Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Fostering Effective Early Learning (Feel) Study: Final Report, Iram Siraj, Edward Melhuish, Steven J. Howard, Cathrine Marguerite Neilsen-Hewett, Denise Kingston, Marc De Rosnay, Elisabeth Duursma, Xiaoqi Feng, Betty Luu

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The 2018 Fostering Effective Early Learning (FEEL) study focuses on the importance of quality, and how to strengthen it in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. Extensive research demonstrates that the benefits of ECEC for children are increased when the service provider and educators are highly skilled and participate in professional development (PD), and the service is of high quality. Upskilling the workforce, including in-service professional development, is considered to be a key to improving quality, and can produce substantial and practical improvements for staff and children alike. Building on the existing body of international research, the findings of …

An Early Years Toolbox For Assessing Early Executive Function, Language, Self-Regulation, And Social Development: Validity, Reliability, And Preliminary Norms, Steven J. Howard, Edward Melhuish

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Several methods of assessing executive function (EF), self-regulation, language development, and social development in young children have been developed over previous decades. Yet new technologies make available methods of assessment not previously considered. In resolving conceptual and pragmatic limitations of existing tools, the Early Years Toolbox (EYT) offers substantial advantages for early assessment of language, EF, self-regulation, and social development. In the current study, results of our large-scale administration of this toolbox to 1,764 preschool and early primary school students indicated very good reliability, convergent validity with existing measures, and developmental sensitivity. Results were also suggestive of better capture of …

Toward A Sociomaterial Understanding Of Writing Experiences Incorporating Digital Technology In An Early Childhood Classroom, Lisa K. Kervin, Barbara Comber, Annette Woods

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This article examines the resources, tools, and opportunities children enact as they engage with teacher-devised writing experiences within their classroom space. We begin with discussion about classroom writing time from the perspective of both the teacher and children of one Grade 1/2 composite class. We also reveal resources within the classroom space to consider the expertise available during writing times. We then examine a 5-week unit that focused on multimodal text construction. Using optical flow computer vision analysis to examine the movement of children during four video-recorded independent writing instances, we provide commentary about how the classroom writing experiences have …

Teaching Kids 21st Century Skills Early Will Help Prepare Them For Their Future, Iram Siraj

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

It may be a truism that the future will be different, but human expectations have rarely been so high about the degree of imminent change. This century's rapid development of artificial intelligence and digital systems has convinced us that almost every aspect of our children's and grandchildren's lives will be different to ours.

Educator Engagement And Interaction And Children's Physical Activity In Early Childhood Education And Care Settings: An Observational Study Protocol, Karen Tonge, Rachel A. Jones, M. Hagenbuchner, Tuc Nguyen, Anthony D. Okely

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Introduction: The benefits of regular physical activity for children are significant. Previous research has addressed the quantity and quality of children's physical activity while in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings, yet little research has investigated the social and physical environmental influences on physical activity in these settings. The outcomes of this study will be to measure these social and physical environmental influences on children's physical activity using a combination of a real-time location system (RTLS) (a closed system that tracks the location of movement of participants via readers and tags), accelerometry and direct observation. Methods and analysis: This …

Correlates Of Children's Objectively Measured Physical Activity And Sedentary Behavior In Early Childhood Education And Care Services: A Systematic Review, Karen Tonge, Rachel A. Jones, Anthony D. Okely

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Objective: To systematically review the correlates of physical activity and sedentary behavior among children in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services. Appropriate levels of physical activity and sedentary behavior are important to promote in ECEC services. Methods: A systematic search of 8 databases identified 27 studies published between 1992 and 2015 that met the inclusion criteria. The data were collected and analyzed in 2014 and 2015, and variables were categorized using a Social Ecological Framework. Results: Sixty-six variables were identified. The domains of child characteristics (18 studies) and physical environmental factors (17 studies) were most consistently studied, and, for …

Do Visual Art Experiences In Early Childhood Settings Foster Educative Growth Or Stagnation?, Gai M. Lindsay

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This article offers findings from research that examined the visual art beliefs and pedagogy of early childhood educators and supports reflection about the educational merit of different types of visual art experience offered to children. The range of visual art experiences typically delivered in early childhood education settings varies significantly in method and purpose, yet there is little guidance to support early childhood educators to evaluate the visual art experiences they include in the curriculum or to consider their role as art educators. At the same time, the research literature suggests that pre- school educators lack confidence to make and …

