This article was first published in Every Child, Vol. 22, No. 4, 2016. For more information, click here. In 1948, the international community, through the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights, affirmed that each and every one of us should have access to a number of fundamental human rights. Decades later they agreed that children, by […]
Digital citizenship sounds like a weighty topic. Perhaps too weighty for the youngest children. Is it even relevant to very young children and if so, what does it mean for their families, educators and carers? This is one of the issues that surfaced during the Early Childhood Australia conference keynote and workshops by Dr Chip […]
ECA has always been an advocate for children’s rights, underpinning our vision that every child is thriving and learning. This includes some of the world’s most vulnerable children, who by no choice of their own, find themselves to be refugees fleeing their home and seeking asylum on safer shores. It is therefore concerning to hear […]
A year ago I wrote a blog piece called “Hair straighteners in the home corner. Is this what Froebel intended?” This piece was published on Early Childhood Australia’s blog The Spoke on October 14, 2015. When I was thinking of contributing to this forum I noted that the blog guidelines for contributors stated that: “opinion […]
Children like to draw. Around the age of two they discover the sheer pleasure of making marks. They pick up any crayon, pencil or pen and they scribble. Our toddlers are not trying to represent reality with these scribbles. It is simply a joyful exploration of their own new found power – the ability to […]
In the children’s literature classic Alice in Wonderland there is the following exchange between the curious, brave and intelligent Alice and the mysterious and devious Cheshire cat. “Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here? The Cheshire Cat : That depends a good deal on where you want to […]
‘It will be a wasteland if we don’t recycle,’ stated a four-year-old child in a recent preschool study (Edwards & Cutter-Mackenzie, 2011), as he carefully searched for the triangle on the bottom of a plastic bottle and sorted it into the recycling bin. ‘It’s got a triangle five, woohoo!’ he exclaimed. Young children in many […]
The requirement for leadership in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings has and always will be a priority because of the link between high-calibre leadership and better outcomes for young children. … the context of early childhood is continually changing and becoming increasingly complex. Roles are changing and expanding. Old solutions to issues and […]
‘ … for the EYLF to be implemented properly, all early childhood educators need to know what play is, why it is important, how to implement and assess a play-based program and their role in it.’ Questioning practice The Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) is built on the understanding that the principles of early childhood […]
Ireland has just become the latest country to make preschool programs available to all three year olds. There is a clear move internationally towards delivery of two years of preschool, with early education being understood as a critical investment in human capital. Who offers preschool to three year olds? Many European countries, including France, Germany […]
