For this assignment I chose to explore Early Childhood
Australia. There are many resources available and listed on the main page of
the website. One of the studies I found searching through their website was on a
children’s sense of belonging when they enter Kindergarten. This research
article caught my attention because I was a Kindergarten teacher and I know how
difficult it can be for children to transition into a full ‘classroom’
experience. This time is an important one in the lives of children and their parents;
a process Joerdans (2014) calls it rather than just a one-off event. Being aware of the children’s feelings and well-being
during this period is critical to know what needs to be done in order for them
to become and feel a part of the school community.
Another research article that I found studied the
professional challenges of 87 preschool teachers at a major time of a policy
change in Australia. A program was designed to look at the existing skills and
knowledge of current teachers against 4 year graduate proficiency standards. As
these teachers entered this university learning environment they faced many
challenges, where lecturers noticed a difficulty in re-engaging in the study of
early childhood. This study concluded that in order engage effectively in
ongoing professional development teachers need inbuilt ‘slow time’ (Whittington,
Shore, Thompson 2014).
I also found a few studies on the use of technology in
the early years, specifically with the use of musical learning. With my own
research question focusing on parental involvement I was excited to see a study
on parents as activists for equitable high quality early childhood education in
Australia. Through much of my research in both U.S. and international searches,
I find that we are all studying much of the same topics in early childhood. We
are all concerned with the well-being of children while providing them with
quality programs. While providing these programs for children we need to make
sure that our teachers are re-educating themselves on practices and procedures
needed in order to maintain these programs as high quality. Concerning
ourselves with challenges teachers and professionals face in the classrooms,
will lead us to ways in which we can support teachers and help them in their
struggles.
I will definitely be visiting this website again as I did
not get too many of the articles that I would have liked. So many of the research
titles caught my interest and I know would expand my knowledge in early
childhood. I enjoy gaining all of these resources so I can go back and revisit
to gain more and more information and keep up to date on current news, which is
so important in the world of early childhood.
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