Notes from Teacher Training Workshop by Kay Albrecht (USA)
Linking Theories of Child Development to Child-Rearing Practices: A Trans-Cultural Perspective on Early Education and Culture by Olasumbo S. Apanpa, Ph.D (Nigeria)
Community Hubs: Their Capacity to Enhance Social Capital and Service Provision for Families and Young Children by Ann Farrell, Collette Tayler, and Lee Tennent (Australia)
Women as Change Agents in Early Years Care and Education – A Perspective from Northern Ireland by Siobhan Fitzpatrick (Northern Ireland)
The Juggling Game: Beginning directors’ stories of becoming leaders by Rhonda Forrest (Australia)
Education for LIFE: Contrasted Points of View by Daniel Jutras, Ph.D. (Canada)
An Experimental Study on Preschool Teachers’ Awareness About Turkish Children’s Readiness for Learning to Read: A Suggested Programme by Ebru Aktan Kerem, Ph.D. (Turkey)
Guidelines for Helping Children Deal with Violence by Diane Levin, Ph.D. (USA)
Early Literacy with Pacfic Island Children in ECE Services by Juliana Malaealu (Fiji)
The Use of Video to Observe Play and Research Socialization Activities in Preschool Settings in Northern Ireland by Roisin McCooey (Northern Ireland)
Food rights and responsibilities by Nadine L. McCrea (Australia)
Childcare from a Zimbabwean Perspective: Comparisons and Contrasts by Jane Nkomo (Zimbabwe)
Curbing Violence in the Childhood Years in Nigeria by Dr. (Mrs.) F. Ajike Osanyin (Nigeria)
Children Affected and Infected by HIV/AIDS in Africa: A Joint Initiative of the ECDNA
by Barnabas Otaala, Ed.D. (Namibia)
Critical Issues in Early Childhood Education in Africa by Barnabas Otaala, Ed.D. (Namibia)
Identifying and Serving Young Children with Special Needs in Natural Environments and Inclusive Community-Based Programs by Don Piburn (USA)
Having Time for Children and How to Create It by Ilse Elisabeth Plattner (Namibia)
Children in Detention – An Australian Issue by Judy Radich (Australia)
Te Whaariki: the New Zealand Curriculum Framework by Jilly Tyler (New Zealand)
Step by Step Model of Developing, Supporting and Maintaining the Quality in the Education of Young Children by Tatjana Vonta (Slovenia)
Children & Violence: Ways of Making Peace by Norma Williams (Australia)
Accreditation and Quality for the Children of 2010 by Lily Wong, Ed.D. (Singapore)
Notes from Teacher Training Workshop
by Kay Albrecht
| Problem | Solutions |
| Lack of mentoring |
|
| Uneven content focus in teacher education programs |
|
| Lack of focus on personal/social development of candidate (teachers in training) |
|
| Status of teachers |
|
| Stress |
|
| Lack of continuing education options |
|
| Lack of understanding, information about, and reflection related to best practices | |
| Poor financial compensation |
|
| Finding teachers with the right dispositions |
|
| Availability, access, and diversity of training/education programs |
|
Linking Theories of Child Development to Child – Rearing Practices: A Trans-Cultural Perspective on Early Education and Culture
By Olasumbo S. Apanpa Ph.D
Abstract
The paper discusses child-rearing practices and beliefs about development theories from around the globe.
In discussing child-rearing practices the point was made in the paper, that these are based and rooted in the cultures of people.
Recent findings, which has led to the universalizing of Early Childhood Education are highlighted.
A comparison of child-rearing practices in Africa and Europe are discussed with the benefits to children clearly highlighted.
The paper concludes with a call on early childcare practitioners to break new grounds in planning developments on Early Child Education.
1.0 Introduction and Background
Beliefs about the nature of children have influenced child-rearing practices over the years. These beliefs are rooted in the cultures and values of people and they change with time, even within a given culture.
Cultural beliefs have also led to formulation of theories of child development and child-rearing practices. For example, the strict puritanical views of the English – speaking people, in the early 19th century led to the belief that, children had evil propensities. Infact children’s first emotions were said to be evil and this was said to influence their actions, even in later years. (Kessen 1965).
With time, there were changes in beliefs concerning the nature of children, and these also led to broader views in prevailing theories of child development. Changes in prevailing conditions of life, such as those associated with the transition from an agragrian to an industrial economy, also brought about changes in attitudes, because of shifts in the relationship between families, and between children and their caregivers.
One thing is clear though, child development are a result of the influence of both biological and environmental factors, though competing theories might differ in the degree to which they emphasize one set of influence over anther. Educationist, early childcare practitioners, parents and other caregivers are aware of this fact.
A people’s beliefs and values, and their ideas, about the qualities children have to develop in order to function effectively as adults in the society, influence the ways in which people raise their children and interact with them. The requirements of life in a particular society, the skills and abilities valued by that society also influence their child-rearing practices. All these factors constitute a most important set of influences on the child’s development. These factors make up the child’s social environment, and they differ from one cultural group to another.
For example, in some African societies, where the boy-child is valued more than the girl-child, preferential treatment is given to the boy, to encourage his growth and development.
For the purpose of this discussion early childhood is that period between 0 – 6 years of age.
2.0 Theories of Child Development
Theories of child development are based on the science of human development in general, which in turn is based on developmental psychology. The central issue in the field of developmental psychology has been that of determining the conditions, which shape development. This issue has been referred to as the "nature-nurture controversy". Early developmentalist took the position that developmental change was mainly a result of genetic influences. Later theories challenged the position by saying that, environmental factors played the central role in determining behavioural change.
Theory of child development based on the Nature-Nurture", beliefs, had its proponents in Hall, (1901) whose theory of child development were essentially a biological model. Hall was strongly influenced by Darwin’s theory of evolution. For Hall, individual development was essentially predetermined by genetics, though he recognized the influence of the environment. Hall’s position influenced and shaped the views of child development in the United States. Goddard, who introduced the Binet intelligence test, (to measure 1Q) was his student. Also, Lewis Sterman who constructed the Stanford – Binet intelligence test, claimed Hall as his mentor. Hall’s views on development was a much needed corrective on the earlier views guiding child rearing in the United States (Henderson & Bergman, 1995).
Theories of child development based on the behaviourist model had its proponent in John Watson (1930). Behaviourism was then a radical form of environmentalism which states that individual variations in observable action were entirely experientially based Watson believed so much in experience, that he wrote, "Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed and my own specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee you to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, laywer, artist merchant-chief, and yes, even beggar-men and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations and race of his ancestors" (Watson 1930 p. 104).
Behaviourists do not deny the influence of genetic factors on the individual, but they take the position that, genetic endowment determines the manner in which the environment influence behaviour. B. F. Skinner (1953), another behaviourist, thus asserted that in all individuals who are not severely structurally damaged, behaviour is controlled by the antecedent and consequent events surrounding it. In 1954, Skinner, in an article faulted existing educational practice for its failure to make systematic use of reinforcement principles. He argued that the careful sequencing of instructional content, coupled with immediate positive reinforcement for correct responses would eventuate in a significant enhancement of student learning" (Skinner, 1954).
Contemporary behaviourists like Bandura (1974), expressed the view, that, the behavioural view of child or human development, were criticized, because it failed to emphasize the role which people play in interpreting and modifying their environment. The central emphasis of behavioural science and technology has been on environmental control of behaviour. In behavioural conceptions of socialization, socializing agents, such as parents, and teachers have typically played the role of the controlling environment. Children on the other hand, have generally been assigned the part of the individual being controlled. The potential is thus present to think of the child in purely mechanistic terms within the environmental-control paradigm.
Viewed from the contemporary behavioural perspective, the child is thus an active agent in the socialization process, since he plays an active part in shaping the conditions around him. Moreover he can learn how to manage his environment in systematic ways to guide his own development (Mahoney & Thoresen, 1974).
Recognition of environmental influences on intellectual growth brought shifts in research question related to the nature-nurture debate. The earlier either or issue gradually gave way to concerns about the relative contributions of heredity and environmental factors to development and about the manner in which heredity and environment interact to determine development.
Jean Piaget was of the interactive view. Piaget described development as occurring in a series of invariant stages, each characterised by a discrete set of mental operations used in organizing experience and adapting to the environment. According to Piaget, the tendencies to organise experience and to adapt to changing conditions in the environment are genetically determined, but the rate of developmental progress is influenced by experience.
Piagetans thus advise parents and teachers attempting to promote intellectual growth to adapt environmental influences to the developmental level of the child.
Sigmund Freud (1938) also formulated a comprehensive theory of socialization based on the interactive view point. In the Freudian system the influence of ‘nature’ was represented by the ‘Id’, the seat of instructions, ‘nurture’ was represented by the ‘superego’, which was comprised of internalized values instilled in the child by parents, and by the ego, the seat of rational thought.
According to the Freudian view, the manner in which parents raised their children in the early years was thought to be a crucial determinant in later development. Parents receiving Freudian advice are told to breastfeed their children, in order to provide them with a lasting sense of security. They are told not to be too harsh in their demands during toilet training, and to defer training until the child can communicate well enough to understand what is expected. It is thought that excessive demands in toilet training can destroy the child’s confidence in his ability to perform tasks adequately. The modern interactive position in social development has gone well beyond Freudian theory, by considering the effects of innate characteristics on environmental determinant of the behaviour of the child. Freud and his follower thought of innate factors as direct influences on individual behaviour, but they did not emphasize the influence of innate variables on the environment, which supported behaviour. Interactive theorists presently hold that innate factors can produce highly significant influences on environmental variables which control specific behaviours. For example, sex is an innate characteristic which is used to produce differences in the treatment of children as earlier mentioned. This view support differential behaviour patterns in boys and girls and men and women. While in some case, sex-related differences in behaviour may be beneficial to the individual and society, in other cases they do not have a salutary effect.
