Search

Early childhood (EC) professionals are valuable educators and teachers, and their work involves being caregivers, yet the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the lack of 'caring about' and 'for' EC professionals. With the increasing focus on educator wellbeing, this paper explores how eight EC professionals understand the role of care for their wellbeing. Drawing upon a feminist ethics of care, this paper interrogates the role of care in the everyday professional work lives of educators. The findings reveal that while EC professionals understand the importance of self-care, however, their self-care is more likely to be prioritised when it is promoted by leadership (e.g., centre directors, organisational). This study also found that EC professionals need to receive care through recognition by parents, centre leaders and colleagues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid technology advancements and global responses to sustainability have had a transformational impact on education in the 21st century. As early childhood teachers in Aotearoa/New Zealand respond these challenges, many have recognised the potential inquiry-based project learning (IBPL) has to transform learning for children through empowering them to discover answers through collaboration, representation, reflection and dialogue. This paper explores a current research project in Aotearoa/New Zealand examining how early childhood teachers have interpreted global and local discourses on IBPL and how this impacts children's learning. The research utilised narrative inquiry to examine the experiences of six early childhood communities using this approach. The study found that IBPL contributes to environments of wellbeing and sustained focus for both children and teachers when relationships and time are prioritised and inquiries are focused on place, and that this approach can create pathways for early childhood teachers to enact rich bi-cultural practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internationally, there are growing concerns about the work-related well-being of early childhood teachers. There is currently limited guidance around specific practices teachers can use to support their well-being when challenges arise while teaching. Mindful self-compassion practice, which has elements of mindfulness, common humanity, and self-kindness, has been found to have benefits for supporting holistic well-being both 'in the moment' and in the long term. This paper reports on a research project in Aotearoa New Zealand which used a qualitative methodology of mindful inquiry to explore 12 teachers' experiences of the practice of mindful self-compassion. Findings identified that being mindfully self-compassionate supported teachers' self-awareness; enabled recognition of their common humanity; and supported the teachers to respond to challenging moments with self-kindness, which contributed to their well-being. These findings have implications for initial teacher education, those who work in the early childhood sector, and early childhood leaders and policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A child's right to high quality education not only relies on a competent and skilled workforce, but one in which educators are well. Supporting a well workforce requires governments, organisations and educators to attend to work environment quality. This attention needs be based on sound, relevant evidence. In this paper we contribute evidence of educators' well-being from the survey component of an Australian study with 73 participants. We map results against international guidelines, and policy openings in Australia's National Quality Standard to understand how educators' work environments are affecting their well-being. We conclude that existing policies on quality in early childhood education in Australia attend to only some features of work environments, with a notable absence of attention to supporting educators in the relational complexities of their work. To enable educators to provide high quality education and care, greater attention is needed by organisations and governments to what quality work environments might look like. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extant literature on Early Childhood educator workplace well-being focuses on the disease model of well-being, with studies mainly addressing stress and burnout. There is a paucity of research conceptualising healthy workplace well-being for educators and an absence of theorising to frame, understand and enhance Early Childhood educator workplace well-being. This paper reports on Phase 2 of an exploratory sequential mixed methods study, which aimed to explore the individual, relational, and contextual factors influencing healthy workplace well-being. Using Phase 1 interview findings (Author, blind for review), a survey was developed to investigate predictors on workplace well-being in early childhood services in Australia. The survey drew on the sub-theory 'Basic psychological needs' of Deci and Ryan's Self-Determination Theory. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that autonomy, relatedness, and competence predicted workplace well-being even after controlling for demographic and organisation variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IN THIS PAPER, CHILDREN'S idealised playspace drawings, arising from their participation in planning a children's playground in a local shopping centre, are examined. This examination is conducted by engaging with theories of human/nature connection, significance of place, and children as agents in co-construction of playspaces. Analysis of the drawings--through a combination of iterative visual methods and children's narratives--highlights the value children place on being outdoors and on natural elements, loose parts and activity in their play. The playspaces imagined/drawn by the children are in stark contrast to the design of play environments in many schools and early childhood settings where safety and supervision are the dominant focus. These conflicting views are examined in the context of international discourse on playspace design, and the concluding discussion adds to the growing number of voices affirming that children should be actively engaged in the planning process and become co-constructors in spaces that are designed for their use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LEARNING IN BOTH INFORMAL and formal settings is vital to each child's sense of well-being and achievement, particularly for children identified as experiencing high levels of disadvantage and having markedly increased risk of poor educational attainment, health and development. National data indicates that Aboriginal children are especially vulnerable to low levels of engagement with education systems, including preschool. Recent reforms in early childhood education and care provision draw attention to focused educational strategies to promote early learning, since high-quality early learning experiences help to ameliorate early disadvantage. This paper describes an experimental study designed to assess the effect of an evidence-based early learning intervention that targets both toddler language development and their capacity to attend to tasks with an adult (in this study, an early childhood educator and/or allied health professional). Aboriginal children aged 23 to 36 months participated in this intervention that was implemented by the educators at an Aboriginal long day care service over four months. The children were assessed pre-, post- and three-months following the intervention. The significant increase in their expressive and receptive language, and their initiation of joint attention behaviours, illustrates the potential of this intervention to change the language growth trajectories of very young children who live in similar circumstances. The study findings provide direction for program improvement across the centre, and set the scene for achieving practice change that may close gaps in development and achievement for children experiencing high levels of disadvantage early-long before school. Further research on the effectiveness of a larger-scale program improvement strategy is underway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on the evaluation of the 'Through the Looking Glass' project, a three-year intervention conducted in five childcare settings across Australia and engaging 126 'at-risk' families where there was an identified relationship between the parent and child/children (aged birth to five years). The evaluation embraced a pragmatic mixed-methods approach triangulating data sources and methods and employing participatory action research procedures. These included pre- and post-project video recordings and follow-up interviews up to 18 months after project completion. A broad range of positive impacts were achieved and sustained-mothers were significantly less stressed, depressed and anxious; were significantly more emotionally available; and reported being better able to cope and practise as parents. Children's wellbeing and involvement improved significantly, with improved child behaviours attributed to the project identified by staff and mothers. This paper presents the intervention, evaluation and findings for the mothers and children who participated in the project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]