One of the biggest challenges in early childhood development (ECD) centres in rural districts is that teachers are not trained adequately and therefore they cannot create learning environments in which young children can develop to their optimal potential. In many cases a large group of children is placed in a classroom and no stimulation is given to them, because the ECD practitioner does not have the knowledge or skills to use what is available in the classroom to stimulate the children and facilitate learning. These teachers are desperately in need of guidance to plan age appropriate and suitable activities that will benefit the overall development of learners and prepare them to be ready for school. By promoting service learning at ECD centres, especially in rural districts, both the in-service and pre-service teachers will benefit from the teaching experience taking place. Since 1994 a great deal of attention has been drawn to the importance of early childhood development and the important role pre-primary education plays in the development of young learners. Early childhood development has the potential to play a crucial role in the socioeconomic transformation of South Africa. By improving the social and economic transformation of the country, more people will be educated, leading to fewer problems with aspects like school readiness and school dropout. Against this background the study will explore service learning as a way of promoting quality learning environments in Early Childhood Centres in rural districts. / MEd (Learner Support), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The Reception Year (Grade R) classroom is the educational setting for lifelong learning to take place. The Reception Year teacher is primarily involved in equipping the young child with care and education. Quality education calls for trained teachers with diverse, intense training; teachers who would use their knowledge, skills and attitudes to lead the child to ultimately reach his/her full potential in the classroom setting through the curriculum. This study investigates what constitutes and influences quality teaching in the Reception Year classroom. The investigation includes a literature review and empirical research using quantitative research approaches and expands on the role of the Reception Year teacher with regards to the child in totality, Grade R curriculum and outcomes-based education. Findings show that teachers with specialised qualifications in early childhood education bring to the Grade R classroom relevant skills, knowledge and attitudes that affect the young child’s developmental needs. / Teacher Education / M.Ed. (Didactics)

ABSTRACT Background: Bolivia has a high child mortality rate and many children´s living conditions are inadequate. In order to reach the Millennium Development Goals non-governmental organizations play an important role when the governmental efforts are insufficient. ChildFund Bolivia works with the Early Childhood Development [ECD] program in order to reinforce the development, growth and health for children under the age of eight. Aim: The aim of this study was to illuminate factors that affect the care given by health workers working with the ECD-program in the urban area of La Paz, Bolivia. Method: An empirical study with qualitative method was performed, using participant observations with an ethnographic approach. The data was analyzed through inductive content analysis where different themes were developed. Results: The results are presented in five themes, Creativity, Different needs, Environment, Continuity and Love and passion. All five themes showed sign of significant health promotion strategies that conform to Nola Pender´s Health Promotion Model. Conclusion: This study illuminates how ChildFund’s health workers in La Paz care for children through the globally used ECD-Program. This contributes to the shared global objective to reach the Millennium Development goals by enhancing children´s opportunity to grow and develop.  Health workers cared for the children with multiple strategies within the common method of the ECD-program. Implications for clinical practice: The outcome of this study might give people better knowledge about similarities and areas of diversity in pediatric nursing care worldwide, hence enjoy better knowledge in global nursing. / SAMMANFATTNING Bakgrund: Barnadödligheten i Bolivia är hög och många barns levnadsförhållanden är otillfredsställande.  För att nå Millenium målen spelar icke-statliga organisationer en viktig roll då de statliga insatserna är otillräckliga. ChildFund Bolivia arbetar med Early Childhood Development-programmet för att införliva utveckling, tillväxt och hälsa för barn under åtta års ålders. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att belysa faktorer som påverkar hälsoarbetares omvårdnad då de arbetar med ECD-programmet i det urbana La Paz, Bolivia. Metod: En empirisk studie med kvalitativ metod har gjorts, baserad på deltagande observationer med en etnografisk ansats. Informationen analyserades med en induktiv innehållsanalys där olika teman arbetades fram. Resultat: Resultatet presenteras i fem teman: Kreativitet, Olika Behov, Miljö, Kontinuitet och Passion och Kärlek. Samtliga fem teman visade prov på betydande hälsofrämjande strategier som överensstämmer med Nola Penders hälsofrämjande model. Slutsats: Den här studien belyser hur hälsoarbetare hos ChildFund i La Paz ger omvårdnad till barn genom det globalt använda ECD-programmet. Detta bidrar till det gemensamma globala målet att nå Millenniemålen genom att förbättra barns möjlighet att växa och utvecklas. Hälsoarbetare använde ett flertal olika strategier för att ge barnen omvårdnad, samtliga giltiga för ECD-programmets metod. Klinisk betydelse: Studiens resultat skulle kunna ge sjuksköterskor bättre kunskap om likheter och olikheter inom pediatrisk omvårdnad världen över, och därmed även ökad kunskap om global omvårdnad.

