<p>Early childhood teachers pursuing associate degrees often repeated the college algebra course, demanding, “Why do we have to take this? We don’t teach algebra!” Expectations for their training were not well-aligned with their mathematics preparation or teaching work. I have taught the mathematics courses and young children and have worked for an early childhood practice, policy, and research agency. I wanted to learn about these teachers’ experiences as mathematics learners and teachers, with a goal to share the complex nature of their work with teacher educators and other stakeholders to identify better avenues for their mathematics training. I explored the questions: (1) What role, if any, do mathematical learning experiences play in early childhood teachers’ mathematics teaching practice? (2) In what ways do their voices contribute to the professional dialogue regarding teaching mathematics with young children? </p> <p>Dewey’s (1938/1998) <i>experience</i> construct provided lenses to examine early childhood teachers’ experiences learning and teaching mathematics. <i>Continuity</i>, <i>interaction</i>, <i>social control</i>, <i>freedom</i>, <i>purpose</i>, and <i>subject matter</i> provided insights and situated teachers’ experiences within a disparate patchwork of settings and policies. Two family childcare providers participated in this narrative inquiry (Clandinin & Connelly) through an interview on their experiences learning and teaching mathematics and three classroom observations. After analyzing data for Dewey’s (1938/1998) <i>experience</i> constructs, I used narrative analysis (Polkinghorne, 1995) and teaching images (Clandinin, 1985) to write an emplotted narrative for each teacher, Josie and Patsy.</p> Josie told a turning point story (Drake, 2006) of making mathematics “real,” influencing her mathematics teaching practice as she integrated “real” mathematics into everyday activities. Patsy’s appreciation for mathematics and building was seen in her story of a child explaining he used the wide blocks for his base, elaborating, “He's telling me HOW he's building.” While Josie and Patsy had few opportunities to learn about teaching mathematics with young children, they were eager to learn. I propose a training for early childhood teachers, iteratively working as a group to investigate a personal mathematics teaching puzzle or celebration, building on their mathematical personal practical knowledge. Adding my own story to those of the teachers, like Josie’s and Patsy’s, of our work together, will add to my understanding and development of my practice as a curriculum maker (Clandinin & Connelly, 1992), as early childhood teachers’ voices contribute to the professional dialogue about teaching mathematics with young children.

This dissertation includes three papers examining role of childcare stability in the lives of families, focusing on low-income households. Paper one considers the relationship between household instability and childcare instability for parents with young children in New York City. Paper two examines the relationship between universal pre-kindergarten in New York City and education and employment outcomes for parents. Finally, paper three explores the effect of federal childcare subsidies on education and employment outcomes for parents.

This work provides an ethnography of maternity leave in the Czech Republic, analyzing the experiences, attitudes and reflections on motherhood among 14 Czech mothers living in Prague. Maternity leave in the Czech Republic distinguishes itself from that in many other western countries by virtue of its long-term nature - typically 3 to 4 years per child. Ultimately, this model for long-term home care, institutionally structured and culturally naturalized, has an essential impact on the position of woman in the family and in the society at large. Today, Czech mothers find themselves the default caretakers in the home but lacking the extended family support and networks accessed in the past, particularly acute in the context of culturally negative attitudes toward hired help and nurseries in the Czech Republic. Czech mothers also find themselves pinned between two ideologies - one stressing the importance of maternal care for the well-being of the child and another establishing the low status of staying home to raise a child in the context of the need for self-realization in a career. This ethnography teases out the sometimes reinforcing but often conflicting notions of what it is to be a mother through analyzing the biographical narratives of three identified groups of Czech women: mothers who have...

