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Most families can access a range of health information and advice. Information and advice sources often include nurses, the Internet, social media, books, as well as family and friends. While the immediate aim may be to find information, it can also be to assist with parenting skills, solve parenting problems or as part of decision-making processes about their child’s health. These processes are strongly influenced by the parent’s level of health literacy. Health literacy describes a person’s capacity to obtain and utilize health related information. Although there are numerous health literacy definitions all have clearly defined steps. These steps are: obtaining relevant information; then understanding this information; and finally being able to use the information to achieve the expected outcome. Previous research has linked low levels of parental health literacy with poorer child health outcomes. Given this link, increasing health literacy levels would be advantageous for both families and health services. Nurses working with families are in a position to support the family to increase their health literacy through the use of a variety of strategies. This article outlines how health literacy can influence the way parents seek help when they are concerned about child health issues, the relevance of parental health literacy for nurses and suggests some tools that could be used to support the increase of health literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In Australia, there have been a growing number of nature-based early childhood education initiatives [Alme, H., and M. A. Reime. 2021. "Nature Kindergartens: A Space for Children's Participation." Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education 24: 113–131]. Research into early years' nature education internationally remains under-theorised particularly in STEM teaching and learning. The nature or bush kindergarten programme (often referred to as 'bush kinders' in the Australian context), is one such programme where nature play and education occur. This paper considers how children's mathematical thinking develops through their time spent in bush kinder settings. Using an ethnographic lens, this longitudinal study is the first of its type in Australia with a focus on STEM in bush kinders. In this paper, eight 'powerful mathematical ideas' are used to analyse how educators can approach teaching mathematics with only what nature provides. The paper reports one main finding, that bush kinders provide opportunities for children through educator support to build mathematical understandings through nature play. Drawing on fieldwork data and the analysis of research literature, this paper contributes to the conceptualisation of mathematics in early childhood nature play and bush kinder programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws from a cross-cultural study of young children's arts curricula. The initial phase of the original study consisted of a comparison of the intended arts curriculum for 5–6 year old children in China and Australia. This was followed by a survey in Beijing exploring 88 contemporary early childhood educators' beliefs about children's arts education. A case study of the enacted curriculum took place across three kindergartens in Beijing. The data was coded and analysed using grounded theory methodology. The research presented in this paper reported a diverse understanding of children's creativity among the participant EC educators; it revealed that a pedagogical dilemma of demonstration remains as a challenge to early childhood arts educators. This study provided qualitative descriptions and examples of Chinese Beijing children's arts education in this era of globalisation. Utilising Foucault's (1991. "Governmentality." In The Foucault Effect: Studies in Governmentality, edited by G. Burchell, C. Gordon, and P. Miller, translated by R. Braidotti, 87–104. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf) theory of governmentality as a critical lens to view the issues in this field, the study broadened perspectives regarding the education philosophy and practices of early childhood arts curriculum, in particular, for the cultivation of young children's creativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops and applies the emergent concept of institutional transphobia to explore the barriers to transgender research in early years education. It argues that institutional processes embed and disguise the logic of transphobia by drawing on dominant, taken-for-granted claims of the inappropriateness or irrelevance of gender-focused education interventions that challenge cis-normativity and heteronormativity. Drawing on the barriers and difficulties experienced through a PhD journey, the paper explores how institutional transphobia was evident in the seemingly neutral reasons for denying site access and ethics approvals, divergent institutional ethics requirements, the tensions between individual support and institutional processes, and the expectations on research higher degree students. The paper concludes that current processes and priorities must be challenged and replaced with an institutional mandate that explicitly values and welcomes transgender research as a priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contextualises a keynote address delivered at the 2022 Speech Pathology Australia National Conference in Melbourne, Australia. The paper aligns with the conference theme of Beyond Borders from the perspective of moving beyond borders of regular practice to develop strong partnerships and networks within our communities to advocate and support necessary change. Change or enhancement to current practice is necessary if we are to reduce current inequities in education experienced by many children in our communities, including those with communication challenges. Strengths-based and culturally responsive literacy approaches to supporting children within the context of their family and community are increasingly gaining support as we address this challenge. The Better Start Literacy Approach (Te Ara Reo Matatini), currently being implemented in junior school classrooms across New Zealand is described. It is one example of large-scale implementation of a strengths-based and culturally responsive early literacy approach, based on the science of reading. Data support the effectiveness of the Better Start Literacy Approach in significantly enhancing the foundational literacy skills of 5- and 6-year-old children, including those who commence school with lower levels of oral language ability. Through establishing strong partnerships within communities, speech pathologists have much to offer in motivating systems level change to enhance early literacy success for all learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that when young children are given an opportunity for their voice to be heard, they are competent communicators and social agents who can co-create cultural practices as theory makers. The paper draws on video recorded data from a small study that focussed on how young children (3–5 years) participated in an end-of-year cultural celebration in an early childhood education setting in Australia. The children organized a party, invited Santa Claus to visit, and setup a special place where they could hold conversations with Santa. Video recorded data of the conversations initiated by the children with Santa Claus were transcribed and analysed using the fine-grained interactional tools of ethnomethodology, conversation