Policy Translation For Early Childhood Education And Care: The Growing Up In New Zealand Approach, Amy L. Bird, Polly E. Atatoa Carr, Elaine Reese, Susan Morton

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Longitudinal cohort studies have significant potential to inform policy across a range of child and family areas, including early childhood education and care. Here we describe the relationship between policy-makers and New Zealand’s contemporary pre-birth cohort study. We outline a model for policy interaction that highlights the relationship between Growing Up and policy across study design, implementation and analysis. We then describe key policy-relevant questions in the early childhood education and care area that Growing Up has addressed when children were age 2. We used parent-report data for 6242 children to consider: whether socio-economic factors and ethnicity are related to …

Fostering Effective Early Learning: A Review Of The Current International Evidence Considering Quality In Early Childhood Education And Care Programmes - In Delivery, Pedagogy And Child Outcomes, Iram Siraj, Denise Kingston, Cathrine Marguerite Neilsen-Hewett, Steven J. Howard, Edward Melhuish, Marc De Rosnay, Elisabeth Duursma, Betty Luu

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Executive Summary There is a large body of international academic research literature which examines the relationship between (i) early childhood education and care (ECEC) and (ii) children's developmental and learning outcomes. Decades of sustained international research by many different research groups demonstrate that children who attend ECEC are likely to experience better behavioural and learning outcomes than those who do not attend. The research findings are, of course, not always consistent, and are more robust over shorter measurement periods. Nevertheless, major national surveys (e.g. OECD, 2011) and ambitious longitudinal research projects (e.g. the EPPSE study, Sylva et al., 2014) document …

Transition Of Children With Disabilities Into Early Childhood Education And Care Centres, Jane D. Warren, Wilma Vialle, Roselyn M. Dixon

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This paper reports on findings from research which sought to understand, in the New South Wales (NSW) context, the factors impacting on the transition into early childhood education and care (ECEC) centres for children with disabilities from the perspective of both parents of children with disabilities and educators in ECEC centres. The study aimed to identify successes and barriers, and consider potential interventions and procedures that might increase the participation of children with disabilities in ECEC centres. This paper will discuss findings from the educator perspective only, including 37 completed questionnaires and semi-structured interviews from 10 teacher participants. Thematic analysis …

Fostering Effective Early Learning (Feel) Through A Professional Development Programme For Early Childhood Educators To Improve Professional Practice And Child Outcomes In The Year Before Formal Schooling: Study Protocol For A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial, Edward Melhuish, Steven J. Howard, Iram Siraj, Cathrine Marguerite Neilsen-Hewett, Denise Kingston, Marc De Rosnay, Elisabeth Duursma, Betty Luu

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background: A substantial research base documents the benefits of attendance at high-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) for positive behavioural and learning outcomes. Research has also found that the quality of many young children's experiences and opportunities in ECEC depends on the skills, dispositions and understandings of the early childhood adult educators. Increasingly, research has shown that the quality of children's interactions with educators and their peers, more than any other programme feature, influence what children learn and how they feel about learning. Hence, we sought to investigate the extent to which evidence-based professional development (PD) - focussed on …

Dementia Attitudes And Help-Seeking Intentions: An Investigation Of Responses To Two Scenarios Of An Experience Of The Early Signs Of Dementia, Lyn Phillipson, Christopher A. Magee, Sandra C. Jones, Samantha L. Reis, Ellen Skladzien

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Objectives: To investigate associations between dementia-attitudes and help-seeking intentions. Method: An online survey of 611 Australian adults (45-60 years) assessed dementia-related attitudes and help-seeking intentions in response to two scenarios of an experience of early dementia: for themselves (Scenario 1); and for a significant other (proxy help-seeking) (Scenario 2). Logistic regression models examined the relationship between four dementia-related attitudes (labelled Personal Avoidance, Fear of Labelling, Fear of Discrimination and Person Centredness) and help-seeking intentions. Results: Most participants indicated they would seek help from a general practitioner (GP) for themselves (82.2%) or for a proxy (78.7%) in response to the scenarios. …

Measuring The Quality Of Movement-Play In Early Childhood Education Settings: Linking Movement-Play And Neuroscience, Carol Archer, Iram Siraj-Blatchford