The parent center is currently the phenomenon, which is compared with the "State" schools or more today to discuss "the children's group" devoted less attention. And, in particular, in the section that deals with the care of children without parents. Although the parent centers help solve one of the social and political problems, the Czech Republic- the lack of places in nursery schools, in crèches, they lack support. Legislative support, support the child care area in MC without the participation of the parents. In the Czech Republic currently operates a total of 427 MC and in the Liberec region, on which I focused in the empirical part, has 21 maternity center. Of these 21 parent service center to care for children without parental involvement provides a total of 14 maternity center. And the MC feels the need to legislative support, which would be welcomed by, clearer rules for the operation of the parent center, especially in the environment of a child without the participation of the parents. This support is important in all activities that MC. Maternity Center is not just about "meeting", but also on the promotion of intergenerational cohabitation, create facilities for families with children, and last but not least, active participation to facilitate the return of women and men back into the...

The present thesis deals with the media image of women's everyday life in the socialist era. It focuses on the period of time between 1970 and 1975, i.e. on the so called early normalization. The aim of the study is to find out in what way the everyday life of the given period is interpreted by the magazine Vlasta. The main value of the analysis is that it reveals the idealistic presentation of the socialist women's way of life, and their common problems and worries. The analysis of the articles we perform is focused on family and home care, child upbringing both at home and in institutions, man's role in the family, physical and mental health, cosmetics, fashion, etc., i.e. all the aspects belonging to and forming everyday life. Through these topics, which are popular among women, the magazine discreetly created the ideal of the socialist woman. In the messages concerned with everyday life it was passing on the values, stereotypes and even ideological principles of the socialist society of that time. The main aim of the analysis is to create a complex picture of this everyday practice in Vlasta magazine. Key words Everyday life, woman, socialisms, normalization, Vlasta magazine, family care, home care, child care

Pour les enfants ayant des troubles neurodéveloppementaux, l’intégration en service de garde est essentielle. Elle permet de compenser certaines difficultés et de promouvoir le développement. Pourtant au Québec, très peu de places disponibles sont occupées par ces enfants. Leur faible représentation dans ces milieux pourrait être due aux croyances des éducatrices les concernant, pouvant influencer également leur adaptation. L’objectif de cette étude est d’explorer les perceptions des éducatrices quant à̀ l’adaptation de 190 enfants issus d’une population clinique. Des informations sur le diagnostic de l’enfant, sont recueillies. Deux questionnaires remplis par les éducatrices sont utilisés. Le premier, un questionnaire de garderie, documente le type de milieu fréquenté par l’enfant et inclut la question « L’enfant profite-t-il de la garderie ? ». Elle a fait l’objet d’une analyse thématique et a servi à codifier du type de perception de l’éducatrice (positive, nuancée, négative), utilisé dans les analyses statistiques. Le second, est le Profil Socio-Affectif (PSA, LaFrenière, Dumas, Capuano et Dubeau, 1992), dont on utilisera l’échelle de la compétence sociale. L’analyse thématique a montré une variété de thèmes, le plus fréquent étant la socialisation. Les analyses statistiques ont, permis d’étudier la relation entre le type de perception et le diagnostic de l’enfant, sa compétence sociale et le type de milieu de garde. La codification du type de perception a montré une majorité de perceptions positives, suivi des nuancées, puis des négatives. Les résultats révèlent une association significative entre le type de perception et la compétence sociale de l’enfant, de même qu’avec son diagnostic, mais pas avec le type de milieu de garde fréquenté. Ainsi, les éducatrices perçoivent très majoritairement les enfants vus en clinique de pédopsychiatrie comme profitant de leur expérience de garderie, particulièrement pour l’amélioration de leur intégration sociale. / For children with mental health and neurodevelopmental disorders, integration into childcare services is essential. It promotes their development and can compensate some of their difficulties. Yet in Quebec, very few places available are occupied by these children. Their low representation in these environments could be due to the educators’ beliefs, which may also influence their adaptation. The goal of the present study is to explore the perspective of educators regarding the adjustment of 190 children from a clinical population. Information on the child's diagnosis is collected. Two questionnaires filled by the teachers are used. The first one is a daycare questionnaire documenting the type of daycare and including the question "Does the child take advantage of the daycare?". This question was used for a thematic analysis. It also served to codify the educator’s perception (positive, nuanced, negative). The second questionnaire is the Socio-Affective Profile (LaFrenière, Dumas, Capuano and Dubeau, 1992) from which is extracted the social competence scale. The thematic analysis revealed a variety of themes, the most common being the children’s socialization. Statistical analyzes were used to study the link between the educator’s perception and the child’s diagnosis, their social competence, and the type of daycare. After codification most perceptions were positive followed by the nuanced perception and then the negatives ones. Results also revealed a significant association between educator’s perception and the child’s diagnosis as well as their social competence, but not with the type of daycare. Thus, integration, especially social of children seen in child psychiatric clinic is mostly perceived positively by their educators.