analysis and membership categorization analysis. Analyses identified children's competence as active social agents who challenged Santa's authenticity through checking his appearance, knowledge testing and, suggesting he was not the 'real Santa'. This evidence of children's capacity to authenticate cultural experiences demonstrates that incorporating children's voice in the co-creation of culture fosters children's opportunities to make and interrogate theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the cultural conceptualisation of children's social identity and status through memorialisation, based on the study of children's grave markers and plots in five South Australian cemeteries (from colonisation to the present), with an age range from infant (including stillborn) to 20 years. The idea of childness, the differing conception of being or being labelled a child, was used as a measure to identify the degree of variation in child identity realised by child-only and family grave markers, showing both change and continuity in the representation of children through family choices of form, style, wording, motif, spatial arrangement and grave furniture. Archaeological evidence of childness was observed through representations of smallness, innocence, domesticity, play, temporality and the distinct emotional nature of the parent-child relationship. Notably in the latter period of study, within the context of lower child mortality, revised understandings of child identity and status were observed representing the social re-evaluation of prenatally deceased and stillborn children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was developed for clinicians and researchers as a brief screening instrument for behavioural and emotional problems in children. Administered in its traditional pen‐and‐paper format, the SDQ has demonstrated sound psychometric properties. The SDQ is increasingly being administered online, despite there being little evaluation of the psychometric properties and norms of the instrument in this new administrative context, and none in an Australian (or English‐speaking) sample. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to explore the psychometric properties and present normative data for the online administration of the parent‐report version of the SDQ in an Australian sample. Methods: Participants were parents (n = 1,070) of Australian primary school‐aged children (5 to 12 years) who completed the SDQ online via a web‐based software program. Results: Results demonstrate sound psychometric properties for the SDQ in its online administrative format that are comparable to previous Australian studies utilising the traditional pen‐and‐paper format of the SDQ. Moreover, we provide normative data on the SDQ subscales, as well as the impact supplement when administered online. Conclusions: Together, the results support the use of the SDQ online, and provide emerging evidence that the psychometric properties and the norms for the parent‐report SDQ in an English‐speaking sample are similar regardless of online versus pen‐and‐paper administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participation in organized sports can provide a wide range of health and social benefits and, for young people from migrant and minority ethnic groups, can act as a critical mediator of inclusion and belonging. These population groups have relatively low participation rates however, with recognized barriers including costs, transport, culturally determined gender norms, culturally inappropriate club environments, a lack of knowledge and understanding of sports 'systems' and competing family priorities. Count Me In (CMI) was a mixed-methods, participatory action research project designed and implemented in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia between 2017–2019 to address these barriers. Key elements of the intervention included employment of bicultural community support coordinators, partnerships with clubs and community-based organisations, encouragement of volunteering and development of resources. This paper reports the qualitative results of the study and discusses the effectiveness and impacts of the Count Me In model for addressing participation barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Urban Policy & Research is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Early interventions for children whose parents have a mental illness, comprising the provision of age-appropriate information about mental health, positive coping strategies, and meaningful social and emotional connections, are identified as preventive interventions for childhood health and wellbeing. The aim of this study was to evaluate the CHAMPS (Children and Mentally Ill Parents) peer support program that is designed to connect, support and educate this cohort of children and their parents/carers. The CHAMPS program was reviewed and co-designed by clinicians, parent participants, peer workers and children in 2017 and 2019. The revised modularised program incorporates peer facilitators and shared lived experience as a way for participants to build understanding of their own experiences and strategies for coping. Children, parent/carers and program facilitators were interviewed for this study. This paper presents findings from interviews conducted with 8- to 12-year-old children (N = 20) who completed CHAMPS; parents/carers (N = 17) and program facilitators (N = 10). Children reported that the program lessened isolation and feelings of self-blame for their parents' struggles; and parents reported benefits from supported communication with their children in explaining their diagnosis and in understanding the needs of their child. It was concluded that early intervention peer support programs for children can have multiple positive impacts on the family, highlighting the importance of psychoeducation and improved family communication, as well as connections to peers for supporting families where parents have a mental illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consistency of word production contributes to carers' ability to understand children's speech. Reports of the proportion of words produced consistently by typically developing preschool children, however, vary widely from 17% to 87%. This paper examines the quantitative (consistency count) and qualitative (e.g. phonemic analysis) characteristics of word consistency in 96 children aged 36–60 months. Children named 15 pictures twice, in separate trials, in the same assessment session. The mean consistency of the production for the whole group was 82%. Older children were more consistent than younger children. Girls were more consistent than boys. Words produced correctly in one trial and in error in another may indicate resolving error patterns. Words produced in error in two different ways provided useful evidence about the nature of inconsistent word production in typically developing children. The clinical and theoretical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural disasters can significantly impact children's health, development, and wellbeing, as well as their access to education and support services (including speech-language pathology). Children's needs are often overlooked in the urgent aftermath of natural disasters. This is especially true for children with communication difficulties. This commentary explores the impacts of bushfire on Australian children, to propose a sustainable, community-based approach to supporting children's health, wellbeing, and communication. The Royal Far West Bushfire Recovery