Contemporary Issues in
Early Childhood

ISSN 1463-9491

Volume 8 Number 1 2007

CONTENTS [click on author's name for abstract and full text]

Editorial, pages 1‑2
Helen Penn & Eva Lloyd. Richness or Rigour? A Discussion of Systematic Reviews and Evidence-Based Policy in Early Childhood, pages 3‑18
Robyn Zevenbergen. Digital Natives Come to Preschool: implications for early childhood practice, pages 19‑29
Kathryn Bown & Jennifer Sumsion. Voices from the Other Side of the Fence: early childhood teachers’ experiences with mandatory regulatory requirements, pages 30‑49
Louise Hard & Lyndal O’Gorman. ‘Push-Me’ or ‘Pull-You’? An Opportunity for Early Childhood Leadership in the Implementation of Queensland’s Early Years Curriculum, pages 50‑60
Una Hanley & Liz Jones. Mathematics and Fantasies of Effective Practice, pages 61‑72
Karen E. Wohlwend. Identity Building in the ‘Blocking Circle’: a critical discourse analysis of a playground conflict, pages 73‑88

BOOK REVIEWS VIEW FULL TEXT doi: 10.2304/ciec.2007.8.1.89
The Excellence of Play (2nd edn) (Janet Moyles), reviewed by Joanne Ailwood, pages 89‑90
A Guide to Developing the ICT Curriculum for Early Childhood Education (Iram Siraj-Blatchford & John Siraj-Blatchford), reviewed by Eva Dakich, pages 90‑91
doing Your Early Years Research Project: a step by step guide (G. Roberts-Holmes), reviewed by Jill Robbins, pages 92‑93
Diversity and Difference in Early Childhood Education: issues for theory and practice (Kerry H. Robinson & Criss Jones Díaz), reviewed by Corine M. Patricia Rivalland, pages 93‑95

Editorial

doi: 10.2304/ciec.2007.8.1.1

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As we enter the eighth year of the journal it is interesting to note that the contemporary issues which are being frequently discussed in the discipline seem not only to reflect topics that have been around for decades, but also new ones that require us to rethink the ways in which we interact with young children and their families in a range of contexts. The articles in this issue reflect both types of topic. On the one hand, we have articles which interrogate the ways in which we are required to comply with the mandates and imperatives set out by increasingly conservative governments in order to regulate the care and education sectors, while, on the other, we have articles which ask us to think about the twenty-first-century kids in our classrooms, whom Marc Prensky (2000) has called ‘digital natives’, and alternative ways of looking at conflict in the playground.

In the first article, Penn & Lloyd consider a systematic review of what constitutes evidence-based policy and practice in the United Kingdom. They view the review process as a means by which an independent assessment can be made that analyses and critiques existing practices in a useful way so that it informs those who work with young children and their families.

Zevenbergen contends that the young children of today have grown up in very different contexts from those who were in care and education before them. She questions whether the learning environments we create are considerate of the digital worlds in which children are fluent, and calls for new ways of looking at learning in new times which address the needs and skills of such learners.

Bown & Sumsion report on a study that discussed the experiences and impact of regulatory requirements on early childhood teachers’ lives. They uncover some themes that emerged from their data which identified constraints for them and they thus used the metaphor of being fenced in and diminished of their professional freedom.

Hard & O’Gorman describe a recent initiative in their state to introduce a compulsory and full-time Preparatory Year at the beginning of schooling. They present a scenario in which play-based activity has the potential to be overcome as a basic tenet for effective teaching by a more formal approach. They suggest that teachers of young children have been placed in a ‘push-me-pull-you’ situation between the play-based and more formal approaches, and elucidate four key elements that need to be considered when thinking about effective learning contexts for the early years.

