Journal of Childhood, Education & Society (JCES)
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Secondary analysis of qualitative data: Hungarian minority kindergarten pedagogues’ perspectives of the new curriculum framework in Serbia
Get PDFSecondary analysis is employed to address new research questions by analysing previously collected data. This paper reports on the secondary analysis of qualitative data where the original research investigated the preschool education reform in Serbia from the perspective of Hungarian ethnic minority kindergarten pedagogues. The choice to apply a secondary analysis fulfilled the aims of (i) investigating traces of socialism in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) provision in Vojvodina, a northern region of Serbia; and (ii) exploring the complexity of Christmas celebrations in nurseries. In order to address the aims, a secondary analysis of 12 semi-structured transcripts was carried out. This analysis revealed important additional findings for the original study. In light of the education reforms in Serbia we found that, first, there are strong connections between the ‘socialist past’ ECEC practices and what these practices may look like in the future; and, second, the traditional celebration of religious holidays outside of church organizations, such as Christmas, may change in the nurseries. This paper also offers insight regarding the importance of secondary analysis which provides an opportunity to making use of existing resources
Agency as assemblage: Using childhood artefacts and memories to examine children’s relations with schooling
Get PDFIn this article, we explore how childhood artefacts and memories might help us think retrospectively about children’s agency and its relationship to schooling and teaching. Across four university sites in Canada and the United States, we asked undergraduate students in teacher education and childhood studies programs to choose an artefact or object that encapsulates contemporary conceptions of childhood and to discuss them in a focus group setting at each site. Building on three participants’ descriptions of how they remembered and reflected upon school-oriented objects – a progress report, a notebook, and a pencil sharpener – we explore how participants used their artefacts in ways that allow us to theorize children’s agencies as assemblages, where agency is relational and contingent on multiple social and cultural factors. Drawing on our participants’ interpretations, we consider how a reconceptualized concept of agency may expand our understanding of the possibilities of children’s agencies in school and raise new questions about the meaning of childhood within contexts of teacher education and childhood studies
Social and emotional learning (SEL): How it finds a place in an early childhood education curriculum in Turkey
Get PDFThe study aims to identify the Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) skills as defined by Collaborative, Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) in the Turkish Early Childhood Education Curriculum (TECEC). Recent studies have pointed out that gaining SEL skills at early ages has many benefits for development. Researchers in the SEL area suggest that having a clear conceptual framework benefits both in research and practice. TECEC document is examined based on CASEL’s framework. Document analysis was used to identify how SEL standards and objectives in TECEC were conceptually designed. The findings show that out of 17 standards to support social and emotional development, only 10 of them are related to SEL, meanwhile, 7 of them are identified as social studies standards. Out of 53 stated objectives, thirty-one of them are related to SEL skills. The current study will provide a tool for researchers, curriculum developers, and practitioners that feel the need to base their research and practice on a solid conceptual framework
Children’s problem solving skills: Does Drama Based Storytelling Method work?
Get PDFIn this research, it was aimed to investigate The Effect Of Problem Solving Training Provided By The Drama Based Storytelling Method on the problem solving skills of five-year-old children. The research is designed according to quasi-experimental model which is one of the quantitative research methods. In the research, semi-experimental design with pretest-posttest control group was used. A total of 40 children, including 20 children in the experimental group and 20 children in the control group, were included in the research. In addition to the Turkey Ministry of National Education Preschool Education Program, children who constitute the experimental group have been given problem solving training with The Drama Based Storytelling Method for a total of 7 weeks, 2 days a week and 1 hour. The children in the control group were not included in this education, but continued their daily education programs only using the Ministry of Education Preschool Education Program currently implemented. The problem solving skills of the children participating in the research were evaluated with The Scale of Problem Solving Skills. The test were applied to children before and after the intervention period; In addition, it was reapplied to the experimental group after 2 weeks. As a result of the research, it can be said that the problem-solving education provided with The Drama Based Storytelling Method, which is implemented in integration with the Ministry of National Education Preschool Education Program, has contributed positively to the problem-solving skills of five-year-old children
In-between spaces of policy and practice: Voices from Prince Edward Island early childhood educators
Get PDFOver the course of the past decades, the discourse, pedagogy, scope, and delivery of early learning and child care (ELCC) has undergone myriad significant changes internationally, nationally, and at local levels. Prince Edward Island (PEI), the smallest Canadian Province, has not been exempt from these transformations. By situating early childhood educators (ECEs) at the centre of ecological multilevel environments (Bronfenbrenner, 2005), this qualitative study explored how a system-wide change implemented through the Prince Edward Island Preschool Excellence Initiative (PEIPEI) has impacted and is being impacted by ECEs over time. Purposive sampling was used to invite seven early childhood educators working on provincially regulated early years centres (EYCs) to participate in individual interviews. Findings indicated that ECEs have been striving to navigate and merge the space in-between policy and practices and that after ten years, they remain in this liminal space where they continue to navigate unravelling transitions as they search for their professional identity