Program, a multidisciplinary allied health program, supported children's recovery, resilience, and development in the aftermath of Australia's Black Summer bushfires in 2019–2020. Children learnt coping strategies and were more able to communicate with adults and peers about their feelings and experiences, but residual impacts of bushfires remained for some children. Allied health telepractice services, including speech-language pathology, enhanced access for vulnerable children, highlighting the potential for technology to provide high-quality services to support recovery, particularly in remote areas. Climate change increases the frequency and severity of bushfires and other natural disasters with significant consequences for vulnerable and at-risk communities. Children with communication needs are particularly vulnerable during and following these disasters. High quality, evidence-based interventions are needed to support the health, wellbeing, and communication needs of children, with opportunities for involvement of speech-language pathologists. This commentary paper focusses on SDG 1, SDG 3, SDG 4, SDG 9, SDG 10, SDG 11, SDG 13, and SDG 15. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Childhood poverty matters—not only because of the disturbingly high number of children affected, but also because of the deleterious impact on their human flourishing, both now and in the future. Effectively addressing child poverty requires clear identification of the nature and causes of the problem, as well as an understanding of how it is experienced. This paper aims to deepen understanding of child poverty, by drawing on key elements of a capability approach, rights-based approaches, and feminist standpoint theory, and empirical research. It is grounded in the findings of rights-based, participatory research with children aged between 7 and 15 years in Indonesia and in Australia, which cast new light on the dimensions of poverty that are most egregious from a child-driven standpoint. It presents a three-dimensional typology of material, opportunity, and relational poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Government guidelines are demanding greater educational outcomes and intentional teaching in Australian preschools. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a study of how children incorporate concepts into child-initiated play. A cohort of 18 children (aged 3.0–5.8, mean age of 4.8) were digitally observed over seven weeks (153.3 hours' digital video observations). It was found that rather than formalising preschooling to increase cognitive outcomes, the leading activity of the preschool child to play can be preserved when children experience a PlayWorld where curriculum concepts act in service of the children's play. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Speech-language pathologists play important roles in supporting people to be competent communicators in the languages of their communities. However, with over 7000 languages spoken throughout the world and the majority of the global population being multilingual, there is often a mismatch between the languages spoken by children and families and their speech-language pathologists. This paper provides insights into service provision for multilingual children within an English-dominant country by viewing Australia's multilingual population as a microcosm of ethnolinguistic minorities. Recent population studies of Australian pre-school children show that their most common languages other than English are: Arabic, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Italian, Mandarin, Spanish, and Greek. Although 20.2% of services by Speech Pathology Australia members are offered in languages other than English, there is a mismatch between the language of the services and the languages of children within similar geographical communities. Australian speech-language pathologists typically use informal or English-based assessments and intervention tools with multilingual children. Thus, there is a need for accessible culturally and linguistically appropriate resources for working with multilingual children. Recent international collaborations have resulted in practical strategies to support speech-language pathologists during assessment, intervention, and collaboration with families, communities, and other professionals. The International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children's Speech was assembled to prepare a position paper to address issues faced by speech-language pathologists when working with multilingual populations. The Multilingual Children's Speech website () addresses one of the aims of the position paper by providing free resources and information for speech-language pathologists about more than 45 languages. These international collaborations have been framed around the World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF-CY) and have been established with the goal of supporting multilingual children to participate in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stories or narratives are integral to meaning making in relation to selves, others and the choices we make in living. It follows that pre-service teachers’ narratives can provide a means for understanding experiences and processes of becoming teachers of physical education (PE). This paper reports on an interview-based inquiry from which biographical information was collated and constructed as narratives. The specific focus of this paper is demonstrating how Ricoeur's [1991a. Narrative identity. In D. Woods (Ed.),On Paul Ricoeur: Narrative and interpretation(pp. 188–199). London: Routledge; 1992.Oneself as another. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press] theorisation of narrative identity can generate understandings about incipient PE teacher identities as developed in various spaces and temporalities. Data are presented through a cluster of significant spaces:sport,families,schooling,PE and Teacher Education plus narratives. Findings indicate that in constructing narrative identities, participants activated links between spaces, their past, present and aspirational futures as teachers. Given this, I conclude by identifying possibilities for PE teacher educators in using personal narratives as resources for exploring significant lifeworld spaces and subjective possibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study investigates, in an Australian university student sample, the score equivalence of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV (WAIS-IV) norms for which are based on the US standardization sample versus the Woodcock Johnson III (WJ III) cognitive test battery, normed for the Australian population based on a standardisation sample aged between four and twenty-one. Mean IQ scores in the two instruments were compared in sample scores of all and those restricted to 21 years or younger. Additionally, corresponding broad ability scores were compared. Tests were assigned in blocked random order to 164 (141 aged 21 years or younger) participants (M = 20.38, Mdn = 19, SD = 5.19). Thirty-eight (32 aged 21 years or younger) undertook both tests. Scores from all, and the subset aged 21 years or less were analysed. The mean WAIS-IV FSIQ were significantly higher than mean WJ III GIA in both independent and repeated measures analyses. Effect sizes, measured with population SD of 15, were d = 0.34 and d = 0.53 in the independent and repeated measures study. Considering the potential impact of the observed effect sizes in high-stakes decision for the Australian population, we appeal for