A survey is being conducted this year (1956) on a national basis, by the Women's Bureau of the Department of Labour, regarding family circumstances of married women. Against this background, a small scale survey has been undertaken of mothers who send their children to Strathcona Nursery School. The Nursery is an important social welfare resource financed largely by the Community Chest and Council of Greater Vancouver, the majority of the clients of this agency arc working mothers, and some are the solo provider for their children. The survey offered the opportunity not only of significant comparitive material, but of at least partial evaluation of the work of this Nursery, in relation both to its immediate district and the city generally. The families served by the Nursery were composed, in January 1956, of thirty-six "normal"(i.e. complete) families and eleven "broken" (i.e. father absent or incapasitated) families. Twenty of these families were sampled, with approximately the same proportion of complete and broken families. Interviews were obtained with the mothers, mostly in the early evening in their homes. A modified form of the schedule employed for the national (Women’s Bureau) survey being used. There was a wide variation in the economic status of the families, although the mothers stated their purpose in working was to earn a living or supplement the family budget. There appeared to be a preoccupation with immediate needs, and little effort to make a long-term evaluation of their position, the effect of the mothers work on the family, or the gains and losses to the children. The majority lived in overcrowded residences, but only an exceptional few were saving for a larger or better houses: a majority were buying more easily obtainable items such as television sets and automobiles. The direct need for the Nursery School is beyond question. It is significant that a high proportion of the mothers live in other parts of the city. There is need for careful consideration, however, of the two-fold function of the Nursery, (a) pre-school education and (b) day care. The agency also has to harmonize (a) its services to the child and (b) its potential service to the family as a whole. Some tentitive recommendations regarding staff personnel include the addition of a social caseworker to the personnel who could act as a liaison between the Nursery and the parents as well as assisting with selection and intake of families. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

LD2668 .T4 1947 M36

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1967. / Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Includes tables (part. folded). Sponsor: Walter E. Sindlinger. Dissertation Committee: Kenneth D. Wann. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.S.A.)--Ohio State University, 1950. / Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Aristoteleio Panepistēmio Thessalonikēs, 1987. / Summary in English. Includes bibliographical references (p. [199]-208).

A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy / The current study adopts a developmental neuropsychological perspective, an approach which does not imply brain dysfunction but rather the principle of understanding the general relationship hetween brain growth and behavioural changes and the effect of environmental factors in children. A neuropsychology of normal development would seem to be an appropriate initial prerequisite if we are to understand the effects of brain insult or disease in the developing child. A modest aim was to acquire a fundamental understanding of emerging skills in black preschool children, starting with the most basic, the development of lateral preferences. This area was selected (a) as a departure point because of its location within the broad area of cerebrallateralization and (b) the opportunity it provided to explore the children's mental processing skills within the same theoretical perspective. The purpose of the present study was the longitudinal investigation of lateral preferences in a sample of Soweto children at three and five years.and information processing skills in the same sample at five years. Three hundred and thirty-five children, 170 girls and 165 boys, were sampled with the assistance of the Birth to Ten project.a longitudinal study of growth, health and development of children living in the Johannesburg Metropolitan area over a ten year period, 1990 to 2000. The children were assessed prior to starting school in January, 1996. A descriptive approach was adopted in explaining the patterns of handedness, footedness and eyeness. The findings showed that the patterns for handedness reflected the expected rightward direction at both ages although the degree to which preference has oeen established was weaker at five years than that reported in other studies with children of similar ages. Thirty-nine percent of the sample were mixed-handed at five years,only 3% were mixed-footed and 5% showed mixed-eyeness, At five years Simultaneous and Sequential information processing skills were assessed with the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC). Factor analysis revealed a two factor solution broadly supporting the presence of the two processing styles. However the two coding processes were differentially distributed throughout the sample showing significant differences. More specifically.it was found that 34% of the children presented profiles of both processing styles that were below the group mean;31 % showed profiles where one or other coding style was below the group mean;23 % of the children portrayed processing profiles above the group mean. Thirty-nine children (12 %) presented patterns of processing that were above the group mean but were highly developed in one or other processing style. Each of the profiles that emerged were grouped and considered separately. Cognitive tasks involving verbal fluency, naming skills,draw-a person,basic perceptual knowledge,basic literacy.plus lateral preference information such as handedness direction, handedness consistency and handedness skills were appended to all the groups. Low scores in processing styles were found to be associated with poor verbal skills, low mental age,poor perceptual and basic literacy knowledge,poor hand skill performance,and greater (but nonsignificant) numbers of mixed-handers. The lowest scoring group also contained the majority of male left-handers. One of the highest scoring groups showed the strongest lateralizing patterns although the numbers were small (n= 11). Girls with above average sequential skills also scored highly on verbal fluency (p < .05) and hand skills (p < .05). Boys in this group showed the strongest degree of right-handedness (p < .05). In the four lower performance groups,background variables such as type of preschool experience (p <.001),the presence of books in the home (p < .05) and mothers level of education (p <.001) were found to be significant. A regression model which incorporated environmental, epigenetic, cognitive and motoric factors was found to be the most viable in predicting processing skills. / Andrew Chakane 2018

