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Full-Text Articles in Education
Income Supplementation Interventions In Economically Developing Countries, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake, Petra Lietz
Income Supplementation Interventions In Economically Developing Countries, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake, Petra Lietz
Dr Petra Lietz
Income supplementation interventions provide cash transfers directly to the parents/families of young children, with the objective of improving learning and other outcomes. Interventions of this type directly address poverty as the origin of many of the challenges to children’s learning in economically developing contexts. Such programs seek to affect positively child wellbeing and readiness to learn as well as the home learning environments. These effects can be achieved by using the additional income, for example, to support centre-based childcare or school attendance, to buy more nutritious food or to enable parents to spend more time with their children. The eight …
Parent-Focused Interventions In Economically Developing Countries, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake, Petra Lietz
Parent-Focused Interventions In Economically Developing Countries, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake, Petra Lietz
Dr Jen Jackson
The authors conducted a scoping review of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) interventions in economically developing countries between 1998 and 2017, aimed at improving children’s learning in the years before school. The review identified 37 parent-focused studies from 19 countries which provide an evidence base for parent-focused interventions that have both depth and geographical breadth. This policy note outlines characteristics of these interventions which contribute to changes in developmental outcomes for children. It found that of all ECEC interventions, the largest body of effectiveness evidence is available for parent-focused programs.
Income Supplementation Interventions In Economically Developing Countries, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake, Petra Lietz
Income Supplementation Interventions In Economically Developing Countries, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake, Petra Lietz
Dr Jen Jackson
Income supplementation interventions provide cash transfers directly to the parents/families of young children, with the objective of improving learning and other outcomes. Interventions of this type directly address poverty as the origin of many of the challenges to children’s learning in economically developing contexts. Such programs seek to affect positively child wellbeing and readiness to learn as well as the home learning environments. These effects can be achieved by using the additional income, for example, to support centre-based childcare or school attendance, to buy more nutritious food or to enable parents to spend more time with their children. The eight …
Measurement Of Young Children's Learning For Program Evaluation, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake, Petra Lietz
Measurement Of Young Children's Learning For Program Evaluation, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake, Petra Lietz
Dr Jen Jackson
The global commitment to early learning has been expressed in the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals Agenda (SDG) (United Nations, 2016) and access to support for early learning is considered a human right for all children, whether provided by the family, community, or institutional programs (UNESCO, 2013). Inadequate cognitive stimulation has been identified as one of the key psychosocial risk factors associated with poor child development – a factor that is modifiable, with the right interventions (Walker et al., 2007). Thus, insights into how early learning supports may be delivered effectively in various contexts are essential. To explore the …
What Can Early Childhood Education And Care Settings Teach Us About Skills For The 21st Century?, Dan Cloney, Kellie Picker
What Can Early Childhood Education And Care Settings Teach Us About Skills For The 21st Century?, Dan Cloney, Kellie Picker
Dr Dan Cloney
Early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings are naturally oriented towards promoting 21st century skills. This can be seen in Australia, where learning is defined as the development of identity, social and emotional skills, problem-solving, and communication skills. A 21st century orientation is also seen in the playbased pedagogies implemented in ECEC settings. A gap, however, exists in the ability of the ECEC sector to communicate its successes. This gap relates to the lack of measurement tools to quantify the quality of the adult–child interactions in ECEC settings, and children’s growth in these 21 century skills and abilities. This paper …
Improving Young Children's Learning In Economically Developing Countries: What Works, Why, And Where? Scoping Review, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake, Petra Lietz
Improving Young Children's Learning In Economically Developing Countries: What Works, Why, And Where? Scoping Review, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake, Petra Lietz
Dr Jen Jackson
