Search

The preference of preschool children for interactive traditional paper books has long been proved. More novel than traditional interactive books are the Augmented Reality (AR) books, which took a place in the book market for more than a decade now. For this study, we have used the Mosaic approach as a form of participatory research. The main methods used included children's presentations, interviews, observations, photo-taking, and taking part in a voting procedure. Our findings showed that the requirements for using AR books are not yet met by mobile devices that the youngest users have, so their audience is still limited. Even though the AR book seemed to be more promising for engaging children's attention longer, this was not possible because of the constraints imposed by the very delicate screen handling and children expressed their preference for the traditional interactive book. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Davies (this issue) recasts the pathologizing/heteronormative “positive and negative” Oedipus complex into a model where “primary and secondary” oedipal configurations constitute the kaleidoscope of sensual/erotic experience—for heterosexually and homosexually developing individuals. Further complexity could include nontraditional (e.g., lesbian-/gay-parented) families and the development of their children. If there is no genital difference between parents, no clear gender-role divide—and the (relational) triangle is only the beginning—how do we conceptualize the development of these children, who are likely to be heterosexual with a “typical” gender identity? Davies points us toward the multiplicity inherent in the disowned unconscious longings (and communications) of any parent—or in Laplanche’s terms, the plurality contained in the adult and its elaboration in the “enigmatic message” to the child. Such enigmatic communications, in addition to more lateral and cultural influences, may constitute the unconscious substrate (if not the cause) of fluid, complex gender and erotic subjectivities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theraplay® is an attachment-based intervention involving adults and children which is practised in a variety of settings across the world. The aim of this scoping review is to explore how Theraplay® has been used as an intervention with children and families in order to inform future practice and to identify any gaps in the current literature. By utilizing a systematic search of key databases and grey literature, eleven papers met the inclusion criteria. Findings showed that Theraplay® has been delivered as an intervention to children and families with a variety of presenting difficulties and in some cases has been used alongside other therapeutic interventions to make a positive change. The review highlights a diversity of methods and measures for the evaluation of outcomes of Theraplay®. Recommendations for further research are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper adopts an ecological approach to describe the opportunities offered by school landscape for children's curricular learning. The approach is based on Gibson's concept of affordances which refers to the opportunities offered by an environment to its users. The research conducted in school grounds in two different contexts – Scotland and Bangladesh drew on this theory to examine the relationship between the school landscape and children's learning. Case study research included application of observation and behaviour mapping in school grounds, and interviews with participants in both contexts. Opportunities for teaching and learning offered by the school landscape in both cases were later defined as 'cognitive affordances' by the authors. 'The concept of 'cognitive' affordances' had limited attention in the field of landscape research. This paper thus introduces and defines the term to understand and study the potential of outdoor environments for development of children's learning and cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores Grade R teacher expressions of themselves as teachers of numeracy, and as teachers working in the transition phase of schooling, after their participation in a research-informed numeracy-focused professional development (PD) intervention. The Early Number Fun (ENF) programme had 33 teachers from 17 Eastern Cape schools participating monthly over 18 months. Inclusion of Grade R to schooling is relatively new following policy changes in Early Childhood Development. In-service support tends to be subsumed within the Foundation Phase without attention to the specialised nature of Grade R that emphasises learning through play. ENF focused on the development of specialised teacher knowledge to support the development of early number sense through play, particularly with conceptual manipulatives. Data sources include three pre-, during, and post-PD questionnaires. Findings reveal that participation in ENF, and access to multiple research informed numeracy resources, supported teachers in their relationship with numeracy and the teaching thereof. Questionnaire responses indicate greater confidence in themselves as knowledgeable teachers of numeracy and that belonging to the ENF community supported navigation of positive professional identities within the mixed messages of policy. The findings contribute to the community-supported field of Grade R PD research and early numeracy teaching and learning. In concluding we discuss implications of this research for Grade R PD and for policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an introduction to this Special Issue of Development Southern Africa that evaluates the impact of COVID-19 in South Africa, one year into the pandemic. All of the papers use evidence from the National Income Dynamics Study – Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (NIDS-CRAM), a five-wave longitudinal survey conducted from April 2020 to July 2021. As we write this article in June 2022, South Africa has just returned to the same level of GDP that it had at the end of 2019. This two-year period marks one of the most tumultuous in the country's economic history. We showcase results pertaining to employment, income support, hunger, schooling, early childhood development, mental health, and vaccine hesitancy. We also reflect on the policy learnings that can be gleaned in each of these domains and draw on some of the international lessons learnt to point to the way forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues for generation to be incorporated into the analysis of social reproduction to open new ways of thinking about the significance of children's unpaid work in and for their families. This paper situates its argument in relation to social reproduction theory and the conceptualization of generation in childhood studies and development studies. It draws on a longitudinal study of girls growing up in contemporary Benin and Togo conducted by Plan Benin and Plan Togo. This paper shows how the work of social reproduction is distributed across the household with children, especially girls, playing a large part in these activities. Trading and farming are the main economic activities of women, and girls gradually extend their knowledge of how to farm and trade as they get older. This paper concludes that placing generation into the centre of social reproduction theory will not only make visible the work that children do in subsistence economies but is also important for answering the perennial question of social reproduction theory in capitalist economies: who pays for that 'strange commodity', 'living labour' to be reproduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contains thoughts on the journey a man undertakes when he becomes