Introductory article for Special issue: Conceptions of early childhood and institutions in a global context

The recognition of the importance of early childhood education (ECE) has been growing continuously in recent years. Early childhood institutions are where professional pedagogy and child-rearing practices meet first in someones' life (Tobin et al., 2009), it has great significance in education. Acknowledgement of the existence of the needs of young children's education is evident, however, we have limited chances to compare different education systems outside of Europe and the United States. Realizing this situation, we came to the conclusion that it is highly necessary and required to publish such an analytical issue in the Hungarian Education Research Journal. Teacher's views and their narratives of childhood are relevant if we aim to understand the fundamental differences of ECE institutions in any region or country. In our present investigation we collected data from Hungary, Laos and Malaysia in order to acquire greater knowledge on the conceptions of early childhood in the three countries. We assumed however that the teachers' qualification and the early childcare system is diverse, yet we have found similarities among the teachers' perception.

The development of “Early Childhood Education & Care Curriculum Framework Implementation Scale” in Taiwan

Taiwan government consolidated the kindergarten and daycare systems in 2012, and launched a new national curriculum framework, Early Childhood Education & Care Curriculum Framework (ECECCF), as a guidance for quality early childhood education programs. Research has shown that the effects of a new educational program highly depended on the fidelity of its implementation. It has thus been suggested that the degree of implantation of a program needs be evaluated before conducting further program evaluation. Thus, the purpose of this study was to construct an Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework Implementation Scale (ECECCF Implementation Scale) for Taiwanese preschool programs. 216 preschool classes in Taiwan were involved. The study consisted of two stages: In Stage 1, the exploratory factor analysis showed that the implementation of ECECCF could mostly be explained by four factors, and all the factors extracted had acceptable reliability and validity. In Stage 2, rubrics were constructed for each item and factor analysis was re-conducted, resulting in a 19-item scale of four factors (Awareness and Adjustment, Learning Centers Arrangement, Teaching Guidance and Curriculum Development). The reliability and validity tests shows that: (1) the final version of the ECECCF Implementation Scale is a valid and reliable instrument, explaining 62.9% of the total variance; (2) the criterion validity indicated that the ECECCF scale can not only be used for assessing the implementation of ECECCF, but also can be used for understanding teachers’ needs in instructional and operational curriculum for further professional development.

The influence of gender stereotyping and demographic factors on academic choice: The case of the University of Debrecen

Education is the proven guarantor of gender equality and sustainable development. Empirical evidence from previous studies in European countries (Favara, 2012; Geerdink & Dekkers, 2011; OECD, 2009) shows that women are incompletely represented in many areas of technical and scientific education. This study examined the impact of gender stereotypes and factors related to family background, university criteria, and the main factors influencing students’ academic choices at the University of Debrecen. The research question was: what is the impact of gender stereotypes and demographic factors on students’ academic choices? The research relied on a qualitative approach. 12 qualitative interviews were conducted with international students at undergraduate and postgraduate level. The research used semi-structured interviews with five main blocks of questions. The dimensions explored included the following: 1. introduction and context of the interviewee, 2. gender stereotypes, 3. family background, 4. university characteristics, 5. factors motivating academic selection. After data collection, the transcripts were analysed using an open coding method, which involved line-by-line and word-by-word analysis (Khandkar, 2009). This helped to identify the most important factors influencing students’ academic choices. The socio-educational role of the family, the scholarship Stependium Hungaricum, the facilities and services of the university, the geopolitical academic location, the UNIDEB ranking, the quality of life and study, the scholarships, the realistic, materialistic goals of future life, and the impact of gender stereotypes expressed by the students (as a product of society, choice and belief, the liberal generation) influenced the academic choice of the international students at the University of Debrecen.

The dilemma of instructional language in education: The case of Ghana

According to Victor Hugo (1802–1885), “He who opens a school door, closes a prison”. This powerful statement demonstrates the importance of school in the development of a nation and the lives of individuals. It has been proven that the language used in early childhood education has an impact on the cognitive development and learning achievement of children in their educational arena. Most countries in Africa are still discussing the language to be used as a medium of instruction in their educational system. Ghana, which is known as a multilingual society with over 80 languages is not excluded from this controversy. The language policy of education in Ghana has had a complex history since the colonial era. The question of international schools in Ghana is critically examined; most of these schools do not teach any of the Ghanaian languages, but a foreign language. Ghana, however, has been a strong advocate of the so-called African personality and the use of English as the medium of instruction is in overt opposition to this ideology. The argument about which language to be used as a medium of instruction in Ghanaian Schools has been going on for a long time without coming to a specific conclusion.

