"We're all friends here": how do early childhood educators promote friendship in the classroom?

10.32920/ryerson.14660316 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Kimberly Orchard

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Qualitative Study ◽

Early Learning ◽

Early Childhood Educators ◽

Developmental Theory ◽

Learning Center ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Theoretical Frameworks ◽

Passive Strategies ◽

Sociology Of Childhood

This qualitative study set out to explore how five early childhood educators perceive and promote friendship in a toddler room, a preschool room, and a kindergarten room of an early learning center in Ontario, Canada. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore educator’s perceptions about friendship and their reported strategies for promoting friendship. Observations of each classroom explored educator’s strategies used to promote friendship in practice. New sociology of childhood and developmental theoretical frameworks were used to explore educator’s perceptions and strategies. Educator’s perceptions about friendship were placed on a continuum ranging from perceptions that aligned with new sociology of childhood to developmental theory. The reported and observed strategies were categorized into active, reactive and passive strategies. Implications of these findings for practice, policy, and research were discussed.

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A qualitative study of early childhood educators' beliefs and practices regarding children's socioemotional development

Early Child Development and Care ◽

10.1080/03004430.2014.889693 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 184 (12) ◽

pp. 1843-1860 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Kalliroi Papadopoulou ◽

Lia Tsermidou ◽

Christina Dimitrakaki ◽

Eirini Agapidaki ◽

Despoina Oikonomidou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Qualitative Study ◽

Socioemotional Development ◽

Early Childhood Educators ◽

Beliefs And Practices

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Young People’s Participation in Envisioning Community Change:

Canadian Journal of Children s Rights / Revue canadienne des droits des enfants ◽

10.22215/cjcr.v5i1.1252 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 116-149

Author(s):

Caitlin Noelle Wood

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Study ◽

Culturally Responsive ◽

Well Being ◽

Community Change ◽

Social Structures ◽

Theoretical Frameworks ◽

Indigenous Youth ◽

Research Framework ◽

Sociology Of Childhood ◽

Health And Well Being

Abstract It is vitally important that Indigenous youth are provided a forum to express and share their expertise and knowledge on all matters that affect and impact their lives. Through the use of photo-voice, this qualitative study provided the space for eleven youth from (location withheld for review) to share their perspectives on their community and environment, their lives, and how they conceptualize childhood. Employing the theoretical frameworks of the Sociology of Childhood, children’s rights, desire-centred research framework, and an Indigenous culturally responsive method, four over-arching themes emerged – the importance of: i) relationships; ii) health and well-being; iii) knowledge; and iv) community and culture. The youth in this study demonstrated their capacity to identify and share their unique perspectives on their community and proficiencies in assessing their community’s strengths and challenges – further demonstrating that youth are not merely passive subjects of social structures, but competent citizens able to contribute to change in authentic ways.

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Disrupting normalised discourses: ways of knowing, being and doing cultural competence

The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education ◽

10.1017/jie.2018.23 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 1-9

Author(s):

Karen Sinclair

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Grounded Theory ◽

Qualitative Study ◽

Cultural Competence ◽

Ways Of Knowing ◽

Careful Consideration ◽

Early Childhood Educators ◽

Indigenous Methodology

AbstractThe concept of cultural competence is a multifaceted construct that requires careful consideration as it raises questions as to whose ‘truth’ is being advocated. This paper draws on findings from a qualitative study which used an indigenous methodology of yarning to investigate early childhood educators’ understandings and perspectives of cultural competence. Adopting a poststructuralist approach to grounded theory, data were analysed to identify themes that reflected educators’ understandings and perspectives. This paper presents a snapshot of these themes along with a framework of positioning self in relationship to ways of knowing, being and doing cultural competence. I conclude by suggesting that this framework can provide opportunity for educators to disrupt normalised discourses and re-conceptualise cultural competence.

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Sexuality education and early childhood educators in Ontario, Canada: A Foucauldian exploration of constraints and possibilities

Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood ◽

10.1177/14639491211060787 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 146394912110607

Author(s):

Adam WJ Davies ◽

Alice Simone-Balter ◽

Tricia van Rhijn

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Young Children ◽

Sexuality Education ◽

Professional Training ◽

Early Learning ◽

Early Childhood Educators ◽

Gender And Sexuality ◽

Early Years ◽

Professional Practices ◽

Sexual Diversity

Open conversations regarding sexuality education and gender and sexual diversity with young children in early childhood education settings are still highly constrained. Educators report lacking professional training and fearing parental and community pushback when explicitly addressing these topics in their professional practices. As such, gender and sexual diversity and conversations of bodily development are left silenced and, when addressed, filtered through heteronormative and cisnormative frameworks. Through a Foucauldian post-structural lens, this article analyses data from open-ended qualitative questions in a previous research study regarding early childhood educators’ perceptions on discussing the development of sexuality in early learning settings in an Ontario, Canada context. Through this Foucauldian post-structural analysis, the authors discuss forms of surveillance and regulation that early childhood educators experience in early learning settings regarding the open discussion of gender and sexuality. The authors explore how both the lack of explicit curricula addressing gender and sexuality in the early years in Ontario and taken-for-granted notions of developmentally appropriate practice, childhood innocence, and the gender binary – employed in discourses of sexuality education in the early years – regulate early childhood educators’ professional practices. The authors provide recommendations which critique the developmentalist logics – specifically, normative development – that are used to silence non-heterosexual and non-cisgender identities in the early years, while articulating the need for explicit curricula for educators in the early years regarding gender and sexuality in young children.