further research on local norming. KEY POINTS What is already known on this topic: When used in Australia, the WAIS-IV scores are based on the US standardization data, while the WJ III has been normed for the Australian population. Local and current norming of tests is essential for valid and fair use of a cognitive abilities test. WAIS-IV scores are routinely used to make high-stakes decisions in Australia. What this paper adds: Empirical evidence that the current WAIS-IV scores and WJ III scores in Australia are not equivalent in a sample of university students. If the observed effect sizes were to hold in the critical cut-off regions used for making high-stakes decision, a substantial number of eligible beneficiaries will be affected. Though the samples in this study are restricted, the partial random sampling, consistency, and effect size warrant more comprehensive study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports a rhetorical analysis of policy texts illustrating the emergence of the mandatory Educational Leader role in early childhood services in Australia. We argue that policy texts before 2012 constructed a 'problem' of workforce quality in early childhood education and offered a new leadership configuration as a policy solution. We identify and critically address how this social architecture was constructed and made persuasive through key rhetorical devices, particularly the combined pathos of the vulnerable child and a logos of quality improvement. Initial analysis indicated an apparent contradiction between the economic rationalism of earlier (policy advice) texts and an emphasis on professional dispositions in the later (policy implementation) texts, when describing the Educational Leader. We argue, however, that these policy implementation documents reinforce, rather than contradict, a neoliberal economistic logos, because they attempt to form Educational Leaders as autonomous moral agents of neoliberal responsibilization. We conclude by considering some potential implications of our analysis for the early childhood field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School belonging is fundamental to the wellbeing and academic success of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) students. While the psychosocial factors associated with belonging have been well articulated, the ways in which schools foster belonging for this cohort is relatively unexplored. This paper discusses a research collaboration that investigated ways in which schools create and promote belonging. The study was conducted in an Australian school dedicated to the settlement and English language development of newly arrived migrant and refugee children. Digital storytelling was used as a research methodology to listen to and learn from the experiences of school staff, students and their families. The findings comprised three key strategies central to the creation of belonging at the school: helping students and their families adapt to the Australian environment; building socially supportive relationships; and fostering school connectedness. Through highlighting the key learnings from the research collaboration and discussing strategies for fostering belonging for students from refugee and migrant backgrounds, this research has implications for policymakers and educators experiencing increasingly diverse student cohorts and working to enhance the wellbeing and academic success of CALD students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Telehealth is rapidly becoming an essential part of speech-language pathologists' core business, and yet the experiences and opinions of community-based therapists in using telehealth remain relatively unknown. This paper describes a recent study in which speech-language pathologists were provided with access to a formal language assessment within a telehealth platform and asked to provide feedback about their experiences. Method: Twenty-seven speech-language pathologists in paediatric practice were recruited via callouts on social media, community contacts and professional networks. The participants were provided access to a telehealth platform with a built-in formal language assessment and asked to use the assessment with their own caseload as clinically indicated and provide feedback after each assessment. Questionnaire data was collected via an online survey system and contained questions about each assessment including the most enjoyable and most difficult aspects of the assessment and their overall experience of the platform. Result: More than 100 assessments were completed during the 3-month trial, with clinicians reporting that on most occasions, video and audio quality was adequate or more than adequate, and that interactions with their child clients were effective. Qualitative data indicated that technical difficulties were a drawback to the assessments, but that ease of use of the assessment, the added functionality of using the assessment within the telehealth platform and factors including general benefits of telehealth, particularly that of being able to continue to provide services when face-to-face work was not possible were seen as positive elements. Conclusion: This study adds clinicians' voices to the research into telehealth, indicating that the assessment within the telehealth platform was generally easy to use, and provided an unexpected depth of insight and connection for clinicians and their clients. Future research may consider the voices of other stakeholders in telehealth interactions, including parents and child clients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overwhelmingly, school-based sexuality education programmes focus on the prevention of infection, pregnancy and abuse, with little if any attention given to positive views of sexuality and rarely the inclusion of sex positive issues such as pleasure, intimacy and desire. This paper explores the experience of teaching about pleasure to pre-service health and physical education teachers as part of compulsory studies in a unit on sexuality education designed to prepare them to teach sexuality education in secondary schools. Drawing on the aims, theoretical framework, content and pedagogical structure of the unit, and data collected from 42, third-year pre-service teachers (PST) in Australia via surveys and student assessment, the paper provides some practical examples of what teaching about pleasure might look like in practice. It argues that with adequate preparation, a framework to celebrate sex and sexuality, a gender lens to examine normative discourses, and the opportunity for reflection, PST can develop the confidence, skill and willingness to include pedagogies of pleasure in their school-based work. