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There is increasing awareness of the high levels of support needed for literacy learning for children on the autism spectrum. Although research has investigated the quality of the classroom literacy environment, little attention has been paid to examining the classroom literacy environment in specialist classrooms catering specifically for children on the spectrum. The current study used the Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation (ELLCO) to guide observations, combined with stimulated recall and semi-structured teacher interviews to explore the classroom environments and teacher practices used to support children on the spectrum. Ten teachers from two primary specialist schools participated. The findings highlighted the strong focus on language development and foundational literacy skills across the early years in both schools. Findings demonstrated the potential utility of an observation checklist such as the ELLCO in guiding observations when augmented by stimulated recall interviews. Suggestions are provided for assessing the literacy environment in specialist classrooms for children on the spectrum.

Extensive work has been undertaken in North America on effective practices in early childhood education, early childhood special education, and autism-specific interventions. Much of this work, however, has not been disseminated in teacher-friendly ways nor has it been translated into useable formats that support teacher uptake and incorporation into everyday classroom practice. The research presented here drew on practice literature from North America and a Design-Based Research approach to produce a Model of Practice (MoP) for Australian classroom teachers working with students on the autism spectrum in their first year of primary school. This practice model aims to support pedagogical decision making in relation to the effective and inclusive education of this student cohort. Iterative cycles of design involving generation of educational practices from the literature, content validation by experts, and social validation by classroom teachers were undertaken. These cycles were guided by MoP design principles and resulted in a prototype Early Years Model of Practice (EY-MoP) comprising 29 empirically-supported practices, which were highly endorsed by Australian teachers. The field testing of the EY-MoP should provide preliminary evidence of the applicability of this tool in Australian early years classrooms.

Recent research points to the importance of teacher educators teaching "for" diversity in initial teacher education programmes. Teaching "for" diversity is an approach to teacher education in which an understanding of specialist literature and a focus on critical thinking supports a social justice agenda as opposed to merely using different tips and tricks to prepare future teachers for teaching diverse learners in the classroom. In this study, we explored how Australian and New Zealand teacher educators negotiated a social justice agenda in teacher education programmes, using a new transdisciplinary framework of epistemic reflexivity. The "Epistemic Reflexivity for Teacher Education" (ER-TED) framework draws on epistemic cognition (Clark Chinn's Aims, Ideals, Reliable epistemic processes -- AIR -- framework) and Margaret Archer's reflexivity to explore knowledge claims in teacher educators' pedagogical decision-making. The findings identified how teacher educators in our study discerned and deliberated with respect to epistemic aims for justification, which involve transformative critical thinking and critical thinking for self. They reported good knowledge (ideals) as being scholarly in nature, and reliable epistemic processes based on higher-order thinking (analysis and evaluating competing ideas) or engaging with multiple perspectives. The teacher educators in our study are clear examples of how strong overall evaluative epistemic stances enable teaching for social justice. We argue that the ER-TED framework can help us as a profession to address teaching "for" diversity in teacher education programmes based on the belief that the pursuit of social justice requires an evaluativist epistemic stance.

Research shows that epistemic cognition can support reasoning about the inclusion of diverse children. We argue that, to engage in such reasoning, children need the capacity to consider and evaluate competing knowledge perspectives (epistemic cognition) and to be cognitively flexible. Cognitive flexibility involves a subset of skills within the suite of self-regulation skills known as executive functions (EF). This study explored the extent to which cognitive flexibility might be related to epistemic cognition and the effectiveness of a pictorial and interview methodology to explore children's epistemic cognition. Eighty-two children participated in three EF tasks designed to assess their ability to flexibly shift from one mental set to another (cognitive flexibility). Children were also interviewed about the drawings they created to represent social exclusion/inclusion in their play settings. Results indicated that, in contrast to expectations, cognitive flexibility and epistemic cognition were not related. Challenges associated with using the pictorial and interview methodology are discussed.

