer interactions and to begin to see them as linked with learning. In particular, the practitioners perceived that (i) play; (ii) familiarity; and (iii) having friends constituted important learning for children during peer interactions at their early childcare centres. This has implications for understanding the roles of early childhood education practitioners to children’s peer interactions as well as how practitioners can help support children’s learning to make a social difference.   KEYWORDS: Children’s Peer Interactions, Practitioners, Early Childhood Education Centre, Video-Stimulated Recall Interviews, Focus group Discussions

Latvian Teachers’ Perspectives on Early Childhood Educational Practice

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 332
Author(s):  
Aija Ozola
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Early Childhood Teachers ◽  
Educational Practice ◽  
Personal Meaning ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Teachers Perspectives

The Education Law of Latvia recognizes early childhood education as an educational level in which multi-dimensional development of the child as an individual, strengthening of health and preparation for the acquisition of primary education takes place. Currently, early childhood education is undergoing considerable transformations and transition to a competence-based approach. Teachers’ perspectives serve as significant indicators for analysis of current educational situation and therefore highlight the core areas for enhancing early childhood educational practice. The design of the study is based on qualitative research using data from a survey and focus group discussions. The aim of the study is to identify and analyse teachers’ perspectives on early childhood educational practice. In accordance to the aim, the following research questions were posed: (1) what is early childhood teachers’ personal meaning of good educational practice; (2) what factors could contribute to enhance the early childhood educational practice in future? To identify teachers’ perspectives, a survey was conducted with early childhood teachers implementing curriculum in municipal early childhood education institutions around Latvia. The answers to two open-ended questions as a part of a larger questionnaire were analysed. The in-depth examination of perspectives was reached by implementing several focus group discussions. Data were analysed using the method of qualitative content analysis. The findings revealed wide diversity in teachers’ personal meaning of good educational practice. The issues related to developmental psychology-based learning outcomes and school-readiness still dominate among teachers’ perspectives. Postmodern views on a child emphasizing children’s diversity and uniqueness were often mentioned as well. The factors contributing to good educational practice were categorized into four main areas such as organization of the pedagogical process, teachers’ competences, environment of an early childhood setting, collaboration with parents. In general, Latvian teachers’ perspectives demonstrate readiness for transition to a competence-based approach in early childhood education. However, identified contributing and hindering factors should be taken into account during the process of transformations.

scholarly journals Å gi rom for muslimske barns utprøving av faste i barnehagen

Prismet ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. 311-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrine Giæver
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Key Words ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Religious Diversity ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Part Time

I denne artikkelen utforskes muligheten til å gi rom for barns livshistorier knyttet til religiøse praksiser i barnehagen. I lys av en fokusgruppesamtale om barnehagebarn som vokser opp i hjem med muslimske praksiser, diskuteres det hvorvidt barns livshistorier gis begrenset plass når de kommer i konflikt med personalets forståelse av hva som er barns grunnleggende behov. Fokusgruppen besto av barnehagelærerstudenter som jobbet deltid i barnehage, og barns tilnærming til ramadan og faste ble brukt som eksempel på praksiser som kan oppleves utfordrende i barnehagen. Diskusjonen har utgangspunkt i Hannah Arendts teorier om livshistorier og Mikhail Bakhtins diskursteori. Avslutningsvis foreslås noen alternative måter til å gi plass til ulike livshistorier knyttet til kulturelt og religiøst mangfold i barnehagen. Nøkkelord: Barnehage, muslim, Islam, faste, diskurser, livshistorier   This article explores possibilities to embrace children's life stories connected to religious practices in kindergarten. In the light of a focus group conversation about children who grow up in homes with Muslim traditions, the author discusses the consequences when children's life-stories conflict with practitioners' understanding of children's fundamental needs. The focus group consisted of early childhood education students who worked part-time in kindergarten, and children's approach to Ramadan and fasting was used as an example of practices that were experienced as challenging in kindergarten. The discussion draws on aspects of Hannah Arendt and Bakhtin’s theorisations concerning life-worlds and discourses. In conclusion, some alternative ways of including diverse life-stories connected to cultural and religious diversity are suggested.   Key words: Kindergarten, Muslim, Islam, fasting, discourses, life stories.

scholarly journals IMPLEMENTATION INVESTIGATION PROJECT AMONG UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION DURING THEIR TEACHING TRAINING

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 68-77
Author(s):  
Azizah Zain ◽  
Mazlina Che Mustafa ◽  
Jamilah Mohd Basir
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Mean Value ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Interview Protocol ◽  
Project Approach ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Childhood Education

