Early Childhood Education Commons^™

The Early Grade Reading Assessment: Assessing Children's Acquisition Of Basic Literacy Skills In Developing Countries (Superseded Version), Australian Council For Educational Research

Assessment GEMS

The Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA), administered individually in about 15 minutes, measures the most basic foundation skills for literacy acquisition in the early grades. The assessment was developed by the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) through funding provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank (Gove & Wetterberg, 2011), in addition to resources provided by RTI. The EGRA was developed to provide a battery of assessments of basic reading skills for developing countries to monitor the status of early reading in primary schools. The assessment tool was first implemented in The Gambia and Senegal …

Case 10: Brunswick Montessori Children’S House, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Tender Bridge

Rain cleared and the sun came out for the official opening of the Brunswick Montessori Children’s House in mid-September 2014. Tender Bridge attended the opening of the early learning centre, located in the grounds of Brunswick North West Primary School in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. The early learning centre has been a Tender Bridge subscriber for several years. Anne Miles, one of three women driving the project since its inception, spoke to Tender Bridge about the journey.

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

Indigenous Education Research

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. …

Content Fundamentals For A Tv Show Aimed At Indigenous Children Aged 3 To 6: A Literature Review And Discussion Paper, David Norris

Indigenous Education Research

The following literature review was undertaken to establish a foundation for the discussion of potential content (and the issues pertaining to the implementation of that content) for an educational television program aimed at Indigenous children aged 3 to 6. Specifically, the literature was read with an eye to identifying the most effective and relevant learning styles, teaching techniques and subject matters that will successfully engage, support and inform Indigenous children and their families in the transition from home/pre-school to school, and onwards into their early years of schooling.

Using Television To Improve Learning Opportunities For Indigenous Children, Michele Lonsdale

Indigenous Education Research

This report is based on a review of the literature on the importance of early childhood learning, the nature of Indigenous learning needs, and the role of educational television programs in improving learning outcomes for preschool-aged children. The report is intended to provide an evidence base for a proposal to develop an educational television program aimed primarily at Indigenous children from three to six years. (In this report the term ‘Indigenous’ refers to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.) There is an extensive body of research that shows the critical importance of early childhood in children’s learning and development, including for …

Preschool Education In Australia, Andrew Dowling, Kate O’Malley

Policy Briefs

Early childhood education (ECE) in Australia will soon experience a ‘radical makeover.’ In 2008, all Australian governments made a commitment through the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) that by 2013, all children in the year before formal schooling will have access to high quality early childhood education programs delivered by degreequalified early childhood teachers, for 15 hours per week, 40 weeks of the year, in public, private and community-based preschools and child care. The purpose of this policy brief is to summarise the current structure of preschool in Australia in contemplation of this major policy shift. This paper describes the …

Early Childhood Education : Pathways To Quality And Equity For All Children, Alison Elliott

Australian Education Review

AER 50 calls for a coherent, long-term national action plan and timeline to develop and implement an integrated, well-funded, regulated and managed system of early childhood education and care with clear goals, priorities and outcomes. The review describes the current provision of early childhood services in Australia and examines relevant policy. It also provides an overview of the early childhood education research, in Australia and internationally, and uses this body of work to identify and illuminate the central issues.

Numeracy In The Early Years: Project Good Start, Sue Thomson, Ken Rowe, Catherine Underwood, Ray Peck

School and system improvement

Project Good Start investigated the effectiveness of numeracy programmes for Australian children in the year before school and the first year of schooling. Qualitative and quantitative data was collected from pre-schools, early childhood centres and primary schools, tovinvestigate the practice and learning experiences that best support children’s early numeracy development.

Diversity And Learning In The Early Years Of School, Tracey Frigo, Isabelle Adams

Indigenous Education Research

This paper reports on a longitudinal study being conducted by Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and a team of Aboriginal consultants in thirteen schools across Australia, which is following the progress of a group of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in their early years of schooling. The data collected includes measures of early literacy and numeracy, complemented by qualitative data gathered through interviews, questionnaires and observation. The paper describes the diverse learning environments experienced by this group of children, and the many ways that schools and teachers are attempting to maximise effective learning environments for these children in …

Errors In The Use Of English By A Group Of Pre-School Children, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Information Bulletin 1945-1951

Information Bulletin No. 21 reported the pronunciation errors of a group of pre-school children in an inner suburb of Melbourne. This bulletin reports their errors in English Usage.

The group consisted of twelve boys and twelve girls, all of whom in 1951 enrolled for the first time at a state school in Melbourne. They were observed, and their speech recorded, for the ten days November 20-24, and November 27-December 1st while in a special group formed for the purpose at the Lady Gowrie Centre in Melbourne. Their ages ranged from 4 years 10 months to 5 years 8 months. The …

Pronunciation Errors In The Spontaneous Speech Of A Group Of Pre-School Children, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Information Bulletin 1945-1951

Between 20th November and 1st December 1950, a study was made of the spontaneous vocabulary of a group of twenty-four pre-school children in an inner suburb of Melbourne. The main purpose of the study was to examine the quantity and quality of vocabulary used by the children in a variety of situations, together with as many related factors as possible. Through the co-operation of a speech therapist associated with a speech clinic at the Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, a phonetic record was made of samples of the spontaneous speech of each of the twenty-four children. [p.1, ed]

There was no …

The Structure Of The Spontaneous Speech Of A Group Of Pre-School Children, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Information Bulletin 1945-1951

This bulletin reports the results of an analysis into certain categories of about 12,000 spontaneous utterances of a group of pre-school children. It is hoped that it will be found useful in providing suggestions as to the base from which oral expression work in the infant grade might start. [p.1, ed]

The group consisted of twelve boys and twelve girls, all of whom in 1951 enrolled for the first time at a state school in Melbourne. They were observed, and their speech recorded, for the ten days November 20-24, and November 27 -December 1st, 1950, while in a special group …

A Speech Vocabulary Of Australian Pre-School Children, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Information Bulletin 1945-1951

Between 20th November and 1st December 1950, the A.C.E.R. brought together a group of twenty-four children at the Lady Gowrie Child Centre in Melbourne for the purpose of studying their vocabulary.

Stenographers recorded as much as possible of the spontaneous speech of the children during play and other activities. Complete records were also obtained of their speech while talking the Terman-Merrill, Rorschach, Buhler and Murray tests, and while talking about a series of twenty-there pictures portraying a wide range of scenes and activities.

From those records (with the exception of the Murray test) a list of all the words used …

The Story Of An Australian Nursery School, Mary Valentine Gutteridge

Australian Educational Studies

The opening of this Nursery School forms a part of an extensive movement that is taking place in many countries of the world. The Nursery School has sprung into existence to meet the needs of the child, who, no longer a baby in arms, is not yet ready for the activities of the kindergarten. This child at eighteen months has outgrown the ordinary nursery; is longing for something that will challenge his growing powers of mind and body, and for the opportunity of playing with those of his own age and strength. The Nursery School is a definite result of …