Working with others: An investigation of early childhood education and care centre relationships with external organisations

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-31
Author(s):  
Joanne Alderson ◽  
Donna Kenny ◽  
Rick Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Relationship Building ◽  
Working Relationships ◽  
Social Service Agencies ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Education And Care

This article reports on research conducted in New Zealand that deals with early childhood education (ECE) centre working relationships with external organisations, including agencies, social services, and other education providers. The goal of the research was to identify the types of current collaboration, the nature of these relationships, and benefits that are being derived from them. A total of 79 online surveys, supplemented by follow-up interviews, confirmed that ECE centres presently work collaboratively with several external organisations. They include educational providers, social service agencies, health services, and cultural support organisations. However, the nature of these relationships is largely compartmentalised and ad hoc, resulting in the potential for incomplete information sharing, and a lack of consistent, integrated decision making. Truly transformative partnering relationships remain a largely aspirational goal in ECE education. Key impediments include time for relationship building, and insufficient funding. Recommendations for improvement are offered, which are likely to be consistent with the goals of the Ministry of Education’s Early Learning Action Plan 2019–2029.

Trust, Empathy and Time: Relationship Building with Families Experiencing Vulnerability and Disadvantage in Early Childhood Education and Care Services

2017 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 4-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Relationship Building ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Education And Care

THIS ARTICLE IDENTIFIES some key enablers and barriers in early childhood education and care (ECEC) environments in Australia encountered by early childhood educators and professionals (ECEPs) and by the children and their families experiencing vulnerability and disadvantage. Improving educational outcomes can change the cycle of disadvantage for children and their families. This research asks both the providers and users of services concurrently about what they think is important and effective. This qualitative case study used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to analyse semi-structured interview data gathered from 30 families and their children and 33 qualified ECEPs. The research focused on the enablers and barriers around social inclusion, access, participation and engagement at the different levels of system, service, children and their families, and ECEPs. The study found that the participant groups shared an understanding that empathy, trust and time proved key to relationship building as a starting point in addressing some of the key barriers. Social inclusion, access, participation and engagement are key to early learning success in early childhood—a time integral to overall health, wellbeing and future role in society. This study has led to the development of a new model for engagement and relationship building.

Reframing early childhood leadership

2012 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 42-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Stamopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Relationship Building ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Early Childhood Leadership ◽  
National Quality ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
Teacher Aides ◽  
Outcomes For Children

RAPID CHANGES IN AUSTRALIAN education have intensified the role of early childhood leaders and led to unprecedented challenges. The Australian Curriculum (ACARA, 2011), mandated Australian National Quality Framework (NQF) for Early Childhood Education & Care (DEEWR, 2010b) and the National Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) (DEEWR, 2009) have heightened the need for leaders to guide and move the profession forward. Leaders need to build professional knowledge, pedagogical capacity and infrastructure in the early childhood education and care (ECEC) workforce in order to deliver reforms and achieve high-quality outcomes for children. Yet research on early childhood leadership remains sparse and inadequately theorised, while the voice of the early childhood profession remains marginalised (Woodrow & Busch, 2008). In this paper I draw on my previous research in leadership and change management which investigated principals', early childhood teachers' and teacher-aides' conceptual and behavioural positions on educational changes in work contexts. I present a model of leadership that connects to practice, builds professional capacity and capability, and recognises the importance of relationship building and quality infrastructure. The model calls for robust constructions of leadership and improved professional identity that will reposition the profession so that it keeps pace with the critical needs of early childhood professionals. Within this model, tertiary educational institutions and professional organisations will play their role in guiding the profession forward as new paradigms evolve and federal and state initiatives begin to surface.

Social Investment and Childcare Expansion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margarita León
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Perfect Match ◽  
Preschool Education ◽  
Conceptual Level ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Education And Care

The chapter first examines at a conceptual level the links between theories of social investment and childcare expansion. Although ‘the perfect match’ between the two is often taken for granted in the specialized literature as well as in policy papers, it is here argued that a more nuance approach that ‘unpacks’ this relationship is needed. The chapter will then look for elements of variation in early childhood education and care (ECEC) expansion. Despite an increase in spending over the last two decades in many European and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, wide variation still exists in the way in which ECEC develops. A trade-off is often observed between coverage and quality of provision. A crucial dividing line that determines, to a large extent, the quality of provision in ECEC is the increasing differentiation between preschool education for children aged 3 and above and childcare for younger children.

scholarly journals Professionalisation of early childhood education and care practitioners: Working conditions in Ireland

2021 ◽  
pp. 146394912110101
Author(s):  
Geraldine Mooney Simmie ◽  
Dawn Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Women Workers ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Performance Management ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
The State ◽  
Developmental Needs ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Education And Care

The last decade has revealed a global (re)configuring of the relationships between the state, society and educational settings in the direction of systems of performance management. In this article, the authors conduct a critical feminist inquiry into this changing relationship in relation to the professionalisation of early childhood education and care practitioners in Ireland, with a focus on dilemmatic contradictions between the policy reform ensemble and practitioners’ reported working conditions in a doctoral study. The critique draws from the politics of power and education, and gendered and classed subjectivities, and allows the authors to theorise early childhood education and care professionalisation in alternative emancipatory ways for democratic pedagogy rather than a limited performativity. The findings reveal the state (re)configured as a central command centre with an over-reliance on surveillance, alongside deficits of responsibility for public interest values in relation to the working conditions of early childhood education and care workers, who are mostly part-time ‘pink-collar’ women workers in precarious roles. The study has implications that go beyond Ireland for the professionalisation of early childhood education and care workers and meeting the early developmental needs of young children.

scholarly journals Associations between Children’s Risky Play and ECEC Outdoor Play Spaces and Materials

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 3354
Author(s):  
Ellen Beate Hansen Sandseter ◽  
Ole Johan Sando ◽  
Rasmus Kleppe
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Outdoor Play ◽  
Children's Play ◽  
Functional Play ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
Risky Play ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Play Materials

Children spend a large amount of time each day in early childhood education and care (ECEC) institutions, and the ECEC play environments are important for children’s play opportunities. This includes children’s opportunities to engage in risky play. This study examined the relationship between the outdoor play environment and the occurrence of children’s risky play in ECEC institutions. Children (n = 80) were observed in two-minute sequences during periods of the day when they were free to choose what to do. The data consists of 935 randomly recorded two-minute videos, which were coded second by second for several categories of risky play as well as where and with what materials the play occurred. Results revealed that risky play (all categories in total) was positively associated with fixed equipment for functional play, nature and other fixed structures, while analysis of play materials showed that risky play was positively associated with wheeled toys. The results can support practitioners in developing their outdoor areas to provide varied and exciting play opportunities.

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