The effect of project on children attitude toward environmental balance

The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of project on children’s attitude toward environmental balance. This study is a qualitative study using a holistic single case study design involving “compost cases”, at a kindergarten in Perak, Malaysia. The participants consisted of a focus group of 18 children and an educator. The data was obtained through triangulation results from unstructured interview, observation, and unofficial documents such as children notebooks, sketches, and pictures of investigative activities. The findings showed that the children understand the negative impact of using chemicals on Earth. The finding also showed that children able to give suggestions on producing compost, burying food scraps in the soil and use the compost dining set for banquet to deal with waste management problems. In addition, the finding showed that children able to classify waste materials which is easily decompose for compost production. The finding also showed that activities project able to develop entrepreneurial attitudes in children to sell the product produced. The valuable experience through observation and hands-on activities from early childhood will help the continuity of learning process throughout their lives.

The rights of children from Gypsy/Traveller and Roma backgrounds in Scotland

The Scottish Government has a strong commitment to strengthening children’s human rights, with the aim of making Scotland ‘the best place to grow up and bring up children’. The Education (Scotland) Act 2016 introduced a raft of measures to boost the rights of children with additional support needs (ASN). The programme for government in Scotland, published in September 2020, included a commitment to incorporate the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child into Scottish domestic legislation. In order to examine the extent to which the rights of Gypsy/Traveller children are being respected in practice, this paper draws on an analysis of official statistics conducted as part of an ESRC funded project entitled Autonomy, Rights and Children with Special Needs: A New Paradigm? (ES/P002641/1), which ran from 2018 to 2020. In addition, the paper uses findings from an Independent Children’s Rights Impact Assessment which was carried out in summer 2020 with a view to investigating the impact of the emergency measures implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic. Under the terms of the Coronavirus Act 2020, schools across the UK were closed, with widespread implications for children and young people, particularly those with additional support needs. The central aim of this paper is to explore the impact of the emergency measures on the recently enhanced rights of children with ASN, with a particular focus on the rights of children from Gypsy/Traveller backgrounds. I conclude that people living itinerant lives experience long-standing exclusion from mainstream schooling and wider society, and their marginal status has been reinforced during the recent pandemic when children’s human rights have been side-lined.

Social justice in education from the perspective of the Roma in the Czech Republic – A case study

This paper addresses the current educational rights of the Roma community (in the Czech Republic). The aim of the paper is to present the educational system, its advantages and disadvantages and the ways in which the legal system supports educational rights. The second part of the paper focuses on the exercising and negotiation of rights in the contemporary social context. The work is based on ethnographic research conducted since 2005 by the Levínská, Bittnerová, & Doubek team in socially excluded localities. The data analysis is based on the theoretical concept of cognitive anthropology and the cultural models theory (D’Andrare, & Strauss, 1992). Cultural models and the ways in which parents, students and teachers negotiate rights are presented. The tension between rationality and morality (Bateson, 1958) is demonstrated by the models’ endurance; communication, cognitive and material support; and independence. Although the system itself provides equal opportunities, the prospects that education affords are a fundamental problem. One obstacle is racial bias, which influences members of the dominant group. Another significant obstacle is poverty and the costs of higher education, which are beyond the financial capacity of poor families. A third obstacle is knowledge, which is insufficient in excluded localities and poor families, and that families are unable to give students adequate support in navigating the full scope of student responsibilities.

Teachers' social and emotional competence: A new approach of teacher education in Vietnam

In the last two decades more and more studies have emphasized the central role of teachers' social and emotional competence in their teaching performance. In spite of this, there are not enough programs focused on developing teachers' social and emotional competence that are integrated into teacher education. This is particularly true in Vietnam where the concepts of social and emotional competence (SEC) and social and emotional learning (SEL) are rather new. In the study, we present four main emerging impact aspects of teachers' SEC including teachers' well-being and career motivation, teacher-student relationship, classroom management, and the effectiveness of SEL implementation. The article gives some recommendations for teacher education regarding SEC issue in Vietnam as well. These recommendations would contribute to develop a new approach of teacher education to meet the country's new general education curriculum enacted in 2020.