The PETaL Approach to Bilingual and Intercultural Education in Early Childhood Education

2021 ◽  
pp. 191-212
Author(s):  
María-Elena Gómez-Parra
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Intercultural Education ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Heterogeneous Classes ◽  
Methodological Principles ◽  
Theoretical Foundations ◽  
Flexible Model

García and Flores state that new pedagogies must respond to the complex bilingualism of students and to the heterogeneous classes of the 21st century. The main goal of this chapter is to describe the theoretical foundations of a new approach to bilingualism and interculturality in Early Childhood Education (ECE) called “the PETaL approach”, whose acronym stands for “Play, Education, Toys, and Languages”. PETaL is an approach and not a methodology in that it is a flexible model of bilingual implementation that adapts its key methodological principles to the particular context in which it is developed. Moreover, it is an approach that entails intercultural education as a constitutive axis of accommodation and plasticity, which are sine qua non conditions of it. The PETaL approach is framed in the European space, which offers a suitable international and socio-educational context where it has begun to be experimented and which has already attached itself to incipient research.

scholarly journals The role of federal and state policy in addressing early childhood achievement gaps: parent perceptions and student outcomes related to 21st Century Learning Centers programming in the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather P. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
21St Century ◽  
State Policy ◽  
Learning Centers ◽  
Community Learning Centers ◽  
Community Learning ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractAs policymakers and school communities work to address underlying causes of achievement gaps and access to quality early childhood education, this study considers the use of 21st Century Community Learning Centers to address early childhood education needs on western U.S. state, Idaho. The study sought to understand the relationship between federal and state policies related to out-of-school opportunities to enhance early childhood education. Utilizing data from a statewide evaluation of Idaho’s 21st Century Learning Centers, the study examined 92 centers providing after school, before school, or summer programs in grades preschool through the third grade to predominately at-risk children. Data collection included quantitative data from a survey given to parents (n = 183), as well as qualitative data collected through site-based interviews, focus groups and observations. Data included a review of historical and current data on participation rates; attendance rates; standardized test scores for program participants in grades PK-3 (n = 3258). Data were analyzed for themes and transfer. The study findings provide further insight into understanding possible relationships between U.S. federal and state policy regarding 21st Century Community Learning Centers on both students’ outcomes and parent satisfaction. The findings further support the role of out-of-school time (OST) experiences in the larger ecosystem of learning and provides insight into understanding how the OST activities are carried over into family life.

From Computational Thinking to Computational Doing

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Marina Umaschi Bers
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Computer Programming ◽  
Computational Thinking ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Broad Definition ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Computational Literacy

Computer programming is becoming an essential skill in the 21st century, and in order to best prepare future generations, the promotion of computational thinking and literacy must begin in early childhood education. Computational thinking can be defined in many ways. The broad definition offered in this chapter is that computational thinking practices refer to techniques applied by humans to express themselves by designing and constructing computation. This chapter claims that one of the fundamental ways in which computational thinking can be supported and augmented is by providing children with opportunities to code and to create their own interactive computational media. Thus, computational literacy will allow children to become producers and not only consumers of digital artifacts and systems.

Developmental Fossils—Unearthing the Artefacts of Early Childhood Education: The Reification of ‘Child Development’

2005 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 2-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilyn Fleer
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Child Development ◽  
World View ◽  
Linguistically Diverse ◽  
Conceptual Tool ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Cultural Legacy ◽  
New Thinking

In recent years sociocultural theory has provided an important conceptual tool for re-thinking many practices in early childhood education (e.g. Anning, Cullen & Fleer, 2004; Edwards, 2001; Edwards, 2003). While much has been gained, many taken-for-granted practices still remain in need of critique. Although the term ‘Child Development’ has been debated in the past (see collection of papers in Fleer, 1995; Keesing-Styles & Hedges, in press; Lubeck, 1996; 1998), we have not seen the emergence of a new approach or world view to replace it Ten years have passed, and we still find national materials which foreground Western middle-class notions of development (e.g. Responses to the National Agenda for Early Childhood, Australian Government, 2003). This paper seeks to stimulate debate within Australia and New Zealand around the term ‘Child Development’. Responses are invited so that the historical and cultural legacy of that term can be examined and a new term introduced which recognises our culturally and linguistically diverse communities. It is through public debate that we can as a scholarly community build new terminology to name and make visible new thinking.

Belonging and language

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-182
Author(s):  
Chris Peers
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Jacques Derrida ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Existentialist Philosophy ◽  
Philosophical Debates

This article contributes to a growing debate within the field of early childhood education about the concept of ‘belonging’. It continues from earlier discussions that commented on the adoption of Belonging as a key term in the development of a national curriculum for the early years in Australia in 2009, as well as increasingly common references to belonging in various aspects of debate within the field. The article focuses specifically on the idea of belonging as it has emerged within existentialist philosophy in the 20th century, and more recent post-structuralist theories, especially the work of Jacques Derrida. The article ties belonging to language as a means of redefining approaches in early childhood education to the notions of place and context, so as to more rigorously connect ‘belonging’ to the philosophical debates of the 21st century.

Internalizing the spirit of entrepreneurship in early childhood education through traditional games

2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (7/8) ◽  
pp. 767-780 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Jufri ◽  
Hillman Wirawan
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Future Study ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Entrepreneurial Characteristics

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop entrepreneurship games for early childhood education (ECE) and to develop a module using a number of systematic approaches. Design/methodology/approach There were two studies conducted. Study 1 focused on developing guidelines for traditional games. The games were collected and selected based on their entrepreneurial characteristics. In study 2, the authors selected eight relevant traditional games and then examined their effectiveness at internalizing the spirit of entrepreneurship. For the assessment, the authors trained 40 expert raters from the fields of psychology, ECE, and entrepreneurship studies. Findings The results showed that two groups of raters agreed (k=0.64) that the games were effective for internalizing the spirit of entrepreneurship in ECE. In the second part of the study, the authors intended to develop a set of multimedia digital instructions and guidelines for users (e.g. teachers and instructors) as the traditional games provided no written instructions. This study produced the multimedia digital instructions and constructed a set of assessment tools for the teachers to test the effectiveness of the games. Research limitations/implications This study focused on developing traditional games into a structured guideline for teachers. However, further investigation is still necessary to gather evidence regarding the validity of the game manual. Future study should focus on testing the effect of the games on ECE as well as students’ entrepreneurial traits. Originality/value This study created a new approach by considering local values in developing an entrepreneurship intervention.

Being professional in New Zealand early childhood education: A genealogy

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 597-609
Author(s):  
Margaret Stuart
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Education Sector ◽  
Professional Code ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Democratic Practices

An academic, Peter Dinniss, discussed the then emerging issue of professionalism in the early childhood education sector in 1974. “There has been much debate over the term ['professional'] together with discussion as to whether teaching is a profession” (1974: 11). On the cusp of the 21st century, the Education Council (now renamed Teaching Council) of New Zealand consulted with teachers on their register about a professional code. This article follows the emergence of the professionalism discourse. I examine traces of the ‘strategies, tactics and procedures’ in a genealogy of the managerial technicist process of education. My interest lies in emergent ‘responsibilization’ of teachers over the period. I examine the power/knowledge of the ‘profession’ in Aotearoa, New Zealand, as teachers invent and govern themselves. I ask if the Council’s discourse of professionalism through registration of individuals can be re-envisioned through the collective and democratic practices evident in parent-led services.

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