What is Happening in International Research

Learning about what is happening in Early Childhood Education (ECE) around the world has become an interesting topic for me. The website that I chose to look at to see what is happening in ECE research internationally is the European Early Childhood Education Research Association (http://www.eecera.org/journal). This website publishes a research journal that looks at many topics that affect early childhood education throughout Europe. The topics listed for the most recent issues are: technology, policy & practice, outdoor environments, parent partnerships, curriculum and play based instruction, attachment, and how the quality of the ECE environment affects children’s cortisol levels. These are topics that are also of interest here in the United States. I was curious to see what the trends and issues were surrounding early childhood research in Europe and I found four articles that gave me some good insight about this topic.

   1. The authors of the first article talked about the challenges of doing research with children, and what the best tools are to get children’s perspectives on things. They questioned whether or not participatory research methods work. They also talked about the importance of considering the research design and the ethics behind the research. (Waller & Bitou, 2011)

 

    2. The second article used several words that I was unfamiliar with, and I had to look up their meaning. The basis of the article was that researching ECE practices alone is not enough. There needs to be a reflection of the research, an awareness of the concerns of those in power-especially political power, and a more authentic participation model. Their recommendations also included looking at ECE visibility, status, and progress.   (Pascal & Bertram, 2012). 

   3. Article three was a lighter paper that looked at research conversations with children about their experiences. The premise for this article was to consider the understandings of childhood and adulthood through the eyes of a child (Harcourt, 2011).

  4. The fourth article, although it was a bit outdated, was an interesting research piece on the disconnect between those who are providing care and education in preschool settings, and those that want to make decisions and changes about what is best for children. I found this research interesting because it parallels the sentiments of ECE providers in the United States too (Brown, 2004).

My greatest insight is that the research shows that ECE in Europe and ECE in the United States are both experiencing similar trends in research. This is an excellent website and I will continue to use it as a resource as I do my studies.

Brown, S. (2004). Celebrating childhood: Research to inform   

  improvement in provision.European Early Childhood Education 

  Research Journal, 12(1), 5-14. doi:10.1080/13502930485209271. 

  Retrieved (July 29, 2013) from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/

  abs/10.1080/13502930485209271

Harcourt, D. (2011). An encounter with children: Seeking meaning

   and understanding about children. European Early Childhood 

   Education Research Journal, 19(3), 331-343. doi:

   10.1080/1350293X.2011.597965. Retrieved (July 29, 2013) from 

   http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1/1350293X.2011.597965

Pascal, C., & Bertram, T. (2012). Praxis, ethics and power:   

   Developing praxeology as a participatory paradigm for early 

   childhood research. European Early Childhood Education

   Research Journal, 20(4), 477-492. doi:10.1080/1350293X.2012.

   737236. Retrieved (July 29, 2013) from http://www.tandfonline.

   com/doi/abs/10.1080/1350293X.2012.737236

 

Waller, T., & Bitou, A. (2011). Research with children: Three 

   challenges for participatory research in early childhood.   

   European Early Childhood Education Research Journal,

   19(1), 5-20. doi: 10.1080/1350293X.2011.548964. Retrieved 

   (July 29, 2013) from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs

   /10.1080/1350293X.2011.548964

Research Studies that had Positive Affects for Children

Since I have become involved with the Utah Office of Child Care I have been involved with several research studies that have had positive outcomes for children. 

1. The first study was a needs assessment for after school care. Parents, and their school age children, were asked where they would like to have care after school and during the summer. The data showed that families wanted choice, but they wanted quality in their options. The findings from this research led to the development of the Utah Afterschool Network whose job it is to support quality for the programs, which has positive affects for children.
2. The second study was an Infant Toddler needs assessment to find out who was caring for the youngest children in our state, and what they wanted in terms of support. The findings from this research study showed that the vast majority of infants and toddlers whose parents worked were being cared for by a family member or a close family friend-and those caregivers wanted some guidance. These findings led to the creation of our Utah Early Learning Guidelines, and we are currently working to find additional ways to support Family Friend and Neighbor (FFN) providers. FFN caregivers that use the Guidelines are better informed and that is good for the children in their care.
3. The third project was a study on quality, retention, and providers perspectives about the Utah Professional Development System. This study asked providers about provider's reasons for being in the field and participating in the Career Ladder, as well as observation component to determine if those that participated on the Career Ladder had a higher quality of care than those that did not. We learned a lot from this study, including the fact that participation in the training classes alone did not significantly increase quality. Because of this information, we have made some significant changes to our Professional Development System, have launched our Quality Recognition and Information System (QRIS), and are working on the implementation of Quality Standards Coaches for our providers. This is increasing quality and that is great for children.
4. We are in the middle of a study where the implementation of the project has a much more direct impact on the children, and we have had some issues of ethics raised by leaders in the community.  This project requires teachers in child care preschool classrooms to use a very specific curriculum and management system that has more teacher direction than some feel is developmentally appropriate. The data is showing that the children are much more prepared for school, but those that are concerned are asking if it is at the cost of missed social emotional development opportunities. We are in the first year of a three year research study, and it will be interesting for me to see what the final findings are-both academically and social/emotionally. I have seen the system in action and the children do not seem to be at risk. I believe that this will also have a positive affect for children in the long run, but it is interesting to be part of a study that, for the first time, has me wondering about the ethics of it all.