Moral reasoning in values education can promote a democratic way of life. It involves addressing behaviour expectations in responses to violence or bullying. There is increasing interest in how children make moral judgments about social inclusion within diverse cultural settings. Critical research highlights the relationship between epistemic cognition (views about the nature of knowledge and knowing) and reasoning. In this paper, we argue that this relationship is likely to be important in reasoning about moral values for inclusion in culturally diverse schools. However, we know little about how children in diverse educational settings reason about and enact school values for inclusion. Our study addresses this gap by examining primary school children's epistemic reasoning about the social inclusion of peers with a focus on justifications for inclusion/exclusion of aggressive peers. Twenty-six children (10-11 years old) from one culturally diverse school community in Australia were asked to illustrate (drawings) and reflect on (15-20 minute interviews) a conflict situation involving exclusion from play. The findings showed that most children reasoned about including/excluding others based on a 'one right answer' pattern which reflected an explicit focus on following the school rules. Fewer children moved 'beyond right answers' to show transition towards perceiving multiple perspectives in their reasoning about inclusion/exclusion. Implications for values education are discussed.

Reasoning about social inclusion is at the very heart of what it means for children to engage in active citizenship. In this paper, we focus on collaborative argumentation as a core approach to reasoning about social inclusion for active citizenship. We engaged a group of Australian primary school teachers in a social lab conversation, informed by reflexivity theory, to explore their ideas about, and experiences with, supporting children to reason about social inclusion. Teachers overwhelmingly identified a range of personal and cultural emergent conditions that enabled children's reasoning for social inclusion. Across these enabling emergent properties, an evaluativist view of the nature of knowledge and ways of knowing emerged with respect to teaching social reasoning. These findings suggest that it may be important to pay attention to teachers' reflexive deliberations about epistemic stances and their view of what enables and constrains such reasoning.

Teachers around the world report a lack of confidence about working with learners who are regarded as 'diverse'. This paper draws on mixed-methods research to explore knowledge claims that underpin the pedagogical work of teacher educators. Using our theoretical framing of epistemic reflexivity, we show connections between knowledge claims made across the broad literature of teacher education/diversity and those made by teacher educators about their practices and programs. Findings identified challenges with respect to existing practice which point to different ways of knowing about our work. This paper is a call to action for teacher educators to reclaim their accountability for teaching diversity.

Expectations for increased conceptual outcomes in the early childhood education sector have foregrounded a need for more evidenced-based practice in support of children's play. One such avenue for researching models of play practices that support cognitive outcomes is to study the implementation of Playworlds. Grounded in cultural-historical theory, Playworlds is a model of play pedagogy where children and educators recreate a narrative through dramatization. However, this approach has not traditionally been linked with enhanced academic outcomes. In this study, the researchers used executive functions (EFs) as a pre and post measure for studying the potential development of the learner. As a potential evidenced-based model of practice, we examined the effect of incorporating EF tasks into early childhood programs through Playworlds. Specifically, EFs were incorporated into everyday practices within eight play-based preschool programs in Victoria, Australia, through Playworlds and associated activities. Ninety-one preschool aged children (50% male, M = 54.7 months, SD = 3.94) participated. Video observations and interviews documented teaching practices related to the incorporation of EFs into play-based programs. Findings document gains in EF skills in the context of the Playworld practices. Snapshots of teaching practices provide guidelines for incorporating EFs into early childhood play-based programs.

Previous research has emphasised the importance of active citizenship in the early years for the development of tolerant and cohesive societies. This paper reports data from 174 children, aged 6-7 years, who were interviewed in the first year of a longitudinal study. Children were presented with two scenarios about inclusion of others in play. One scenario focussed on a peer from a different ethnic background and the other scenario was about a peer who was aggressive to others. Children were asked about their reasons to include or exclude the other child. Children were more likely to include the peer from a different ethnic background than the aggressive peer and cited moral or prosocial reasons. Children were also asked if they would still include or exclude, if friends or teachers disagreed with their decision. Most children maintained their original judgement in the face of contrary views by their peers but were more likely to change their opinion if a teacher disagreed. The implications of these findings for teachers in early childhood education are discussed with a focus on understanding contextual influences on children's moral judgements and how children come to value diverse perspectives.

Student characteristics, their attitude to school and classroom climate can influence teacher-student relationships and adjustment to school. Poor early school experiences are associated with school avoidance, disruptive behaviour, teacher conflict, and suspension and exclusion. The focus, however, remains on the behaviour of individual children, rather than seeing behaviour as the result of interactions between individuals and their pedagogical contexts. This paper presents findings from the first year of an Australian longitudinal project tracking 240 children (101 boys, 139 girls) from high suspending primary schools serving disadvantaged communities through the first six years of school. Analyses, using multiple measures, including classroom observations, assessments and questionnaires, and multiple informants, such as teacher and child reports, explore associations between child characteristics, children's attitudes to school, teacher-student relationship quality and the quality of classroom interactions as children commence school. Findings point to the importance of self-regulation as children transition to school and the pivotal role of inclusive and emotionally supportive classroom contexts in supporting the development of positive teacher-student relationships in the first year of school.