Enhancing the quality of teacher-child interactions in Singapore pre-school classrooms
Get PDFThis exploratory study was aimed primarily at developing baseline data on the quality of teacher-child interactions in Singapore pre-school classrooms. Data were collected through observations of teacher-child interactions in 80 pre-schools, using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) in the three key domains which are 1) Emotional Support, 2) Classroom Organisation, and 3) Instructional Support (Pianta, La Paro, & Hamre, 2008). It was found that the overall quality of teacher-child interactions in the Singapore pre-school classrooms was low to moderate, with Instruction Support being the lowest. This finding is similar to that found in studies conducted in many other countries including China and the U.S. (Slot, 2017). Possible reasons and explanations will be presented, and suggestions to improve or enhance the quality of teacher-child interactions will be proposed. This study has implications on pre-school teacher education and professional development as well as government policies and regulations for the Singapore pre-school sector
Women and children\u27s well-being in Indian nuclear families during the COVID-19 pandemic
Get PDFThe culture of living in a nuclear family setting, a norm of modernisation, has been badly shaken by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. This hit has created many pauses and changes in women\u27s lives who live in nuclear families with the responsibility of taking care of very young children. Despite the various discussions related to women during the pandemic, there seem to be negligible efforts to understand the lived reality of nuclear family women having the responsibility of child care. The idea of living in this type of family is based on the thinking that it provides ample opportunity to develop individual talents and lead an unrestricted life. However, it can have a very adverse effect on women and children during the pandemic due to the closure of essential support systems such as child care centres and schools. Thus, this situation has a negative effect on the lives of women, which in turn, affects their young children\u27s lives too. This study explored the lived experiences of a purposively selected sample of six women regarding challenges to deal with an office job, domestic work, and child care during the ongoing pandemic. Data were generated by conducting the telephonic semi-structured interview and thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Results indicate the curtailment of freedom and choices, adverse impact on the mental and physical health of women and their children
Defining turn taking in intervention for young children with autism: A review of the literature
Get PDFTurn taking is a form of preverbal, dyadic, reciprocal communication that may support key areas of development, such as language and joint attention, and may serve different functions depending on each communicative partner’s intent. As such, it has been incorporated in interventions targeting various outcomes in young children with autism. However, there is inconsistency in how researchers define turn taking and explorations on how turn taking is defined across these interventions have not yet been reported in the current literature. Therefore, the purpose of this review was to investigate how turn taking is operationally defined based on communicative intent in the current literature on interventions for young children with autism and to explore additional intervention content to provide fuller context to how turn taking has been promoted. A search was conducted across databases to identify intervention studies for young children with autism that incorporated an embedded turn-taking component. Peer-reviewed articles were then coded based on turn-taking communicative intent, and additional intervention content was categorized. Findings across 14 studies indicate variability among turn-taking definitions both in communicative function and form. The results also reveal that turn taking has been promoted through different intervention approaches that incorporate diverse agents, settings, and methodology. Researchers and practitioners should consider specificity and clarity when defining turn taking to most optimally meet the developmental needs of young children with autism in future interventions
Preschoolers’ views on integration of digital technologies
Get PDFThe aim of the present study was to explore preschool children’s views on the integration of digital technologies in their school. The study included 171 Israeli children aged 3 to 6 who participated in in-depth interviews regarding their views on digital technologies in their preschool. The interviews were analyzed using content analysis. Three major views regarding digital technologies in the preschool were found: The degree to which digital technologies are necessary; the goals of the use of these technologies; the setting for using the digital technologies. Fifty percent of the children, especially the younger ones, claimed that use of these technologies is not necessary in preschool. However, most of them understood the importance of using these technologies and their contribution to many fields. In relation to the setting use, they referred to time and social aspects. The findings indicate that preschool teachers need to mediate these aspects more wisely and adapt them to the children\u27s understanding and view toward digital technologies than actually takes place when they use them with the children
A posthuman perspective on early literacy: A literature review
Get PDFDrawing on research about young children’s literacy development, this review article discusses a recent paradigmatic turn for understanding the child and childhood from human-centerism to posthumanism. Building on the new materialist tradition (e.g., Barad, 2007) and the assemblage theory of Deleuze and Guattari (1987, 1997), the posthuman lens enables researchers and educators to see children as parts of entangled networks of relationships who continuously intra-act with their peers, teachers, materials, and the other nonhuman entities and activities produced constantly by the child-material entanglements. As such, the posthumanist perspective expands the current research on early literacy by offering new possibilities for re-conceptualizing the child, the materials or resources for early literacy, and the meaning of childhood and children’s play. These new ways of seeing the child, the materials, and childhood have also generated new pedagogical practices that are material-oriented, intra-active, and flexible. The review concludes by providing directions for conducting research from a posthuman perspective in the field of early literacy education