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This article explores the links between neuroscience research, movement, and neurological dysfunction in relation to young children's learning and development. While policymakers have recognised the importance of early development the role of movement has been overlooked. A small scale study was undertaken in four early years settings in a London Borough in order to investigate whether an intervention resulted in improved movement experiences for children. This is the first study to assess the quality of movement-play using a newly developed measuring scale. Results showed that an intervention does result in improved movement experiences for young children. Consistently enhanced results were …

Interactive Effects Of Early And Recent Exposure To Stressful Contexts On Cortisol Reactivity In Middle Childhood, Sara R. Jaffee, Tara Mcfarquhar, Suzanne Stevens, Isabelle Ouellet-Morin, Edward Melhuish, Jay Belsky

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background Given mixed findings as to whether stressful experiences and relationships are associated with increases or decreases in children's cortisol reactivity, we tested whether a child's developmental history of risk exposure explained variation in cortisol reactivity to an experimentally induced task. We also tested whether the relationship between cortisol reactivity and children's internalizing and externalizing problems varied as a function of their developmental history of stressful experiences and relationships. Method Participants included 400 children (M = 9.99 years, SD = 0.74 years) from the Children's Experiences and Development Study. Early risk exposure was measured by children's experiences of harsh, nonresponsive …

The Nature And Importance Of Self-Regulation In Early Childhood: Factor Structure And Predictive Validity, David Hammer, Edward Melhuish, Steven J. Howard

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Abstract presented at the 17th European Conference on Developmental Psychology, 8-12 September, Braga, Portugal

Antecedents Of Self-Regulation In Early Childhood, David Hammer, Edward Melhuish, Steven J. Howard

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Abstract presented at The Inaugural Early Start Conference, 28-30 September 2015, Wollongong, Australia

The Impact Of Early Childhood Education And Care On Improved Wellbeing, Edward Melhuish

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

My one suggested intervention for the new health and wellbeing boards is to focus resources on improving life chances in early childhood through the universal provision of early education centres that integrate education, child care, parenting support and health services. There are great differences in the health and development of individuals, linked to their social origins. Despite decades of social and educational reform, there has been little progress in equalising opportunities. The impact of social origins on child outcomes and wellbeing have persisted, and even increased. In this proposal I argue that: • Learning capabilities are primarily formed during the …

Early In-Session Cognitive-Emotional Problem-Solving Predicts 12-Month Outcomes In Depression With Personality Disorder, Kye L. Mccarthy, Erhardt Mergenthaler, Brin F. S Grenyer

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Therapist-patient verbalizations reveal complex cognitive-emotional linguistic data. How these variables contribute to change requires further research. Emotional-cognitive text analysis using the Ulm cycles model software was applied to transcripts of the third session of psychotherapy for 20 patients with depression and personality disorder. Results showed that connecting cycle sequences of problem-solving in the third hour predicted 12-month clinical outcomes. Therapist-patient dyads most improved spent significantly more time early in session in connecting cycles, whilst the least improved moved into connecting cycles late in session. For this particular sample, it was clear that positive emotional problem-solving in therapy was beneficial.

Beyond Early Intervention And 'Woodshedding': Using Narrative To Provide A New Context For Applying A Recovery Paradigm After The Early Phase Of Psychosis, Alan Rosen, David Shiers, Ann Shiers

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Abstract presented at the 9th International Conference on Early Psychosis - To the New Horizon, 17 November 2014, Tokyo, Japan

The Effects Of Fathers' And Mothers' Reading To Their Children On Language Outcomes Of Children Participating In Early Head Start In The United States, Anna E. Duursma

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

It is well known that reading aloud affects children 's language and literacy development. Little is known though, about fathers reading to their children. This study examined paternal and maternal bookreading frequency among 430 low-income families and investigated whether paternal bookreading and maternal bookreading predicted children 's early language and cognitive development and emergent literacy skills. Results demonstrated that mothers read more frequently to their toddlers than fathers but approximately 55% of fathers reported reading at least weekly to their children. Paternal bookreading at 24 and 36 months significantly predicted children's language and cognitive skills at age 36 months as …

The Bold And The Beautiful: Neural Responses To Natural Scene Statistics In Early Visual Cortex, Zoey Jeanne Isherwood, Mark M. Schira, Branka Spehar