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Operating within a neoliberal education reform context, performativity and teaching in schools has been a focus of study for a number of years. However, less is known about the effects of performativity on teaching and curriculum in the early childhood (preschool) context. Making a case for the intensification of performativity in Australian early childhood education, this paper reports on findings from a doctoral study and draws on research literature from the past fourteen years to illustrate how performative measures have increasingly affected teaching and curriculum. The way that performativity has intensified is discussed in three chronological phases, performativity emerging, consolidating and normalised. Teacher interview transcripts and curricular related policies were analysed using critical discourse analysis and Ranson’s typology of accountability regimes. Findings reveal that early childhood teachers have different ways of responding to performativity, with the teacher featured in this paper displaying three types of performative accountability: anxiety, confidence, and disregard. An implication arising from this paper’s findings illustrates how the effects of performativity on teaching and curriculum can be complex, contradictory and at times, unintended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social work educators across the world are engaged in developing a curriculum that prepares students to be effective practitioners in a range of settings that involve working with children. This paper reflects on collaborative strategies and research that have influenced the child wellbeing content of social work courses in Australia. It presents a critical analysis of the tensions and challenges that can occur in (this) collaborative work. It then discusses an outcome of this advocacy to influence the child wellbeing content of social work education, an undergraduate module aimed at increasing students' knowledge and skills in communicating with children. This paper argues that Indigenous children (such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children) are over-represented in child protection systems and out-of-home care services, and that this needs to be acknowledged and given increased attention in the education of social work students internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose:In 2013, the Australian Government Senate formed a committee for inquiry and report into the prevalence of speech, language, and communication disorders and speech pathology services in Australia. Submissions were sought from individuals and organisations. In this paper, submissions made by individuals with a history of childhood communication disorder were examined to explore their life experiences and the impact on their lives when the right to communicate could not be enacted. Method:There were 305 submissions to the Australian Government Senate Committee Inquiry, of which 288 were publically accessible. In this study, the submissions (n = 17) from children or adults with a history of communication disorder (including speech, language and stuttering), who provided personal accounts of their experiences, were analysed using an interpretative phenomenological approach. Result:Four themes emerged relating to: personal identity, life with communication disorder, the importance of help, and how life would be different without a communication disorder. Conclusions:This paper gives voice to children and adults with communication disorder. In listening to these voices, the impact of communication disorder on the right to communicate and on other human rights can be heard, and the need for a response is clear. However, the challenge is to determine how the voices of these individuals, and others like them, can be enabled to exert real influence on practice and policy so communication disorder will no longer be a barrier to attainment of their human rights. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Thousands of girls and young women migrated to Australia in the nineteenth century. Many were members of voluntary migrant families who were drawn to the colonies for new opportunities and a better life. Despite their numbers, these girls' experiences of the journey have been little studied. This article examines several extant shipboard diaries, written by girls and young women aged from 10 to 22 who travelled from Britain and Ireland to Australia. These diaries, composed between 1851 and 1884, recount girls' daily lives on board ship and lay bare their emotions as they journeyed towards a new life. Girls used writing and the physical form of a diary to work through and regulate the emotional upheavals and perils of migration. Graphite, ink and paper were employed to navigate loss, boredom, homesickness, fear and uncertainty. By centring girl-produced sources, this article gives voice to the often-overlooked migration experiences of girls and shows how analysis of age and gender draws attention to the emotions of migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovative curriculum frameworks that support children as active researchers and designers in everyday learning contexts remain unprioritized in school settings. Design literacies challenge and expand existing curriculum structures at a time when state and national curriculum privilege literacy and numeracy testing. Drawing on a broader ethnographic study that examined children's inhabitation of school food gardens through pedagogies of food production, ecology and design in three Australian primary schools [Green, M. 2011. “Place Matters: Pedagogies of Food, Ecology and Design.” Unpublished PhD, Monash University Churchill Victoria], this paper focuses on the design literacies or ‘design-centered pedagogy’ [McLaren, S. 2008. “Learning for Engagement: Lose the Ring-Fencing.” Paper presented at the Technology Education Research Conference: Exploring Technology Education: Solutions to Issues in a Globalised World, Gold Coast, Queensland] that supported children's engagement with everyday learning in one school community. Semi-structured and ‘walking interviews’ provide rich data for understanding the contributions of design and design processes in a garden-based curriculum. When linked to a framework of sustainability, design literacies can expand learning opportunities that deepen their connection to everyday places. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Scholarship dedicated to documenting the roles and experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australian fathers is scarce, with most works focusing on rural and remote areas, with little dedicated to Aboriginal fathers living in regional and urban areas. Utilizing and building upon the preliminary research undertaken the University of Newcastle's 'Stayin' On Track' programme, which seeks to provide online support and assistance to young Aboriginal fathers, this paper brings to light the unique challenges and sources of support afforded to young Aboriginal fathers from regional and urban New South Wales. It finds that, contrary to prevailing stereotypes, Aboriginal fathers respond favourably to the demand for paternal responsibility, which can take on meanings of masculinity as well as respect towards Elders. Furthermore, these fathers demonstrate a keen awareness of their Aboriginality, referencing the benefits of large, close-knit families and their tendency to support fathers and co-raise children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we draw on evidence to address the impact of earlier identification of congenital hearing loss through universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) and the associated earlier access to interventions including cochlear implant (CI) technology on outcomes of children with hearing loss. Data from the Longitudinal Outcomes of Children with Hearing Impairment (LOCHI) study were analysed to examine the impact of UNHS and earlier intervention on language outcomes. The LOCHI study includes more than 450 deaf and hard of hearing Australian children whose hearing losses were identified variously through newborn hearing screening or later paths to confirmation and intervention. Seventy-two percent of the screened group received hearing aid fitting before 6 months of age, which more than doubled the 32% in the non-screened group. On average, children who received earlier intervention achieved language at age 5 years commensurate with their typically developing peers. Children who do not have disabilities in addition to hearing loss and received their first CIs before age 12 months achieved language scores within the range of typically developing peers. Newborn hearing screening led to earlier intervention. Children who received earlier intervention achieved better outcomes than those who received later intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper details and compares the discernable trends observed in a wide-ranging review of the recent starting school literature in Australia and beyond. More than half of the research reviewed considers children's readiness for school. This research is critiqued through a three-way view of readiness: child readiness, school readiness and support available through the family. Distinctions between transition to school and school readiness are made and the consequences of these are investigated for all key participants in the transition process: children, educators and families. The paper concludes with a critical consideration of tensions in the research around starting school. