Thursday, February 2, 2012

Research Around the World

I chose to take a closer look at Early Childhood in Australia.  From an article I located on the Early Childhood Australia website, titled “Implementing children’s rights in early education”, written by Sarah Te One of University of Wellington, student rights seems to be a current topic researched.  In this article, the author discusses research done using individual and group interviews, observations, notes, and photographs as a means of data collection.  This research focused on under two-year olds.  It concluded that the physical environment (setting, rules, and routine) can have a direct effect on the children’s rights. 
Some of the other current international research topics include:

·         Inclusion
·         Play-based Learning
·         Social Development
·         Transitions




As I explored the current news releases, it was very exciting to see some of their newest celebrations for Australia’s early childhood field.  A few things I learned when looking through these news releases were:

1. New quality reforms are taking place in 2012. 

2. Childcare refunds to families are now going to be given every 2 weeks instead of the previous quarterly refunds.  This will allow parents to be able to better pay for childcare.

3.  A new law was passed that mandates one staff member to every 4 children (under 24 months) in daycares. 
Overall, I was very intrigued to see that many of the current issues and research topics are very similar to those that we are currently facing in The U.S. 

Resources
Te One, Sarah (2009).  Implementing children’s rights in early education.  Retrieved from: http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/australian_journal_of_early_childhood/ajec_index_abstracts/implementing_childrens_rights_in_early_education.html
http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/

Posted by at

4 comments:

  1. DarceyFebruary 3, 2012 at 4:12 PM

    Hi Kristen,
    Great post. I looked at Early Childhood Australia's website in depth for the trends in early childhood course. I thought it was a great website and had tons of information. You're right. They are facing a lot of the same issues. One of my international contacts is from Australia. She said the new quality standards were a great thing, but many childcare providers are having a difficult time adjusting especially with needing extra staff and not having much money to pay them. My contact thought it it was a big step in the right direction though and she thinks it will pay off in the end. It'll be interesting to see how these new standards affect childcare in their country.

    ReplyDelete
  2. audreywintersFebruary 4, 2012 at 5:09 PM

    Kristen,

    Lots of information and very informing. I too, chose this website to report on. Although, I missed this information. I liked the way researchers report their data based on several components they collect from children. This information lined up with what we learned during the week in our reading assignment.

    ReplyDelete
  3. mbsFebruary 5, 2012 at 3:53 PM

    I really like that other countries, such as Australia, have the same concerns that we have. If we can share this type of information, I believe it will help us to improve the childcare in our country.

    ReplyDelete
  4. CharlotteFebruary 5, 2012 at 4:06 PM

    The article that you shared with us really got me thinking. As a teacher, I have used the same methods to assess children. It would make sense to be able to use them as a research tool to collect data. I am definitely going to go pull up that article and read what she has to say. Great post!

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)