Australasian Journal of Early Childhood

This study investigated the practice of two early-childhood educators and their interactions with 24 children (mean age 5.2 years) in an inner-suburban Australian preschool setting. The study specifically examined the nature of how educators ‘intentionally teach’ concepts to young children in a child-centred programme. Six hours of educator–child digital video observations and three hours of educator interviews were gathered and analysed using Kravtsova’s (2009) concept of ‘subject positioning’. The findings suggest that it was challenging to teach intentionally in a child-centred programme based on children’s interests. This research is the first phase of a larger study. It is argued that the tensions between educators’ beliefs about child learning and their role in relation to fostering children’s conceptual development in child-centred programmes could make it difficult for educators to implement intentional teaching as presented in the Australian Early Years Learning Framework (DEEWR, 2009).

There is well-established evidence that the quality of early childhood education workforce impacts upon children’s learning. Attracting qualified teacher graduates to work in early childhood centres is an essential component towards the provision of quality care. Significant investment by the Australian Government has been made to prepare early childhood teachers, yet teaching at this level is characterised by poorer working conditions compared with primary school teachers. Various programme models qualify applicants as early childhood teachers, yet there is no evidence of the most appropriate model. Our study’s focus was to identify reasons for entering a teacher education programme, career intentions and satisfaction of pre-service teachers enrolled in early childhood/primary degree programmes at two Australian universities. Findings demonstrate that the degrees were not fulfilling the government investment goals for increasing early childhood teacher numbers, nor were the degrees meeting student expectation for an early childhood teaching career. We argue that renewed policy strategies are required to support new early childhood graduates and professionals, and attract teachers to work in early childhood education.

Although previous studies have underlined the importance of social interactions, multicultural education, prediction/imagination, and bilingual/bi-literacy learning, the intersection of all these four areas is yet to be explored. This qualitative case study explored how young bilingual readers create meanings and develop literary responses through prediction, imagination, and social interaction while reading multicultural literature. As part of a larger longitudinal study, this study focused on kindergarten-age Korean-English bilingual children at a Korean Language School in a Midwestern city in the United States. The data were collected over five months using audio/video recordings, open-ended interviews, and children’s artifacts. The findings suggest that creative participation and social interactions using two languages help young bilingual readers to engage deeply with the reading and encourage multiple perspectives.

This paper describes the findings of research into children’s interactions with educators who were of the same or different culture from that of the children. The research investigated the effect of cultural context on the children’s communication and the quality of their interactions in one mainstream early childhood setting. Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal educators were video-recorded interacting with Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children in an early childhood education and care setting. The interactions between the children and their educators were categorised according to whether the culture of the educator matched that of the child (cultural match), or not (cultural non-match). The interactions were transcribed and the children’s communication analysed across a variety of linguistic measures. Results indicated that the children’s communication with their educators differed in qualitative but not quantitative measures in response to cultural match. These findings support the need for further research in this area.

Smooth transitions through the early years of education are recognised as pivotal to later personal and academic success. However, for children considered outside the mainstream, these transitions can provide extra challenge for them, their families and educators. This paper reveals the findings of two qualitative studies investigating early years’ transitions. The first study focused on the transition of children with disabilities into early childhood education and care (ECEC) centres; the second explored transition to school for emergent bilingual children. These studies highlight ‘strengths-based’ perspectives (Perry, Dockett, & Petriwskyj, 2013), wherein participants are understood as experts in their own lives bringing strengths as well as challenges to the new context. Despite the differences in participants, timing and methods, key themes were evident across the studies: parent perceptions of transition; educator attitudes; and home/centre or home/school relationships. These themes are significant to all educational transitions for children considered outside the mainstream.

This article describes a study of early childhood teachers’ understanding of teaching and learning in children 4 and 5 years of age in technology education. The research aimed at assisting teachers’ understanding of learning in technology using a developed framework. This study investigated the development of dispositions and attitudes including the building of children’s confidence and self-belief in their capabilities, within four aspects of learning and across five predetermined behaviours relevant to technology education. The study employed qualitative research methods to assist teachers with the use of an observation and conversation framework aimed to improve their ability to assess formatively their children and their own ability to give specific feedback. Observations and interviews were used to gauge teachers’ developed understandings of children’s learning in technology. The study shows that the framework used benefitted teachers and children. It allowed for insight into understanding how and what children learn in technology and teachers’ understanding of technology.

Continuing professional learning is vital to early childhood professionals, and the use of digital technology can potentially reduce costs and improve access. In this study, 74 educators across 17 early childhood services in Australian urban and regional locations completed a questionnaire about their personal and professional uses of digital technology to find resources. The results indicate most early childhood educators use digital technology to construct their own professional knowledge bases, and though they make some use of formal resources around national standards, they make greater use of informal resources and discussion groups. They tend to seek practical information and activity ideas and ways to connect with other professionals, although this varies somewhat by years of professional experience, age and the socioeconomic context they work in. Results highlight early childhood educators’ professional learning desires and the potential value of mobile learning for providing access to professional learning for early childhood educators working in resource-limited and geographically limited settings.