Coaching for Early Childhood Professionals

Hello new colleagues, my name is Carolyn and I am very interested in the use of coaching in order to improve the quality of early childhood programs. There are several aspects of this topic that I am interested in, but the subject for my research during this course is, "What levels of education and expertise are needed in order for an early childhood coach to be effective in helping adults to improve the quality of their programs?" (Christensen, 2013). I chose this topic because, for the past year, I have been involved with a project in my state called the Utah Preschool Project. The goal of the project is to get low-income children off of public school district preschool classroom waiting lists and into quality childcare programs in their area. A huge piece of the success of this project is that all of the classrooms have coaches for support. We hope to take this project statewide, however, there is debate about what the education level and practical experiences of future coaches need to be in order for them to be effective. By researching this topic I can better inform the process of getting coaches qualified, or finding qualified coaching for the project. Has anyone had any experiences with training for coaches that they found useful? Is anyone from a state or region where coaching is being used successfully, and if so, what tools are the coaches using to get prepared and stay prepared? 

Christensen, C. (2013). The importance of coaching for early childhood professionals. Unpublished manuscript, Walden University.

Things I have learned from my international resources

I have learned a lot from both my international colleagues and the international websites that I have visited. Three specific things that I have learned are:

The values that children learn when they are young, that help them to be positive contributing members of society are more important than any specific academic skill (UNESCO)

Emphasis on social emotional development continues to be best practice internationally (Gail and Estephania)

Free preschool for all four year old children is a recognized part of the education system

(Gail and Estephania)

One goal that I have related to international awareness of issues and trends and the spirit of relationship with my professional colleagues from other countries is to keep in touch. I believe that many countries are ahead of us in terms of understanding how to support social/emotional development and prepare children to be successful in school. By keeping in touch and learning from professionals in other countries I can learn from them and use their wisdom to guide my decisions in my work as a Professional Development Specialist and an advocate for children.

What I found at UNESCO

I guess both of my international colleagues are on summer vacation this week, because I didn't hear from either one of them. But I did get the chance to go onto a wonderful website-the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization or UNESCO. There were several interesting tabs, but the information I want to share is from the Education Tab around early childhood.
1. The organization took a poll of Early Childhood Educators from around the world and they asked the question, "What are the three most important skills that a child should learn"? They posted responses from four educators from Sri Lanka, India, Cambodia, and Fiji. They talked a little about academics but these were the majority of the things they listed:

• Life skills
• Core values
• How to be good citizens
• Resilience
• Problem solving
• Who they are and how they relate to the world
• Culture
• Respect
• History-learning from the past to inform the future 

2. The first World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education was held in September 2010 in Moscow. It was at that conference that they determined that early care and education is a human right.

3. At this conference, they commissioned the development of index of the five most important things to consider when developing programs for families with young children called the Holistic Early Childhood Development Index. The five things are:

• Care, education and child development
• Policy and planning
• Social protection (such as poverty)
• Legal protection (such as rights)
• Health and Nutrition 

I think these three things fall in line with my professional goals because they are all things that I believe in, are willing to share with others and advocate for a professor-they are foundational to good Preschool Systems like the one I'd like to be involved with creating in Utah-and they are great things to remember and consider as I help move the Professional Development System to the next level.  

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/

What Child Care Aware has to say about inequities in the field of ECE

Today I was reading my e-newsletter from Child Care Aware and I found a link to a press release about the new proposed child care regulations for Child Care Development Grant Funding (CCDF) from the Department of Health and Human Services. They noted in their press release dated May 15, 2013, that they were pleased to see many of their recommendations for improved quality included in the language of the new rule. It was also stated that parents assume that anyone who has a child care license is prepared to adequately watch their children, but that there are large discrepancies in what happens in licensed centers from state to state. This rule change will make services for child care more equitable in terms of quality by requiring licensed programs to adhere to stricter guidelines in the areas of background checks, give pre-service training for staff, and participate in a QRIS system. It will require agencies who administer the CCDF to collaborate more closely with other entities that serve young children, and make subsidy more easily accessed. This press release was on the Newsletter tab of the website, so I decided to thoroughly search through this area. While investigating I found another link to an article from the New York Times from April that talked about the fact that costs for child care have doubled since the mid 1980’s. This shows another example of inequity in affordability. There were several additional articles from the previous all addressing the cost of care. An insight I had after looking at the titles of over 70 articles listed on the news tab of this website is that the vast majority of articles chosen were of negative things that happened in child care settings. In fact, there were only three articles that I found that really celebrated successes in the field. I think in this time of pressure and uncertainty it would be nice for Child Care Aware to find some good things that are happening to children, families, and early childhood professionals and include those in their news section.  

http://www.naccrra.org/news-room/press-releases/2013/5/child-care-aware%C2%AE-of-america-praises-us-department-of-health-and-human-services

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/04/us/child-care-costs-are-up-census-finds.html?_r=2&