the father to a newborn child, and on the difficulties he faces. Drawing on both psychoanalytic theory and clinical experience the author considers the journey to fatherhood men undertake, exploring the need for them to tolerate change and loneliness as they support and protect the new mother-infant dyad. While infantile anxieties of abandonment may be aroused, the importance of the father's role in the newly established family is emphasised, particularly in relation to the child finding their own identity. Throughout the paper, parallels are drawn between the role of the father and the role of psychoanalyst or psychotherapist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic led the United Kingdom (UK) into a national lockdown in March 2020. The UK government has acknowledged that children and young people (CYP) with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) were left behind during the pandemic. This integrative literature review aims to investigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the development of CYP with SEND from parents’ experiences. The review included 14 papers: quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods. Parents’ experience of the COVID-19 pandemic was mostly negative; CYP were left behind, experienced reduced or suspended services, and loss of social interactions and support networks. However, a few parents reported some positive effects; families could spend more time together, and children experienced reduced anxiety as strict routines were relaxed. Most papers identified were completed during or just after the first lockdown. Therefore, none of the papers included whether CYP’s development has been affected in the longer term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most outcome studies for children and young people who have displayed harmful sexual behaviour have focused on sexual recidivism as their primary outcome measure. Relatively little is known about broader life outcomes for children displaying such behaviours, nor about the processes involved with longer-term developmental success or failure. This paper examines long-term life course outcomes for 69 adults in the UK who presented with abusive sexual behaviour as children. Between 10 and 20 years after their childhood sexual behaviour problems, few in the sample had sexually reoffended, but general life course outcomes were much less positive. A range of individual, relational and social/environmental factors appeared to be associated with successful and unsuccessful outcomes. Successful outcomes were associated with stable partner relationships, wider supportive relationships, and educational opportunity and achievement. The findings highlight the importance of broad-based, developmental interventions in assisting those with childhood sexual behaviour problems to live successfully. The findings outlined in this paper support a move away from a traditional focus on clinical programmes of "sex offence specific work" with young people towards more developmental approaches that focus actively on wider individual, relational, and socio-environmental factors associated with desistance and resilient life outcomes. This includes, but is not restricted to, interventions that are future-oriented and that promote the skills necessary for the development of supportive personal and intimate partner relationships. The importance of wider health promotion, general wellbeing and educational success is also emphasised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a critical perspective on the use of conversational agents (CAs) with children at home. Drawing on interviews with eleven parents of pre-school children living in Norway, we illustrate the ways in which parents resisted the values epitomised by CAs. We problematise CAs' attributes in light of parents' ontological perceptions of what it means to be human and outline how their attitudes correspond to Bourdieu's [1998a. Acts of Resistance. New York: New Press] concept of acts of resistance. For example, parents saw artificial conversation designed for profit as a potential threat to users' autonomy and the instant gratification of CAs as a threat to children's development. Parents' antecedent beliefs map onto the ontological tensions between human and non-human attributes and challenge the neoliberal discourse by demanding freedom and equality for users rather than productivity and economic gain. Parents' comments reflect the belief that artificial conversation with a machine inappropriately and ineffectively mimics a nuanced and intimate human-to-human experience in service of profit motives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ubuntu is a relational philosophy which is best known through the axiom, 'umuntu ngubuntu ngabantu' a person is a person through other persons. Transactional Analysis (TA) as a relational theory as well, is used in this paper, to expand on the understanding of the Ubuntu proverb. Existential life position, 'I'm OK, You're OK' and constructs of TA such as transgenerational scripts, stroking and physis are utilized to expand on the meaning of 'umuntu ngubuntu ngabantu.' Based on the provisions of TA, the African axiom is connected to aspects of child development, parenting, communication, sustainable development, spirituality and ecological social work. Significantly, the discourse argues that 'umuntu ngubuntu ngabantu' should never be divorced from the values of the African philosophy which include kindness, forgiveness, hospitality, humanness, social justice, human rights, social solidarity, liberty and other positive virtues. Thus, this paper is a plea for a TA and ubuntu informed social work practice that can entangle humanity from the negative transactional scripts whilst reinforcing the positive ones. To its end, the paper questions what this generation will be remembered for when it becomes the living dead (ancestors). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interventions and programmes to support the development of preschool children's social and emotional skills are commonly used in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. Research suggests the physical and sensory ECEC environment can influence children's social and emotional development. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the effectiveness of physical and sensory ECEC environment interventions, delivered by ECEC educators, to support children's social and emotional development. Relevant studies were identified through a systematic search of PsycINFO, ERIC, Medline, and other sources; seven papers, published since 2000, were included in this review. The interventions used in ECEC settings, include: nature-based programmes, playground redevelopment, background music, indoor toy arrangement and sensory cushions. The results show the effectiveness of physical and sensory environment interventions is mixed, but shows promise. This paper outlines recommendations for future research and practice, including the need to further explore the characteristics of supportive sensory ECEC environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Infants who remain in-utero after their due date are exposed to increasing risk of infection, late stillbirth and delivery complications. Much of the current literature on post-term outcomes is based on short term observations and the impacts may be substantially greater in the long term. The aim of this work is to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to quantify the cognitive or educational impacts of post term delivery.Methods: Systematic review was performed by the two authors using Medline database (1960-2017). A title search was performed to identify likely relevant literature. Exposure terms were clarified