The study sought to establish the quality of Early Childhood Development (ECD) programmes. It was therefore important that the researcher investigates whether the ECD programmes were meeting the expectations of the quality indicators and consequently the holistic needs of ECD children. The qualitative design methodology was used in this study. Self-constructed observation checklists and in-depth interview guides were used. The participants in the study were 10 school heads, 10 ECD teachers and 10 ECD parents, one from each of the ten schools under study from Harare low and high density suburbs. The data were content analysed. The findings of the study revealed that school heads incompetently managed the ECD curriculum. It was also revealed in the study that ECD policies existed in schools but some were not adhered to which impacted negatively on the quality of ECD programmes. Findings of the study also revealed that the components of a quality ECD programme which included; nutrition, health and safety, parental involvement, stakeholder involvement, guidance and counselling in ECD were compromised. The study showed that ECD personnel qualifications were varied. The study also revealed that teaching methods in ECD were all child-centred though some ECD parents and school heads criticised the play-way and child-centred method of teaching. Findings revealed that material, financial and human resources were scarce. It was concluded that the quality of ECD programmes in Harare primary schools was compromised. It was recommended that training of all stakeholders on ECD management and organisation would bring about a better understanding of ECD programmes, mounting staff development workshops on practical skills training in guidance and counselling of ECD children for ECD teachers, school heads and counsellors and, inviting parents as resource persons when teaching certain concepts would improve the quality of ECD programmes. Recommendations for further study were made / Educational Studies / D.Ed. (Psychology of Education)

This diploma thesis deals with an issue of a support of an early-age child in pre-school education in Denmark and Germany. The aim of the thesis is to analyse framework conditions as well as used approaches of pre-school institutions in early-age children adaptation in pre-school institutions in Germany and Denmark. The thesis is divided into two parts. The theoretical part deals with pre-school education in context with the systems in Denmark and Germany, with the characteristics of educational systems in these countries, an early-age child development and an issue of an early-age child adaptation in a pre-school institution. The aim of the empiric part of the thesis is to analyse the conditions, personnel securing and adaptation programmes usage in three selected foreign pre-school institutions. The empiric part provides the aims of the research, research questions and methods that were used in the research construction. Furthermore, it specifies three selected pre-school institutions (one in Denmark, two in Germany), characterises their space and material conditions and daily timetables for early-age children. Then it compares gathered information on basis of which it evaluates the given research questions. There are two research goals set in the diploma thesis. It surveys how is an adaptation...

The doctoral thesis focuses on the development of preschool education in Germany. It was composed using the tools of comparative education research especially the qualitative research paradigm. It aims to analyze the contemporary reforms of the pre-primary education in Germany. The research design stands on a case study, which is based on the document content analysis method, semi-structured interviews with experts, and participating observation. The research has focused on the system settings in preschool education, as well as on ongoing reforms itself. The study outlines the development of pre-school institutions, external conditions and the possibility of managing preschool education in Germany. It provides an analysis of curricula documents as well as the insight into current alternative models and innovative approaches in preschool education. Also it elaborates the topic of contemporary situation in teaching staff and the trends in his training, and finally identifies the current reforms, trends and challenges in preschool education in Germany. Germany has implemented in the last 15 years a series of reforms relating to the settings of conditions in preschool education both at the national and state level. These reforms reflect specific regional features of individual federal states, but at...