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper focuses on issues of transition for children from a Samoan migrant community in Australia. This is an important and underdeveloped research area. Our qualitative study found that the home-school transition for three second-generation Samoan children was characterised by nonaligned expectations on the part of their parents and classroom teacher. These expectations related to the defi nition of roles and responsibilities, and to communicative practices. In addition, no attempt was made by parents or teachers to accommodate discontinuities between home and school. Our paper contributes to the explanatory power of theories of cultural discontinuity and of structural inequality in accounting for this migrant group's over-representation in underachieving student cohorts. Recommendations offer possible ways to smooth the cultural transition of second-generation Samoan children between home and school, recognising that transition problems can damage not only educational wellbeing but also emotional wellbeing, potentially across several generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of suitable, affordable housing in promoting the well-being of children is widely acknowledged. However, despite growing interest in geographic differences in child well-being, little is known about the spatial distribution of characteristics associated with housing disadvantage for Australian children. This paper seeks to develop knowledge in this area by creating a headline indicator of child housing disadvantage. It uses spatially disaggregated Census data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Census of Population and Housing 2006 capturing overcrowding, public housing tenure and dwelling type, and creates synthetic estimates of housing stress using spatial microsimulation techniques. These variables are then combined into a single index of housing disadvantage. Next, the spatial microsimulation techniques and index creation methodology are described, and the results of the validation process, including sensitivity analysis of alternative index creation approaches, are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Early Childhood Education Research Journal is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper explores the purchase and usefulness of the notion of digital literacy. Comparing and contrasting theoretical formulations of digital literacy from the “top-down” and “bottom-up”, it reviews how the concept has been used across three research fields in Europe and Australia. An introductory section situates the ways in which digital literacy offers itself as a mean of empowerment in the tradition of the “new literacy studies” but at the same time exposes contradictions in terms of access and power. The first domain explored is media discourse, and this section of the paper examines ideas which have been circulating in Australia since the early 1990s about the need for children to become digitally literate. The second section examines how the concept of digital literacy has developed over the last decade in the domain of school policy, curriculum documents and practices in Norway; and the third section reviews transnational research to explore how the term digital literacy is used in the domain of children's and youth's out-of-school cultural digital practices. We argue that the term “digital literacy” incorporates more notions of exclusion and division than is commonly supposed, and that it exposes the contradictory politics of literacy education in new and provocative ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Communication with indigenous patients is often a problem for health staff in Australia. Aim: This paper examines the barriers and enablers in communication between health staff and Indigenous carers of paediatric patients in a hospital, about advice to help reduce exposure of children to second-hand smoke (SHS). Methods: Non-indigenous health staff and Indigenous carers, were recruited from a paediatric ward of a regional hospital in the Northern Territory. A constructivist grounded theory with multiphase case study design and semi-structured interviews was used. Results: Health staff and carers had different perceptions about raising the issue of smoking. Health staff lacked confidence to talk about smoking and questioned the cultural appropriateness of doing so. In contrast, carers expected to talk about smoking while in the hospital., and perceived it as part of a caring and protective relationship by health staff. English being a second language for carers was considered a significant communication barrier by staff; carers, however, felt that health staff needed to modify their communication styles. The possible misperceptions about carers' lack of response to messages, led to health staff dropping the subject, when, in fact, carers were struggling with health workers communication styles. Conclusions: Health staff and carers perceive discussion around smoking differently. Cross-cultural communication education may empower staff to provide effective smoking cessation interventions in this setting. Impact statement: Improving communication between health staff will help ensure the optimal provision of smoking cessation support to carers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Family Law Amendment (Shared Parental Responsibility) Act 2006 has brought into sharp focus the issue of shared physical care of children, post separation. In this paper, we explore new data suggesting accumulative risks for children whose care is divided between parents who lack the core relational infrastructure to support a healthy environment for shared care. Developmental background is provided, giving context to the complex dynamics at play, particularly for young children who experience divided care in a hostile climate. A discussion of the amendments shows that, rather than endorsing an assumption of shared care, the legislation supports and indeed requires professionals to engage in active consideration of the child's 'best interests' in each case. The paper outlines a tighter 'safety net' of considerations through which the 'best interests' question might be filtered. Implications for supporting separated parents to develop and maintain adequate foundations for shared care are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2003, over 41 000 families with accompanying children throughout Australia