The stereotypes of the aggressive male, and helpless female, for example, in so far as they accurately depict male and female reactions, are qualities of questionable value. Yet society does much to foster passivity in girls and aggression in boys (Bandura, 1969).
Whilst early developmentalists believed (based on their theory of maturation and readiness) that maturational factors limited the kinds of experiences which will produce effective learning in the child. Bruner (1960) faulted this thinking, saying early developmentalists failed to recognize that instructional content could be altered to fit the developmental level of the child. The work of Erikson. (1950), regarding self-direction is also relevant. Erikson states that the development of self-direction from the trait or state point is effected primarily by child-rearing practices controlling the formation of traits and states.
The theories highlighted in this section are by no means exhaustive of all child development theories available to us, but they serve as background to the principles guiding child-rearing practices over the years.
Early childcare and education was thus based on a number of theories that were highlighted above. From the nature-nurture, to the behaviourist, environmentalist and interactive models, views and options informing the care and development of young children were thus formulated and established. But what gave impetus to early care and education, as a world-wide phenomenon, was most probably the "Education for All forum", held in Jomtien, Thailand in 1990. at that conference, the slogan, "learning begins at birth", was formed, and so the need for early stimulation and development, even from age 0, was thus mooted.
The need for early care and development had its backing in scientific research. According to researches, most brain development happens before a child reaches three years of age, the brain cells of a new infant proliferate, synapses crackle and the patterns of a lifetime are established. In a short 36 months, children develop their abilities to think and speak, learn and reason and lay the foundation for their values and social behaviour as adults (Unicef, 2001).
The point was thus made that in the first moments, months and years of life, every touch, movement and emotion in a young child’s life translates into an explosion of electrical and chemical activity in the brain, as billions of cells are organizing themselves into networks requiring millions of synapses between them (Unicef The State of the World’s Children, 2001).
Early care and education was thus seen as a right of the child, in line with the Rights of children, following on from the World Summit for Children in 1989. Unicef in its 2001 edition of the State of World’s children, (whose theme was Early child hood) advocates for the care and development of the very young, by asserting thus:
"The early childhood years are when experiences and interactions with parents, family members and other adults influence the way a child’s brain develops, with as much impact, as such factors as adequate nutrition, good health and clean water… how the child develops during this period sets the stage for later success in school and the character of adolescence and adulthood". (Unicef, State of the World’s Children, 2001).
When infants are held and touched in soothing ways, they tend to thrive. Warm, responsiveness, and care seems to have a protective function, to some extent "immunizing an infant against the effects of stress experienced later in life. But the brain malleability during these early years also means that when children do not get the care they need, or if they experience starvation, abuse or neglect, the brain development may be compromised.
Early care and education thus became a universal viewpoint. Every child, no matter her background or the status of her parents was to be given adequate stimulation and care in the early years, as it was now a right of the child. Before this time, early education, which was given in formal nursery schools or kindergartens was for the children of the rich. But now with government all over the world getting involved, and with parental education, early child care, need not be an expensive affair available only to the rich.
3.0 Culture and the Care of the Child in Early Childhood
Culture was first used to refer to all of human custom (Keesing, 1958) by anthropologist. The definition of culture by Tylor also an anthropologist, is also relevant. According to Tylor (1958), culture is "that complete whole which includes knowledge, belief, and, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society" (Tylor 1955 p. 1). The habits, products and capabilities that constitute culture do not come from an individual’s own creative activities, rather they are his legacy from the past and they are conveyed to him through formal and informal education (Lowe, 1937).
What are the cultural beliefs regarding children in Nigeria or Africa as a whole?
Children are regarded as priceless gifts from God, as victory over death, and as a legacy and link to the future. A typical folksong on the value of children by the Yoruba goes thus:
"children are the clothes for the earth, children are our clothes. If we have twenty slaves and fifty workers, when we die, it is children who will remain in the house, children are our cloths. God in heaven, let us have good children to leave behind, after we are gone. Children are our clothes".
This song, and many more like that, typify the high esteem in which children are held and regarded by practically all cultures in Nigeria. That is why the birth of a new-born is a cause for celebration and joy, and the mother is thus not left alone to take care of her. Aunts, grandparents, and others are usually at hand to see to the care and development of the child according to the prevailing customs of the people. Thus, apart from breastfeeding, bathing the child and other cares are usually done by older people, to allow the mother recover from the trauma of childbirth.
This view of children sometimes led to over pampering. But it also gave must children emotional security, as hardly is a child left to cry for long, without being attended to. This is because; if the mother was otherwise engaged there were others more than willing to attend to the child.
Also, the Nigerian child sleeps on the same bed with his parents at night, when small and is carried on the back of the mother, or older sibling during the day time, this provides the child with constant human warmth and presence and consolidates the mother-child emotional bond shown to be vital for the emotional and social development of a child.
The Nigerian practice which is a general Africa child rearing practice was supported by research, as revealed by Travers (1982, 225).
"The new well-established fact is that infant crying does not disappear if it is ignored, but becomes more persistent. Crying is reduced when it is accompanied by attention and concern on the part of the mother".
In most African cultures, circumcision is a routine thing on the eighth day for both boys and girls. The circumcision of girls is based on the belief, that girls not circumcised easily become promiscuous, when introduced to the sex act. Recent calls for the scrapping of circumcision of girls in Africa is based essentially on its health implications.
Child-rearing practices in Africa, has led to a marked difference in the growth and development of African children compared to their European and American counterparts. In fact, precocity was used to describe the behaviours of African children in certain respects. Precocity means that the way an infant behaves is more advanced than would normally be expected of a child of that age. (Mwamwenda, 1995 p. 44-5).
In Uganda a research, comparing normal children with those who had kwashiorkor (Wober 1975) using Gessel-type, technique, was carried out by Dr. Dean (Uganda), and Dr. Geber (France). The study tested 37 infants who were less than one day old, checking their reflexes, muscular tone and coordination. The result shows differences between African and European children with the following findings.
- Ugandan children had their eyes wide open and they looked quite lively;
- One kept attempting to remove bandage placed on his scalp.
The conclusion, based on Geber’s study is that African children develop faster than normal expectation, and this shows precocity in their early development and growth, before weaning occurs (Geber, 1958).
A former student of Geber also replicated this study in Senegal, West Africa and the result was the same. It was reported that from the age of 4 to 36 weeks, the Senegalse children consistently scored above Gessel norms. Some of the skills observed relate to locomotion (which is reported to have been more advanced). Language acquisition was also quite advanced. There were children of a year old operating on a vocabulary of 12 words compared with Griffin’s norm of about three (Wober 1975). The studies by Kilbride (1969), in Masaka, (a town in Uganda,) Liddicoat (1969) in South Africa and those carried out in Botswana, Tanzania, Zambia and Nigeria (Ohuche and Otaala 1981) also report precocity in African children.
Finally, in 50 worldwide studies carried out on psychomotor development, it was observed that African children showed the greater early acceleration of all the ethnic groups studied (Kilbride 1980; 182).
In trying to explain precocity in African children, researchers agreed that their motor development is stimulated by frequent handling, and that psychologically, the handling provides them with security. Wober (1975) and Killbride (1980) asserts that African infants receive a lot of physical and social stimulation which are enriching for their development in contrast to their American and European counter part (Fischer and Fischer 1966: 74).
Between the ages of two and three, children are taken off the breast, by their mothers. Before that time, the child must have been eating quite a bit of normal food, and so is considered old enough to be off the breast, or because the mother wants to have another baby. Different methods are used to take children off the breast. Sometimes, bitter substances or pepper may be rubbed on the nipples, so the child is put off breast-feeding as a result of the bad taste. In some cases herbs are mixed with the child’s food or tied around his neck, supposedly to stop the child from wanting the breast with a piece of cloth, or the mother simply refuse to yield to a child’s demand for breast feeding. Sometimes (less frequently) the child is sent to live with grandparents for a while (Van der Vliet 1974).
In early childhood, the changes taking place in the child, with regards to the physical, social and emotional development, have educational implications for the child, especially in the pre-school years with regards to physical development. A child needs adequate food which is vital for normal physical and intellectual development. The child who is inadequately fed will be stunted and intellectually will be unable to exercise the concentration required to solve problems in school. A child whose diet is deficient especially one low in protein is also likely to have a low 1Q.
In Nigeria, amongst families from low socio-economic background, children are usually not given meat to eat (an essential source of protein). The parents rationalize this by saying they want to keep the children from stealing. Meaning that, if a child is given meat to eat very early in life, she will not want to eat anything else, and if not available, the child is likely to steal meat from the soup pot.
The lack of protein in the diet of children from this background, account for their stunted growth, and kwashiorkor appearance. Such children usually start school late, and rarely do well in school at the initial stage.
Play is a dominant activity, and most children play almost endlessly, which contributes to the development of their muscles. Children in Africa have abundant opportunities to play out doors, as there are no restrictions, as to weather. Even during rainy seasons, most children are out bathing in the rain, without any serious danger to their heath.