This study investigated the differences and similarities between full-day programs (FDP) and half-day programs (HDP) in Hong Kong kindergartens in terms of children’s experiences and program quality, as well as in the stakeholders such as parents’, teachers’, and principals’ perspectives. Besides, the study investigated stakeholders’ perceptions about the preference of FDP or HDP and their views about subsidizing FDP. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected to explore the research questions. Findings showed that FDP in Hong Kong is different from HDP, rather than an extension of HDP. Additionally, the stakeholders in Hong Kong prefer FDP and support to subsidize FDP. Findings from the study have significant policy and practice implications to improve overall quality of both programs. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Young children are being exposed to violence at an alarming rate. Many societal issues have changed over the last three decades since Head Start began, including an increase in violence. According to Beyond the Blueprint: Directions for Research on Head Start's Families (Phillips & Cabera, 1996), violence is a major issue which should be studied to determine Head Start's role. Head Start parents were surveyed in 1996 to determine (a) how they teach their children non-violence, and (b) how they would like Head Start to support them. Surveys were analyzed and served as the basis for developing interview questions for a separate group of parents in 1997. Interviews were conducted with Head Start parents to determine (a) how their child is exposed to violence, (b) coping methods parents use when their child is exposed to violence, and (c) what parents think Head Start's role should be regarding violence. Interviews were analyzed and recommendations regarding Head Start's role are discussed.

<p> The affective domain of loneliness is an essential creative force in children's lives. Unwanted solitude, although disparaged in our culture, is a theme that takes center stage in stories. This study explores the ways in which Loneliness as an active archetypal presence operates in positive ways in children's imaginations as revealed by children's literature, folklore, film, and myth. The isolated orphan or banished outsider lost within the wilds of narrative <i>makes</i> and enriches her emergent world using the tools of the body, imagination, and voice. Utilizing the modalities of visual art, dramatic play, and lyrical storytelling, inventive companions and elaborate landscapes are constructed which succeed in soothing and expanding the child's psyche.</p><p> Employing the archetypal psychology approach, this study imagines (and personifies) Loneliness as the youngest of three sisters: Solitude, Aloneness, and Loneliness. Although these three siblings share similar genetic traits and are woven together in countless tales, Sister Loneliness stands apart as a unique archetypal actor. She is far more restless and angst-ridden than her sisters. Dissatisfied with her companionless state, she holds within her a yearning&mdash;the desire/<i>eros</i>&mdash;to construct a new cosmology filled with inventive possibilities. This dissertation qualitatively describes these vast and varied universes.</p><p> In conjunction with an analysis of well-known (and lesser-known) children's stories, the research examines Loneliness's real-world creations in the classroom and therapeutic settings, including children's drawings, sand play constructions, stories, and poetry. Further areas of focus are the role of the adult in solitary geographies, the gendered-base response to loneliness, and the transitional object as a vital compass on the path towards individuation.</p><p> Key Words: loneliness, creativity, children's literature, child development, folklore.</p>

<p> The purpose of the study is to evaluate if the effectiveness of a check-in, checkout (CICO) intervention varies based on the function maintaining students' target behaviors as determined by functional analyses prior to the implementation of the intervention. Participants in the study consisted of 6 children enrolled in general education Kindergarten classes across 6 teachers in the Southeastern United States. Upon completion of a functional analysis, participants were determined to fit into functional groups (i.e., combined attention and escape, attention, and escape), then a modified between groups design with a component of a multiple-baseline across participants design was completed. Overall, the current study found that the CICO intervention increased desired behavior as measured by points earned on the daily behavior report card ratings across baseline to intervention phases. All functional groups displayed an increase in average points earned from baseline phase across intervention phases. The results of the current study have implications within the educational systems for selecting interventions within the response to intervention framework, utilizing functional analysis for the CICO intervention, and acceptability of evidence based interventions. Limitations and recommendations for future research are presented.</p>