Hanley & Jones worked with pre-service teachers to unravel the ways in which they justify and explain their practices. They encourage the pre-service teachers to reflect on their professional beliefs and practices, which have been derived from a government-controlled environment in the United Kingdom. The authors’ Lacanian analysis provides a means of looking at their rationalizations in alternative ways and highlights how these justifications support their understandings of self. Additionally, the authors link the process to their own roles as tutors to the students, and the ways in which they are required to make their own judgments on performance and effectiveness.

Wohlwend’s article reports on data collected during a year-long investigation of children’s play and their peer culture in a school playground context. Gender identities are explored and Wohlwend suggests that teachers and children access laminated and contradictory identities that impact on their daily displayed actions in differing ways. She uses a specific event to describe and analyse this phenomenon and problematises the dilemmas of teachers who confront conflict resolution during play contexts on a daily basis.

In this issue we also have four book reviews. They are by Joanne Ailwood, who writes about The Excellence of Play; Eva Dakich, who reviews A Guide to Developing the ICT Curriculum for Early Childhood Education; Jill Robbins, who reviews doing Your Early Years Research Project: a step by step guide; and Corine Rivalland, who considers Diversity and Difference in Early Childhood Education: issues for theory and practice.

Nicola J. Yelland

Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia

Reference
Prensky, M. (2000) Digital Game-Based Learning. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Richness or Rigour? A Discussion of Systematic Reviews and Evidence-Based Policy in Early Childhood

HELEN PENN & EVA LLOYD University of East London, Stratford, United Kingdom

doi: 10.2304/ciec.2007.8.1.3

In this article, the authors report on the experiences of the Early Years Review Group, one of a number of education groups contracted to carry out systematic reviews for the Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Coordinating (EPPI) Centre in the United Kingdom. The Early Years Review Group has carried out three systematic reviews: one on the impact of integration of care and education in the early years; one on providing support to young children affected by war and armed conflict; and one on the long-term cost benefits of early childhood interventions. Using the evidence from the third review, the authors address the issue of what constitutes useful evidence for policy makers in the field of early childhood and whether certain kinds of evidence are privileged. They conclude that the systematic review process is an independent and useful tool for analysing and critiquing existing studies.

Digital Natives Come to Preschool: implications for early childhood practice

ROBYN ZEVENBERGEN Griffith Institute for Educational Research, Griffith University, Australia

doi: 10.2304/ciec.2007.8.1.19

This article explores the implications of young learners’ dispositions towards the use of digital technologies in contemporary early childhood settings. It is proposed that young learners have grown up in very different social conditions from previous generations, mainly through the saturation of digital technologies, in particular computers. This creates very different learners than previous generations. When educators fail to recognize such differences, there is potential for gaps in learning. This is particularly the case when equity dimensions are considered. It is proposed that early childhood settings need to reconceptualize pedagogy and learning opportunities for the new generation of learners. Drawing on Bourdieu’s theoretical project, it is proposed that young learners come to early childhood settings with a digital habitus, which is differentially constructed in the home environment and needs to be considered in early childhood practice.

Voices from the Other Side of the Fence: early childhood teachers’ experiences with mandatory regulatory requirements

KATHRYN BOWN Macquarie University, Australia
JENNIFER SUMSION Charles Sturt University, Albury, NSW, Australia

doi: 10.2304/ciec.2007.8.1.30

Guided by feminist research principles, the study reported in this article contributes to the growing research dialogue on early childhood teachers’ experiences with, and perceptions of, the impact of regulatory requirements on their teaching and on their perceptions of themselves as professionals. Specifically, three teachers from metropolitan Sydney (Australia) offered insights into their experiences working under the state of New South Wales (NSW) Children’s Services Regulation 2004 (‘the Regulation’), a mandatory Regulation applicable to all children’s services in NSW. Three early childhood teachers participated in research conversations and a visual/textual enquiry process, which involved teachers collecting, developing and constructing seven panels using photography, artefacts, text and visual art media, to represent their ‘sense of place’ in their work environment in light of the impact of the Regulation. Themes emerging from the data were identified and considered in light of the regulatory intent for children’s services, and possible unintended adverse consequences for teachers. The themes include regulatory tension, mistrust, surveillance, sacrifice, resistance, compliance, relationships, interpretation and ambiguity, and the stifling of an educational focus. The findings suggest that early childhood teachers may operate behind a metaphorical regulatory ‘fence’, which contributes to their perceptions of safety but impinges on their professional freedom, integrity and passion for teaching.

