‘Being safe is a foundation to wellbeing. When children feel safe, their brains relax, cortisol decreases and they are calmer.’—(Always Be You, 2020). This piece, by SHONA DOYLE from Be You explores children’s wellbeing, providing safe environments and linking researcher, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s flow theory back to early childhood education. When we set high but achievable expectations, […]
Do cross-national assessments of young children confirm what we already know or is it worse: are they ‘robbing meaning from individual histories’? Peter Moss—international keynote at ECA’s 2019 national conference—and Mathias Urban explore what we learn and what we lose if Australia allows itself to be drawn into international testing regimes known as ‘pre-school PISA’ as […]
Developing and delivering an innovative approach for supporting children in complex families to attend an early childhood education program PROFESSOR LINDA HARRISON and researcher CATHERINE JONES write about their upcoming Round Table discussion at the 2020 AJEC Research Symposium, titled Nurturing children and families through staff professional development. They are working on a project across New […]
We caught up with DR MELINDA MILLER who will be presenting at ECA’s 2020 AJEC Research Symposium next week, sharing outcomes from a collaborative research project with G8 Education and Phoenix Support for Educators. In this piece, Dr Miller explains how everyday curriculum practices, when mapped to research processes are central to action-research that involves […]
Do you have the face for early childhood teaching? The importance of early childhood educators being aware of the relationship between their face and the child’s recently struck KAREN HOPE. In this piece, Karen takes a closer look at this, as well as the children’s emotions and the impact these emotions might have on their […]
Pathways to professionalism and equal status, as well as a nationally consistent approach, are among the aspirations for professional registration of early childhood teachers. ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR MARIANNE FENECH looks at a review of teacher registration in Australia to examine what it means for early childhood teachers and the pay gap and offers educators a chance to […]
Who has given a gift to a young child only to see the child play and enjoy the box the gift came in more than the gift? DR AUDREY COOKE and ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR JENNY JAY observe young children playing with a cardboard box and notice the mathematical learning taking place. They also share ways for educators to […]
Language is a vital tool for learning as it enables children to build knowledge and extend their thinking. Associate Professor Sheild Degotardi will be presenting at the 2021 ECA National Conference. In this blog, Sheila gave us a little insight into her research and what else she will be exploring in her address. Early Childhood […]
PROFESSOR LESTER-IRABINNA RIGNEY is an expert in Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and presented at the 2019 ECA National Conference as a keynote presenter. ECA caught up with him to ask a few questions about his work on culturally responsive education and what he would like conference participants and virtual delegates to take away from his address. […]
Ever been asked to participate in a survey or study about early childhood and found yourself making excuses not to do it? You’re busy, right? It’s just another thing. But before placing that invitation in the bin, pause. It could be a chance to be part of something bigger than your own daily practice and […]