For her social development, the child needs interaction with people beyond her immediate family. Most children in Africa are socialized from early in life, as there is interaction between them and a wide circle of family members, friends and neighbours constantly. Through interaction, the child learns social ways of behaving, such as greetings, going to the toilet, washing, dressing and playing with other children. For example, amongst the Yorubas, a child learns very early to prostrate when greeting the parents and other older adults. They boy will lie on the floor, or move towards the floor, and the girl will kneel, in greeting. That is acceptable social behaviour, and children are corrected by parents and other adults, if they forget to do this, when greeting older people.
As most African children are not exposed to pre-school education, most of the learning that they receive, is thus non-formal and oral, in the form of tales and teachings from grand parents and other older people. Also, most African children at this age run errands for their parents, and help with household chores. African children usually also make their own toys or play materials as most of their parents cannot afford to buy imported manufactured toys for them.
Emotional development in African children, are like that of their counterpart in Europe and America. In early childhood, children are helped to understand and control emotions, such as joy, laughter, sorrow, love, anger, jealousy and aggression. It is the responsibility of families and other caregivers to provide the pre-school child with opportunity for emotional development by making him feel loved, accepted and secure. Children are thus encouraged to show love and make friends with people around them. Negative emotions, such as aggression and dislike are usually discouraged by parents and other caregivers.
It is this important to enhance emotional development in the pre-school child, by showing him love, care, empathy and acceptance. Reinforcing appropriate behaviour and ignoring inappropriate behaviour, such as anger and aggression, and using conditioning or verbal, appeal in the case of fear of supernatural creatures, may also enhance emotional development in children (Mwamwenda 1995: p. 51).
4.0 Summary and Conclusions
The discussion has been on how the various theories of child development or human development have been linked with child-rearing practices world wide. The point was made that beliefs about the nature of children influenced child-rearing practices over the ages. The beliefs have been shown to be culturally-based, with their roots in a people’s beliefs, values, customs and traditions. Thus, child-rearing practices vary from one culture to another, and also with time, and changes in society and situations.
Regarding theories of child development, the discussion focused on some theories of child development of special interest to as early child care practitioners or specialists. This is because most theories of child development have been known to inform the development of curricula or syllabus for early child development and/or nursery education.
For example, most early childcare practitioners, cannot forget the work of Piaget with regards to stages of development in children. Also the theories of Brunner, Bandura, Montessori and other development psychologists have been known to influence the development of innovative curricula for early childcare or nursery education.
In Africa, even though child-rearing practices were not based on stated theories of child development, research has however supported some of these practices as it has led to precocity in African children.
However, the point must be made, that for African children, like their counterparts all over the world, some social changes are also determining how they are raised and brought up. With rural-urban migration, and most mothers going to work, more children in Nigeria, are now cared for in Daycare centres, from as early as six weeks of age.
Most children nowadays, do not enjoy the care of grandparents or other extended family members, and parents have to pay for keeping them with maids; or in Daycare centers, play group nursery schools; from very early in life. The implication is that for most children in the rural areas, or from poor socio-economic backgrounds, no Daycare centres, or nursery school is available for them.
In line with the rights of children and the Education for All summit (1990), The Nigerian government, like governments all over the world is now making efforts to universalize Early Childhood Education. Through collaboration with Unicef, government is providing support for communities to organise and run low-cost. Early Child Care Development (ECCD) centres in poor rural and urban areas. The support is in form of parental education, training of caregivers, and provision of infrastructure and some money, as salaries for workers in the centres.
The ECCD centres, since they are community-based and owned, of course build on the culture of the people, and they thus adopt and adapt some child-rearing practices beneficial to the Nigerian child of the 21st century. Those child-rearing practice deemed harmful to the child are discarded by the parents and other care-givers, through parental education, advocacy and awareness. Some of those practices, include: scaring of the body through facial marks, female circumcision, not giving meat to small children; and preferential treatment of boys over girls in a family.
In conclusion, in as much as theories of child development inform the care of children, the point has been made that the dominant culture of any society at a particular point in time, determine how children are reared by parents and other caregivers. Since culture is dynamic and not static, child-rearing practices will also change, as a result of new knowledge, ideas and researches. Our job as educationist, researchers and practitioners of early childhood education, is to always be on the lookout for the best practices in the overall interest of the child.
References
Bandura, A. (1969). Principles of behaviour modification. New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston.
Bandura, A. (1974). Behaviour theory and the models of man. American Psychologist 29,859 – 869.
Bruner, J. S. (1960). The process of education. New York: Vintage
Erikson, E. H. (1963). Childhood and Society. New York: Norton.
Fischer, J. L. & Fischer A. (1966). The New Englanders of Orchard Town. USA: New York: Wiley.
Freud, S. (1960). The Ego and the id. New York: Norton.
Geber, N. (1958). The Psychomotor Development of African Children in the first year and the influence of maternal behaviour. Journal of Social Psychology 47. 185 – 195.
Goddard, H. H. (1920). Human efficiency and levels of intelligence. Princeton, N. J. Princeton University Press.
Kessen, W. (1965). The child. New York John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Keesing, F. M. (1965). Cultural anthropology: The Science of Custom. New York, Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Kilbride, J. E. (1969). The Motor Development of Rural Baganda Infants. M. A. Dissertation. State College. Pennsylvania State University.
Kilbride, P. L. (1980). Sensorimotor behaviour of Baganda and Samia infants. A controlled comparison. Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology 2. 131-152.
Liddicoat R. (1969). Development of Bantu children Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology 1184 – 822.
Mahoney, M. J. & Thoresen, C. E. (1974). Self-control: Power to the person. Monterey, California: Brooks/Cole.
Mwamwenda, T. S. (1995). Educational Psychology: An African Perspective. 2nd edition. Heinemann Publishers (Ply) Ltd. Isando.
Ohuche R. D. & Otaala B. (eds) (1981). The African child and his Environment. New York: Pergamon Press.
Piaget, J. (1963). The child’s conception of the world. Paterson N. J. Littlefield, Adams.
Piaget, J. (1970). Science of Education and the psychology of the child (D Cottman, trans). New York, Orion Press.
Henderson R. W. & Bergen, J. R. (1976). The cultural context of childhood. Charles E. Merril Publishing company A Bell & Howell company. Colombus, Ohio.
Riegel, K. F. (1972). Influence of economic and political ideologies on the development of developmental psychology. Psychological Bulletin, 78 129-141.
Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and Human behaviour. New York. Macmillan.
Skinner, B. F. (1954). The science of learning and the art of teaching. Harvard Educational Review. 24 86-97.
Travers R. M. W. (1982). Essentials of Learning: The New Cognitive Learning for students of Education 5ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co.
Tylor E. B (1958). The origins of culture. Part 1 of Primitive culture. New York. Harper Torch Books.
UNESCO (1994). Education for ALL summit of Nine High – Population countries. Final report. UNESCO, Paris.
UNICEF (2001). The State of the World’s Children 2001. Unicef, Unicef House, 3 UN Plaza New York.
Van der Vliet V. (1974). Growing up in traditional society. In WD Hammond – Tooks (ed) The Bantu-speaking people of Southern Africa. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Watson, J. B. (1930). Behaviourism. New York: Newton.
Wober, M. (1975). Psychology in Africa. London: International African Institute.
Olasumbo S. Apanpa has done a lot of work in Early Childcare and Education, as coordinator of many childcare projects funded by Unicef, in collaboration with the Nigerian government. She is at present Chief Research Officer in the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, Curriculum Development Centre. She has a Ph.D in Curriculum Studies, and has many publications in Early Childhood Education and other developmental studies, which she has presented at International forums.
Community Hubs: Their Capacity to Enhance Social Capital and Service Provision for Families and Young Children
Ann Farrell, Collette Tayler & Lee Tennent
Centre for Applied Studies In Early Childhood
QUT. Brisbane, Australia
ABSTRACT
Worldwide, growing evidence attests to the importance of effective early care and education services. Initiatives such as the Early Excellence Centres in the UK suggest that access to, and awareness and responsiveness of community services are enhanced when the services are integrated. It is also possible that service integration has the potential to build community social capital.
This paper presents some of the findings from phase one of a collaborative study between QUT and several government and non-government organisations* into the establishment and ultimately, effectiveness, of two community hubs in Queensland. These hubs are community-driven initiatives funded by the Queensland Department of Families that aim to meet the diverse needs of children and families within a community. The hubs are focused on the provision of integrated child care and early childhood services but also include family support services, parenting support, health services, community activities and education services. The investigation was underpinned by social capital theory. The paper reports on data collected from community surveys and child interviews in a rural and urban Queensland locality. Community surveys elicited insights about existing services, suggestions for potential hub services and their perceived benefits. Questions designed to determine levels of social capital were also asked. Analysis of returned community surveys revealed widespread support and enthusiasm for the hub and numerous ideas for potential services and activities. Also found in the rural locality were high levels of community social capital, particularly for the dimensions of community participation, feelings of trust and safety and value of life. In the urban community, however, levels of social capital were substantially lower. Interesting differences were also found between the responses of rural and urban children on several dimensions of social capital.
Background to the study
The importance of effective early care and education services is widely recognised. This recognition stems from a growing body of research that attests, not only to the immediate benefits of effective services for children and families, but also to longer-term societal and economic benefits (McCain & Mustard, 1999; Pascal et. al 1999; Schweinhart & Weikert, 1997). In Australia, however, a history of single-focus, separate, specialised, and competing services has led to widespread dissatisfaction with service provision which is viewed by many to be inflexible, inaccessible or out-of-touch with the needs of contemporary families (the Senate Inquiry into Early Childhood Education, 1996; the Queensland Child Care Strategic Plan, 1999).