This scoping review responds to the increasing interest in improving early childhood education and care (ECEC) in economically developing countries. It examines available research in relation to the question: What effective interventions have been implemented recently in economically developing countries to improve children’s learning in the years before school? As much of the research underpinning ECEC interventions has focused on economically developed countries, it is timely to review available research about the effectiveness of interventions in the economically developing world. The ECEC interventions were categorised as Income supplementation (n=8); Parent-focused interventions (n=37); Child-focused education and nurturing care (n=35); Integrated interventions …
Buk Bilong Pikinini Literacy Program Evaluation 2018: Evaluation Report, Dan Cloney, Prue Anderson
Buk Bilong Pikinini Literacy Program Evaluation 2018: Evaluation Report, Dan Cloney, Prue Anderson
Dr Dan Cloney
Buk bilong Pikinini (BbP) provides access to early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs with a specific focus on English language literacy for children from vulnerable communities in Papua New Guinea. This is highly relevant, given the fact that there is likely an over-representation of illiteracy in disadvantaged households and few opportunities for children within those households to be ready for a school system with English as the language of instruction. Established in 2007, BbP has been in operation for more than 10 years and has opened 17 library sites in that time. This evaluation provides evidence about the likely …
Using Measures Of Quality To Improve The Learning Outcomes Of All Children, Dan Cloney
Using Measures Of Quality To Improve The Learning Outcomes Of All Children, Dan Cloney
Dr Dan Cloney
There is compelling evidence that high-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs can act to narrow achievement gaps attributed to social inequality. This evidence is typically observed in model programs, designed by experts and offered to vulnerable families outside the market. In everyday settings, where market forces may price families out of certain programs or poor local availability may preclude attendance, ECEC programs do not appear to deliver these significant gains or close these gaps. There is a need to continually improve quality in all ECEC settings to deliver on the potential of early education. It is unclear, however, …
The Case For Urgency: Advocating For Indigenous Voice In Education, Kevin P. Gillan, Suzanne Mellor, Jacynta Krakouer
The Case For Urgency: Advocating For Indigenous Voice In Education, Kevin P. Gillan, Suzanne Mellor, Jacynta Krakouer
Jacynta Krakouer
In 2004 the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) published an Australian Education Review (AER) on Indigenous Education: The Case for Change: A review of contemporary research on Indigenous education outcomes, AER 47 (Mellor & Corrigan, 2004). In the 13 years since its publication, the state of Indigenous education outcomes has remained substantially unaltered. All the social indicators demonstrate that Australia’s First Nations people continue to be the most socio-economically disadvantaged population cohort in Australian society. This is after decades of continued policy efforts by successive Commonwealth, state and territory governments to ameliorate Indigenous education disadvantage. We still struggle with …
The Case For Urgency: Advocating For Indigenous Voice In Education, Kevin P. Gillan, Suzanne Mellor, Jacynta Krakouer
The Case For Urgency: Advocating For Indigenous Voice In Education, Kevin P. Gillan, Suzanne Mellor, Jacynta Krakouer
Suzanne Mellor
In 2004 the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) published an Australian Education Review (AER) on Indigenous Education: The Case for Change: A review of contemporary research on Indigenous education outcomes, AER 47 (Mellor & Corrigan, 2004). In the 13 years since its publication, the state of Indigenous education outcomes has remained substantially unaltered. All the social indicators demonstrate that Australia’s First Nations people continue to be the most socio-economically disadvantaged population cohort in Australian society. This is after decades of continued policy efforts by successive Commonwealth, state and territory governments to ameliorate Indigenous education disadvantage. We still struggle with …
Early Years Transitions: Supporting Children And Families At Risk Of Experiencing Vulnerability: Rapid Literature Review, Jacynta Krakouer, Pru Mitchell, Jenny Trevitt, Anita Kochanoff
Early Years Transitions: Supporting Children And Families At Risk Of Experiencing Vulnerability: Rapid Literature Review, Jacynta Krakouer, Pru Mitchell, Jenny Trevitt, Anita Kochanoff
Pru Mitchell
This rapid literature review on support for children and families at risk of experiencing vulnerability in early years transitions was commissioned by the Victorian Department of Education and Training. It sought to understand how Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services, professionals and teachers could better support children at risk of vulnerability, and their families, during transitions. The transitions included are from home, out-of-home care (OOHC) and other programs/services to ECEC services and to school. In particular, this review focuses on the support needs of children who have experienced trauma, children living in out-of-home care, refugee children, and children who …
Early Years Transitions: Supporting Children And Families At Risk Of Experiencing Vulnerability: Rapid Literature Review, Jacynta Krakouer, Pru Mitchell, Jenny Trevitt, Anita Kochanoff