The Foundation Phase curriculum framework was introduced by the Welsh Government in 2010 (and revised in 2015). It applies to all children aged 3 to 7 years in Wales and includes a number of additional pedagogies and rights based approaches which support more participatory understandings of learning and the child (WG, 2015). However, these additional pedagogies are expected to be played out within existing constructions of space. Dominated by continuous provision, spaces are to include sand, water, writing, construction and role-play. Recently rebranded as "Learning Zones" (Taylor et al, 2015), these spaces are becoming increasingly structured around a centralised concept of space, activity and outcome, creating a paradox by framing both space and pedagogy as prescribed and not participatory. In response this PhD explores Spatially Democratic Pedagogy (Clement, 2017) as an alternative approach to the construction of classroom space. Using Froebel's (1899) communal gardens as the pedagogical blueprint and reflecting them through recent sociomaterial (Fenwick, 2011) and democratic (Moss, 2014) understandings of learning and space, this research aims to support children in the design and co-creation of their classroom space. Its Design Based Research frame (Reimann, 2011) aims to, “solve real-world problems through the design, enactment and analysis of an intervention” (DBR Collective, 2003). Current constructions of classroom space within the Foundation Phase were found to be complicit in restricting children and teachers' ability to participate in learning. Notably, co-creating space with children, based on their designs, appeared to offer opportunities to support participatory practice. This research contends it is the construction of space that is important when considering participatory practice within the Foundation Phase.

This thesis focuses on Early Years Practitioners who are working with young children and families in early years provision in England. Adopting a narrative approach the study sought to explore how their understandings of poverty in early childhood are shaped by dominant discourses of poverty and professional and personal experiences. Poverty as a concept is multi-dimensional and dynamic including both the experience of poverty as well as absolute and relative understandings. Under the New Labour Government, Early Years Practitioners were positioned as part of a long-term strategy to alleviate child poverty. Successive government policies have resulted in cuts to early years funding under austerity measures and an increasing focus on children and families with the greatest need. Early Years Practitioners hold a contradictory position, being part of a strategy to address poverty in early childhood, whilst at the same, time being part of a workforce which is to a large extent highly gendered, low status and low paid. The research was conducted as a case study in two integrated settings consisting of a maintained nursery school, children's centre and daycare provision in the south-east of England during November 2015 to June 2016. Although the settings were in areas of overall relative affluence, they both served areas of deprivation. Therefore, Early Years Practitioners were working with children and families on low incomes. Thirty-eight Early Years Practitioners took part in focus groups to explore how narratives of poverty might be shaped by dominant discourses of poverty and sixteen Early Years Practitioners took part in follow-up interviews to explore how narratives of poverty might be shaped by their personal and professional experiences. The 'subject' of the case was the Early Years Practitioners and the analysis and theorisation of their narratives of poverty the 'object'. Foucault's concept of regimes of truth was used to explore how Early Years Practitioners' understandings of poverty might be shaped by dominant policy discourses. The concept of 'small stories' was used to explore how Early Years Practitioners' narratives of poverty are co-constructed within interaction, and understandings of how they position themselves in relation to 'other' were explored through I-positions. Five participants took part in a final presentation and discussion of the initial findings, providing an opportunity to comment on and contribute to the analysis of the data.

No description available.

The purpose of the study was to determine the attitudes and judgments of public school superintendents in the State of Indiana in regard to the public school system and early childhood programs. Early childhood education was defined as: parent education for parents of young children, nursery school (prekindergarten) for children of ages three and four, kindergarten for five year olds, and day care programs for children.A questionnaire containing forty-five items was developed and refined with the aid of the Northeastern Indiana School Study Council serving as the pilot study group. A questionnaire was sent to all 289 superintendents of public school corporations in Indiana. Two hundred five, or 71 per cent of the superintendents replied to the questionnaire. The data were analyzed and reported as raw numbers, percentages, and totals.Major findings included:1. Approximately 51 per cent of the superintendents indicated the present educational services available to all three, four, and five year old children were not adequate in the school districts represented.2. Approximately 80 per cent of the schools did not provide educational programs for adults relating to the role of the parent.3. Approximately 78 per cent of the superintendents strongly agreed the early childhood programs should have been concerned about all aspects of a young child's development.4. Over 95 per cent of the responding superintendents indicated strong agreement or agreement that the family had the primary responsibility and the rest of society had a supplemental responsibility for providing adequate health, education, and care of young children.5. Approximately 64 per cent of the respondents strongly agreed or agreed that teaching people ways to be better parents was an educational need in the community.6. Approximately 63 per cent of the superintendents disagreed that day care and nursery school programs in the community might have been best provided by the public school.7. Approximately 97 per cent of the superintendents strongly agreed or agreed the availability of revenue for financing programs for young children was limited.8. Approximately 87 per cent of the superintendents expressed agreement that an enriched experience in a planned educational program was important to a young child's development.9. A total of approximately 63 per cent of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed early childhood services could be effective when delivered through the public school system.10. Approximately 57 per cent of the responding superintendents disagreed or strongly disagreed that the nursery school for three and four year old children should have been operated as an integral part of elementary education in the public schools.Conclusions were:1. Early childhood programs, outside the home, were a need in the State of Indiana. Kindergarten programs were not available for all five year old children. The educational needs for all three, four, and five year old children were not being adequately met.2. A program teaching high school students and adults how to be competent parents was a need in the State of Indiana. A t the same time competency as a parent was judged to be an important element for the provision of meaningful experience in a young child's life.3. Approximately 75 per cent of the superintendent's attitudes and judgments concerning the philosophy of early childhood development was in agreement with the review of research and related literature.4. Superintendents expressed agreement that a Planned educational program was important in a young child's development and the public schools could effectively deliver the early childhood services. However, over one-half of the superintendents expressed disagreement that the educational programs for three and four year old children should be operated in the public schools.