The purpose of this study was to investigate undergraduate students' knowledge in the implementation of the Investigation Project during their teaching practice. Investigation Project is one of the approaches adopted from the Project Approach. This approach included in the National Preschool Standard Curriculum. In this study, data were collected using questionnaire and interview protocol. The survey was used to obtain information on the students' knowledge of implementing the Investigation Project. At the same time, the interviews were conducted to find out the implementation of the Investigation Project for students undergoing teaching practice using the Teacher's Guide. The study sample is purposive sampling. One hundred seven students answered the questionnaire, and the interview protocol administered to 5 students who are implementing the Investigation Project in their teaching practices using Teacher Guidelines. The findings of the study indicate that the level of knowledge of the Early Childhood Education students in the Investigation Project is at a moderate level with an overall mean value of 2.69. The findings from the interview protocol found that the Teacher Guidelines provided to them helped them to implement the Investigation Project more effectively. The conclusion, this study showed that postgraduate students need a practical guide in assisting them to achieve this approach as they are less exposed to this approach while studying. The implications of this study have provided beneficial exposure to potential TADIKA teachers in Malaysia.

‘Belonging’ in Australian early childhood education and care curriculum and quality assurance: Opportunities and risks

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 340-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Sumsion ◽  
Linda Harrison ◽  
Karen Letsch ◽  
Benjamin Sylvester Bradley ◽  
Matthew Stapleton
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Quality Standard ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Learning Framework ◽  
Care Services ◽  
National Quality ◽  
Education And Care

This article considers opportunities and risks arising from the prominence of the belonging motif in Australia’s Early Years Learning Framework and, more implicitly, in the National Quality Standard, against which the quality of the early childhood education and care services is assessed. A vignette constructed from case study data generated in the babies’ room in an early childhood centre in an Aboriginal community in rural Queensland is used to illuminate some of these opportunities and risks.

scholarly journals Peer interactions among under three years old children in Malaysian childcare centres: A case study approach

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Farhana Wan Yunus
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Social Competence ◽  
Focus Group Discussion ◽  
Peer Interactions ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Infants And Toddlers ◽  
Stimulated Recall ◽  
Stimulated Recall Interviews

<p>Research on infants’ and toddlers’ peer interactions in childcare centres shows many benefits for children’s social competence. With increasing participation of under-three year olds in group-based early childhood services worldwide, there is also growing interest in the role played by childcare adults in supporting children’s social competence. In the Malaysian context, where the number of childcare settings is growing rapidly, early childhood research remains limited and is non-existent within the field of understanding the complexity of infants’ and toddlers’ peer interactions. At the same time there has been a mounting discourse by Malaysian economists promoting the benefits of non-cognitive skills to a country, thus focussing attention on social skills, of which peer interactions are a form. This study opens up this under-researched field in Malaysia through three qualitative case studies – one in each of three childcare centres in the state of Selangor. Each case study involved individual semi-structured interviews with the childcare practitioners, video-recorded observations of the children’s peer interactions, and video-stimulated recall interviews. A focus group discussion was conducted too with all of the practitioners after that. The aim of the study was to examine how practitioners perceived peer interactions among children under three years old in their childcare centres, and the kinds of peer interactions that occurred among the children. Drawing on constructs from a range of social constructivist theoretical perspectives, the findings revealed that at the start of the study, the practitioners saw themselves as promoting peer interactions by facilitating group activities and managing interactions between children by responding to their conflicts. The observations of children’s peer interactions revealed complex negotiations by the children who were actively creating a sense of belonging and togetherness at their childcare centres like embracing the centre’s routines, and responding to the needs of others including through humour and laughter. In the process of these interactions, children exercised their agency and learned the skills of becoming socially competent participants in their centre. Through video-stimulated recall interviews and focus group discussion, the practitioners deepened their thoughts on children’s peer interactions and saw peer interactions to be linked with learning around three main themes: learning through play; learning through gaining familiarity with others; and learning about having friends. My findings provide a picture of how the children’s peer interactions were understood by largely untrained practitioners, and how the complexity of children’s lived experiences remained hidden to the practitioners until they took part in the video-stimulated recall interviews; the latter opened up and deepened the practitioners thoughts about children’s peer interactions. This study differs from earlier studies in that it is based in Malaysia where the provision of group-based early childhood care and education services is still a relatively new social and educational endeavour staffed by largely unqualified practitioners. This has implications for future childcare training initiatives in Malaysia.</p>

scholarly journals RIECU: The early childhood education-centre for teachersuniversity Network. Analysis of children’s learning achievements through the project approach

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Rosario Mérida Serrano ◽  
Elena González Alfaya ◽  
Mª Ángeles Olivares García
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Project Approach ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Education Centre ◽  
The Project Approach