In response to the perceived shortcomings in service provision, many government departments are looking to service integration as a way of ensuring better access to and delivery of services to families, although the philosophy driving these new directions varies across projects. In the United States, for example, programs such as the Head Start preschool program have successfully provided integrated health, education, social services, and parent education for low-income families. Programs are also underway in the United Kingdom, where significant government funding has been dedicated to the development of Early Excellence Centres featuring a variety of linkages between early childhood centres and social services, child care and health services, early education and community agencies (Pascal, et al. 1999).
Social Capital
In Australia, there is now widespread interest in the potential of service integration for all families. This interest is embedded in notions of enhancing family and community capacity through the building of social capital. Defined by Stone and Hughes (2000:20) as the networks of social relations characterised by norms of trust and reciprocity, social capital is seen as a way of stemming the tide of perceived community decline (Stone, 2001:1). The essence of social capital, it appears, is quality social relations within the community. It has been identified as one of five key family resources used to gauge social and family well-being and functioning (Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services, 2000). Integral to building social capital are Informal networks, volunteering, local solutions to local problems, and a bottom up approach from government (Stone, 2000).
According to Woolcock (1998), it this social capital that enables families and communities to get by or get ahead. Indeed, a growing body of research suggests that high levels of social capital are associated with a range of positive health, education and other outcomes (Baum et al, 2000; Coleman, 1988; Kawachi & Berkman, 2000; Meier 1999; Teachman, et al, 1996). In addition, studies into child and youth outcomes indicates that social capital can help overcome disadvantage and is instrumental to school retention and general-well-being (Runyon et al, 1998; Furstenberg & Hughes, 1995).
Research in Australia by Onyx and Bullen (1997) suggests that social capital is a multidimensional construct comprising elements related to:
- participation in local community
- neighbourhood connections
- family and friends connections
- proactivity in a social context
- feelings of trust and safety
- tolerance of diversity
- value of life
Child Care and Family Support Hubs
A recent Queensland Department of Families (2001) strategy aimed at facilitating service integration is the establishment of child care and family support hubs. These hubs are community driven initiatives that:
- bring together services that aim to meet the diverse needs of children and families within a community.
- are focused on the provision of child care and early childhood services but also potentially include family support services, parenting support, health services, community activities and education services.
- will be unique to each community with the mix of services and operational mechanisms determined by local community members (Queensland Department of Families, 2001).
Of the 14 hubs funded in 2001, half were in rural or remote areas of the state.
Study Aims
With the exception of recent research by Tayler, Tennent, Farrell and Gahan (2002), there is no published Australian research to guide and support the integration of services for communities, particularly in the context of building social capital. This study, therefore, aims to inform policy decision-making and improve services for all families and young children in a locality by:
- identifying the types and location of health, care and education services used in the communities;
- describing the types of services that the communities would like made available from the hub;
- exploring community views surrounding the likely use and benefits of the hub; and
- examining levels of social capital within the hub communities.
METHOD
Procedure
In consultation with the industry partners, the hub communities being studied are a rural community and a disadvantaged urban community. Surveys were used to collect data from community members. In far north Queensland, these surveys were distributed and returned via mail using electoral roll information. In Brisbane, surveys were distributed via the two schools that are linked to the hub. Information from children was collected through interviews.
Participants
Participants in this phase of the study were adults who resided in the two hub localities and children (aged 4-8 years-of-age) who attended schools in these localities.
Measures
Community survey questionnaires: Survey questionnaires were used due to the large number of potential respondents. As well as demographic data, questionnaires elicited information about:
- the types and locations of services currently used
- the types of services or programs that could be made available from the hub
- specific benefits associated with the provision of such services or programs<
- expected personal usage of the hub
In addition, levels of community social capital were gauged using a 36-item instrument developed by Onyx and Bullen (1997) that asked about issues related to community participation, friends and family connections, neighbourhood connections, value of life, proactivity, tolerance of diversity, trust, and safety.
Child survey interviews
Children were asked a series of eight questions adapted from the Onyx and Bullen (1997) Social Capital measure. These questions reflected the following dimensions of social capital:
- participation in community activities
- neighbourhood connections
- family and friends connections
- proactivity in a social context
- feelings of trust and safety
- tolerance of diversity
Consent in writing was obtained from children’s parents and informed voluntary consent was obtained from each child prior to being interviewed.
Data Analysis
Data were coded and analysed using SPSS for Windows. Frequency statistics were used to identify patterns or trends among the responses. Open-ended responses underwent thematic analysis in order to determine themes.
FINDINGS
Demographic characteristics
The rural and urban communities shared several demographic similarities. In both communities, respondent’s mean ages were similar as were the mean number of children per family, levels of maternal employment and higher education. Substantial differences were apparent, however, for type of residence, level and source of income and family characteristics. As table 1 indicates, compared with the urban community, those in the rural community had higher incomes, were less likely to be in a single parent household and were less likely to receive a pension or benefit. Those in the rural community were also less likely to be of Aboriginal or Torres Straight Islander descent, but slightly more likely to have a disabled family member.
TABLE 1. DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF RESPONDENTS
| Rural Community | Urban Community | |
| Mean age | 38.5 years | 37.1 years |
| Mean number children | 2.1 | 2.1 |
| Living in government housing | 0% | 25.8% |
| Mean years lived in area | 10.3% | 7.6% |
| Single parent household | 11.1% | 38.7% |
| Income source wages/salary | 79.5% | 62.9% |
| Income source pension/benefit | 4.5% | 25.8% |
| Income < $20K pa | 11.9% | 21.0% |
| Maternal employment | 78.4% | 69.4% |
| Maternal higher education | 16.0% | 14.5% |
| ATSI background | 2.5% | 16.1% |
| Disability in family | 17.0% | 12.9% |
Priorities for Hub services
Analysis of survey responses indicated distinct gaps in service provision in both communities but particularly in the rural community. As outlined in Table 2, priorities in relation to service needs differed between the two communities. Not surprisingly, in the rural locality where the nearest medical facilities are half an hour’s drive away, needs centred upon health services – particularly visiting a doctor and dentist. Access to education services was also a priority for rural residents with 59% expressing the need for TAFE or university courses to be accessible from the hub. In contrast, urban priorities focused on recreational services. Many parents commented that there was a lack facilities, such as skateboard parks or structured outside school activities designed to keep children occupied. In the disadvantaged urban community, the need for health services was also expressed, however the services that tended to be highlighted related to counselling for children and adults. The types of education services desired in the urban community also differed. In the urban community it was hoped that the hub would be the venue for parent education courses or drug awareness programs. Child care and outside school hours care were also requested, although more frequently in the rural locality due to the current absence of such services. Those in the rural community were also keen to have access from the hub to Internet and computing facilities, while parents in the urban community expressed a need for a parent support network or group at the hub.
TABLE 2. HUB SERVICE NEEDS
| Rural community needs | Urban community needs | ||
| Health services – eg visiting doctor/dentist | 61% | Recreation activities / sport programs | 63% |
| Education services – TAFE/Uni courses | 59% | Health services – eg family counselling | 21% |
| Recreation activities / sport programs | 38% | Education services – drugs, parenting | 19% |
| Childhood services – child care/OSHC | 29% | Childhood services – child care/OSHC | 19% |
| Technology access – Internet/computers | 11% | Parent support network | 8% |
Perceived benefits of the hub
Numerous explanations were provided by respondents as to how the hub would be of to benefit to them. Table 3 illustrates that in both communities, the largest single group of responses were those related to work or gaining qualifications. Many felt that the child care facilities, including vacation care and outside school hours care programs that they hoped would be made available from the hub, would enable them to enter or re-enter the workforce, work longer hours than had previously been possible, or study for a qualification. For both communities, socialisation was the second most frequently cited benefit associated with the hub. Several rural respondents explained that, unless you had children who attended the local school, there was no other way of meeting people. In the urban community, mothers were keen to have time out with friends while their children were cared for at the hub. Other frequently cited benefits in the rural community included less travel to services – as they would be provided by the hub, and family support via the social, health, educational and recreational services to be on offer. In the urban community, survey respondents also hoped that the variety of recreational activities that they hoped would be provided from the hub would keep children occupied – and "out of mischief"- and enable "families to do things together".
TABLE 3. PERCEIVED HUB BENEFITS
| Rural community benefits | Urban community benefits | ||
| Commence work/study (due to child care availability) | 57% | Commence work/study (due to child care availability) | 37% |
| Socialisation –meet/make friends | 33% | Socialisation without kids | 37% |
| Less travel to services needed | 23% | Programs would keep children occupied | 24% |
| Family support | 12% | Opportunity to engage in family activities | 7% |
Expected hub usage
In relation to expected hub usage, 65% of rural respondents and 66% of urban respondents stated that they would use the hub. Only 8% and 5% in the respective communities said that they would not use the hub.
When asked whether or not the hub would enhance the community, only 7% in the rural locality and 2% in the urban locality said that it would not. Many of those who believed that the hub would enhance the community explained that it would "bring the community together".
Social Capital findings
Adults: As noted, the survey questionnaires incorporated the 36-item social capital questionnaire designed in Australia by Onyx and Bullen (1997). Responses to these items revealed that the rural community had substantially higher levels of general social capital than the disadvantaged urban community. Table 4 shows that this high level of social capital is largely attributable to high scores on the dimensions ‘value of life’, ‘feelings of trust and safety’ and ‘participation in the community’. That said, except for ‘tolerance of diversity’, the rural community (J) scored higher than the urban community (B) on all dimensions. The table also compares the current findings with those obtained by Onyx and Bullen (1997) in their study of five NSW communities (identified in the table as U/P, D, N, G, WW). These communities are further described as R (rural), U (urban/metropolitan) and I/C (inner city). Examination of scores shows that the rural communities in the Onyx and Bullen study also scored more highly than the urban and inner city communities for general social capital. Furthermore, the dimensions that contributed to the high rural levels of social capital in the Onyx and Bullen (1997) study mirror those of the current study.
