EECERA 2018 Conference Resource Pack: Early Childhood Education, Families and Communities
Posted 18th June 2018
We are delighted to offer you this FREE EECERA 2018 Conference Resource Pack!
Featuring exclusive OPEN ACCESS to selected journal articles and THREE CHAPTERS from the EECERA book series (courtesy of EECERJ, CREC and Taylor & Francis), as well as videos, infographics, blog posts, resources and reports related to this year’s conference theme of early childhood education, families and communities from various experts and advocates in the field of early years and early childhood education.
The resource pack has been divided into 17 sections in line with the 2018 Conference Themes & Strands.
Enjoy!
CULTURE, COMMUNITY AND SOCIETY
PUBLICATION: If Kids Built A City: Possibilities for Play in Pittsburgh, PA (Trying Together)
If kids built a city, how would they design it to spark curiosity, wonder, and joy? This publication explores how we can build cities that work for children…
OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL ARTICLE: Maneuvering suspicions of being a potential pedophile: experiences of male ECEC-workers in Sweden (C. Eidevald et al., EECERJ)
Previous research has described a discourse where men working in Early Childhood Education and Care are viewed as potential pedophiles. The aim of this study is to describe and analyze how men, working in Swedish preschools, position themselves in relation to this pedophile discourse.
BLOG POST: Superhero Play (Tim Kahn in Teach Early Years)
Do certain groups of children underachieve because their interests are regarded as taboo? Tim Kahn explores the benefits of embracing weapon and superhero play, and asks what else might we need to reassess…
VALUES AND VALUE EDUCATION
VIDEO: “Alike” – Animated Short Film (Daniel Martínez Lara & Rafa Cano Méndez)
In a busy life, Copi is a father who tries to teach the right way to his son, Paste. But… what is the correct path?
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EECERJ
OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL ARTICLE COLLECTION: EECERA 2018 Conference Collection (EECERJ)
Get FREE access to a special selection of articles from the EECERJ on the topic of early childhood education, families and communities.
EECERA BOOK CHAPTERS
OPEN ACCESS: Values in Early Childhood Education: Chapter 9 — Play in an Ethnically Diverse Preschool: Conditions for Belonging (Berit Zachrisen)
For most children, preschool represents their first opportunity to experience interethnic interaction and collaboration in play. The experiences that children gain through their daily encounters with other children in play can be important for their growing understanding of democracy and equality in a diverse ethnic society and in counteracting discrimination.
OPEN ACCESS: Young Children Playing and Learning in a Digital Age: Chapter 8 — Children, Families and Technologies (Christine Stephen and Susan Edwards)
This chapter explores the everyday experiences of children and their families in the digital age. The authors consider research findings about the ways in which children’s experiences are shaped by family values and attitudes and their family’s cultural practices.
OPEN ACCESS: Assessment and Evaluation for Transformation in Early Childhood: Case Study 6 (England) — Participatory assessment with parents; the Accounting Early for Life Long Learning (AcE) Programme (Donna Gayward & Christine Pascal)
This case study reveals the challenges and benefits of using a participatory model of assessment and evaluation within a network of Children’s Centres. It demonstrates how the AcE programme (Bertram, Pascal and Saunders, 2008) was adopted as an assessment tool by practitioners and how it has operated as a catalyst for staff to fundamentally reconsider and reshape their relationships with both parents and children within the learning process.
ECEC CONTEXTS, TRANSITION AND PRACTICES
ARTICLE: Staying Back To Get Ahead — Stanford researchers show we’re sending many children to school way too early (Quartz)
A new study from Stanford University shows that Danish kids who postponed kindergarten for up to one year showed dramatically higher levels of self-control: “We found that delaying kindergarten for one year reduced inattention and hyperactivity by 73% for an average child at age 11”.
OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL ARTICLE: ‘She thinks her toys don’t understand Romanian’: family engagement with children’s learning during the transition to school (Susanne Rogers, EECERJ)
This article reports on the perspectives of mothers and educators in relation to the engagement of mothers in their children’s learning as children living in complex circumstances made the transition to school.
ACTION RESEARCH: “Guiding the Journey”: Can using transitions story guides support parents and children in understanding their transition journeys? (Sue Johnson, TACTYC)
The purpose of this action research project was to investigate the use of transitions story guides to support parents and children in their understanding of their transitions journeys into a sessional, term time early years setting and on to reception classes in a mainstream primary school.