to identify papers where the exposure was related to delivery after the infants' due date. Primary outcome was cognitive score. A quality assessment and data extraction pro forma was completed by both reviewers for all studies deemed to satisfy the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Meta-analysis used adjusted results where available. Small-study bias was assessed visually using a funnel plot and then formally tested using Egger's regression asymmetry test.Results: Medline was searched on the 4 July 2018; and produced a list of 1318 publications. Of these, 43 abstracts were screened, and of these a total of 10 full-text papers were reviewed. A further three papers were identified during this review and contributed to a total of 13 papers. The publications dated from 1969 to 2017. Two studies presented a binary outcome for cognitive measures and combined estimates found that the risk of a low cognitive score was higher in post-term infants compared to term infants (odds ratio [OR] 1.06 [1.04-1.08]). Four papers presented the association with mean cognitive measures and post-term delivery, and all demonstrated a mean reduction in scores in the post-term group. A combined estimate showed strong evidence of a reduction in cognitive scores across the four studies (-1.90 [-3.50 to -0.31]). There was little evidence of heterogeneity in the studies which reported cognitive outcomes (other p-values >.2).Conclusion: This meta-analysis has found that post term birth (>41 + 6 weeks) is associated with small but significant negative effects on cognitive outcomes when compared with delivery at, or around term. The effect, while small, is compounded by a common exposure and appears consistent in the studies identified. Less evidence was found for a measurable impact on early developmental measures or educational outcomes. This may further help inform the debate on the timing of otherwise uncomplicated pregnancies and further trials in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the impact of kinship care upon the child, as observed through the clinical lens of child psychoanalytic psychotherapy. It acknowledges the social care and policy landscape, which retains a widely held belief that kinship care is a preferable option to foster care. In the light of this belief, the paper also draws attention to the internal and external dynamics inherent in the complexities of this arrangement as presented in the child's psychotherapy and the parallel parent work. Clinical vignettes are used to illuminate the often unconscious, painful and confusing thoughts, feelings and fantasies experienced by both the child and the kinship parent. Psychoanalytic ideas relating to Freud's 'The Uncanny' and Winnicott's paper 'Mirror-role of the mother and family in child development' are used to underpin the clinical material and reflections. The paper culminates in emphasising the need for practitioners to be attentive to these dynamics, and to provide robust support for the kinship parents, in processing their kinship experience and the intergenerational traumas it may stir up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is no agreement about the etiology and dynamics of selective mutism. Selective mutism likely represents multiple disorders, all of which carry the symptom of refusing to speak. The controversy over the etiology of selective mutism is paralleled by controversy over its treatment; an optimal treatment approach remains elusive. With this plethora of ideas about selective mutism, detailed case studies are invaluable. This paper presents three clinical vignettes of the treatment of children with selective mutism. These children function in a rigid, shutdown, and controlling manner. They often experience themselves through a lens that is critical of both themselves and others. Moreover, these children are frequently highly anxious. Through these vignettes, this paper will illustrate how dimensions of the child's development in addition to speech are curtailed by the grip of this severe social anxiety disorder. I will illustrate how a psychoanalytically informed psychodynamic approach that emphasizes the role of family dynamics, and the importance of therapeutic parental involvement helped these children access a vital and more expanded sense of themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to show the effects of actions focused on supporting the development of children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Conducted with an eclectic approach, these actions sought techniques tailored to the individual person and their problems. Children aged 5–7 years underwent a two-stage diagnostic procedure (preliminary and final) using Schopler's Psychoeducational Profile (the PEP-R test). Between these two measurement points, they participated in a year long development support program using sensory integration stimulation techniques, fine motor skills stimulation, and dog therapy/animal-assisted therapy. The results obtained in each case attest to the applied proposals' effectiveness yet do not allow for general conclusions to be reached. However, they can be a prerequisite for conducting a broader research project and developing personalised early intervention programs for children with ASD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the growing awareness of child abuse, little academic research examines religious abuse and trauma during childhood. This paper constructs an interdisciplinary and intersectional heuristic of childhood religious trauma and abuse (RTA) by weaving together psychological and theo-philosophical literature with Rebecca Nye's theory of childhood spiritual development. The paper argues that RTA distorts a child's relationship with God leading to lifelong effects. It describes how America's prejudice against children further facilitates religious trauma and abuse and outlines needed theological and structural changes from the perspective of religious education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gradients across socioeconomic status occur for many children's health and improvement in high-income countries. The objective is to explore infant growth and child development in four developed countries around the socioeconomic landscape. In this paper, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) enhances the socioeconomic status gradients for the child's developmental health. The proposed model develops the socioeconomic status is related to a huge list of health issues, including low birth weight, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, arthritis, diabetes, and cancer, regardless of whether it is determined by income, education, or profession. This is a global phenomenon, seen in countries with low, medium, and high incomes. The size of disparities found in scores and percentiles across neighborhoods is comparable to the results of more developed growth forecasters such as sex. These results have significant consequences for the nature of tailored, efficient, and timely programs to support early childhood success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Friendship is of great concern to young children (Unicef 2011. The State of the World's Children. New York: United Nations Children's Fund). Research also suggests the positive outcomes friendships have on children's development, learning and well-being (Daniels, Tina, Danielle Quigley, Lisa Menard, and Linda Spence. 2010. "My Best Friend Always Did and Still Does Betray Me Constantly: Examining Relational and Physical Victimization Within a Dyadic Friendship Context." Canadian Journal of School Psychology 25 (1): 70–83; Hedges, Helen, and Maria Cooper. 