TABLE 4. COMPARISON OF SCORES ON THE GENERAL SOCIAL CAPITAL FACTOR AND ON THE DIMENSIONS OF SOCIAL CAPITAL IN NORTH QUEENSLAND (J) AND BRISBANE COMMUNITIES (B) AND FIVE NSW COMMUNITIES (U/P, D, N, G, WW, ONYX & BULLEN, 1997).
| Communities | J | B | U/P | D | N | G | WW |
| (R) | (U) | (I/C) | (R) | (U) | (U) | (R) | |
| General Social Capital Score | 87.4 | 75.4 | 79.7 | 84.0 | 82.6 | 76.7 | 88.2 |
| Dimensions: | |||||||
| Participation in community | 14.1 | 12.1 | 11.7 | 14.3 | 12.6 | 11.0 | 15.5 |
| Neighbourhood connections | 13.9 | 11.9 | 11.8 | 15.0 | 14.1 | 13.6 | 15.2 |
| Family, friends connections | 8.1 | 7.7 | 9.7 | 9.4 | 9.4 | 9.0 | 9.1 |
| Value of life | 6.3 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.8 | 5.5 | 5.3 | 6.2 |
| Tolerance of diversity | 6.1 | 6.1 | 6.4 | 5.8 | 5.4 | 5.3 | 4.8 |
| Feelings of trust & safety | 16.7 | 11.0 | 12.2 | 13.0 | 13.0 | 10.6 | 16.1 |
| Proactivity in social context | 15.1 | 14.5 | 15.8 | 14.3 | 15.8 | 14.9 | 15.0 |
Children
Table 5 shows the questions that children were asked and the percentage of children from the rural and the urban community who answered yes to each question. As can be seen in the table, there were some interesting differences in responses across the groups.
For instance, more than twice as many urban children compared with rural children indicated that they were members of clubs or groups. This finding undoubtedly reflects the lack of clubs and facilities available in the rural area. Likewise, fewer rural than urban children indicated that they visited friends, relatives or neighbours very often, probably due to the distances involved. A number of children in the rural community, for instance, indicated that they did not have any neighbours, and that friends and relatives lived some distance away. Two unexpected differences in the children’s responses related to helping others with homework and enjoyment of being with those who were different from them. Rural children were marginally less likely to agree that they would help a friend with schoolwork (these children explained that this would be "cheating") and substantially less likely to agree that they like being with people who were different from them.
Agreement among children from both communities was most pronounced in relation to picking up rubbish in the playground and feeling safe in their area. Nearly all children agreed that they would pick up any rubbish and that they felt safe where they lived.
TABLE 5. CHILD RESPONSES
| Rural | Urban | |
| Are you in any clubs or groups? | 17% | 36% |
| Do you visit friends or relatives very often? | 67% | 77% |
| Do you get to visit neighbours very often? | 50% | 60% |
| Do you trust most people? | 62% | 68% |
| Do you feel safe living in this area? | 93% | 94% |
| If you saw rubbish in the playground would you pick it up? | 93% | 93% |
| If a friend was having difficulty with schoolwork would you help out? | 86% | 99% |
| Do you like being with people who are different from you (like from another country)? | 48% | 90% |
DISCUSSION
In both communities, most respondents were enthusiastic about the establishment of the hub. Many of those surveyed were confident that because their hub was a community-driven venture, it would be better able to address their locality-specific needs. In each community, desired services reflected current service deficits. In the rural community, the most pressing need was for a range of medical services that would negate the necessity of driving to nearby towns. A venue for social activities was also a priority, particularly for those without school-aged children. In the urban community, needs centred on recreational and social support that would reduce boredom among children and adolescents as well as providing peer group support, especially for sole parents. However, for many, the hub would be more than just a venue for health, care, education or recreation services, it would be the catalyst for bringing the community together. The hub, some commented, would encourage people to take an interest in their community, to collaborate on community issues and to help others in need.
Like the rural communities in the Onyx and Bullen (1997) study, the rural community in the current study possessed high levels of general social capital. According to Stanton (2000), this would indicate a "strong, active and prosperous" community. However, both the rural and urban communities in this study were found to have particularly low levels of family, friend’s and neighbourhood connections. It is possible though, that the diminished social capacity arising from these poor connections will be restored as social networks facilitated by the hub are established.
In relation to the child social capital questions, the majority of children in both communities agreed that they felt safe living in their area. Children in the rural community, however, were less likely to be involved in clubs, visit friends, relatives or neighbours. While most children in both communities agreed that they would help friends with schoolwork if needed, and that they trusted most people, agreement was more pronounced in the urban community. Interestingly, children in the urban community were also significantly more likely to agree that they liked being with people who were different from them. It would appear that this reluctance might stem from the lack of exposure of these rural children to people from ethnically diverse backgrounds. It is possible then, that through creating or increasing children’s opportunities for socialisation, the hub will help alleviate some of these concerns. It will also provide a much-needed venue for children’s clubs or groups.
With existing high levels of community participation, feelings of trust and safety and value of life, it seems probable that the hub will further strengthen the capacity of the rural community. In the urban locality, where current levels of social capital are low, the challenge to improving community connectedness will be greater. The key to this will be continued commitment by government to community consultation along with dynamic leadership and collaboration of hub personnel. It is probable that only then, will gains in social capital and responsiveness of services be realised.
References
Baum, F, Palmer, C, Modra, C, Murray, C, & Bush, R. (2000). Families, social capital and health. In Coleman, (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94, 94-120.
Department of Family and Community Services. (2000). Indicators of social and family functioning. Canberra: Commonwealth Government.
Furstenberg, F. R. & Hughes, M. E. (1995). Social capital and successful development among at-risk youth. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 57, 580-592.
Kawachi, I, & Berkman, L. (2000). Social cohesion, social capital and health. In L. Berkman and I. Kawachi. Social Epidemiology (pp. 180-184), Oxford: Oxford University Press.
McCain, M., & Mustard, F. (1999). Reversing the brain-drain. The early years study. Final Report, Toronto: Children’s Secretariat: http://www.childsec.gov.on.ca
Meier, A. (1999). Social capital and school achievement: Mediating the effects of Family Structure? American Psychological Association.
Onyx, J., & Bullen, P. (1997). Measuring social capital in five communities. CACOM Working Paper Series No. 41. Sydney: University of Technology.
Onyx, J., & Bullen, P. (2000). Sources of social capital. Pascal, C., Bertram, T., Gasper, M., Mould, C., Ramsden, F., & Saunders, M. (1999). Research to inform the early excellence Centre’s pilot program. July. Worcester, UK: Centre for Research in Early Childhood.
Pascal, C., Bertram, T., Gasper, M., Mould, C., Ramsden, F., & Saunders, M. (1999). Research to inform the Early Excellence Centre’s pilot program. July. Worcester, UK: Centre for Research in Early Childhood.
Queensland Department of Families. (2001) Child Care and Family Support Hub Strategy. Brisbane: Department of Families.
Queensland Department of Families. (1999). Child Care Strategic Plan 2000-2005. Brisbane: Department of Families.
Runyan, DK, Hunter, W.M., Socolar, R., Amaya-Jackson, L., English, D., Landsverk, J., Dubowitz, H, Browne, D.H., Bangdiwala, S, & Mathew, R. (1988). Children who prosper in unfavourable environments: the relationship to social capital. Pediatrics, 101(1), 12-18.
Schweinhart, L.J., & Weikert, D.P. (1997). Lasting differences: The high/scope preschool curriculum comparison study through age 23. Ypsilanti, MI: High/scope Press.
Senate Employment, Education and Training Reference Committee (1996). Childhood Matters. Canberra: Commonwealth Government.
Stanton, D.I (2000). Forward. In I. Winter (Ed) Social capital and public policy in Australia (pp. v-vi). Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.
Stone, W. (2000). Social capital, social cohesion and social security. Paper presented at The Year 2000 International Research Conference on Social Security, Helsinki, 25-27 September.
Stone, W., & Hughes, J. (2000). What role for social capital in family policy? Family Matters, 56, 20-28.
Tayler, C., Tennent, L., Farrell, A., & Gahan, D. (2002). Use and integration of early childhood services: Insights from an inner city community. Journal of Australian Research in Early Childhood, 9(1), 113-123.
Teachman, J. D., Paasch, K, & Carver, K. (1996). Social capital and dropping out of school early. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 58, 773-783.
Woolcock, M. (1998). Social capital and economic development: Toward a theoretical synthesis and policy framework. Theory and Society, 27, 151-208.
* This study was made possible through funding or in-kind support from the Queensland Department of Families, the Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services, Education Queensland, Queensland Health, the Commission for Children and Young People, and the Creche and Kindergarten Association.
Women as Change Agents in Early Years Care and Education – A Perspective from Northern Ireland
By Siobhan Fitzpatrick
Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen.
I am delighted to be back at the World Forum and excited by the fact that one of the major themes of this conference is the role of women.
In my session this morning, I would like to share with you the role women are playing in Northern Ireland in creating high quality care and education services for their children and at the same time changing their own lives and that of their communities.
This session will look at:
- The historical context for early years service development in Northern Ireland.