The study sought to establish the quality of Early Childhood Development (ECD) programmes. It was therefore important that the researcher investigates whether the ECD programmes were meeting the expectations of the quality indicators and consequently the holistic needs of ECD children. The qualitative design methodology was used in this study. Self-constructed observation checklists and in-depth interview guides were used. The participants in the study were 10 school heads, 10 ECD teachers and 10 ECD parents, one from each of the ten schools under study from Harare low and high density suburbs. The data were content analysed. The findings of the study revealed that school heads incompetently managed the ECD curriculum. It was also revealed in the study that ECD policies existed in schools but some were not adhered to which impacted negatively on the quality of ECD programmes. Findings of the study also revealed that the components of a quality ECD programme which included; nutrition, health and safety, parental involvement, stakeholder involvement, guidance and counselling in ECD were compromised. The study showed that ECD personnel qualifications were varied. The study also revealed that teaching methods in ECD were all child-centred though some ECD parents and school heads criticised the play-way and child-centred method of teaching. Findings revealed that material, financial and human resources were scarce. It was concluded that the quality of ECD programmes in Harare primary schools was compromised. It was recommended that training of all stakeholders on ECD management and organisation would bring about a better understanding of ECD programmes, mounting staff development workshops on practical skills training in guidance and counselling of ECD children for ECD teachers, school heads and counsellors and, inviting parents as resource persons when teaching certain concepts would improve the quality of ECD programmes. Recommendations for further study were made / Educational Studies / D.Ed. (Psychology of Education)

Cette thèse de doctorat porte sur la première crèche parentale bilingue anglais-français établie dans la ville de Strasbourg, France. En utilisant une approche ethnographique, cette recherche examine le lien qui existe entre la politique linguistique identifiée et les facteurs sociaux. La problématique de recherche a été formulée ainsi : comment fonctionne une structure éducative bilingue dédiée à la petite enfance du point de vue des politiques linguistiques, quelles sont les implications du choix de la politique une personne, une langue (UPUL) sur les pratiques des acteurs éducatifs et des familles au sein de la crèche en question, et quel est le lien entre le bilinguisme déclaré de la structure et le multilinguisme des familles ? Enfin l’étude des choix de langues dans un contexte tel que celui de la petite enfance apporte-t-elle une compréhension nouvelle de la notion de politique linguistique éducative ? De plus, cet effort de recherche vise à combler une lacune dans les études de LP qui, dans une certaine mesure, sont concentrées soit sur le cadre familial, soit sur le cadre de l’éducation formelle. / This doctoral thesis focuses on the first parental English-French bilingual crèche established in the multilingual city of Strasbourg, France. Using an ethnographic approach, this research looks into the relationship of language policy with social factors. With the one person, one language (OPOL) policy as this ECEC setting’s identified language policy (LP), my aim is to understand its language policy processes. Primarily informed by Spolsky’s tripartite LP conceptualisation, I seek to analyse the following: the declared language policy or what the proponents say about how they manage languages; the perceived language policy or what they believe about OPOL; and the practiced language policy or what they do and how they implement the said LP. Moreover, following Johnson (2009), I also address the multilayered dimension of LP and look at the agents, goals, processes and discourses involved in the creation of this crèche. Moreover, this research endeavour aims to address a gap in LP studies that to a certain extent have focused on either family or formal educational settings.