2017. "Collaborative Meaning-Making Uusing Video Footage: Teachers and Researchers Analyse Children's Working Theories About Friendship." European Early Childhood Educational Research Journal 25 (3): 398–411). This paper highlights how young children select their friends and how practitioners might use these data to support children's friendship choices. It draws upon on a phenomenological study of 5 and 6 year olds during which data were collected through small world play interviews. Findings provide new insights into how children select their friends, including pre-selection, using a selection criteria and putting selection into action. This paper argues for the need to listen to children's friendship selections and consider potential implications for practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I use a debate between Albert Einstein and Henri Bergson about the nature of time as a heuristic tool to understand the nature of teacher subjectivity. This debate outlines notions of time as measurable and time as duration or flow. These two interpretations of reality, one from a physicist and one from a philosopher, are used to examine the bi-Discoursal nature of the teacher identity An ethnographic participatory action research project in a preschool class in England finds that teachers operate as both physicist and philosopher, sometimes simultaneously. At times, the teacher is a physicist, measuring the geometry of child development and comparing it to a fixed point of normative expectations. At other times, the teacher is a philosopher, existing in the moment with children. The simultaneous existence of these two identities is a cause of anguish, forming a conflicted and contested self. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to stimulate debate and prompt further research regarding the training, development and Higher Education (HE) of aspiring adventure professionals (AP's). The design of the paper draws on 10 years of observations and trends within the HE outdoor degree teaching sector, in tandem with the authors' own extensive professional outdoor careers. Initial findings indicate the role and significance of Professional Judgement and Decision Making (PJDM) in professional practice within adventure sports (AS) coaching and leadership. Consequently, PJDM is found to be a vital element of the education of the AP. The training and practice of these PJDM skills is a situated cognition that is conspicuous in its absence within many coach and leader education programmes where the AP is required to balance pedagogical and welfare demands in consequential environments. A cognitive apprenticeship approach is advocated which builds on recent articles highlighting the importance of PJDM in such domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a consensusthat the crises children encounter during the transition period might impact negatively on children's learning and development. However, from cultural-historical perspective, qualitative leap in development can hardly be achieved without crises. This paper, drawing upon cultural-historical theory as the framework and by using 'role adjustment' as the unit of analysis, discusses what the crisis means for children's learning and development. Through a case study of two second generation Chinese Australian children's role adjustmentin school transition, this paper finds that the crises provide both potentials and dangers depending on how the crises are managed within the child's social situation of development. It argues against the advocates for making children's transition seamless, as it is important to utilize the developmental potentials of crises instead of eliminating them. It also enriches the cultural-historical studies by exploring not only the developmental aspect but also the dark side of the crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers how children develop digital literacy through offline practices of play. By inventing games, children rehearse and build up the competences, knowledge, and skills necessary to engage with online technologies in later life. While prior studies on digital literacy and play have explored children's digital interactions with media, children's play around media is increasingly traversing online-offline boundaries. Consequently, we argue that to fully comprehend how children build up understandings of the digital, paradoxically, we should also consider how they engage with digital media in offline settings. Drawing upon participants observations of 8–12-year-old children attending afterschool childcare (N = 77) and in-depth interviews with children, their parents, and pedagogical staff in The Netherlands, we develop a typology of practices of converged play through which children replicate, remix, and re-enact digital media in everyday life. Our findings emphasize that children's digital literacy is foremost a social practice developed primarily in relation with others, within and beyond the digital realm. Thus, we argue that taking a sociocultural and non-media centric approach to play is vital for understanding children's development of digital literacy, in a way that does justice to children's continuous exposure to and immersion in digital media in everyday life. Prior state of knowledge: Play is instrumental for how children develop the ability to deal with digital media. Existing research finds that by inventing games, children practice and build up the digital literacy necessary to navigate an increasingly digital society in their later life. Novel contributions: Prior research has primarily focused on how children's online interactions with media foster their digital competencies, knowledge, and skills. We find that children's engagement with the digital in offline settings is equally essential for understanding how children build digital literacy. Practical implications: This study has practical implications for pedagogical staff, parents, and teachers aiming to facilitate children's digital literacy, indicating that facilitating offline play around digital media can help children learn informational skills, knowledge about media production and social norms around technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we coin the concept "digital risky play" and conceptualize this type of digital play. By means of a taxonomy of tactics that children develop and employ through digital risky play, we explore how children build resilience. Risky play has been mainly studied in the outdoor context and has been found to have positive outcomes for children's risk-managing tactics and resilience. Based on longitudinal participant observations in combination with in-depth interviews with children between the ages of eight and twelve, we identify four categories of risk-managing tactics children employed to navigate digital risky play, namely technological, physical, social, and emotional tactics. Building on the conceptualization of Zolkoski and Bullock (2012) of resilience, we argue that engaging in digital risky plays allows for a playful environment in which children actively explore internal boundaries as well as develop tactics that aid their development of resilience. Research has demonstrated that children develop risk-managing tactics and resilience through risky play. Recent studies show that many characteristics of traditional play translate well into digital contexts and that digitalplay, therefore, fosters children's development and learning. While risky play is important for developing resilience, it remains underexplored in digital contexts. Through participant observations and interviews, we explore what tactics children employ before, during, and after digital risky play, and how these tactics could foster the development of resilience. Insight into children's perceptions of and tactics for digital