- The theoretical frameworks and belief systems, which underpin the work of the organisation I work for.
- The story of a group of women who are changing how services are delivered.
- The implications for future developments.
First of all I would like to show you where we are:
We are a small but very beautiful island, a divided island on the Western shores of Europe. We are a population of 1.5 million people, 30% of our population are under 25. We have been in the news for the last 30 years for all the wrong reasons – a 30 year conflict which has left 4,000 dead, 20,000 injured and unTold damage to individuals and communities.
35 years ago, just before the current conflict the organisation, which I work for; NIPPA – The Early Years Organisation was formed. It was formed by a group of local women, local parents who were concerned about the lack of any form of pre-school care and education for their children. They were very much influenced by what was happening here in New Zealand at the time – the growth of the Play Centre movement – the coming together of local parents to create play based care and learning opportunities for their children, managed by local parents and employing local people as carers and educators NIPPA grew rapidly throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s. During that time, we saw the development of playgroups, parent-toddler groups, daycare facilities in every small community across Northern Ireland.
These services developed in some of the most disadvantaged communities in Northern Ireland and unusual for the time are mostly based on the concept of cross-community, anti-sectarian provision. Services brought together for the first time, parents from across the class, religious and political divide – the main motivation for parents was the opportunity to provide services for their young children.
During the 1980s NIPPA as an organisation began to reflect more on qualitative aspects of our work. We redefined our principles and based our developing work within the context of four core areas of work.
The first core principle for us was the important role parents play in the care and development of young children and their need for support.
We were influenced by key messages coming from the work and research of people like PAZ, Brickman, and Bronfrenbrinner.
- Parents should be supported as prime educators of their children.
- Support programme should be based on positive potential and move away from deficit models of intervention.
- We must recognise the competence of parents and the knowledge they have of their own children.
- Professional should be seen as important ‘back room’ resources.
- Off the shelf models of intervention have limited success, models of intervention need to be sensitive and responsive to local need.
- Developing a sense of giving as well as taking is essential.
- Parents gain as much from their peers, hence the importance of community networks.
- The process of participation may be more important than the product.
The second key belief system for us as an organisation was the belief in community development principles and practices.
"Community development is directed at people who are excluded from society. It consists of methods which can broaden vision and capacity for social change. It is a way of working which encourages communities to tackle for themselves the problems which they face and which aims to empower them to change things by developing their skills, knowledge, experience and by working in partnership".
The key themes of our community development approach are as follows:
- A focus on social exclusion, poverty and disadvantage.
- Anti-discriminatory / equal opportunities policies and practices.
- Commitment to community led, collective, democratic actions.
- Empowerment and participation.
- Partnerships.
- Policy focus.
The third important issue underpinning our work was a commitment to supporting high quality care and education for young children within the context of a parent led community development initiative.
For the organisation and for the communities of parents and staff we were working with, this meant clearly defining what we meant by quality early years services.
- All services should have clear aims and objectives – shared by staff, parents and children.
- All services should be based on a broad, balanced developmentally appropriate curriculum.
- Learning opportunities for young children must be active, relevant and enjoyable.
- Service provision should be warm based on positive relationships between children and adults.
- A well planned, stimulating, secure healthy environment is critical.
- A commitment to equal opportunities and social justice should underpin service development.
- Services should be based on systematic planning, assessment and record keeping.
- Satisfactory child-adult ratios, continuity of care and consistent staff development should be in place.
- Effective systems for monitoring and evaluating the quality of practice are essential.
The fourth pillar underpinning our work is the concept of family support and the model used to support groups develop is as follows:
| Expressed Purpose | Agreeing aims of service development with parents and management committees. |
| Need | Services based on assessed need within local communities. |
| Organisation | Involvement of parents, management committee and children and staff in the planning and organisation of services. |
| Services | A sound theoretical framework for service development. |
| Developing Outcomes | A focus on positive measurable outcomes for children. |
These four key pillars – the importance of parents, community development, family support and a focus on quality provision have driven the work of our organisation over the past 20 years.
During this time, we have supported hundreds of communities of women on a journey towards change and development for themselves and their children. The process has not always been an easy one – it is a slow process, which has required multi-layered and multi-faceted support for women in local communities. Some of the ingredients we as an organisation has to put in place are as follows:
- A strong policy and practice based organisation which could support and link local communities and policy change.
- A team of early years specialists highly trained in supporting both high quality early interventions and community development process and practice.
- A rigorous system of initial and ongoing training and support for parents, management committees and staff.
- A range of appropriate theoretical models of early years care and intervention.
- A lobby for appropriate funding to support community based initiatives.
- A commitment to ongoing internal and external evaluation so that the lessons from individual practice could be disseminated.
- A commitment to partnerships at strategic level with statutory agencies.
The impact on the ground in Northern Ireland over the past 10 years in particular has been significant. What we are witnessing is a movement of women and parents who are changing the face of how services are delivered at local community level.
- Projects are based and operate in different types of areas – urban, inner, city, peripheral estates, rural villages, cross border.
- Projects are operating in areas characterised by multiple deprivation – high levels of unemployment, social isolation, polarisation.
- Projects are based in Catholic/Nationalist, Protestant/Unionist and many are based in mixed communities and in conflict interface areas.
- While many projects have started around parenting support and early years, as confidence and capacity has grown, projects have become multi-thematic – tackling training for employment or civic participation and addressing health and welfare issues.
- Projects have been particularly strong in terms of focusing on the quality of intervention for young children and have been open to implementation of well researched evidence based practice such as High/Scope and outreach support for parents.
- The focus on quality, the attention to ongoing monitoring and evaluation by the community sector has been recognised by statutory agencies, in particular the Department of Education in the last 3 years have changed their funding criteria for early years services – so that for the first time community managed early years services receive the same level of funding as statutory nursery education.
- The sector has become part of a major 7 year research programme, EPNI, Initial findings from Year 2 of the research is indicating that the community managed sector is out performing many of the traditional forms of pre-school education in terms of social, cognitive development and involvement of parents.
- Strong strategic partnerships are being formed within local communities between parents and statutory agencies and at strategic level between voluntary organisation and key policy makers. These partnerships are critical both for ongoing sustainability issues and a recognition and acceptance of the principles of empowerment and community development.
As I have said hundreds of communities of women across Northern Ireland are involved in this process of change, growth and development, I would like to bring that alive for you by telling you the story of one group of women – in a very small rural disadvantaged community in Northern Ireland. This is the story of a group of women in Pomeroy.
Pomeroy is a small rural divided community. In the late 1980s there were no services for children or families in the area – high levels of deprivation, low school performance, high levels of community violence and conflict.
Supported by the NIPPA Early Years Specialist, a group of young parents were brought together to identify community needs. Over a period of a year they set in motion the development of a pre-school playgroup, rented unused property in the community, employed staff and began the process of developing a service for local children and families.
The service was managed by parents and staffed by local parents. Over the years the service was supported to look at and develop the quality of their service and the range of support services they were providing in the local community.
They now operate a High/Scope model of early intervention for pre-school children, run an afterschools programme and a parental support programme. Staff have moved from initial qualification to a degree in early education. They now receive statutory funding from the Department of Education and have leveraged in European and International Fund for Ireland money to buy their own building. There services now provided within the local community have enabled many parents to access training, employment and further education opportunities that otherwise would not have been available. Positive, collaborative relationships have been established with the local schools and health agencies and transition reports are recording marked improvements in educational and health outcomes for children.
The Pomeroy story has not been always an easy one – the process of engaging parents in managing services has been often slow, the process of supporting staff has required enormous input from our organisation and enormous commitment from individuals who committed to a journey of ongoing training and professional development. The success of the project, managed by women has threatened the status quo within the community. Only this year our organisation supported them take a High Court Action against the local Church who wanted the building back Church related activities.
What is significant in Pomeroy and other communities of women across Northern Ireland is that we now have a process and capacity to change within local communities and an infrastructure to support such capacity develop and move forward.
There are still many challenges facing us in Northern Ireland;
- The need for long term funding for sustainability and the social economy.
- The need for policy to support in practice the concept of community development.
- The need for changes in our educational system which embraces an appropriate foundation stage in early years care and education.
- The need for ongoing political developments which support an inclusive, peaceful society.
- The need for more women in positions of political and policy positions.
These challenges are not insurmountable. We have witnessed enormous change in the past decade.
Most importantly, we have an empowered group of women who have begun a journey and created a movement for change which I believe is now unstoppable.
I would like to leave you with a poem from Patrick Kavanagh an Irish Poet. This poem highlights the importance of local community and the immensity of actions which take place at grass roots level.
I have lived in important places, times
When great events were decided, who owned
That half a rood of rock, a no-man’s land
Surrounded by our pitchfork-armed claims.
I heard the Duffys shouting ‘Damn your soul’
An old McCabe stripped to the waist, seen
Step the plot defying blue cast-steel -
‘Here is the march along these iron stones’
That was the year of the Monarch brother.
Which was more important? I inclined
To lose my faith in Ballyrush and Gortin
Till Homer’s ghost came whispering to my mind.
He said: I made the Ilaid from such
A local row. Gods make their own importance.