本硏究旨在探討韓國幼兒敎育的演進與現況,並分析韓國幼兒敎育公共敎育的現狀與問題∘本硏究目的主要有三 : 一ᆞ探討韓國幼兒敎育的演進與現況 ; 二ᆞ分析韓國幼兒敎育公共敎育的現狀與問題 ; 三ᆞ提出具體建議∘ 本硏究基本採用文件分析的方法，這些文件包括幼兒敎育制度及各種相關硏究報告ᆞ學術論文ᆞ專著ᆞ統計ᆞ法令和政府機關的各種資料∘根據上述目的和方法，本硏究所探討內容如下：首先,將對幼兒敎育的槪念及其必要性ᆞ幼兒敎育公共敎育的槪念ᆞ近現代幼兒敎育的理論背景進行考察;其次，對韓國幼兒敎育的歷史變遷過程：傳統階段ᆞ發展階段ᆞ成長階段ᆞ發展和整頓階段ᆞ成熟階段等階段進行論述;其次,以幼兒敎育的社會背景ᆞ幼兒園的種類ᆞ設立與經營ᆞ敎師培訓ᆞ課程和相關法令爲中心，對韓國幼兒敎育的現狀進行論述;再次,論述外國幼兒敎育公共敎育的現狀ᆞ韓國幼兒敎育公共敎育的確立及其發展ᆞ韓國幼兒敎育公共敎育的財政狀況等等;最後,對硏究結果作槪略性的歸納和整理，同時提出六項具體建議 : 一ᆞ儘量擴大提供幼兒公共敎育的機會，以期實現普遍主義理念∘ 二ᆞ應保障公共敎育政策的連續性與平衡性，以期達成合理主義理念∘ 三ᆞ用全新的思考方式建構新的經營方式，以此實現變革和發展∘ 四ᆞ充實敎師培過程並强化培訓過程，以此提高敎師的專業性∘ 五ᆞ改善敎師待遇，以此吸收優秀人才ᆞ提高敎學水準∘ 六ᆞ推行課程和項目的標準化，以此使敎育質量有利於統一∘ / The theme of this study is historic transition, present situation and problem of early childhood education in Korea as well as the direction for future development. The three main objectives of this study are as follows : 1. To discuss the alteration and present situation of early childhood education in Korea. 2. To discuss the present status and problem of early childhood education to public one in Korea. 3. To present the direction for development of early childhood education to public one in Korea. This study basically adopts the method of literary analysis. Literatures comprise diverse reports, academic dissertation, specialized books, statistics, law and materials of government institutions related to early childhood education. The main contents of this study are as follows. First, it described the concept and importance of early childhood education, concept of early childhood education to public one and theoretic development process of modern early childhood education. Second, it discussed the transition of early childhood education in Korea by dividing it into traditional stage, initial development stage, growth stage, development and arrangement state and maturity stage. Third, it investigated the present situation of early childhood education in Korea in the aspect of educational institution, curriculum, cultivating teachers, related law and so on. Fourth, it described the present situation of early childhood education to public one in foreign countries and discussed development process and problem in early childhood education to public one in Korea. Finally, it presented the following suggestions by generalizing the above contents and drawing conclusion. 1. To maximize the opportunity of public education. 2. To maintain continuity of educational policy and to secure equilibrium between regions and classes. 3. To import new management method on the basis of fresh way of thinking. 4. To reinforce teacher cultivating course and re-education course. 5. To improve the treatment for teachers. 6. To propel the curriculum and standardization of educational items.

Children have the by law regulated right to an equal education and they also have the right to equivalence in their education. Furthermore, it is also important that their education should lead to equity. Equal, equivalence and equity are different words used in the same context. They stand for somewhat different meanings, but they are used as an important objective of the educational system. Equivalence is a word with a wide meaning and how you define the word might impact your educational practice of equivalence somewhat differently. Although the meaning of equivalence as a concept have differed during the past decades, it is an important part of the school policies in Sweden. This means that although the School law and the Curriculum regulating the Early Childhood Education and Care regards equivalence as an important part of our children’s education, the people implementing the concept might actualize equivalence differently. The purpose of our study is to explore how four principals' and four assistant principals' reasons about their implementation of the equivalent education in preschools from eight different catchment areas. We also wish to study if there are any significant variation in the implementation strategies between the two municipalities (equable in their population) regarding an equal education for the youngest children in the educational system. In our study we used qualitative interviews with prepared questions as a method for gathering our empiric material. After transcribing the interviews, we used specific keywords to search through the material as a preparation for a content analysis of the transcribed interviews. Our theoretical basis used in our results is selected models of implementation strategies, including the aspects that may influence the process of implementation. Our result points to both similarities and variations in our respondents reasoning. We also found that different strategies are used in separate stages of the implementation process. These different strategies also use variations in the distribution of accountability within the chain of implementation participants.