risky play can guide practices of parents and other social actors. By creating a safe (digital) environment while also granting children agency to playfully explore risks, adults can support the development of children's resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how children (aged 7–11) in the UK are educated about sustainability and climate change, through exploring a sample of 155 learning resources from public, private and third sector organisations. Using qualitative content analysis, key codes captured a) how sustainability was represented; b) how responsibilities for sustainability are imagined and allocated within society; and c) how children are encouraged to act for sustainability. The paper shows how sustainability resources represent children as powerful agents of social change charged with the responsibility and means to change their (and their close relatives') behaviour within the household and school. Drawing on critical debates about sustainability education, I argue these representations are problematic because they do not equip children with an understanding of the political and moral economies that shape their actions (or inactions) as citizens, nor provide them with opportunities to develop collaborative competencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reporting on the relationship between homework, foreign language learning and self-regulated learning, this paper examines how a teacher used homework to promote Japanese language learning in a Year 4 class at an Australian primary school. The study drew on naturally occurring data including classroom observations and student-produced video of themselves completing homework as well as interviews and a collection of documents and artefacts. Using a sociocultural analytical lens, the study found that homework can be a vehicle for the development and practice of self-regulation strategies as enablers of successful language learning, but only within certain conditions established by teachers, parents and the students themselves. The study found that in some instances teachers may not recognise or adopt opportunities for student self-regulated learning. The paper concludes with a pedagogical homework cycle to assist teachers to mobilise the potential of homework as a means of scaffolding foreign language learning beyond the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores neighborhood-built environment features related to 'better than expected' and 'as expected' early childhood development outcomes (ECD) in 14 Australian disadvantaged communities. This paper draws from mixed methods data collected in the Kids in Communities Study – an Australian investigation of community effects on ECD – in communities across five states and territories. In total, 93 interviews and 30 focus groups were conducted with service providers and parents, and geographic information systems were used to create built environment measures for each local community. Housing factors (e.g. better affordability, tenure, less high-density public housing) were consistently related to disadvantaged local communities with 'better than expected' ECD outcomes. Physical access to services and public transport, living in a walkable area, having high-quality public open space, and a mix of local destinations was perceived to be consistently important by community members in disadvantaged communities regardless of ECD outcomes. Findings may help policymakers to consider neighborhood features that contribute to better ECD outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education is among the most powerful gateways to social change and mobility. It is also a potentially vital backbone for the development of young people's sense of meaning, purpose, and responsibility, enhancing their ability to face the unique challenges of our volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world. The global scale of the current wave of political and social changes heightens the need for a renewed examination of the educational system and its challenges. This paper asserts the importance of education for meaning and meaningful education as essential ingredients in preparing children and adolescents for the changing and uncertain world of the future. Yet meaning in life, which is almost unanimously recognized as a fundamental component of subjective well-being, has received little attention in education. This paper considers empirical evidence of the importance of meaning to the education and healthy development of children and adolescents and then proposes a heuristic model for intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the prevalence of child labour and long working hours in India using 2019 data, with estimates for boys and girls that deal with age-related child development concerns related to long hours of work. We use international suggestions to define harmful child labour from ILO and UNICEF and a nationally defined time-threshold model in analysing the child-labour phenomenon. Measuring time by the three measurement systems and splitting children by age, gender, and cultural components make harmful forms of labour become clearer. The results show that girls doing agricultural labour and boys working as non-agricultural labourers had the longest average working hours in India. Important social-group differentials emerge. This study implies that policy-makers can be, and need to be, aware of explicit measures of hours worked by children aged six to 17. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a pedagogical experiment on the development of media literacy in children of primary school age (7–10 years) in different conditions: at home, at home and school, only at school. Parents who took part in the programme "Media Literacy for parents" were involved in this study. The purpose of the paper was to analyse the effectiveness of media literacy tools in primary school children used in different conditions. The study was conducted through a mixed method, using a questionnaire on media literacy and interviews with parents. The level of media literacy development of younger schoolchildren in the group where the techniques were used at home and school is statistically higher than in children from the group where the techniques were used only at school. The interview results confirmed the need for recommendations for parents and the effectiveness of parental mediation in the development of their children's media literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper calls for consideration of appropriate support and development for doctoral research students involved in supervision of undergraduate and Master's degree projects. This subgroup's professional development tends to be neglected in academic development and the related literature. The paper describes a development workshop offered regularly to this group over four years. Presenting evaluation and focus group data, the authors argue that although institutional structures can inhibit such development activities, there are benefits to PhD students, project students, and lead supervisors when doctoral research students' supervision is validated and supported. They call for further research and development provision in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To contribute to smart, inclusive, sustainable, and multisensory practices in science education, this paper presents research that studied the use of electronic sensors by children to address a sound pollution problem in their school. A didactic sequence was specifically designed and implemented to that purpose. The participants of this study were a project Teacher/Researcher, and the children of eight 4th grade classes (four experimental groups and four control groups), in