The Juggling Game: Beginning directors’ stories of becoming leaders
By Rhonda Forrest
Setting the Scene
Locating the participants
- six female directors of long day childcare centres
- in first two years of directorship
- qualified
- all with teaching experience – some very limited
- all teaching directors
Physical environment
- Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
- average temperatures between 22c in winter and 26c in summer
- sunny with high skin cancer rates
- indoor/outdoor programs with children spending much of the day on verandahs or playing outside
- childcare centres typically from birth to 5 years in groups of:
- birth -2 years: 8 children two staff
- 2years-3years: 12 children and two staff
- 3years to 5 years: 24 children and two staff
- maximum licensed capacity is 75 children
Directors’ Stories
Juggling multiple roles
Types of roles
- people roles
- technical roles
Sources of distress
- meeting own expectations
- meeting others expectations
- inconsistencies between behaviour and self concept
Time
- time as the enemy
- time passing- rites of passage
- multifaceated concept – meaningful time
Self
- dark side of self / dark side of followers
- awareness of social construction and agency
- awareness of multiple and contradictory truths
Self-awareness
- first step
- knowing own values and beliefs
- socially constructed but mitigated by agency
- fosters awareness of others
- linked to behaviour
- self-examination in safe and secure situations
Resiliency
Three concepts
- overcome obstacles and adversity
- competence despite adversity
- transformation through adversity
Focus
- generally children facing adversity
- adult resiliency
- supporting children
- career resiliency; facing adversity such as termination
- professional development
Sally’s Diary
- Nightly entries from Sunday to Friday
- Compilation of directors’ stories
- Cast
- Director Sally
- Husband Tim
- Assistant Kelly
- Licensee Spitting Steve
Bibliography
Bowman, R. 1996 ‘First year principals; a study of needs and concerns’, The Practicing Administrator, Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 20-23.
Burgess-Limerick, T. 1995 Lives-in-Progress: Women Who Own Small Businesses, Unpublished PhD thesis, Griffith University, Queensland.
Cesarone, B (ed) 1999 Resilience Guide: A collection of resources on resilience in children and families, Eric Clearing House on Early Childhood and Elementary Education, ERIC Document 436 307,
Daresh, J. & Playco, M. 1994 ‘Aspiring and practicing principals’ perceptions of critical skills for beginning leaders’, Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 35-45.
Drucker, P. 2000 ‘Managing knowledge means managing oneself’ Leader to Leader, Spring, No. 6, pp. 8-10.
Parkay, F. & Hall, G. (eds.) 1992 Becoming a Principal- the challenges of beginning leadership, Allyn Bacon, Boston.
Sally’s Diary
Sunday 19 August
Tim and I had a good chat tonight about work. He is such a support to me and he agrees that I should tell Spitting Steve that I would get the licence for the bus so we can take our own assistants on excursions. I will tell him tomorrow that we will not accept staff from other centres driving the bus and depriving our staff of enjoying excursions. Tim agrees that the parents would be much happier about having familiar staff with the kids when we go out.
Today I worked out the roster for the next month. I hate doing this job. It looks pretty fair to me but I bet the staff has a whinge. I will let them know that we can change it if we need to.
I wish I had written up those kids’ observations this weekend. Tim would have left me if I had not gone with him on Saturday to look at the boat but it sure is going to make it hard to program this week. Poor kids!
This should be a pretty good week and should not have to leave Kelly by herself much. I hate leaving assistants alone with the whole group. I will have to really make sure I protect Kelly from that. I don’t want her to leave like Fran did.
Oh yea, and I will mention about the staff wearing hats again when they are outside. They should understand the need to model this to the kids.
Monday 20 August
Well that wasn’t so bad except for Spitting Steve. I had to argue the toss about the bus licence but finally he agreed to pay as long as I got it first time. I’ll go and get the learners permit after work tomorrow. This should be good.
I gave the staff the roster. They seemed OK and I told them they could get back to me tomorrow. I think it is important that they feel they have a say in the running of the place.
Those poor kids. I wish I would have programmed for them on the weekend. They get such a tough time.
Kelly was happy to have me around today
All the staff promised to bring hats tomorrow. I like this collaborative way of doing things.
Tuesday 21 August
What a day! I am glad Tim is here to hear me whinge.
I had no chance to get the learners permit after work. That stupid After School Care girl didn’t turn up again. Says she’s sick. Oh sure! And would anyone else cover it. No just muggins here who has to do everything. I’ll go at lunchtime tomorrow.
Spitting Steve kept interrupting me in the room all day today. He is so hopeless with all the fee relief. I wish he wouldn’t talk to the parents though. He just gets them upset because he doesn’t understand them. It’s just money, money, money to him. Kelly wasn’t too happy about me disappearing half the day.
The staff seemed in a bad mood. They hardly spoke to me and every time I came near them they went silent. I wish they would talk to me about what’s wrong so we can work it out together.
And no hats today. Maybe it’s the hat thing.
Wednesday 22 August
Tim’s not impressed with me. He is sick of me talking about work.
It was an appalling day and I am so tired. I don’t think I’ll ever catch up with my work.
I didn’t get my 2 hours non-contact time again. How Spitting Steve expects me to deal with the parents and supervise staff I don’t know.
Who am I kidding? How can I check their programs when I don’t even have one of my own? I better have my non-contact time tomorrow afternoon so I can get that done and start preparing for Book Week and staff reviews.
Well I sure found out why I was getting the silence treatment. Four of the staff cornered me and complained about the roster. They said they had been to see Spitting Steve and he told them that I should accommodate them. What’s wrong with them. Why would they go to him before me? Anyway, I marched right up to Spitting Steve and told him if he didn’t back me up them he could do the roster. He denied saying that to the staff. Tomorrow I will have to confront the staff. I am just going to tell them that the roster is non-negotiable. I’ll teach them to go behind my back.
No hats today. What’s wrong with them. Blow this negotiating stuff, I’ll just tell them off about that too tomorrow.
Thursday 23 August
Little Davy in the kindy group broke his leg today. It was chaos but I managed to get a hold of his Mum and get him to the hospital. The staff was really upset and so I had to calm them down. The worst part was when his Dad came in at 4.30pm and blasted me for not taking care of his son. He says that he is going to sue the centre and me personally. Spitting Steve was away so I had to get on to the lawyers and the Department of Family Services. What a nightmare. It really scares me to think of being sued. Tim says we could loose the house.
And what’s more only two staff wore hats today. I don’t care anymore.
I am so exhausted. I can’t write any more tonight.
Friday 24 August
Spitting Steve was back and spent all day sorting out Davy’s Dad. He may not sue us now.
Spitting Steve said I couldn’t get the bus licence now because he has to redirect money into more insurance in case this happens again. This doesn’t seem fair on the staff and kids.
The staff felt sorry for me so they got over their anger about the roster. Two of them swapped shifts but otherwise it worked out OK. I’m glad I didn’t yell at them.
I am going to do some programming this weekend regardless of what else comes up. I could stand another week feeling guilty about the kids and poor Kelly. She is so good about coping when I am disorganised. I must send her to the Programming workshop next Tuesday. She deserves a reward.
What a week. I think I’ll have a wine. Oh yeah. The staff all wore their hats.
Education for LIFE: Contrasted Points of View
by Daniel Jutras Ph.D.
To prepare the young child for LIFE is the main goal of educational systems. Everybody agrees that the early years between two and six years old are the most crucial in preparing the child for the future. However, approaches in early childhood differ in the philosophy of how to reach that goal.
In this preparation for LIFE, one of the important elements is the child’s environment in which he is to grow and to learn. Another is the child’s movements and the use of his hands, and the last is the teacher’s role and how his/her presence defines the role of the child in the environment.
1) The environment
The most compelling difference in philosophy between a Montessori school and a preschool (ECE) is the environment. In her times (1870-1952), but it has been proven nowadays, Maria Montessori believed that many elements affect a child’s ability to expand his intelligence, his sense of order, and his confidence to succeed academically and socially. For her, children have an inner desire to explore and to experiment within their environment. "An adult environment is not suitable for children, but rather an aggregate of obstacles that strengthen their defenses, warp their attitudes, and expose them to adult suggestions" she wrote in The Secret of Childhood (p.109).
Although there may be similarities, such as small tables, chairs, and shelving, Montessori goes a step farther and introduces materials that they use in real life with daily life activities in which a child learns to pour, to buckle, to zip, among other practical skills that can be used outside of the classroom environment. This gives the child a sense of independence and freedom. In addition, classes are set up with children between the ages of 2½ and 6 years of age. This mixed grouping allows the children to work at their own pace as well to give the older children greater independence and confidence by guiding the younger children. This grouping gives all age groups the self-esteem to learn without ridicule or shame. It induces the children to express a natural and unprompted compassion and helpfulness to one another. Montessori believed that these attributes of the environment would create the child’s inner happiness and sense of security.
Compared to a Montessori environment, a preschool (ECE) environment is filled with "nursery staples-a-block corner, a housekeeping corner, a library corner, easels, sand table, water play table, and puzzles, and game center"( Barbara Brenner, "The Preschool Handbook", p. 103). The environment is filled with lots of free play activities that invoke the child to reason and make decisions. Yet the primary goal in many preschools is to integrate the child socially and to create an environment different from the family in which they will feel happy and secure while there. There is an introduction to letters, numbers, and shapes. However, there are few extensions to applying this knowledge to the child’s world outside of the environment. In addition, the children are divided into fixed age groups; 2 and 3 year olds, 3 and 4 year olds, and so on. This is done to create an environment that the child can thrive in among his peers. Preschools believe in education based on the child’s age, not their readiness to the exposure of more mature information regardless of age.
Montessori also implements practical life and sensorial materials that enhance the child’s sense of independence as well as his sense of touch, sight, smell, hear and taste. Although she has no opposition of toys in the class she does not use them as learning materials. She uses materials in which the child can explore and ask questions of himself and of the world around him. The children with these materials can decide for themselves what feels rough or smooth? What looks long or short? What is big or small? What is bitter or sweet? What is circular or triangular? She introduces all these suggestions with limited words while letting the child distinguish and decide for himself.