SUPPORTING FAMILIES IN EARLY YEARS’ SETTINGS
PODCAST: Early Childhood Perspectives #17: Working in partnership with families (William Cook)
This week we tackle three different ways we can work in partnership with families!
OPEN ACCESS PRACTITIONER RESEARCH: How to develop more effective assessments of the needs of families and children through multi-agency working (Linda A Dunn, CREC Student Research Archive)
Research highlights the need for more effective documentation to support issues surrounding deprivation, poor parenting and better outcomes for children and more effective multi-agency working in providing much-needed support earlier. This research project aimed to develop an integrated approach to working with children and families and streamline the assessment process and documentation at levels two and three on the local authority guide (UK) to levels of need.
PLAY / LEARNING
OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL ARTICLE: Toddlers’ social competence, play, movement skills and well-being: an analysis of their relationship based on authentic assessment in kindergarten (Rune Giske et al., EECERJ)
This article explores the relationship between toddlers’ (age: 30–33 months) well-being, play, social-emotional competence and movement skills.
BLOG POST: This is How Children Play in 7 Different Countries (Chronicle Books)
Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you were born in a different country? What your house would be like? What clothes you would wear, and what you would eat? In a world that seems further and further divided, this book celebrates the similarities and differences that children around the world experience.
POSITION PAPER: The Role of Play in ECEC (EECERA Special Interest Group [SIG] on Rethinking Play)
This position paper focuses on the possible impact of the current international trends regarding the instrumentalisation of ECEC on play. The SIG members argue that, due to this standardised approach to ECEC deriving from a collective strive for high-quality and performance amongst countries, the very concept of play defined as a spontaneous, creative, socio-cultural activity and also as children’s right can lose its meaning.
ARTICLE: ‘Lets face it, keeping children sedentary for most of their waking hours is causing harm’ (The Washington Post)
In this post, Angela Hanscom writes about the restrictions schools are putting on kids when they are allowed to play — and why “the very movements we are restricting children from doing to keep them ‘safe’ are the exact exercises” she thinks children should be doing for healthy psychological and physical growth.
PARENT PARTNERSHIP IN EARLY YEARS’ SETTINGS
OPEN ACCESS PRACTITIONER RESEARCH: Practitioners and parents; living in a ‘third space’? A study of perceptions of ‘British Asian’ parental involvement in their children’s nursery education (Nicola Smith, CREC Student Research Archive)
This research aims to achieve a deeper understanding of the factors impacting on ‘British Asian’ parent-practitioner interactions in order to improve practice.
FREE RESOURCES: Spotlight On: Working in partnership with parents (Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years – PACEY)
A round-up blog linking to all of PACEY’s resources to help support childcare professionals to confidently connect and engage with parents to encourage and develop children’s learning.
PRACTITIONER GUIDANCE: Aistear: the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework: Building partnerships between parents and practitioners (NCCA, Ireland)
One of the hallmarks of a quality early childhood service is that it works in partnership with parents to provide an environment in which babies, toddlers and young children are happy, feel they belong and can develop to their fullest potential. In this environment parents and practitioners work together to share information and expertise, and to make decisions in order to give children rich experiences across settings.
INNOVATIVE / ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES
OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL ARTICLE: Evaluating innovation and navigating unseen boundaries: systems, processes and people (Alma Fleet et al., EECERJ)
This paper illustrates an evaluation model emerging from Australian research. With reference to a range of contexts, its usefulness is demonstrated through application to two professional development initiatives designed to improve continuity of learning in the context of the transition to school.
OPEN ACCESS PRACTITIONER RESEARCH: How can [two named children’s centres] work more effectively together to improve outcomes for children and families? (Elizabeth Jane Rouse, CREC Student Research Archive)
Against the context of local authority spending reductions [in the UK], this project explores the attitudes and perceptions of team members to multi-agency working across two children’s centres. It explores the concepts of emotional intelligence (Goleman, 1988) and integrity (Denscombe, 2002), and their roles in effective leadership through change (Fullan, 2001) to an integrated multi-agency approach.
ARTICLE: The children using the coast as a classroom (i News)
A growing number of nurseries close to a coastline are realising the benefit of taking their children to the beach as part of their weekly routine, a happy consequence of the success of forest schools all over the UK, which has seen outdoor play and education in a woodland setting become highly desirable among parents looking for a nursery.