Research suggests that a childhood diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is associated with poorer teacher-child relationship quality and higher rates of externalising behaviours. It is proposed that the socio-emotional problems experienced by those children with ASD and/or ADHD lead to poor teacher-child relationship quality and an increase in externalising behaviours. It is also proposed that self-regulation skills and language ability may mediate these relationships. Data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) from 5107 participants whose ages ranged from 2 to 3, 6 to 7 and 10 to 11 years were used for these analyses. Outcome variables were teacher-child relationship quality and externalising behaviours. There were direct effects between ADHD/ASD and externalising behaviours (SDQ). Externalising behaviours were also fully mediated by self-regulation. All other models showed significant partial mediation. Findings suggest that language was not significantly related to either outcome variable. These results support the conclusion that self-regulation is a protective factor for those diagnosed with ASD and other disorders with associated socio-emotional problems such as ADHD. Results also suggest that a focus on self-regulation skills in educational programs has the potential to improve socio-relational outcomes for all children with socio-emotional difficulties.

Purpose: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at increased risk of experiencing difficulties with the development of literacy, including the emergent literacy skills recognized to underpin conventional literacy success. Comprehensive assessment is essential. Characteristics of ASD can make assessment challenging, and this can be compounded when children are unable to demonstrate their skills using spoken language. The purpose of this clinical tutorial is to outline the process of emergent literacy assessment for children with ASD who have limited verbal communication skills. A case example of a 5-year-old boy is presented. Method: Pertinent literature is reviewed around the literacy profiles of children with ASD, the subgroup of children with ASD who have limited verbal communication skills, key components of emergent literacy, and previous research examining the emergent literacy abilities of children with ASD. The case report is described in depth and emphasizes the key factors to consider when designing an assessment battery and protocol. Results: The case example information is interpreted, and its application is discussed. Key outcomes are highlighted including a greater understanding of the child's literacy strengths and needs and the implications for individualized instruction. Conclusion: The clinical tutorial highlights the need for a comprehensive, well-planned assessment approach that involves all members of the educational team, and that is considerate to the needs of the individual child and responsive to their communication needs.

Definitions of adulthood for people with intellectual disability are often complicated, with milestones being markedly different for this population. This is then associated with difficulties for both the people with intellectual disability and their parents, who are closely involved in this transitional period. This paper aims to report on parents' perception and experience of adulthood for their son or daughter with an Intellectual Disability (ID). Qualitative data were collected through 30 − 60-minute phone interviews with eight parents of a person with an intellectual disability aged 15 or older (mean parent age = 60; mean child age = 23). Thematic analysis found that Perception of Adulthood encompassed themes of Independence and Normality. Experiences of Adulthood were categorised under Government Services, Responsibility and Social Supports. Findings of this research provide information for the growing literature around adulthood for people with intellectual disability, as well as how to amend policies and procedures for services that cater to people with intellectual disability and their parents during this transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the findings of a study conducted with preschool teachers trialling an intervention in which executive function activities are embedded in teachers' daily practices and imaginary play is used to build meaningful problem situations that children solve using executive functions. The participants were 227 preschool children (53% male, M age = 55.5 months, SD = 4.2) in 10 preschool groups from Brisbane, Australia. The intervention consisted of educators and children creating and developing an imaginary situation (playworld) over an extended period (e.g. one school term). Executive function was assessed pre- and post-intervention. A repeated measures ANOVA demonstrated significant differences between Time 1 and Time 2 on all executive function measures. The study found that teachers can develop children's executive functions when executive function activities are embedded in teachers' daily practices, and when imaginary play is used to build meaningful problem situations that children solve using executive functions.