Musical activities are at the centre of Music on the Lap, a Dutch approach to early childhood music education. The present study takes an in-depth look at the role of movement in these musical activities and thereby focuses on the representation of musical elements through movement. This study has among its aims the raising of more awareness for the conscious use of movement in early childhood music education. Departing from an embodied approach within an interpretative design, the premise of the current study is that movement should be considered an important form of kinaesthetic representation through which preschool children can come to understand and learn different aspects of music. The musical movement responses of children aged 18 to 36 months in a regular Music on the Lap setting were investigated. The musical movement behaviour of the children, during specific musical activities, was captured on DVD and the individual responses of 27 children were analysed. Interviews with the participating teacher provided important additional information. Through microanalysis of the children’s movements, the study arrived at a theoretical interpretation: movement responses to music can be considered enactive symbols, creating direct and indirect representations of musical characteristics. To further musical learning the movements should be firmly based in a temporal framework of aural and verbal connotations in order to stimulate purposeful movement responses. This temporal framework should be structured by the teacher through a process of appropriate movement models and verbal guidance to arrive at meaningful movement actions, which can consequently generate implicit and explicit musical kinaesthetic and musical representational knowledge. In this process the children are actively participating to construct with body and mind their own musical knowledge.

This thesis takes as one point of departure the concept of the expanded curriculum where curricula encompass both the formal steering documents, as well as that which goes on within the framework of preschool education and through the actors in preschools. The overarching purpose is therefore to generate knowledge about what conditions for learning the work of teachers make possible when curricula are created in preschool settings for children aged between 1 and 3. The purpose is also to contribute with knowledge about what these created curricula would mean for children’s agency, and the importance they can have for children’s opportunities for learning and development. The three empirical studies consist of digitally recorded interviews with teachers and video observations with a focus on teachers’ communication with children in preschool. The discussion in the overarching text is constructed around three aspects that emerge in the overall results of the studies. First, the studies reveal how teachers’ work can be likened to a limiting curriculum which, on the one hand, is entirely child-centered, with the children as seen actors, but, on the other, can be interpreted as entirely teacher-centered. Secondly, there is the discussion about the affirmative curriculum, where children are presented as affirmed actors. In other words, content becomes those things that children are interested in, and their modes of expression are seen, affirmed and often repeated. Finally there is the discussion about the possibilities and dilemmas related to an expanding curriculum where children are regarded and treated as real actors in the sense that their intentions and expressions are taken seriously as relevant challenges. The current curriculum text for Swedish preschool can, in this sense, be seen as an obstacle in that its formulations are extremely broad-based, as discussed related to the results of this thesis.

<p> For decades, researchers have investigated strengths and challenges promoting early healthy childhood development, in terms of physical, social emotional and linguistic aspects, for a variety of children groups in the United States. Due to the limited availability of research on the Latino population, addressing the needs of the growing population of Latino children throughout the United States is challenging. Latino students living in the United States are academically behind students of other ethnicities. In 2011, Latinos were identified as the largest and fastest growing minority group in the U.S. with the lowest education attainment levels. Unfortunately, less than 50% of Latino children are less likely to be enrolled in early childhood programs.</p><p> The purpose of this research was to examine the Latino parents&rsquo; beliefs, values and knowledge affecting their decision-making process in opting to send their children to Early childhood programs (ECPs), impacting their readiness for school. Both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered from Latino parent/guardians, Preschool to first grade teachers, and administrators from 9 schools in a school district in Phoenix, Arizona and analyzed. Qualitative data were collected in the form of in-depth interviews and surveys as sources of data from participants. Qualitative data were analyzed using two cycles of coding and represented through matrices. Quantitative data were analyzed using a descriptive analytical method. Five themes emerged that informed the research questions.</p><p> Findings of this study suggested that capitalizing on the Latino parents&rsquo; cultural wealth can help district administrators and policy makers to maximize opportunities for this growing minority group to increase their readiness to kindergarten and success in school. It is important to increase access to high quality early programs to help children begin kindergarten with the necessary tools to succeed in school and in life.</p>