Abstract: This paper presents a research-action project carried out in 2012/13 in relation to the Early Childhood Education-Centre for Teachers-University Network. This network has been constructed to collaboratively research the Project Approach (hereinafter, PA) in Early Childhood Education classrooms. It is made up of teachers and pupils of Early Childhood Education, an adviser from the Continuing Professional Development Centre for Teachers, university researchers, and undergraduate students. The total number of people involved in the RIECU network is 538. From a qualitative paradigm, this work aims at analysing the learning outcomes achieved by the children through their participation in the RIECU network, based on the opinions expressed by the teachers, the families, the adviser, the researchers, and the undergraduate students. Semi-structured interviews, a focus group, and research journals were used to compile information. The most relevant results were: (1) the children obtain benefits by using the PA as a means of approaching knowledge; and (2) they acquire new attitudes towards knowledge, such as initiative, self-assurance, and responsibility. RIECU: Red de Infantil Escuela-Centro de Profesorado-Universidad. Análisis del aprendizaje de los niños a través del método de proyectos Resumen: Se presenta un proceso de investigación-acción realizado en 2012/13 sobre la Red de Infantil Escuela-Centro de Formación del ProfesoradoUniversidad. Esta red se construye para investigar colaborativamente el método de Proyectos de Trabajo (en adelante, PT) en las aulas infantiles. Está integrada por maestras y niños de infantil, asesora del centro de profesorado, investigadoras y estudiantes. Participan en RIECU 538 personas. Desde un paradigma cualitativo se han analizado los aprendizajes de los niños al participar en RIECU, según la opinión manifestada por las maestras, las familias, la asesora, las investigadoras y los estudiantes. Se ha utilizado la entrevista semiestructurada, el focus group y los diarios de investigación para recabar información. Los hallazgos más relevantes se refieren a: (1) los niños de infantil obtienen beneficios al utilizar los PT como enfoque de investigación para aproximarse al conocimiento y (2) adquieren nuevas actitudes frente al saber, como iniciativa, seguridad y responsabilidad.

Mapping the dilemmatic space of early childhood education and care practitioners when challenged by children’s curiosity

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 349-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soern Finn Menning
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Video Observation ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Stimulated Recall ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
Care Practices ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Stimulated Recall Interviews

This article explores the notion of curiosity as a gateway to value dilemmas in early childhood education and care practices. The concept of dilemmatic space (Honig) is used to highlight the complexity of educational practices. Through an ethnographic approach based on video-observation and stimulated recall interviews, the reflections of the practitioners in three early childhood education and care institutions in Norway are analysed regarding situations in which curiosity was challenging and in which explorative behaviour was stopped, transferred or adjusted. The analyses allowed the construction of several axes of dilemmatic space, such as Equality versus Supporting the Individual, Social Order versus Questioning Status Quo and Being Professional versus Being Private. This highlights the entanglement of values, which is part of the ongoing process of constructing professional identity. It is argued that even in the case of widely accepted notions like curiosity, standardised and fixed guidelines on practice cannot be the sole answer to the complexity of early childhood education and care.

The Monster in the Room: Safety, Pleasure and Early Childhood Education

2003 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Jones
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Early Childhood Teachers ◽  
Early Childhood Teacher ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Focus Group Data

Inspired by the work of Joseph Tobin and his book, Making a Place for Pleasure in Early Childhood Education (Yale, 1997), this article is about the necessarily uneasy and tenuous place of pleasure, desire and sensuality in early childhood education at a time when the field struggles to be identified as rule-governed and properly ‘professional’. With reference to focus group data from early childhood teachers and managers in Auckland, New Zealand, it considers what might be the comforts, and the problematic effects, of the contemporary demands for safety, and asks what kinds of pleasures are available to the modern ‘safe’ professional early childhood teacher.

scholarly journals Help and Solidarity Interactions in Interactive Groups: A Case Study with Roma and Immigrant Preschoolers

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 116
Author(s):  
Andrea Khalfaoui ◽  
Rocío García-Carrión ◽  
Lourdes Villardón-Gallego ◽  
Elena Duque
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Elementary Education ◽  
Peer Interactions ◽  
Classroom Organization ◽  
Social Exchanges ◽  
Academic Tasks ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Disadvantaged Children

Peer interactions in early childhood education play a key role in establishing the first structures of social relationships and foundations for future development. Engaging in social exchanges with different people enriches children’s concurrent and future learning opportunities. Building on the importance of diversifying interactions, interactive groups (IGs) are a specific dialogue-based classroom organization format that creates an inclusive learning environment by allocating students to small heterogeneous groups with an adult volunteer per group. This classroom organization format has produced reported evidence of enhancing social cohesion and academic achievement, mainly in elementary education. However, its potential to foster positive peer interactions in Early Childhood Education among disadvantaged children remains unexplored. Therefore, this case study explores in depth the type and frequency of positive peer interactions in interactive groups in a preschool classroom serving mainly Roma and immigrant children with a very low SES. The results show that in this context, children acknowledge each other’s work and provide help, guidance, and solidarity interactions when solving academic tasks. Our analysis reveals that children internalize the rules and functioning of the IG since those aspects emerge in their conversations during the activity. Implications for practitioners and policymakers are also discussed.

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