four primary schools. The research aim was to study whether and how, throughout the didactic sequence, children developed practices that are needed to understand and mitigate sound pollution in school, including acquiring, analysing, interpreting, and sharing environmental data, as well as interpreting, and applying information, making suggestions to solve the problem. The importance of the use of the electronic sensors was also assessed. To answer to the research questions, during the didactic sequence, data were collected through the data collection forms, the collaborative platform, the pre and post-tests, and the children's suggestions to solve the sound pollution problem. Statistical methods were used to process pre- and post-tests results, and a content analysis allowed the treatment of the children's suggestions. The vast majority of children properly collected, registered, classified, and shared the acquired data. The statistical analysis showed that there was an improvement from the pre to the post-tests results, with the experimental group having more significant improvements. The content analysis of the children's suggestions revealed that all the children made productive suggestions, but the experimental group made more specific and diversified suggestions. Those results suggest that the experimental didactic sequence allowed and scaffolded children in using ICT tools to develop science education hands-on experimental practices, while understanding, analysing and contributing to solve a sound pollution problem in their schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the term involvement in relation to children's experiences within early years pedagogy, where it is used as a marker of a quality learning environment. We explore how philosophical enquiry offers ways of thinking more deeply about involvement as a vital quality, and how this prompts us to move beyond universal and progressive child development theories. Our discussion is grounded in the widely used Leuven Scale developed by Ferre Laevers, which we view through the prism of two data examples. The ensuing examination of both data and the scale open an appraisal of the genealogical influences underpinning the scale as well as an opportunity for us to re-read the scale through the vector of Deleuzian philosophy. The paper concludes by speculating what the repercussions might be when philosophy plays a more productive and forceful place within the context of early years education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals and the UNICEF/WHO Nurturing Care Framework for supporting children's health and development present unique international opportunities for speech-language pathologists to contribute support to early childhood development and Sustainable Development Goals (especially SDG 4 and SDG 17) in diverse international contexts. The crucial role that parent/caregiver support plays in promoting Nurturing Care and sustainable education is often underappreciated, so the objective of this paper is to describe key concepts and importance of parent/caregiver support in the Nurturing Care Framework and the SDGs. This commentary focusses on SDG 4, which is foundational to individuals, communities and societies in creating an education framework that includes and harnesses family and community support. This paper also includes as an example a comprehensive program that has been developed and implemented in the People's Republic of China that includes speech and language skills as an explicit component. The results in China indicate that a program of universal developmental facilitators can be implemented within an educational and paediatrician/developmental paediatrician centred health care context. Sustainable Development Goal 4 and UNICEF/WHO Nurturing Care Framework are important and innovative programs that explicitly harness parent education and training to identify and address the needs of children with developmental difficulties utilising paediatricians, speech language pathologists, allied health personnel, teachers, and community stakeholders proactively for implementation. The program's adoption and success in the China suggest that it provides a model which can be adapted internationally within the context of national health programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to clean and functional toilet is quintessential in meeting children's physiological and psychosocial needs in a learning environment. However, little is known on experiences of children's access to quality toilets while in preschool institutions within urban settings of sub-Saharan Africa countries. This paper draws from a study that explored experiences of vulnerable children in early childhood development education (ECDE) institutions in underserved and informal urban settings of Kenya and South Africa. 11 urban ECDE centres were purposively selected and 17 teachers were recruited as key informants. Data was collected using an adapted infrastructural checklist, observation and conversational interviews. Findings indicated that a majority of toilets in ECDE centres were inadequate, inappropriate, poorly maintained, or had structural weaknesses which affected children's experiences of access and use of the facilities. Scheduled toilet visits as a control measure and toilet avoidance potentially exposed them to psychosocial and health risks. Insights into children's toilet facilities, managing their access in institutions located within informal and low resourced areas, and investment policies that target preschool children' sanitary facilities are given. Suggestions are made for interventions for children's positive toilet experiences in poor urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While most studies focus on the environmental and physical activity benefits of providing safe and livable streets for children, this paper provides a unique before-and-after experiment using cognitive (or image) mapping exercises employing innovative comparison methods. This work demonstrates how exposure to heavy traffic negatively affects children's perceptions of their environment, and how improving the pedestrian environment (building walkways and improving a crosswalk) can improve those perceptions. This shift may not only encourage more physical activity and strengthen the connection with their communities but also help children in their cognitive development of spatial knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this commentary, I underscore the two developmental principles or laws pointed to by this series of papers on child-teacher dependency; namely, that behavior and development are coherent and that early attachment relationships are the foundation for later development. First, I will review briefly the history of the dependency and attachment concepts and how Bowlby and Ainsworth distinguished them. This is followed by an overview of the comprehensive findings on the development of dependency from the Minnesota Study of Risk and Adaptation. In the conclusion, ideas are presented regarding how to view dependency in the classroom and whether and how to intervene. Suggestions are made regarding the research needed moving forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper provides information about the design, development, and evaluation of hand-eye coordination devices used to test and evaluate hand-eye coordination. Hand-eye coordination is the synchronized control of hand movement with eye movementand the processing of visual input to assist attainment, acquisition, and the use of hand proprioception to guide the eyes. Hand-eye coordination and visual-spatial abilities are essential for a child's development because they are required not only for practical independence