were assisted by homeless services. Sole fathers with children in their care who are homeless are a minority group within this overall population of homeless families and, as such, little is known about their experiences of homelessness and fathering. The present paper reports on an exploratory study of sole fathers with children in their care who were homeless in the Australian Capital Territory. The study identifies the fathers’ pathways into and experiences of homelessness, and the fathers share their stories of what it means to be a sole father. The paper identifies the issues fathers may experience when dealing with homelessness and fatherhood. An increased understanding of these experiences can contribute to the development of further research and improved practice with such families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tackles some of the analytical challenges of multisemiotic texts in the production of racist discourse in news stories. In particular, it offers a critical analysis of the 'children overboard' affair in Australian newspapers. This notorious incident, in which Liberal Party ministers wrongly claimed that asylum seekers threw their children overboard in an effort to coerce the Navy to offer them sanctuary, claimed front-page news for some time in Australian newspapers. The effects of the claims about 'boat people' are still being played out in political struggles over border protection in late 2003. Media treatment of the incident presents distinctive challenges for analysis in part because it is work at the borders of discourse that most powerfully shaped public perceptions of the issue. In this paper I adopt the notions of 'framing' (for images) and 'voicing' (for verbiage) to explore (re)presentations of the 'children overboard' story in two Australian newspaper articles. I also posit some telling homologies between voicing and framing at three stages of the unfolding media story. The paper argues that the politics of race are increasingly being played out by means of visual 'news' and that critical discourse analysts need ways of analyzing the synergies between visual and verbal representations of news makers and their effects on public discourse surrounding them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article begins by summarising the Columbus Pilot Project, designed to evaluate a managed interdisciplinary approach to cases of domestic violence and child abuse in the Family Court of Western Australia. A working hypothesis informing the project is that, compared with traditional litigation processes, a managed interdisciplinary approach to these cases will yield outcomes more consistent with children's best interests at lower long-term cost to families, the community, and the Court. The main focus of the article is a progress report on evaluation design issues associated with mapping the costs in these cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines factors affecting parental expectations of higher education prospects for their children using Australian household survey data. We find that a variety of factors influence parental expectations, of which parents' assessment of their children's academic performance is the strongest. Factors known to impact upon actual higher education participation, such as parental education and remoteness, are already evident in parental expectations, but with limited evidence of expectations being shaped by financial constraints. We also find evidence of a 'same gender' effect, with mothers exhibiting higher expectations for higher education for their daughters. This may be in part due to significantly lower expectations held by fathers with sub-bachelor qualifications. These factors contribute to higher expectations overall for girls entering university. The research points to the importance of interventions commencing in early childhood, and accounting for key household background characteristics when designing, implementing and evaluating programmes for widening participation in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last three decades, qualitative studies of children’s spirituality have variously mentioned God. During this time, nearly 300 quantitative measures of spirituality and well-being have been developed and employed with youth and adults. However, very little similar work has been done with children. An article in this journal reported development of a purported spiritual sensitivity scale. That paper is critiqued here on the basis of its statistical methods as well as its failure to mention God in a study with Australian Catholic school students. In this paper, spiritual well-being (SWB) is taken as being reflected in the quality of relationships that people have with themselves, with others, with the environment and/or with God. Empirical evidence derived from extensive studies with primary school children in State, Catholic, Christian community and other independent schools in Australia reveals that an instrument called Feeling Good, Living Life is a statistically sound spirituality measure for children. Of the four sets of relationships reflecting SWB, relationship with God explains greatest variance in SWB overall. In this respect, relationship with God is most important for SWB among primary school students, just as other studies have shown it to be among youth and adults. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Many teachers are keen to implement sustainability education in primary schools but are lacking the confidence, skills and knowledge to do so. Teachers report that they do not understand the concept and cannot integrate sustainability into an already overcrowded curriculum. Identifying how teachers successfully integrate sustainability education into their teaching practice can offer important insights into how these perceived problems can be overcome. The paper is based on data from the third year of a longitudinal study about teacher education and teacher professional learning for sustainability in primary education. The third year of the study investigated teachers' understandings of sustainability and how sustainability education is manifested in eight rural and regional primary schools in Victoria, Australia. Data included photographs of school grounds and sustainability projects, audio recordings of focus groups with teachers and principals, and field notes of meetings with school staff. Sustainability education was found to be an emergent practice necessarily constituted in the relation between teachers, students and community members and the materialities of local places. Partnerships were found to be an essential part of integrated sustainability programmes which extended into communities and places beyond the schools. The processes of learning involved pedagogies of creative problem-solving and inquiry learning that enabled children to lead the way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early childhood is an important time for the development of resilience. A recently completed study has followed three cohorts of resilient children and young people living in disadvantaged areas in Victoria, Australia, through different transitions in their educational careers. This paper focuses on the early childhood cohort, where we have followed children from kindergarten/preschool into primary school. Using data gathered primarily through interviews with parents (mothers in each case), this paper presents a qualitative naturalistic sub-study that used deductive thematic analysis to explore the different strategies used by families to support their child's resilience. Our findings highlight that resilience was a salient concept for all of the mothers in the study and each mother articulated a range of strategies they used within the family to try and support their child's development and resilience. These strategies were constrained by the settings in which the families lived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the relative importance of parents and peers in supporting Australian children's use of the internet and whether those choices for support change with age and gender. The paper reports findings fromAU Kids Online, a satellite study toEU Kids Online. Parents were found to be the primary support to Australian children using the internet, with peer support increasingly important as children get older. The potential of these two key socializing influences to minimize harm and build resilience is considered in the light of other studies on Australian family internet use. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reports on an Australian initiative Developing and Sustaining Pedagogical Leadership in Early Childhood Education and Care Professionals, where academics and professionals shared knowledge, experience and research about transdisciplinary practice. The project aimed to develop an understanding of the strategies and skills early childhood professionals and practitioners required to strengthen pedagogical leadership when working in multi-agency organisations. The conceptual framework underpinning the design, analysis and evaluation of the project was bricolage. Bricolage enabled the researchers, professionals and practitioners and other organisational members to consider the principles of multiplicity, complexity, relationality and criticality. The use of bricolage created an opportunity for a more comprehensive level of analysis to occur. A model of professional development emerged from the analysis of the data and was subsequently used to develop an open source learning website. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Dominant constructions of professionalism in early childhood education can diminish early childhood teachers’ and educators’ undertaking of advocacy at the systems or political level. In this paper, we propose an ethically grounded construction of professionalism that provides space for professional practice to move beyond the classroom and into the political sphere. Findings from interviews with four early childhood teachers from Australia who undertake systems advocacy as part of their professional practice show that this work is driven by ethical influences that extend beyond the rule-based imperative, in ethical codes, that teachers should undertake systems advocacy. Findings highlight the value of considering systems advocacy as practice that emerges from an interplay of three theoretical foundations of ethics: deontology, utilitarianism and virtue ethics. Implications for teacher professionalism and the building of a teacher disposition that incorporates systems advocacy are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

For Australian and New Zealand children in the early decades of the 20th century, much of their learning about the Pacific Islands came through missionary material, often aimed directly at them. This paper examines the representation of Pacific peoples and societies in a number of monthly journals, sections within adult journals, books and plays designed to enthuse Sunday school children and educate them about missionary activity. Early attempts were ponderous, but Australasian societies soon followed the example of the London Missionary Society's News from Afar (available through Australian Congregational churches), which included adventure stories about children in India, China and the Pacific; news of the various John Williams ships; competitions; specialised artwork; and a generally child-friendly philosophy. Few were as successful, but some imaginative attempts were made by Methodist, Presbyterian and Anglican authorities to encourage Australian and New Zealand children to identify with the missionary needs of the Pacific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Australia, as in other jurisdictions, recent legislation and policy addressing child support was introduced as a response to child poverty in single-parent families. However, there has been very little research conducted on the question of how child support money is used by sole parents. This paper extends current knowledge by exploring how— and indeed, if—child support money is a useful resource in meeting the housing needs of the children of separated parents. The study reports on the findings arising out of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 33 parents who received child support money. The impact of child support is often limited by three factors: the amounts paid, the circumstances of its payment (and in particular, unreliable payments), and the values guiding its allocation. The paper argues that ultimately, the benefits of child support are constrained because it is a privatised response to gendered, structural inequalities in housing, care and income following separation and divorce. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There are growing concerns regarding child wellbeing and protection across many countries. This paper assesses the legitimacy of these concerns in the Australian context and explores the relationship between alcohol and other drugs (AOD) use by parents and child wellbeing and protection. The paper considers evidence on the relationship between AOD use by parents and child wellbeing and protection. It examines the potential role of the AOD sector in child welfare outcomes, in the context of social determinants of health. To date, relatively little attention has been directed towards the relationship between AOD misuse and both child and adolescent wellbeing and protection matters, although the AOD sector has an important preventative role for child and adolescent wellbeing and protection. Intersectoral and Family Sensitive Policy and Practices within AOD services are important to this 'secondary prevention' role, however there are many barriers to the achievement of such strategies. Developments in Family Sensitive Policy and Practice must be intersectoral and will require additional resources. Cross-sectoral workforce development and retention strategies, which include training in child development theories and approaches in the AOD sector, and addressing stigmatizing attitudes towards parenting AOD clients across sectors, are also necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's hospitals are vastly different today from fifty years ago. Although there have been dramatic changes in treatment and environment, the biggest contrast for patients is the involvement of parents and family in the nursing and care of the children. This change is largely due to the work of two men from Great Britain, Dr John Bowlby and James Robertson, whose research findings changed the way children were nursed to include consideration of their psychological alongside physical needs. This caused a revolution in the nursing of children that spread throughout Australasia. Bowlby and Robertson's work is largely forgotten now, but it forms the basis for the current policy of nursing children within the context of the family. This paper includes excerpts from an Australian oral history collection of twenty-six narratives from former child patients, parents and nurses and the personal papers of Dr Bowlby. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]