The increasing number of foreigners living in the Czech Republic causes the accrual of children from the foreign families in the educational institutions. The teachers in Czech nursery schools face the situation when they have to adjust their work and help these children integrate with the community. The contents of this thesis are the possibilities that the Czech educational system offers to foreigners' children and the views of teachers of some nuersery schools in Prague. Keywords Foreigners Integration Nursery School Migration Preschool Education Teacher

The aim of this qualitative study was to examine how preschool teachers in contemporary Sweden think and talk about intercultural education in the current context in which Sweden is rapidly becoming a more culturally diverse country. Specifically, the study applied an intersectional framework to examine how teacher’s work and talk around cultural issues and how children’s books can contribute to the broader pedagogical project of developing intercultural education in preschool. The research questions guiding this research were: How do teachers in ethnically diverse preschools work with and talk about children’s books in their daily interactions with children? How do teachers in ethnically homogenous preschools work with and talk about children’s books in their daily interactions with children? Teachers from two preschools - differing in terms of the ethnic make-up of their child population - were asked to read a pair of children’s books whose storylines had obvious links to issues related to cultural diversity. The teachers were then asked to discuss the books in focus groups. Transcripts of the focus groups were then subjected to a thematic analysis from an intersectional perspective. These analyses revealed that teachers in both preschools considered children’s age and their relative intellectual and emotional competencies to be significant barriers for using culturally sensitive children’s book to promote an intercultural education in preschool. Furthermore, the teachers oriented to other social categories, such as gender and family, in their analyses of the children’s books. These findings raise questions about if and how preschool teachers choose to engage with cultural issues in their preschools.

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.

Statement of the Problem. The problem of this study was to determine if the frequency of home visits made to families enrolled in a home-based early childhood education program was related to changes in parental behavior and student achievement. Design of the Study. The procedural analysis for the study was the randomized three group pretest-posttest design. One hundred twenty low income families who had one or more children between three and five years of age, and who volunteered to participate in the home-based early childhood education program, were selected for the study. The early childhood program consisted of three basic components: (1) a half-hour television program ("Captain Kangaroo") broadcast five days per week, (2) a once per-week group experience for the children, and (3) paraprofessional home visitors who made weekly visits to homes in order to deliver to and instruct parents how they should teach their own children. Four measurement instruments were used to secure data on parent behavior and child achievement. Each instrument was administered at the beginning and end of the project year. The High/Scope Home Environment Scale and the Schaefer Behavior Inventory were administered to parents in an attempt to determine the degree of parental behavior change. Children who participated in the program were administered the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and the Cooperative Preschool Inventory in an effort to determine their degree of cognitive growth. Records of parent participation in group meetings and child attendance at group sessions were also recorded in order to determine the amount of parent and child participation in the program. Summary and Conclusions. (1) A visit to parents once per week was no more effective in influencing parent behavior than a visit once every two weeks. However, a parent who received a visit once per week or once every two weeks was more likely to develop a positive change in parent behavior toward his/her children than a parent who received no visits; (2) a visit once per week was no more effective in influencing child achievement than a visit once every two weeks. The child who received a visit once per week or once every two weeks, however, was more likely to have a higher level of achievement than a child who received no visits; (3) parent behavior was not significantly related to parent and child participation in the program as measured by the number of group sessions attended by the children and the number of parent meetings attended by the parents during the program year; (4) the greater the degree of positive change in parent behavior, the greater the degree of child achievement; (5) the number of parent meetings attended by parents and the number of group sessions attended by the children were not significantly related to the level of achievement attained by the children.

Purpose of the Study: This study was designed to determine the relationship between creativity and the ability to do certain Piagetian classification tasks in kindergarten children. (Abstract shortened.)

The problem was to determine the extent a selected parent education program influenced the oognitive and affective development of educationally deprived Appalachian pre-school children and to determine to what extent the program influenced the prime caregivers' assessment of the child's behavior. Subjects included 40 Appalachian prime caregivers and their children who participated in four intact home-based classes. They were randomly assigned to treatment by the teacher, in order to equate the home visitor case load. In the Experimental Group, prime caregivers were provided with resources developed from the Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP) program. Control Group prime caregivers participated in regularly prescribed home visits. Prime caregivers and children were pre- and posttested on the same instruments. The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test was used to test the cognitive variable and the Florida Key was the instrument used to test the affective variable. The Adlerian Parental Assessment of Child Behavior Scale was the instrument used to test the prime caregiver's perception of the child's behavior. The analysis of covariance indicated that no significant differences were found between the STEP Group and the Control Group on the cognitive, affective, or parental assessment variables. Treatment sessions, for prime careglvers who participated in nine STEP sessions, did not result in a more positive perception of their child's behavior, nor did it effect significantly the cognitive or affective performances of their children.