but also for scholastic achievement. This paper outlines the development of a hand-eye coordination device using a specially designed pen (sensor), plates with patterns to trace, and a wooden cabinet to enclose and support the auxiliary components. This is a strong diagnostic in-house development in response to meet the requirements of practitioners looking for an accurate technique of measuring the progress of the hand-eye coordination of the patients. The purpose of the study is to assess the validity and dependability/reliability of the suggested device. The practicing physiotherapists conducted the assessments for children. This device was reliable and can be used by physiotherapists. This development provides portable hand-eye coordination equipment with reliable readings for the assessment of children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This UK focussed theoretical paper builds on Harper's (2017. "Outdoor Risky Play and Healthy Child Development in the Shadow of the "Risk Society": A Forest and Nature School Perspective." Child & Youth Services 38 (4): 318–334) work in Canadian Forest Schools and the role that Forest Schools play in education by including outdoor risky play. It considers the conceptualisation of a risk-averse Western society, with a focus on healthy childhood development, and the childhood risks within Forest School that are present yet arguably small. There is the opportunity to re-conceptualise ideas around risk within the Forest School space through the framing of Massey's (2005. For Space. London, UK: Sage Publications] proposition that space is a product of relations-between and that space is always in the process of being made. Thus, children create and 'own' the Forest School space through their inhabitation of it. Children's well-being and the value of risk in their lives can be understood as a fluid, dynamic and relational process within their geographies. Conclusions include a value that risk-taking has within the Forest School space. The implications of Beck's risk society, its ongoing influence on societal beliefs and practices, inducing practitioners' fear of litigation over accidents and injury are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The work of Bruno Bettelheim presents a range of challenges, in respect of its meaning, relevance and, not least, its overall credibility. These have long been apparent in the early years education. Adopting an English perspective, the paper explores a thesis that Bettelheim's work, although fragile in its scientific grounding, has nevertheless held successive generations of educators in its thrall, enabling the maintenance of a focus on the emotional dimension of education. Its importance in contributing to progressing a 'living theory' which helps inform the way that teachers engage with all learners. I suggest that – in common with other historical figures in education – his influence has gradually dissipated, largely absorbed, illustrating this by a set of snapshot observations from two groups of teachers, whose initial teacher training is separated by over 40 years. Ultimately, the paper argues that Bettelheim's contribution to practice should be celebrated for its capacity to trigger a way of personalizing learning – at a time of increasing homogeneity in education systems in England, and even worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of early childhood education and care (ECEC) is to support the learning and development of children in collaboration with families. The notion of inclusion in ECEC provides children with a sense of agency in becoming a learner able to participate fully and actively in their community. This paper illustrates how ECEC assessment approaches risk labelling young children in 'deficit' terms. The paper through a case study critically reflects on the implementation of a new assessment tool in kindergartens in the south-eastern region of Melbourne, Australia (low–middle income). Interviews were conducted with managers about the new tool, and documents (checklists and observations) were collected from the teachers. Findings show that the children were positioned as vulnerable with the introduction of the new assessment tool, leading to a diagnosis of 'at risk' for many children and a subsequent referral to education consultants, and health professionals. We explore the tensions of labelling young children, 'at risk' against the notion of 'becoming' that frames the Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (Department of Education and Training 2019) and professional understandings of 'inclusion'. The work of Nancy Fraser on 'social justice' augments the examination of this tension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Student participation in curriculum negotiation has been widely regarded as beneficial for student engagement, motivation, and learning. Within the physical education (PE) context however, several scholars claim that these benefits are seldom realized. Interestingly, most investigations into curriculum negotiation in PE focus on teacher actions and behavior. Investigations of students' actions in curriculum negotiation are rare. Further, while much of the literature claims curriculum negotiation is potentially beneficial for student learning, few of the conceptual and analytical frameworks utilized within previous PE literature are based on explicit learning theories. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore student participation in curriculum negotiation in Norwegian PE through the lens of an explicit learning theoretical perspective. Method: A 10th grade class with 23 students (age 15–16) and an 8th grade class with 30 students (age 13–14) from 2 different schools, and their respective teachers were recruited for the project. Within these classes, participatory observation, video observations, and stimulated recall interviews were conducted to produce empirical material related to curriculum negotiation. The material then underwent qualitative thematic analysis where select parts of John Dewey's educational philosophy were used as the analytical framework. Results and discussion: With a basis in the analytical framework developed from Deweyan educational philosophy, the results show that students within the two contexts participate in both explicit and implicit forms of curriculum negotiation. Explicit curriculum negotiations to a large degree appear to be governed by the teachers and are deemed by teachers to be part of strategies for upholding Norwegian legislations and recommendations for including students in curricular decision-making. While not as easily noticeable, implicit forms of negotiations were more prominent within the explored contexts. The analysis also suggests that from a Deweyan perspective, possibilities to increase learning through curriculum negotiations occur when teachers notice, help, and guide students in their own reflective processes surrounding how to act in PE. Such pedagogical action makes implicit negotiations occurring more explicit, and explicit negotiations more intelligent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the Special Issue ofEarly Child Development and Carefocused onEarly Childhood Pedagogy. It opens by considering past and present discourses concerning early childhood pedagogy, and focus is given to established philosophical underpinnings in the field and their translation to contemporary guidance, alongside research and policy. It is argued that early childhood pedagogy is a contested, complex and diverse space, yet these factors are entirely appropriate for supporting young children to flourish as valued individuals in different contexts. Building on this argument, it is posited that it may be more appropriate to discuss