‘Push-Me’ or ‘Pull-You’? An Opportunity for Early Childhood Leadership in the Implementation of Queensland’s Early Years Curriculum

LOUISE HARD Charles Sturt University, Albury, NSW, Australia
LYNDAL O’GORMAN Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

doi: 10.2304/ciec.2007.8.1.50

Recent developments in the Queensland early childhood context have seen the phased-in introduction of a full-time Preparatory Year to replace current part-time preschool provision. Surrounding this development has been discussion of the potential role of the play-based Early Years Curriculum in shaping the implementation of early primary schooling. This article explores this change to early childhood provision in Queensland and the opportunity it provides for leadership from the field of early childhood education and care (ECEC). Will those from the ECEC field step forward to articulate the value of a play-based curriculum such that it influences the curriculum in the early years of school? Could we see a ‘pull-you’ of early childhood philosophy rather than a ‘push-me’ of more formal approaches? This article draws on two research projects to raise questions about the potential for leadership in the new world of Queensland’s Preparatory Year. It suggests four key elements, which include knowledge of self, the field and the context, and the challenge that might be considered by those who would advocate early childhood philosophy in primary schools.

Mathematics and Fantasies of Effective Practice

UNA HANLEY & LIZ JONES Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom

doi: 10.2304/ciec.2007.8.1.61

This article seeks to deepen understanding of the ways in which trainees account for and justify their practice. The area of particular interest to the authors is early years education where, in England at least, centrally issued governmental curriculum advice can be viewed as calling upon conflicting conceptions of education. The article reports on a study in which trainee teachers describe aspects of their training experience. The study sought to encourage the trainees to reflect on their professional beliefs and practices relating to their teaching of mathematics from a personal perspective. Yet this personal perspective was derived from experience on a course steeped in government prescription. The analysis not only centred on how the trainees’ rationalisations supported their beliefs and practices, but also on how these rationalisations struggled in certain areas. By drawing on the psychoanalytic theories of Jacques Lacan, the study sought to offer alternative accounts of how such rationalisations function in supporting the trainees’ understanding of themselves. This supports an analysis of how these rationalisations are built out of ‘personal’ fantasies of what it is to teach, and how these fantasies result from the trainees’ immersion in the discursive environment. Finally, the authors make clear the significance of such accounts in relation to their own role as tutors, where they are obliged to make decisions regarding the ‘professional effectiveness’ of trainee teachers.

Friendship Meeting or Blocking Circle? Identities in the Laminated Spaces of a Playground Conflict

KAREN E. WOHLWEND University of Iowa, USA

doi: 10.2304/ciec.2007.8.1.73

Drawing from an incident that took place during a year-long investigation of children’s play and peer culture on a school playground, the author argues that seemingly neutral child-centered techniques can maintain and even strengthen existing gender inequalities as teachers and children access laminated but contradictory identity positions surrounding agentic educational discourse. As children revisit the original conflict, they laminate time-spaces to discursively reconstruct events and position themselves advantageously. Critical discourse analysis problematizes the effects of a conflict resolution strategy based upon gendered notions of learner agency in a cultural model of teaching: developmentally appropriate practice (DAP). Although the focus of this article is a single event on one elementary school playground in the USA, the author suggest that the presence of the DAP cultural model internationally means that many early childhood teachers may experience similar ambiguity over gendered tensions that arise around issues of agency and authority as they attempt to resolve children’s conflicts during play.

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