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Examination of the Quality of Interactions as Observed in Childcare Centers and Reported by Early Childhood Educators

SAGE Open ◽

10.1177/2158244020932914 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 215824402093291

Author(s):

Stéphanie Duval ◽

Caroline Bouchard ◽

Lise Lemay ◽

Gilles Cantin

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Support Group ◽

Emotional Support ◽

Classroom Assessment ◽

Instructional Support ◽

Early Childhood Educators ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Childcare Centers ◽

Classroom Assessment Scoring System

This study aimed to describe the quality of interactions between early childhood educators (ECEs) and children, as observed in childcare centers and as reported by early childhood educators ( N = 15) working with 5 year-old children. To assess ECEs’ practices related to the quality of these interactions as observed in childcare centers (theories-in-use), the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) was used. This tool is structured around three domains: emotional support, group organization, and instructional support. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ECEs to collect data on their reported practices related to the quality of these interactions (espoused theories). The observational data showed that the quality of emotional support and group organization was average-to-high, and these domains were also most often referred to in the participants’ comments. On the contrary, the quality of instructional support was rated average-to-low. Correspondingly, this domain was not often referred to in the participants’ comments. These results are discussed in light of the tensions and gaps brought out between the ECEs’ theories-in-use and espoused theories and lead to recommendations for professional development aimed at improving the quality of ECE–child interactions in childcare centers and, in particular, the instructional support provided therein.

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‘She come like a sister to me’: a qualitative study of volunteer social support for disadvantaged women in the transition to motherhood in England

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2020.0023 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 376 (1827) ◽

Author(s):

Jenny McLeish ◽

Maggie Redshaw

Keyword(s):

Social Support ◽

Qualitative Study ◽

Multiple Stressors ◽

Postnatal Period ◽

Maternal Child Health ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Theoretical Frameworks ◽

Structural Support ◽

Appraisal Support ◽

Disadvantaged Women

This qualitative study explores the ways in which disadvantaged women benefit from social support from a trained volunteer during pregnancy and the postnatal period, using the theoretical frameworks of stress and coping and a multi-dimensional model of social support. Forty-seven mothers took part in semi-structured interviews. The mothers, who had received social support through nine volunteer projects in England, faced many potentially stressful challenges besides having a baby (such as poverty, poor housing, histories of abuse, motherhood at a young age, living with physical or mental health difficulties, migration and insecure immigration status). Analysis was in two distinct stages: first, an inductive thematic analysis of mothers' experiences, and second, mapping of the results onto the theoretical frameworks chosen. Volunteers built relationships of trust with mothers and gave skilled emotional support, positive appraisal support, informational support and practical support according to mothers’ individual needs, thereby assisting mothers exposed to multiple stressors with problem-focused, emotion-focused and perception-focused coping. This helped to reduce social isolation, increase effective access to services and community resources, and build mothers' confidence, self-esteem and self-efficacy. Volunteer social support may have particular salience for mothers who lack structural support and need skilled functional support. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Multidisciplinary perspectives on social support and maternal–child health’.

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Evaluation of Learning in the Period of Early Education

10.18662/lumproc/atee2020/12 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ileana Constanţa Dârlă (Ionescu)

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Formative Assessment ◽

Early Education ◽

Early Learning ◽

Early Childhood Educators ◽

Learning Assessment ◽

Learning And Development ◽

Key Aspects ◽

Evaluation Of Learning ◽

Early Childhood Learning

At all levels of education, learning assessment is generally considered to be an essential part of teachers' work. For early childhood educators, ie those who work with children from birth to age six, there are special considerations that stem from the characteristics of those trained and the nature of early learning. This paper reviews research on the formative assessment of early learning and development. In this way, important theoretical constructs related to early learning are explored and research on key aspects of early childhood learning is synthesized. We discuss the methods that are most useful for painting a richer picture of early learning and development. Some of the challenges inherent in formative assessment in early childhood are also highlighted and discussed.

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Exploring early childhood educators’ notions about professionalism in Prince Edward Island

Journal of Childhood Studies ◽

10.18357/jcs.v44i1.18775 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 20-36

Author(s):

Alaina Roach O'Keefe ◽

Sonya Hooper ◽

Brittany A.E. Jakubiec

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Professional Learning ◽

Prince Edward Island ◽

Qualitative Methodology ◽

Daily Practice ◽

Early Learning ◽

Early Childhood Educators ◽

Early Years ◽

Curriculum Frameworks ◽

Negative Impacts

Despite policy changes in a growing number of countries to increase the quality of early years education through the introduction of national curricular frameworks, conceptualizations of early childhood professionals remain distinctly variegated. Early learning curriculum frameworks have become embedded into the 21st-century early learning movement, creating a shift in professional deliverables and system expectations. This study explores how early childhood educators (ECEs) in Prince Edward Island (PEI) understand the concept of professionalism in their everyday practice. The researchers used qualitative methodology and a variety of methods, including workshops, interviews, and field notes, to gain insight into how ECEs understand professionalism. The data was analyzed through thematic analysis and understood through the lens of sociocultural theories of learning that embrace communities of practice as a positive way to promote professional learning. Primary findings explore (1) how ECEs understand professionalism in PEI, (2) positive and negative impacts on their understanding of professionalism in their daily practice, and (3) professional development opportunities that impact professionalism in the early childhood field.

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