Foundational Processes, Home-School Partnerships, and Culturally Responsive Practices for Dual Language Learners

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the current empirical studies on foundational processes, home-school partnerships, and culturally responsive practices in regard to Dual Language Learners (DLLs) for early childhood education in order to inform teacher education programs (TEPs).

Digital Technology in Kindergarten

This chapter examines the literature surrounding digital technologies within kindergarten. It highlights the ways in which mobile devices and smart gadgets are used by early childhood teachers and young children in diverse teacher-focused and child-centred approaches. The challenges faced by early childhood teachers to successfully use and integrate mobile devices and smart gadgets within their kindergarten will be explored. These challenges include, meeting curriculum requirements, mediating parental expectations, seeing the potential of digital technologies, having the confidence and self-efficacy to use digital devices and determining the value and place of digital technologies within a play-based environment. Each of these challenges are explored within the chapter and the ways these challenges can be overcome are detailed. The opportunities which mobile devices and smart gadgets present to maximise young children's learning, play and engagement and which facilitate and support the role of the early childhood teacher will also be examined.

Social Welfare Issues in Childhood

Children around the globe are confronted with numerous social welfare issues that adversely affect their wellbeing. These issues differ across countries and regions. This chapter explores childhood social welfare issues in Botswana, illuminating the ideological differences between traditional and more contemporary conceptualizations of childhood. Because children's issues are currently so complex, this chapter focuses primarily on HIV and AIDS-related orphanhood, alcohol and substance abuse, and traumatic events in the lives of the children. Problems in the lives of children in Botswana are identified, related opportunities are discussed, and recommendations made. The chapter demonstrates, among other things, that a number of commendable efforts (at practice, policy, and research levels) have been undertaken by stakeholders to address social welfare issues in childhood: however, a lot more still needs to be done to improve the quality of life among Botswana's most vulnerable children. Therefore, the chapter concludes by highlighting recommendations for research, practice, and policy.

The Schooling Experiences of African Youth From Refugee Backgrounds in South Australia

African students from refugee backgrounds constitute a special group in Australian schools because of their complex lives and previous schooling and life experiences that are unlike most of their non-refugee peers. This chapter draws upon findings from a collaborative, longitudinal case study that sought to understand the education and career pathways of African students from refugee backgrounds from the perspectives of African youth, educators, service providers, and South Australian African community leaders and elders. Qualitative analysis revealed six key influences that shape these pathways: previous schooling; English language skills; Australian schooling challenges and support; family support, academic achievement; and post-school preparation. This chapter presents the case study of a single student that, although unique in its circumstances, is representative of key findings from the larger study. Implications for educational practice are then described with a view to facilitating educational participation and success amongst this particular group of young people.

Revitalizing ICDS

ICDS-Integrated Child Development Services is India's only government program for combating the rampant malnutrition prevalent in young children. In this chapter, the authors aim to examine the need and scope of ICDS scheme, its services and countrywide reach; considering that every fifth child in the world lives in India, this scheme is critical to ensuring that today's children who are our citizens of tomorrow are well nurtured and nourished, thus securing the country's future. Also its efficacy in achieving stated objectives is assessed through analysis of vital parameters such as nutritional status, mortality rates etc. Further, the bottlenecks facing the scheme such as lack of adequate sanitation facilities and supervisory staff etc. are studied and the initiatives taken by the government to revitalize it are also examined. The transformation into Mission Mode has ushered in programmatic, institutional and management reforms and renewed thrust on creating awareness through an Information, Education and Communication (IEC) campaign.

Psychological Injury to Children at Work

Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986 talks about the hazardous units of the employability and prohibit the employers to employ children in them and regulate employability of children in the non-hazardous units. Law has laid emphasis on physical injury that effects the physiology of a child but the “psychological injury” is left as such. Psychological injury can have disastrous impact to shape the personality of a child. The paper reviewed types of non–hazardous occupations where children are involved at work, methods, Ericson's developmental stages of children affected by child's labour activities, assessing psychological effects, constitutional provisions; psychosocial analysis, and concluded that once a child gets employed he or she loses the freedom to spend his or her time by his own free will.

Creating Spaces for Critical Literacy for Bilingual Learners

With heightened emphasis on critical literacy pedagogies, attention to critical literacy for young children (CLYC) has rapidly increased. Yet, there is a paucity of studies examining CLYC in bilingual settings, particularly in Pre-K contexts. Utilizing a qualitative case study design, the current study examined how early critical literacy can be implemented as a medium to help young bilinguals critique texts and develop critical perspectives about race and gender. The study was conducted in a kindergarten classroom at the Korean Language School in a Midwestern city in the US. The data were collected over a semester using multiple collection sources including audio/video recordings, observational field notes, interviews, and children's artifacts. Findings suggest the potential of early critical literacy practices in bilingual contexts to open critical conversations about race and gender with young children. The study also provides teachers with tips on how to create supportive literary environments for young bilingual children.

Program Development, Assessment, and Evaluation in Early Childhood Care and Education

Early childhood years are a fundamental period of development in human lifespan. Infant and toddler care programs, early childhood education services, after-school care programs, and parenting programs are foundational in the physical, cognitive, and socioemotional development of children. Development of quality early childhood programs can be realized through consideration of various elements of quality. Early childhood care and education (ECCE) program designers should aim to develop safe, healthy, responsive, engaging, and developmentally appropriate programs. Program curriculum, which takes place at the heart of program development, should also be responsive to children's needs and interests to construct meaningful, age-appropriate, and play-based learning experiences. Ongoing assessment and evaluation are integral part of quality ECCE program development. Early childhood assessment consists of child-level and program-level assessments. Assessment of children's developmental outcomes and program environmental characteristics play key roles in the development and evaluation of ECCE programs. Even though there are many available tools of assessment, common features of quality assessments include reliability, validity, purposefulness, and universality. Evaluation of early childhood programs makes use of different methodologies designed to study program process, outcome, impact, and cost-benefit. Development of quality early childhood care and education programs need systematic planning, implementation, and monitoring through the use of quality assessment and evaluation methodologies. This chapter provides a synthesis of the current state of knowledge in program development, assessment, and evaluation in early care and education based on high quality research studies coming from a variety of fields.

Improving Teaching Practice in Early Childhood Supported by Mobile Technology

This chapter discusses the findings of an ethnographic case study investigating the implementation of mobile learning at an early childhood centre in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. The study describes how mobile technology is being used to support children's learning and communication. The findings show that the devices are an integral part of the learning culture of the centre. The devices are being used to actively engage children in the learning environment and support teaching inquiry. As one of the early studies to investigate how mobile technology is being used in early childhood education, the current study provides pedagogically sound examples and insight on how mobile technology can be embedded into early childhood. The study is seen as a starting place for more in-depth investigations into the impact of mobile learning on young children's learning.

Bee Pollination

The purpose of the chapter is to provide an exemplar of an inquiry-based unit on pollination for designing and implementing constructivist instructional practices while simultaneously providing outstanding teacher preparation. The unit on pollination was developed by preservice teachers through a partnership between the Monmouth Conservation Foundation and the Monmouth University School of Education. Through collective action, these institutions were able to enhance student learning on a vital part of the science curriculum, provide a rich clinical experience for pre-service teachers, and to familiarize teachers with a more constructivist approach to pre-school science instruction.