Starting Childcare Before Three: Narratives of Experience From a Tri-Partite Focus

<p>This thesis explores the event of starting childcare as experienced by five under-three year old children, their mothers and at least one teacher in the childcare centre attended by each child. Narrative accounts of the adults' experiences were gathered through journal records kept by the mothers and the teachers, and during two semi-structured interviews. The children's experiences were recorded through non-participant observation fieldnotes and video-taped records of three events during each orientation visit by the children and their mothers to the childcare centre, and once weekly for the following six weeks. Narratives of experiences were re-constructed from these data using a combination of methods from grounded theory, narrative enquiry and deconstuctivist analysis. The tri-partite focus of this thesis reveals the experience of starting childcare as an emotional one for all participants, not just for children; it argues that the traditional research focus on the emotional significance of this event for children is an incomplete one. Additionally, starting childcare was an experience of induction: through processes of social canalization and guided participation, the mothers and the children were inducted into the ways of the childcare centre by the teachers and the established children in the centre. Deconstuctivist analyses of the adult participants' narrative accounts suggested that both mothers and teachers defined their roles in the children's experience of starting childcare, and their relationships with each other and with the children, against the background of dominant discourses about motherhood and early childhood teaching. For teachers this meant that they expressed their role as subsidiary to that of the mother. The paradox emerged that while teachers saw themselves as less powerful than the mothers in influencing the children's starting childcare experience, the observational data revealed that the teachers' actions determined the way children were 'canalized' into the expected ways of relating to them. Theoretical statements emerged from this study which point to new directions for how the event of starting childcare may be conceptualised in the context of shared care between home adults and early childhood teachers. Implications for enhancing the experience of starting childcare are highlighted.</p>

Starting Childcare Before Three: Narratives of Experience From a Tri-Partite Focus

<p>This thesis explores the event of starting childcare as experienced by five under-three year old children, their mothers and at least one teacher in the childcare centre attended by each child. Narrative accounts of the adults' experiences were gathered through journal records kept by the mothers and the teachers, and during two semi-structured interviews. The children's experiences were recorded through non-participant observation fieldnotes and video-taped records of three events during each orientation visit by the children and their mothers to the childcare centre, and once weekly for the following six weeks. Narratives of experiences were re-constructed from these data using a combination of methods from grounded theory, narrative enquiry and deconstuctivist analysis. The tri-partite focus of this thesis reveals the experience of starting childcare as an emotional one for all participants, not just for children; it argues that the traditional research focus on the emotional significance of this event for children is an incomplete one. Additionally, starting childcare was an experience of induction: through processes of social canalization and guided participation, the mothers and the children were inducted into the ways of the childcare centre by the teachers and the established children in the centre. Deconstuctivist analyses of the adult participants' narrative accounts suggested that both mothers and teachers defined their roles in the children's experience of starting childcare, and their relationships with each other and with the children, against the background of dominant discourses about motherhood and early childhood teaching. For teachers this meant that they expressed their role as subsidiary to that of the mother. The paradox emerged that while teachers saw themselves as less powerful than the mothers in influencing the children's starting childcare experience, the observational data revealed that the teachers' actions determined the way children were 'canalized' into the expected ways of relating to them. Theoretical statements emerged from this study which point to new directions for how the event of starting childcare may be conceptualised in the context of shared care between home adults and early childhood teachers. Implications for enhancing the experience of starting childcare are highlighted.</p>

Energy performance assessment of passive buildings in future climatic scenarios: the case of study of the childcare centre in Putignano (Bari, Italy)

The building sector is a primary target for GreenHouse Gas emissions mitigation efforts, as it accounts for 36% of final energy use. The most effective mitigation strategies include the energy retrofit of the existing building stock. Among existing buildings, particular attention should be paid to school buildings, which are among the most diffuse public buildings in Europe, most of them built decades ago, with a resulting high potential in terms of refurbishment effectiveness. Moreover, schools cover a social function and require high levels of indoor environmental quality. In this field, the research activity is intense, but retrofit strategies are still conceived considering historical weather data, which could not represent correctly present and future climate patterns, reducing the retrofit effectiveness. In this work, an energy retrofit to “Passivhaus standard” of a childcare centre located in the Mediterranean area is analysed through dynamic simulations. A post-retrofit building model is simulated using Typical Meteorological Year (TMY) and compared with the ones simulated in future weather scenarios, created using the morphing method. The analyses aim to assess if the technical solutions currently adopted on the basis of the TMY will lead to acceptable energy performance in future decades. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis of different design solutions is performed, aiming to assess their effectiveness in future weather conditions.