The purpose of this research project was to determine whether a child-centered parent training program requiring minimal training would increase the language skills of LD pre-school children who have normal receptive language. Seven experimental subjects and 6 control subjects were randomly selected from a pool of middle-class families who answered a newspaper advertisement. The parents of the experimental group received 3 individual training sessions over a 3-month period. They were instructed to spend 15 minutes a day, 5 days a week, for 3 months, in a free play situation with their children using the language stimulation techniques they had learned, i.e., parallel talk, description, self-talk, and expansion. To eliminate a possible "halo effect" from the attention given the children in the experimental group, the parents in the control group were instructed to spend 15 minutes a day, 5 days a week, for 3 months, playing individually with their children.

Cette thèse aborde la question de la participation parentale en milieu préscolaire, dans la cadre de modalités d’accueil dites non formelles ou non conventionnelles au Chili. Il s’agit d’abord de s’interroger sur la pertinence de la notion de participation dans le champ éducatif. Des considérations sociopolitiques sur le sujet sont mises en question au profit de perspectives associées au courant de l’apprentissage situé, qui considèrent la participation à des groupes comme une expérience sociale incontournable permettant l’apprentissage des individus selon des modalités diverses. Une revue de littérature aborde ensuite la question des modalités d’accueil à caractère non formel ou non conventionnel en Amérique Latine. La situation du préscolaire chilien dans son ensemble est également prise en compte, afin de mieux comprendre la place de ces modalités d’accueil et les choix de terrains effectués. Ces choix sont précisés et justifiés en cohérence avec l’approche qualitative, marquée par l’importance accordée à l’entretien compréhensif collectif en tant que principal dispositif d’enquête. La situation de six structures chiliennes est ensuite présentée à l’aide d’une monographie consacrée à chacune. Cette approche par cas vise l’identification des logiques et des modalités participatives développées ainsi que des orientations discursives sous-jacentes. Une analyse transversale des structures est ensuite présentée, avec une attention particulière portée aux possibilités offertes par les modalités de participation développées et à leur négociation. L’analyse inclut une reconsidération critique de certaines questions théoriques, notamment la possibilité de concevoir les structures d’accueil selon le modèle des communautés de pratique. L’on s’intéresse finalement aux processus d’apprentissage informel pouvant être associés aux modalités de participation parentale et plus largement communautaire développées dans ces structures. / Cette thèse aborde la question de la participation parentale en milieu préscolaire, dans la cadre de modalités d’accueil dites non formelles ou non conventionnelles au Chili. Il s’agit d’abord de s’interroger sur la pertinence de la notion de participation dans le champ éducatif. Des considérations sociopolitiques sur le sujet sont mises en question au profit de perspectives associées au courant de l’apprentissage situé, qui considèrent la participation à des groupes comme une expérience sociale incontournable permettant l’apprentissage des individus selon des modalités diverses. Une revue de littérature aborde ensuite la question des modalités d’accueil à caractère non formel ou non conventionnel en Amérique Latine. La situation du préscolaire chilien dans son ensemble est également prise en compte, afin de mieux comprendre la place de ces modalités d’accueil et les choix de terrains effectués. Ces choix sont précisés et justifiés en cohérence avec l’approche qualitative, marquée par l’importance accordée à l’entretien compréhensif collectif en tant que principal dispositif d’enquête. La situation de six structures chiliennes est ensuite présentée à l’aide d’une monographie consacrée à chacune. Cette approche par cas vise l’identification des logiques et des modalités participatives développées ainsi que des orientations discursives sous-jacentes. Une analyse transversale des structures est ensuite présentée, avec une attention particulière portée aux possibilités offertes par les modalités de participation développées et à leur négociation. L’analyse inclut une reconsidération critique de certaines questions théoriques, notamment la possibilité de concevoir les structures d’accueil selon le modèle des communautés de pratique. L’on s’intéresse finalement aux processus d’apprentissage informel pouvant être associés aux modalités de participation parentale et plus largement communautaire développées dans ces structures.

This portfolio documents an investigation of the nature of giftedness during the early childhood period of birth to eight years. It provides an in-depth exploration of a number of developmental domains including social, emotional, spiritual and cognitive development. Aspects of play and learning for young gifted children are also investigated. The use of both child and parent voices provide insight to the realities of the lived experience of being young and gifted. The insights that emerged from the research are subsequently used to challenge aspects of early childhood pedagogy frequently evident within western approaches to early childhood education such as the developmentalist discourse traditionally used to inform early childhood policy and practice. The findings of the study suggest that to ensure responsive education for young gifted children early childhood educators need to reconceptualise the child and the relationship between the three protagonists of child, family and educator. Collaboration between the three protagonists can facilitate the provision of opportunities for in-depth investigation and abstraction within early childhood curricular that can empower young gifted children in their search for complexity and connection during the early childhood years. / Doctor of Education (D.Ed.)