NATIONAL CURRICULUMS IN ECEC
BLOG POST: The Global Search for Education: A New Look at Early Childhood Education Around the World (Huffington Post)
Does early childhood education and care prompt or deter learning? What are the best practices? How are global communities doing in terms of transitioning children from early childhood education to primary school?
ARTICLE: Why Swedish early learning is so much better than Australia’s (The Conversation)
Most people have heard that Finland leads the world in education, but fewer have heard that Finland’s neighbour, Sweden, is the international leader in early childhood education and care.
ARTICLE: The Joyful, Illiterate Kindergartners of Finland (The Atlantic)
Forget the Common Core, Finland’s youngsters are in charge of determining what happens in the classroom.
ARTICLE: OECD in ‘schoolification’ warning (Nursery World)
Primary schools need to do more to be ready for children, rather than the other way round, says a new report from the OECD that examines the transition from early years to primary education.
PROFESSIONALISM AND PEDAGOGUES / EDUCATORS’ ROLE
OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL ARTICLE: Being a professional or practising professionally (Mary A. Dyer, EECERJ)
This article considers how the government-driven professionalisation agenda for the early years workforce in England has contributed to the professional status of the graduate practitioner, or if these workers, whilst articulating a professional identity, continue to lack the power to claim such higher status for their role.
BOOK: Building Knowledge in Early Childhood Education – Young Children Are Researchers. By Jane Murray (Routledge)
Building Knowledge in Early Childhood Education draws on empirical research findings from the Young Children As Researchers (YCAR) project to examine everyday activities and reveal the means that young children use to build knowledge and understanding, as well as exploring the similarities between learning behaviours in early childhood and adult life.
OPEN ACCESS PRACTITIONER RESEARCH: The Influence of Professional Cultures on Collaborative Working in Children’s Centres (Wendy Messenger, CREC Student Research Archive)
This study seeks to understand professional culture and how it influences collaborative working within this context.
THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE OF CHILD-CENTRED PRACTICE
OPEN ACCESS PRACTITIONER RESEARCH: Creating a more participatory practice for children in early years; an action research project (Helen Lyndon, CREC Student Research Archive)
This is a participatory action research project which explores ‘listening to children’.
ARTICLE: Should emotions be taught in schools? (Ideas.TED)
Our unresolved, unacknowledged feelings can lead us into anxiety, arguments and worse. Some educators believe it’s time to give our kids emotional instruction along with their ABCs.
BLOG POST: Metacognition in the Early Years: A Practical Approach (Read Teach Learn Think)
The Characteristics of Effective Learning highlight the importance of developing children’s ability to think critically, emphasising the importance of metacognition in this phase. Therefore, it is important that early years practitioners consider how these skills can be fostered and developed.
THE CHILD AND LOCAL COMMUNITY
TOOLKIT: Involve children and young people in your community (Brighter Futures Together)
This factsheet provides you with the essential information to enable you to involve and work with children and young people in your local community.
BOOK: Children’s Participation: The Theory and Practice of Involving Young Citizens in Community Development and Environmental Care (Roger A. Hart)
This book, by one of the world’s leading authorities on environmental education, is written in the conviction that children can play a valuable and lasting role in sustainable development, if their participation is taken seriously and planned with thought for their developing capabilities and unique strengths. Through direct participation, children can develop a genuine appreciation of democracy and a sense of their own competence and responsibility.
REPORT: What Works in Community Development with Children? (Barnardo’s)
Participation, community development and empowerment are currently seen to be essential in any social intervention, by those in policy and political circles. However, they are concepts, which can be utilised in different ways with different results. This report examines concepts, research and case studies around community development in order to establish a coherent knowledge base for practitioners working with children.
PARADIGMS, THEORIES AND METHODOLOGIES FOR WORKING WITH YOUNG CHILDREN
VIDEO: Building Adult Capabilities to Improve Child Outcomes – A Theory of Change (Center on the Developing Child)
This 5-minute video depicts a theory of change from the Frontiers of Innovation community for achieving breakthrough outcomes for vulnerable children and families.