early childhood pedagogiesrather than early childhood pedagogy. The paper goes on to critique a range of established early childhood pedagogies, before introducing 18 papers from across the world that make exciting new contributions to the discourse. It is intended that this collection will inspire new debates and fresh endeavours concerning early childhood pedagogies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Living in a high-density urban environment may be good for people's health and well-being and standard of living but it may also have disadvantages. The international literature debates the extent to which urban living carries a premium or a penalty. Child growth and development indicators are good measures for assessing this. Using the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) database, we take the example of child stunting to investigate the spatial inequalities between urban formal, urban informal and rural areas in South Africa. The figures for child stunting in South Africa are considerably lower than those for other countries in sub-Saharan Africa but this is not a cause for complacency. We found an urban premium for male child stunting when comparing urban formal and rural areas, but an urban penalty for male child stunting when comparing urban informal and rural areas. The paper calls for a renewed focus on managing urbanization in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the hegemony of developmentalism in early childhood education and care, this article uses a poetic juxtapositional approach to bewilder Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Critical consideration of how the theory of cognitive development has contributed to the imagining of a universal, ahistorical child and childhood(s) are discussed and analysed whilst providing a rationale for a more complex and nuanced understanding of how children develop, drawing on the theoretical concept of clocking practices. This paper analyses data from Piaget's writing in 'The Origins of Intelligence in Children' and micro-ethical events from research with children, teachers, families from an affirmative diffractive stance through the lens of bewilderment. Creative poetic vignettes are included which encourage readers to unsettle dominant and deficit assumptions made about children and their abilities, framed by Piagetian theory. The insights are shared via three propositions: following learning experiences of and with children requires openness, forms of resistance to linear understandings of time are generative, and resist the desire to chase secure meanings and intentions. These propositions and the corresponding questions offer possibilities for seeing children's ideas and contributions through a capability-oriented lens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper diffracts Deleuze and quantum physics through Winnicott's work to argue for an enrichment to playing. The roots of the play-cognitive hierarchy in Freudian psychoanalysis makes visible that progression and the stages that a child must pass en route to rationality continue to feed educational assumptions that a child must leave playing behind in order to learn. Addressing critiques of Freud's psychosexual theory of child development, I introduce Winnicott's work on playing as creative activity and transitional phenomena which cast playing in a positive light. I then turn to Deleuze's critique of Freud's foundational concepts of child development influenced by Newtonian physics to argue that a Deleuzian concept of energy aligns with quantum physics, which unsettles the binary play-cognition hierarchy. I introduce a vignette to illustrate a rich array of concepts involved in playing that are read through Winnicott. In the final step, I argue that Winnicott's transitional object provides a juncture with Deleuze's concept of the partial/virtual object paving the way to graft an alternative and more processual ontology onto Winnicott's work on playing that acts beside cognitive connections in ways that bring learning alive and liberate teachers to enter less constrained relationships with children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early childhood education (ECE) spaces within settler-colonial societies operate as sites of violence and oppression whereby non-conformity to white, rational, ableist, cisgender norms is weaponised as developmental deficits. In this paper, we refer to the refusals of non-dominant ways of knowing as forms of epistemic injustice (Fricker 2007). We describe the foundational underpinnings of ECE throughout the twentieth century in Ontario, Canada and trace how normative ideas of children, educators, education, and childhood developed through a largely positivist, developmental orientation. Ultimately, we call for epistemic justice (Fricker 2007) as an emancipatory way forward in post-secondary ECE programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assumption that primal phantasmatic activity stems from bodily functions is widely accepted in developmental and psychoanalytic thinking. This article attempts to give more specific meaning to this abstract assumption. It examines the influence of sensory, perceptual, and motor capacities on the consolidation of typically differentiated erotogenic experiences relevant to pre-Oedipal and Oedipal organisations. It then proceeds to examine the impact of innate deficiencies in these capacities on the development of phantasmatic organisation in children on the autistic spectrum who often manifest atypical erotogenic organisation. Additionally, it pays attention to non-symbolic therapeutic communication and the unconscious transference-countertransference relationship stemming from such a problematic matrix. The paper is clinically derived from a description of the early-Oedipal organisation of a child with low cognitive and functional capacities and proceeds to the manifestations of the Oedipal constellation of a high-functioning autistic child. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author presents the issue of the development of internal space, as a function of the relationship of intimacy and synchrony with the caregiver, with the purpose of rendering more tolerable the experience of space outside the body. This paper argues that if this relationship does not stabilise by the end of the first year of life, an absence of representation of an internal space in the unidimensional realm might ensue. The psychoanalytic treatment of autistic children offers windows to certain developmental challenges associated with the representation of both internal and external spaces, the consequent development of dimensionality and its deviations. The case of a young autistic child in the first year of her four-session-a-week analysis is described as an illustration of the child's struggle to overcome precipitation anxiety around the experience of falling by using her movements in the external space. The child's autistic defences and deficits at first functioned to keep her in a liquid state, and later denied gravity by means of repetitive movements of her body while exploring the space of the analyst's room. Her mouth was experienced as a hole to be completely blocked with either food or a pacifier, preventing exchanges with the analyst. Her subsequent compulsive use of strings in activities revealed at the same time the search for links, and her difficulty connecting and establishing communication. At the end, the analyst realised an archaic equivalence between their room and body, as a 'concrete transference', revealing the child's attachment and motivation to explore it, which could be interpreted as an affective link between the analyst and patient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]