Children's playful musicking: Peer culture within a day-care setting in Singapore

In the field of early childhood education, play has become synonymous with curriculum but is sometimes viewed narrowly as a pedagogical tool to enhance child development. However, it is known from a range of multidisciplinary work that child-initiated and child-guided forms and contexts of playing can offer rich insight into diversity in childhood(s), peer cultures and children's meaning-making. This article draws on an ethnographic study that was conducted in a full-day childcare centre in Singapore and focused on children's everyday world of self-initiated play, improvisation and peer culture. Specifically, it presents examples of songs and rhythmic chants created by a group of 4-year-olds . Such ‘musicking’ is a form of social play that illustrates children’s ways of teasing, relating with others and sense-making within their contemporary social world. The article argues for educators to look beyond the instrumental value of play in the preschool curriculum, inviting all to take some time to allow children's multifarious play activities to influence their adult sensibilities.

In whose best interests? Regulating childcare environments in Australia

This conceptual model paper uses systems theory to explain how key elements in the Australian policy and regulatory context lead to three issues of concern in childcare centre physical environments: siting of centres on busy roads; lack of outdoor space; and, emergency evacuation in high-rise buildings. Drawing on evidence from prior studies and policy documents through desktop research, as well as childcare centre visits and communications with stakeholders and experts, we confirmed these issues as threats to children’s health, safety, development and well-being. Adapting Goekler’s ‘iceberg model’ of systems theory, we identified a dominance of commercial childcare property interests and complex and conflicting policy and regulatory structures, as explanatory elements leading to outcomes that conflict with children’s best interests.

A simple reorganization of childcare centre with positive effects on self-regulation and play behaviour

In the present study, we used a cuasi-experimental design to evaluate the impact of changing the organization of preschool centres in children’s self regulation and socio-emotional development. The changes included giving the children the opportunity to choose activities, the conformation of multi-aged groups during part of the day, and promoting a higher commitment of educators to specific aspects of the curriculum. Our results show that children in the intervention group display improved self-regulation, particularly in a decrease in negative affectivity, conduct problems and emotional symptoms. Additionally, they showed increase complexity in their play behaviours and more peer-interactions in social play. The intervention proved to be a low-cost, easy to implement alternative with promising results in a country with restricted financial resources in education.

Mapping Childcare Support for Patients at North American Hospitals and Cancer Centres: An Environmental Scan.

Purpose Approximately one quarter of cancer patients are parents to young children. One unique challenge faced by this patient group is the difficulty of accessing childcare support during medical appointments. Hospital-based childcare options could represent a solution to this problem, but to this point, no comprehensive scans have described existing on-site childcare centres. The purpose of this study is to identify and characterize on-site childcare services available to patients at North American hospitals. This information could inform the development of similar programs for cancer patients. Methods Using publicly available information, an environmental scan of the grey literature was conducted to investigate Canadian and American hospitals for the presence of childcare services. A standardized data collection tool was used to extract centre characteristics. Results Twenty-six childcare centres were identified across 161 hospitals. The majority of the centres were associated with pediatric hospitals (77%) and were located in the United States (69%). Only a single childcare centre was associated with a cancer hospital. All centres accommodated children between the ages of 3 and 8. Most centres were open for over 30 hours per week (77%) and were free of charge to users (89%). Other characteristics, including capacity and staffing, varied widely. Conclusions These results represent an inventory of patient-accessible, on-site childcare services currently available at North American hospitals. Cancer patients who are also parents may especially need this kind of support, as they are at high risk for financial toxicity.

SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7 susceptibility and infectiousness of children and adults deduced from investigations of childcare centre outbreaks, Germany, 2021

We investigated three SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7 childcare centre and related household outbreaks. Despite group cohorting, cases occurred in almost all groups, i.e. also among persons without close contact. Children’s secondary attack rates (SAR) were similar to adults (childcare centres: 23% vs 30%; p = 0.15; households: 32% vs 39%; p = 0.27); child- and adult-induced household outbreaks also led to similar SAR. With the advent of B.1.1.7, susceptibility and infectiousness of children and adults seem to converge. Public health measures should be revisited accordingly.

Implementing an inclusive policy in an early childhood education setting : a case study

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perspectives and ongoing experiences of a transdisciplinary team responsible for the implementation of an existing policy on the inclusion of children with special needs within a community-based childcare centre. Four factors were identified as impacting the team’s ability to effectively implement and sustain the use of the policy over time; 1) understanding about inclusive practices, 2) collaborative team meetings, 3) mutual respect for expertise and 4) resources and supports. The findings assist in developing an understanding of the sustainability of inclusion policies within the context of a specific childcare centre housed in a university campus of a large Canadian metropolis.