Problématique : L’exposition à l’adversité socioéconomique pendant les premières années de vie peut avoir des conséquences à long terme sur la santé physique et mentale de l’enfant. La fréquentation des services d’éducation préscolaire (SEP) a été proposée comme un moyen de promouvoir le développement des enfants de familles plus défavorisées permettant ainsi de contrecarrer les conséquences négatives associées aux contextes de vie adverses auxquels ils sont exposés. Les SEP sont désormais accessibles à la population et largement utilisés par les parents pour leurs enfants d’âge préscolaire. Cependant, des processus de sélection sociale font en sorte que les enfants plus défavorisés sont moins nombreux à fréquenter les SEP. De plus, bien que les SEP soient généralement des milieux de vie cognitivement et socialement stimulants, il existe des variations importantes dans la qualité de ces services. De surcroît, ces milieux sont propices à des situations pouvant susciter du stress et l’expression de comportements perturbateurs. Objectifs : L’objectif principal de cette thèse est d’examiner les associations entre l’adversité socioéconomique, la fréquentation des SEP et le développement de l’enfant selon une approche des parcours de vie, en prêtant une attention particulière aux effets de sélection sociale connus pour être présents dans les SEP. Quatre articles composent cette thèse. Les deux premiers articles examinent l’effet d’un programme d’entraînement aux habiletés sociales implanté dans des SEP de quartiers défavorisés sur la fréquence des comportements perturbateurs et les indicateurs neurophysiologiques du stress vécu par les enfants. De plus, nous avons investigué si l’adversité socioéconomique de la famille modifiait la magnitude des impacts attendus du programme. Dans le troisième article, nous examinons le rôle de la fréquentation des SEP dans la relation entre l’exposition à l’adversité au début de la vie, les habiletés cognitives de l’enfant et l’expression de comportements perturbateurs à l’adolescence. Avec le quatrième article de la thèse, nous étudions l’association entre la fréquentation des SEP et le taux de diplomation de l’école secondaire, et nous examinons si cette association est magnifiée auprès des enfants issus de mères avec un plus faible niveau d’éducation. Nous réalisons également une analyse bénéfice-coût afin d’évaluer si la subvention publique des SEP est une solution économiquement rentable. Méthodes : Les données utilisées pour les deux premiers articles proviennent d’un essai randomisé en grappes où 19 SEP (n = 362 enfants) de quartiers économiquement défavorisés ont été randomisés à la condition expérimentale : recevoir un programme d’entraînement aux habiletés sociales, ou à la condition contrôle de type liste d’attente. Dans le projet « Brindami », les comportements perturbateurs ont été mesurés par le biais de questionnaires répondus par les éducatrices alors que le stress a été quantifié par la sécrétion cortisolaire diurne mesurée dans la salive. Ces mesures ont été effectuées à deux reprises, avant et après l’intervention. Afin d’étudier l’impact du programme, des analyses multiniveaux et à mesures répétées ont été utilisées. Les effets de sélection sociale ont été considérés par l’application de critères de sélection stricts en regard de la défavorisation des SEP. Les données des troisième et quatrième articles proviennent de l’Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), où 14 451 familles ont été suivis de 1991-2020. La fréquentation des SEP et l’exposition à l’adversité socioéconomique ont été mesurées par questionnaire au cours des quatre premières années de vie de l’enfant. Les habiletés cognitives de l’enfant ont été mesurées lors d’une visite en laboratoire lorsque l’enfant était âgé de huit ans. Les comportements perturbateurs de l’enfant ont été évalués par la mère à trois reprises au cours de l’adolescence à l’aide d’un questionnaire validé. Les informations sur la diplomation de l’école obligatoire ont été obtenues grâce à l’établissement d’un lien entre la base administrative du National Pupil Database du Royaume-Uni et de l’étude ALSPAC. Des analyses de médiation modérées et des analyses de régression multinomiale ont été utilisées. Les effets de sélection ont été estimés et minimisés par le biais de l’utilisation de coefficients de propension. Résultats : Dans les deux premiers articles, nous avons montré que l’implantation d’un programme d’entraînement aux habiletés sociales était associée à 1) une diminution des comportements perturbateurs, mais seulement chez les filles, et 2) à des patrons de sécrétion cortisolaire diurnes plus normatifs, et ce, particulièrement chez les enfants de familles plus économiquement défavorisés. Les résultats issus du troisième article suggèrent que, pour les enfants exposés à de l’adversité socioéconomique, la fréquentation des SEP est associée à une diminution des comportements perturbateurs à l’adolescence via l’augmentation des habiletés cognitives de ces derniers à l’enfance. Enfin, le quatrième article présente une association entre la fréquentation des SEP et la diplomation scolaire pour les enfants de mères ayant un plus faible niveau d’éducation, et suggère que les politiques publiques visant à subventionner la fréquentation des SEP pour ces enfants sont des stratégies économiquement rentables. Implications : Cette thèse souligne l’importance de la fréquentation des SEP pour les enfants exposés à de l’adversité socioéconomique. Afin que les SEP deviennent une stratégie de réduction des iniquités de santé pour un plus grand nombre d’enfants, les futures initiatives de santé publique devront chercher à minimiser les effets de sélection sociale dans l’élaboration de leur politique. / Background: Early life adversity is associated with life-long consequences on children's physical and mental health. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) attendance has been proposed as a solution to promote the development of children from vulnerable families and thus diminishing the negative consequences associated with their early exposure to adversity. ECEC is widely available to the general population and used by working parents for their preschool children. However, because of social selection processes, vulnerable children are less likely to attend ECEC than their more advantaged counterparts. In addition, although ECEC is generally a cognitively and socially stimulating environment, there are significant variations in the quality of these services. Moreover, ECEC are conducive to situations that can be a stressful and associated with the expression of disruptive behaviors. Objectives: The main objective of this thesis is to examine the associations between exposure to socioeconomic adversity, ECEC attendance, and children development while using a life-course approach and paying particular attention to social selection processes into ECEC. This thesis is divided into four papers. The first two articles examine the impact of a social skills training program implemented in ECEC facilities of low-income neighborhoods on children's levels of disruptive behaviour and stress. In addition, these papers investigate the moderating role of family socioeconomic adversity on the impact of the program. The third paper examines the moderating effect of ECEC attendance on the association between exposure to early life adversity and disruptive behaviours during adolescence via children's cognitive abilities. The fourth paper investigates whether ECEC attendance is associated with higher rates of compulsory school graduation, and whether this association is stronger among children of mothers with lower levels of education. Finally, this paper provides a benefit-cost ratio analysis to assess whether subsidising ECEC is an economically viable option. Methods: The first two papers used data from the Brindami cluster randomized trial in which 19 ECEC facilities (n = 362 children) from low-income neighborhoods were randomized to the experimental condition: receiving a social skills training program, or to the waiting list control condition. Levels of disruptive behaviours and stress levels assess with salivary cortisol were measured at pre- and post-intervention. Multi-level analysis with repeated measures were used to study the impact of the program. Social selection effects were considered through the application of strict ECEC selection criteria. For the third and fourth thesis paper, data were drawn from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) where 14,451 families were followed from 1991-2020. ECEC attendance and exposure to early life adversity were measured by questionnaires during the child's first four years of life. Children’s cognitive abilities were measured during a laboratory visit when the child was eight years old. Children’s disruptive behaviours were assessed by the mother on three occasions during adolescence using a validated questionnaire. Information on compulsory school graduation was obtained via a linkage between the United Kingdom National Pupil Database and the children from the ALSPAC study. Moderated mediation and multinomial regression analyses were used. Social selection effects were controlled through the use of propensity scores. Results: The first two papers showed that the implementation of a social skills training program was associated with 1) a decrease in disruptive behaviours, but only among girls, and 2) with more normative diurnal cortisol secretion patterns, particularly for children of economically disadvantaged families. The third paper suggests that for children exposed to early life adversity, ECEC attendance is associated with a decrease in disruptive behaviours during adolescence via an increase in children’s cognitive abilities. Finally, the fourth paper presents a significant association between ECEC attendance and school graduation for children of mothers with lower levels of education and suggests that subsidising ECEC for these children is a cost-effective measure. Implications: This thesis highlights the importance of ECEC attendance for children exposed to socioeconomic adversity. To achieve ECEC social equalizing effect, stakeholders need to consider social selection processes into ECEC in the elaboration of their policy.