Background: A growing body of research shows that the beliefs we hold about the nature of knowing and knowledge (epistemic beliefs) may mediate moral reasoning. However, a limitation of much of the research in the area of epistemic beliefs is the lack of a longitudinal approach. Aims: The study investigated longitudinal changes in Australian elementary school children's beliefs about knowing and knowledge (epistemic beliefs) across three judgement domains (personal taste, ambiguous facts, and moral values). Sample: The participants in this longitudinal study were tracked from Year 1 through to Year 3 of primary school. In Year 1, there were 169 participants (83 boys, 86 girls) aged 6-7 years (M = 6.7, SD = 0.32). In Year 2, there were 156 participants (79 boys, 77 girls), and in Year 3, there were 129 participants (65 boys, 64 girls). Methods: Using vignettes that reflected each of the three judgement domains, children were interviewed about the beliefs held by two puppet characters. The interviews took place each year across the early years of elementary education in Year 1, Year 2, and Year 3. Results: Findings revealed that children's epistemic beliefs in each of the judgement domains became more subjectivist over time but that the age at which this occurred differed according to the judgement domain in question. Conclusions: We argue that it is important for teachers to pay attention to children's beliefs about the nature of knowledge and knowing in the process of scaffolding their reasoning about moral values for active citizenship.

Research into young children's understanding of bullying in the early years of schooling is limited. The current study examined young children's understanding, explanations and reasoning behind whether behaviours represented in cartoon scenarios depicted bullying or non-bullying incidents. Seventy-seven children aged 4-8 years from one kindergarten and three schools in metropolitan South Australia participated in single, age-appropriate interviews with an early childhood educator/researcher. All children described each cartoon (N = 77) explaining their reasons why they considered each one as bullying or not (N = 76). Consistent with previous research which employed cartoon methodology with young children, findings indicated that children confused bullying with aggressive-only behaviour, resulting in over-labelling incidents as bullying. Examination of their thinking about bullying revealed that children in this study drew on moral reasoning perspectives and their understanding of relevant behavioural and social expectations and conventions.

There is growing international concern about the extent to which teachers are prepared to work with an increasingly diverse student (and community) population. To date, research into the relationship between teacher preparation and preparedness to teach diverse learners has not focused on teacher educators' understandings about teaching to/about diversity. Such understandings can be informed by epistemic aspects of professional work. Epistemic cognitions (cognitions about knowledge and knowing) allow professionals to generate perspectives necessary to tackle new and old challenges. The social lab reported in this paper investigated 12 Australian teacher educators' perspectives about teaching to/about diversity using the 3R-Epistemic Cognition (EC) framework. The findings showed that the 3R-EC framework could be useful for capturing epistemic reflexive dialogues about teaching to/about diversity, although some aspects of the framework were identified by the teacher educators as challenging. On the basis of these identified challenges, refinements concerning communication and use of the 3R-EC framework were identified. The feedback also led to some refinements of the social lab methodology for use in the larger national study.

The recasting of teaching as a technical enterprise rather than as a space for intelligent problem-solving means that governments around the world will continue to pursue agendas to regulate and prescribe teacher education. Teacher education reform has been attempted for over 30 years in many countries around the world, yet the crucial priority of preparing teachers for increasingly diverse classrooms has not been addressed. We used reflexivity theory and an innovative social lab methodology to investigate the conditions of teacher education experienced by 12 teacher educators at a metropolitan university in Australia. Personal, structural and cultural emergent properties were evident and were experienced variously as both enablements and constraints. Our findings show that these teacher educators were more constrained than enabled in their reflexivity for teaching to and about diversity. We argue that teacher educators need to form deep and enduring inquiry relationships with schools and communities in order to develop context-specific solutions to address the complexities of teaching to diversity.

In this longitudinal study, we explored children's reasoning about social inclusion/exclusion at Year 1 and Year 3 (n = 169 Year 1, n = 129 Year 3) of early primary education in Australia and how this reasoning related to changes in children's epistemic cognition. The data collection involved 30-minute interviews in which children were asked to engage in two tasks related to (1) epistemic cognition and (2) including an aggressive child in play. Findings showed that children were more likely to choose to include the aggressive child in Year 3 if they also expressed Subjectivist epistemic beliefs than if they expressed Objectivist beliefs. The children who expressed Subjectivist epistemic beliefs were more likely to justify their decision to include an aggressive child in a more nuanced and complex manner. We argue for a focus on epistemic reflexivity for reasoning about social inclusion as a way in which to provide new understandings about how broader contextual influences may mediate such reasoning.