Thesis (LLM.) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / This mini-dissertation seeks to evaluate the best interests of the child as a separate factor that influences the sentencing of a primary caregiver. When a parent is in conflict with the law, the child stands to be affected sentence that the court may impose on the caregiver. A custodial sentence has the potential of affecting the child’s right to parental care. Therefore, in the event where a custodial sentence is appropriate, alternative care of the child by other persons become a possible option. The author recommends that after applying the principles articulated in S v M and making use of a child impact report; the right of the child to parental care should carry more weight. Thus, courts should duly consider the best interest of the child as an independent factor when negative effects to the child are associated with the sentence. Where appropriate, with either a non-custodial sentence or adequate alternative care (in the case of imprisonment).

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / This is an evaluative research study which was undertaken to establish whether the legal reforms, through the establishment of the Special Sexual Offences Courts, have been effective in reducing secondary traumatisation. In attempting to examine this crucial area, I focused specifically on the perceptions of professionals who are involved in child sexual abuse matters in the Special Sexual Offences Courts at Wynberg (Court G) and Cape Town (Court 32). The study employed qualitative research methodology, in the form of individual and group interviews, structured questionnaires and participant observation, to collect data. The respondents included magistrates, prosecutors, both victims support services coordinators within the court system, social workers who work with child abuse matters, Child Protection Unit investigating officers who investigate matters of this nature and attorneys who have defended offenders of child sexual abuse. The results indicate a marked disparity in physical appearance, location and an overall sense of child-friendliness between the two Special Sexual Offences Courts; a need for joint training of inter-disciplinary professionals, and a need for a more effective multidisciplinary team approach to the problem of child sexual abuse. The findings also indicate a need for regular contact between the professionals involved at the two Special Courts to ensure uniformity in terms of service provision, and a need for the restructuring of the job description of the co-ordinator. The findings reported and discussed, suggest that the legal reforms promulgated are but one aspect to the entire area of child protection. The overall success of these legal reforms depends upon the involvement, commitment and development of a common philosophy in child protection by, the medical, social, legal and police service systems. It is hoped that this report will act as a catalyst to urgently address the shortcomings which have been identified by the respondents, and that the recommendations reported will contribute to measures which will result in the development and implementation of effective child protective policies and practices.

Basic communication skills are foundational for children's success in school and are dependent largely on their language experiences early in life. The purpose of this study was to examine two professional development models and family child care providers' use of turn-taking strategies that promote language in young children. The first professional development model consisted of a 10-hour nonformal training focused on supporting early language development. The second included the nonformal training and on-site mentoring. The 48 family child care programs were randomly assigned to one of the professional development models or a control group. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to examine the average increase in the frequency of providers' use of turn-taking strategies over three observations. Results indicate that both forms of professional development support increased use of language promoting turn-taking strategies as compared to a control group. Professional development that includes on-site mentoring support appears to be related to greater increases in providers' use of informational talk and didactic utterances over training only.

The purpose of this study was to identify critical childcare resources that student parents utilize that allow them to access higher education at varying levels, but also to make assumptions about parents unable to enroll due to barriers and/or lack of resources. This study sought to answer the following questions: 1) To what extent does subsidized childcare facilitate student parents' access to higher education? Is subsidized childcare a more important resource for some groups of students than for others?, and 2) Are student parents making childcare-enrollment trade-offs in order to pursue higher education? Are certain groups of students more vulnerable to making trade-offs?