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Abstract presented at The Asia-Pacific Conference on Vision (APCV) 2014 19-22 July 2014, Takamatsu, Japan

Recent Advances In Early Memory Development: Research On Typical And Atypical Children, Mikael Heimann, Jane S. Herbert, Tomas Tjus, Jerker Rönnberg

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

In order to learn about memory development one must start from the beginning. An infant goes through remarkable changes during the first years of life; they begin to crawl, talk, and actively engage with the world around them. Much too often in the history of psychology, the abilities present during the first years of life have been neglected, overlooked, or not given much weight in theory building. For example, because adults fail to recall events from the first years of their life, assumptions were made about the nature and form of memory during early development (for review,see Hayne & Jack, …

Regional Differences In Trait-Like Characteristics Of The Waking Eeg In Early Adolescence, Dominik C. Benz, Leila Tarokh, Peter Achermann, Sarah P. Loughran

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background: The human waking EEG spectrum shows high heritability and stability and, despite maturational cortical changes, high test-retest reliability in children and teens. These phenomena have also been shown to be region specific. We examined the stability of the morphology of the wake EEG spectrum in children aged 11 to 13 years recorded over weekly intervals and assessed whether the waking EEG spectrum in children may also be traitlike. Three minutes of eyes open and three minutes of eyes closed waking EEG was recorded in 22 healthy children once a week for three consecutive weeks. Eyes open and closed EEG …

Measuring The Spatiotemporal Profiles Of Neuronal Activity And Bold In Early Visual Cortex Using High Resolution Fmri, Mark M. Schira, Michael Breakspear, K M. Aquino

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Abstract presented at the Australian Neuroscience Society Inc 33rd Annual Meeting, 3-6 Feb 2013, Melbourne, Australia

Grammar In The Early Years: A Games-Based Approach, Imogene Cochrane, Amelia Reece, Katie Ahearn, Pauline Jones

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The Language strand of the Australian Curriculum: English provides scope for students to develop their understandings of how an author's purpose drives specific language choices in texts, including the use of a range of clause structures and word groups, and patterns of cohesion across texts (ACARA, 2013). This functionally oriented grammar content, and the metalanguage associated with it, needs to be explicitly taught so that students can confidently analyse the deliberate language choices made by authors, as well as make informed personal choices when developing and expressing ideas in their own texts. This paper will model the manner in which …

Early Start: Grand Designs For Learning, Ian Brown, Pauline Lysaght

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Paper presented at the London International Conference on Education, 19-22 November 2012, London, UK

Well-designed environments that stimulate intellectual curiosity, encourage social interaction and promote a sense of community, support effective learning across the education spectrum. This paper presents a case study of a multi-functional facility situated at the University of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia that meets this design brief. 'Early Start' will transform teaching, research and community engagement in the higher education sector whilst offering unique learning opportunities to children, young people and their families. Importantly, it also has the potential for addressing social, educational and economic …

The Early Years And Later Development: Evidence And Social Policy, Edward Melhuish

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Keynote address at the Growing Up in Ireland Annual Research Conference, 1 December 2011, Dublin, Ireland

Early Years Research And Policy, Edward Melhuish

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Presentation made at The 9th Meeting of the OECD Network on Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) - "Family and Community Engagement", 4-5 July 2011, Paris, France.

Early Years Research And Implications For Policymaking: The Uk Experience, Edward Melhuish

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Why should we focus on the early years? One reason is the accumulation of evidence that indicates that the child's experience in the early years has profound consequences for later life. There are now many studies that present a consistent picture indicating that adversity in early life, such as frequently accompanies child poverty, is linked to: poor adult mental and physical health , adult mortality, anti‐social and criminal behaviour, substance abuse and poor literacy and academic achievement.

Early Years Experience And Longer-Term Child Development: Research And Implications For Policymaking, Edward Melhuish

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Why should we focus on the early years? One reason is the accumulation of evidence that indicates that the child's experience in the early years has profound consequences for later life. There are now many studies that present a consistent picture indicating that adversity in early life, such as frequently accompanies child poverty, is linked to: poor adult mental and physical health , adult mortality, anti-social and criminal behaviour, substance abuse and poor literacy and academic achievement.