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Full-Text Articles in Education

Gender Equity In Early Childhood Picture Books: A Cross-Cultural Study Of Frequently Read Picture Books In Early Childhood Classrooms In Australia And The United States, Helen Adam, Laurie Harper Jan 2023

Gender Equity In Early Childhood Picture Books: A Cross-Cultural Study Of Frequently Read Picture Books In Early Childhood Classrooms In Australia And The United States, Helen Adam, Laurie Harper

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Children’s picture books contribute to children’s development of gender identity and can impact aspirations and expectations of roles in families and society. However, the world represented in children’s books reflects predominantly middle class, heterosexual, male heroes and characters. This paper reports on a cross-cultural study investigating gender representation in frequently read picture books across eight early learning centres in the United States and Australia. Forty-four educators working with 271 children participated. Data were collected from book audits and observations. Unique to this study is the presentation of a new data analysis instrument, Harper’s Framework of Gender Stereotypes Contained in Children’s …


Extinction, Education And The Curious Practice Of Visiting Thrombolites, Brad Gobby, Jane Merewether, Annette Nykiel Jan 2021

Extinction, Education And The Curious Practice Of Visiting Thrombolites, Brad Gobby, Jane Merewether, Annette Nykiel

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. The Earth is in the midst of a recent acceleration in the rate of species extinction and the unravelling of ecological communities. The authors think with the emerging field of Extinction Studies to explore educational approaches to ecological endangerment and extinction. Using a notion of visiting as ‘curious practice’, we story encounters between the authors, young children and the endangered Noorook Yalgorup-Lake Clifton thrombolites and their ecological community in south-western Australia. These visits were not intended to teach about extinction or the thrombolites. Rather, our …


Weather Wanderings, Mindy Blaise, Tonya Rooney, Jo Pollitt Jan 2019

Weather Wanderings, Mindy Blaise, Tonya Rooney, Jo Pollitt

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

We propose weather wanderings as a critical and postdevelopmental intervention (Blaise, 2010) into a developmentally appropriate or child-centred approach to walking. A developmentally appropriate approach emphasises an autonomous, white, able-bodied, middle-class, and developing boy child that discovers and explores the natural world as an external thing to ‘know’ and control. A developmental approach is concerned with discovery and conquest; legacies of settler colonialism. All too often, in early childhood education, when (and if) children and teachers leave the preschool to go on walks, these quickly turn into destination- and education-focused events that are full of regulation and control (Springgay & …


Multiple Perspectives On Attachment Theory: Investigating Educators’ Knowledge And Understanding, Nadia Wilson-Ali, Caroline Barratt-Pugh, Marianne Knaus Jan 2019

Multiple Perspectives On Attachment Theory: Investigating Educators’ Knowledge And Understanding, Nadia Wilson-Ali, Caroline Barratt-Pugh, Marianne Knaus

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This paper presents findings from a study investigating the multiple perspectives of attachment theory and practice through the voices of early childhood educators. Attachment theory has influenced research, policy and practice over the last six decades, offering a framework for understanding risk and protective factors in early childhood. Despite the increasing literature highlighting the importance of attachment relationships, attachment theory has been primarily considered from a medical health or psychological perspective and little is known about educators’ perspectives of attachment theory. In total, 488 Australian educators responded to the online survey, demonstrating a wide interest in the topic of attachment. …


Early Childhood Teachers’ Perspectives Of Growth Mindset: Developing Agency In Children, Fiona Boylan, Lennie Barblett, Marianne J. Knaus Jan 2018

Early Childhood Teachers’ Perspectives Of Growth Mindset: Developing Agency In Children, Fiona Boylan, Lennie Barblett, Marianne J. Knaus

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The integration of mindset theory into classrooms can assist children in optimizing academic achievement, increasing their agency for learning. The development of a growth mindset allows children to exercise autonomy over their learning, helping them to develop positive lifelong learning habits for the twenty-first century. This paper explores early childhood teachers’ perspectives of mindset and the role of a growth mindset in developing children’s agency for learning. Despite increasing research in this field, little is known about the perspectives that early childhood teachers have of mindset. This paper reports on the data from a study that describes teachers’ perspectives towards …


Peer Group And Friend Influences On The Social Acceptability Of Adolescent Book Reading, Margaret K. Merga Jan 2014

Peer Group And Friend Influences On The Social Acceptability Of Adolescent Book Reading, Margaret K. Merga

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Increasing recreational reading is a priority in a climate of growing adolescent aliteracy. Raising the social appeal of books has been identified as one potential avenue for arresting this trend. An understanding of the current social acceptability of book reading amongst contemporary adolescents is important in informing an effective approach to raise the status of book reading, as is insight into how this status impacts upon attitudes toward, and engagement in, recreational book reading. Friend and peer group attitudes may impact upon the palatability of recreational book reading, and this impact may differ for gender. Findings from the 2012 West …


Reflective Practice With Teachers Of Early Writers 2014: A Professional Learning Research Project For Early Childhood Teachers, Caroline Barratt-Pugh, Janet Fellowes, Amelia Ruscoe Jan 2014

Reflective Practice With Teachers Of Early Writers 2014: A Professional Learning Research Project For Early Childhood Teachers, Caroline Barratt-Pugh, Janet Fellowes, Amelia Ruscoe

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Reflective Practice with Teachers of Early Writers was a professional learning project that sought to develop teacher understanding and practice in relation to how young children learn to communicate through writing. The project, which was funded by the association of Independent Schools of Western Australia (AISWA), was a collaborative venture between AISWA and Edith Cowan University (ECU). It built on the success of the 2013 project, Creating Texts with 21st Century Early Learners in which teachers undertook an action research project to explore effective ways of facilitating early writing...