Early Years Transitions: Supporting Children And Families At Risk Of Experiencing Vulnerability: Rapid Literature Review, Jacynta Krakouer, Pru Mitchell, Jenny Trevitt, Anita Kochanoff
Jacynta Krakouer
This rapid literature review on support for children and families at risk of experiencing vulnerability in early years transitions was commissioned by the Victorian Department of Education and Training. It sought to understand how Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services, professionals and teachers could better support children at risk of vulnerability, and their families, during transitions. The transitions included are from home, out-of-home care (OOHC) and other programs/services to ECEC services and to school. In particular, this review focuses on the support needs of children who have experienced trauma, children living in out-of-home care, refugee children, and children who …
Aboriginal Early Childhood Education: Why Attendance And True Engagement Are Equally Important, Jacynta Krakouer
Aboriginal Early Childhood Education: Why Attendance And True Engagement Are Equally Important, Jacynta Krakouer
Jacynta Krakouer
The Australian government has increasingly recognised the importance of quality early childhood education (ECE) for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, as noted in a variety of policy documents such as the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Closing the Gap targets of the Rudd government in 2008, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Action Plan 2010-2014, and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Strategy 2015 (Tye, 2014; Dreise & Thomson, 2014; Education Council, 2015). However, the focus in Aboriginal ECE is still on improving access to, and attendance at ECE centres in Australia rather than highlighting the reasons …
Footprints In Time : Who Am I? And Renfrew Word Finding Vocabulary Test : Report On Wave 2 Data, Sarah Buckley, Catherine Underwood, Nola Purdie
Footprints In Time : Who Am I? And Renfrew Word Finding Vocabulary Test : Report On Wave 2 Data, Sarah Buckley, Catherine Underwood, Nola Purdie
Dr Sarah Buckley
This report presents the results of administration of the Who Am I? and the Renfrew Word Finding Vocabulary Test for the LSIC Wave 2 data collection in 2009. Who am I? is a developmental assessment that requires the child to write their name, copy shapes, write letters, numbers and words in a small booklet, with simple instructions and encouragement from the interviewer. Who am I? is not language dependent and is suitable for children with limited English. The assessment takes about 10 minutes to complete and is suitable for preschool children and children in the first two years of school. …
Starting School : A Strengths‐Based Approach Towards Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Children, Stephanie Armstrong, Sarah Buckley, Michele Lonsdale, Gina Milgate, Laura Bennetts Kneebone, Louise Cook, Fiona Skelton
Starting School : A Strengths‐Based Approach Towards Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Children, Stephanie Armstrong, Sarah Buckley, Michele Lonsdale, Gina Milgate, Laura Bennetts Kneebone, Louise Cook, Fiona Skelton
Dr Sarah Buckley
This paper highlights the need for a strengths-based approach to school readiness for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, in order to recognise the skills, cultural knowledge and understandings they already have when they transition to formal learning. The study, a joint project by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA), reviews the literature and uses a strength-based analysis of information from Footprints in Time: The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC) to examine Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children’s abilities and knowledge at 4-6 years of age. …
Current Requirements For Tertiary Qualifications In Early Childhood Education : Implications For Policy : Final Report, Glenn Rowley, Julie Kos, Bridie Raban, Marilyn Fleer, Joy Cullen, Alison Elliott
Current Requirements For Tertiary Qualifications In Early Childhood Education : Implications For Policy : Final Report, Glenn Rowley, Julie Kos, Bridie Raban, Marilyn Fleer, Joy Cullen, Alison Elliott
Dr Julie Kos
The Office of Early Childhood Education and Child Care (OECECC) within the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) commissioned the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to map and analyse currently available Early Childhood education and care (ECEC) tertiary courses across Australia. ACER is undertaking this project in partnership with Monash University. This report considers issues raised by the project and sets out four key issues raised by this work, detailing the possible policy implications that could flow from the findings, in addition to potential further research implications.
Mathematical Thinking Of Young Children Through The Eyes Of Preschool Practitioners, Robert Hunting, Catherine Pearn
Mathematical Thinking Of Young Children Through The Eyes Of Preschool Practitioners, Robert Hunting, Catherine Pearn
Catherine Pearn
This paper reports on interview responses to three questions seeking preschool practitioners' perceptions of mathematical thinking in very young children. Generally, the interviewees were found to have a good sense of mathematical concepts relevant to babies and toddlers, and they cited evidence of young children's mathematical development. It is concluded that this practical knowledge provides a strong foundation for further professional development. [Author abstract]