OPEN ACCESS PRACTITIONER RESEARCH: Developing a methodology and instrument for recording and analysing adult-child touching behaviours in Foundation Stage settings (Sally Teare, CREC Student Research Archive)
This project proposes a tool for capturing and analysing touch-behaviours between practitioners and children. Film, slow-motion analysis, and coded stills are used to see how touch helps form relationships in early childhood settings.
NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH IN ECEC
PUBLICATION: Starting Strong 2017 — Key OECD Indicators on Early Childhood Education and Care (OECD)
Early childhood education and care (ECEC) can help lay the foundations for future skills development, well-being and learning. Having timely, reliable and comparable international information is essential to help countries improve their ECEC services and systems.
WORKING PAPER: Children’s Emotional Development Is Built into the Architecture of Their Brains (Center on the Developing Child)
This working paper from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child discusses how a child’s capacity to regulate emotions develops in a complex interaction with his or her environment and ongoing mental, physical, and social development.
REPORT: The Foundations of Lifelong Health Are Built in Early Childhood (Center on the Developing Child)
This report from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child and the National Forum on Early Childhood Policy and Programs explains how the earliest years lay the groundwork for lifelong health. When children have positive early experiences, they strengthen their developing biological systems and are more likely to thrive and become healthy adults.
QUALITY EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
INFOGRAPHIC: The Benefits of Inclusion (PA Promise)
This infographic from the PA Office of Child Development and Early Learning, The Benefits of Inclusion in Early Childhood, shares the impact of inclusion for all children, families and communities.
OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL ARTICLE: The role of preschool quality in promoting child development: evidence from rural Indonesia (Sally Anne Brinkman et al., EECERJ)
This article examines the relationship between preschool quality and children’s early development in a sample of over 7900 children enrolled in 578 preschools in rural Indonesia.
THE RELATIONSHIP OF HOME LEARNING ENVIRONMENT AND LOCAL COMMUNITY
RESEARCH: High Achieving White Working Class (HAWWC) Boys Project: Home Learning Environment Information Sheet (C. Pascal & T. Bertram, CREC)
A key outcome of the HAWWC Boys project was to develop a strategy to document and disseminate the knowledge gained, in a variety of formats and forums, to achieve maximum impact for underachieving white young boys. This information sheet summarises the main facts, findings and action points from the HAWWC Boys project for ‘Home Learning Environment’.
OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL ARTICLE: Parents’ play beliefs and engagement in young children’s play at home (Xunyi Lin & Hui Li, EECERJ)
This study explores the constructs of parents’ beliefs about and engagement in young children’s play in two coastal cities in China.
CHILDREN’S POLICY
ARTICLE + VIDEO: Giving children a say in their affairs (Daily Monitor)
“If children are given the chance to participate, injustices are prevented and all of society benefits,” Inderbitzin says. Dozens of times she has seen that “when children are heard and empowered, they cope better with a difficult situation.”
OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL ARTICLE: Sticking and tipping points: a case study of preschool education policy and practice in Astana, Kazakhstan (Martin Needham et al., EECERJ)
This article presents a case study exploring how national guidance for kindergartens in Kazakhstan was interpreted in practice.
BLOG POST: Do Children Have a Right to Privacy? (Rights Info)
In the age of the internet, privacy is an important and controversial issue. But what do privacy rights mean for children? Rights Info takes a look.
THE ROLE OF FAMILIES’ CULTURAL AND SOCIAL TRADITIONS
OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL ARTICLE: Chinese and German teachers’ and parents’ conceptions of learning at play – similarities, differences, and (in)consistencies (Shu-Chen Wu et al., EECERJ)
This qualitative study investigated Chinese and German teachers’ and parents’ conceptions and understanding of learning at play.
LESSON: How Culture Identity Impacts Early Childhood Development (Study.com)
This lesson explains the ways in which cultural identity impacts cognitive, emotional, social, physical, and language development in children aged 2-5 and provides examples for each developmental domain.
INFORMATION SHEET: Why culture matters for children’s development and wellbeing (Kids Matter – Australian Early Childhood Mental Health Initiative)
Humans are cultural beings. We learn to communicate and understand our world through the context of our languages, traditions, behaviours, beliefs and values. Our cultural experiences and values shape the way we see ourselves and what we think is important. When individuals are part of a cultural group, we learn the ways of that culture (e.g., behaviour and beliefs), which enable us to feel like we belong to our community. Cultural perspectives also influence how we parent, how we understand children, how we help them grow up and how we teach them new skills.
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