There are limitations on this philosophy in a preschool, because many of the materials used to assist in preparing the child for LIFE are toys. The children clearly are free to explore their imaginations with the toys, yet are limited to extending these materials to real life. Water play in preschool is a water play table where the children can splash and play freely. As relaxing and fun as this exercise is, there is no learning sequencing and sense of order to this play as there should be none in this kind of activity. However, there are no water exercises that initiate the skill of concentration. Further, there is a sand table used to stimulate free play and enhance the imagination of the child and the feeling the sand promotes while the child plays.
In a Montessori environment water exercise consist of wet pouring, pouring to the line, and whisking; all of which teach one or more of the following; how to measure, how to transfer from one container to another without spilling, and all these exercises strengthen the child’s wrist and hand muscles in far preparation for writing. In a Montessori environment children use sand to distinguish textures, to draw letters in a shallow dish and numbers with fingers and later with spindles to prepare for writing and to enhance the child’s memory of the symbols of numbers and letters during these activities.
2) The movement and the hand
In the Montessori environment another significant difference lies within the hand and movement. Montessori believed in a true expression of freedom in the child’s environment. The child has the freedom to touch anything that will clearly not hurt him, without fear of being disciplined. "The human hand, so delicate and complicated, not only allows the mind to reveal itself but enables the whole being to enter into a special relationship with its environment" she wrote in 1920 in "The Secret of Childhood" (p. 81). Through sensorial materials the child is always being motivated to explore his environment and to test it in the process. As all this takes place the child is learning to respect the materials as learning tools.
The hand is the key to the child’s development. The child is able to write and to read at an early age. Not due to pressure from a teacher, but by being exposed to different activities found in practical life, sensorial, and language materials that lead to writing one day when the hand will be ready. In a Montessori environment, letters are broken down to sounds, sounds lead to letters and letters to words. Numbers are introduced concrete first and abstract after. Shapes are used to discover geometry. Through his movements, the child lets the teacher know when he/she is ready to write with a pencil. Writing words is a commotion commanded by the inside differing from the boring exercise of tracing on paper the same letter thirty times. For Montessori, writing is "taking your pencil for a walk". Reading will come soon after.
In preschool there is a reading corner. The teacher does most of the reading and the children listen. They also have a great deal of print material that is on the walls such as labels, charts, and nametags, but no formal lessons of these things are initiated. This activity is important in this environment to increase the child’s vocabulary, imagination and is utilized to prepare the child for reading. Although it is believed that the child should have the preparation for reading and writing, they don’t believe a child under the age of five years of age is capable of these tasks. If the child shows he is capable of these tasks before the age noted it is of a natural inclination or forced learning. Numbers are introduced to the children, but here as well, there is few extensions beyond counting and recognition. The child is usually not introduced to such things as the introduction to calculating, or measurement. This is because of the same theory practiced with their philosophy about reading, that most children at such a young age are not prepared for such academics.
3) The teacher
Another aspect that is different in Montessori way of educating is that the child is directed by his teacher, otherwise know as a guide. In a Montessori environment the teacher is in the environment to awaken the child’s inner sense of order, self-control, intelligence and his special use of his hands as an instrument of exploration and discovery. The Montessori guide accomplishes this by introducing new and exciting things to the child. Once he/she has accomplished these tasks, he/she is in the environment as an observer. "…the teacher without a desk, without authority, and almost without teaching, and the child, the center of activity, free to move about as he wills and to choose his own occupations." she wrote in "The Secret of Childhood" (p.111). In essence, the child is "controlled" by the materials in an invitational way, not by the teacher.
In the Preschool (ECE) environment, the teacher’s role is to direct the daily schedule, supervise free play, clean-up, and lead group times with the children. The teacher is the driving force of the room. He/she decides what is going to done and when. The children rely on him/her to direct their movements and to lead them into every activity that they may be interested in doing. He/she is the master of the room. The child is encouraged to master his motor skills and language skills, yet it is visible that the teacher does not encourage the child to be master of him self. The teacher always has a hand in influencing the child’s choices in the classroom.
Both environments can provide a happy, secure place for the child to live and grow. Both adopt the philosophy that the child is at his peek for learning between the ages of 2 and 6. The difference between Montessori and Preschool is that Maria Montessori was willing to be open to respecting the child’s ability to rise to the occasion of responding to his environment rather than reacting to it. She put her trust in the child’s natural abilities and her philosophy has helped the children to expand on them without interruption from adults. Preschool educators are aware of these abilities, and with good intentions assist in developing a child’s capabilities with the tools they have chosen to educate the child. However they have also made a choice to limit the child to his age and have reduced his environment to toys, instead nurturing his natural gift of his senses, his movements and his hands.
As a professional, what kind of choice do we make in preparing the child for the future?
Daniel Jutras Ph.D. is a Montessori teacher trainer in Toronto, Canada for the Canadian Montessori Teacher Education Institute. jutrasdaniel@hotmail.com
www.montessori-institute.ca
Experimental Study on Preschool Teachers’ Awareness About Turkish Children’s Readiness for Learning to Read: A Suggested Programme
by Ebru Aktan Kerem, Ph.D.
It is a known fact that children’s success in learning to read is influenced by the knowledge, skills and experiences they have gained during the preschool period. It is also worth noting that in alphabetical writing systems during the prereading period, phonological awareness, concepts about print, vocabulary usage, auditorial and visual discrimination skills have considerable effects on the process of the development of reading ability.
Young children are born with the ability to produce and perceive phonetic elements (Eimas, Siqueland, Jusczyk & Vigorito, 1971). Very young children can easily distinguish between words on the basis of a single phoneme. However, this phonological ability is not accompanied by an innate ability which allows them to manipulate phonological elements intentionally. In recent years, several research studies carried out by specialists in the area have demonstrated that training studies carried out on preschool children with the aim of enabling them to divide up words into their sylabbles; syllables into their phonemes; to determine the similarities between several phonemes; to match the names of letters with the corresponding phonemes play quite an important part in their success in reading in the future (Ball and Blachman, 1991; Bradley and Bryant, 1991; Brady, Fowler, Stone and Winbury, 1994; Lundberg, Frost and Petersen, 1988). Here the term "training studies" means all the activities we provide for children in order to help them gain the basic skills to learn how to read. For example, studies by Bradley and Bryant (1983; 1983) demonstrated that explicit training improved phonological awareness before any reading instruction had taken place. In addition, in the light of the findings obtained from this research, the researchers state that the most effective method which helps the child to gain the skill of reading is a training study which draws the attention to the phonemes and to the relation between the written symbols representing these units (Bradley and Bryant, 1991).
The children whose environment has been full of stimuli for the written language since they were born begin to form concepts about print, by joining some activities which lead them to develop reading skills by paying attention to the characteristics of printed material and by observing the adults using the written language. Hence, the findings of the research studies carried out by Baker ve Raban (1991), Clay (1991), Feitelson and Goldstein (1986), Ferreiro ve Teberosky (1982), Hiebert (1981, 1988), Sulzby ve Teale (1991) ve Tuncel (1992) and several other linguists show that the child’s developing concepts about print and having success in reading are closely related to each other. For example, Morrow, Connor ve Smith (1990) investigated the effects of an educational programme designed to see how preschool children form concepts about print and how they develop their reading skills; they found out that the children’s developing the ability to read during the preschool period positively affects their success in reading during the coming years.
Some training studies carried out to improve the child’s vocabulary use in alphabetic writing systems proved to be very effective. This has been supported by the findings of some recent research studies (Eller, Pappas and Brown, 1988; Elley, 1989; Feitelson, Kita and Goldstein, 1986; Jenkins and Dixon, 1983; Leung and Pikulski, 1990 ve Senechal, 1993). Robbins ve Ehri (1994) conducted a research in order to investigate how listening to stories affected the children’s vocabulary knowledge. They found that reading stories aloud to children increases their vocabulary knowledge. It has a positive influence on their language development and reading success.
During the preschool period, while children are developing their reading skills, their gaining skills in visual discrimination is crucially important. A child having this skill is interested in books, signs and titles. He perceives the similarities and the differences between objects and simple symbolic forms; they know the primary colours (i.e. red, yellow and blue) and some secondary colours; he can tell the location and direction of somebody or something (e.g. up-down, right-left and top-bottom) He knows the visual direction (e.g. from left to right, from front to back) that he needs to while he is reading. He can discriminate symbolic forms. This ability enables him to learn the letters of the alphabet and to perceive them in groups as words (Ryan, 1999). Similarly, a child having the auditorial and visual discrimination skills understands how letters and words are pronounced; he distinguishes the phonemic differences in inital and final positions. He enjoys language games played on various pronounciations of words. He likes poems and stories read to them (Ryan, 1999). The findings of the training studies aiming at developing auditorial and visual discrimination skills of children seem to support the view of the researcher that the skills developed during the preschool period have a strong effect on children’s reading development in alphabetical writing systems and their success in reading in the coming years.
Languages differ in the complexity of their phonological structures. The diversity of the syllable types, the occurrence of morphophonemic alternations, occurrence of vowel or consonant harmony are only some of the differences that exist among different languages. Just as spoken languages differ in the complexity of their phonological structure, written languages differ in how they represent the spoken language. It is possible to classify all alphabetic orthographies according to the transparency of their letter-phoneme correspondences. This factor referred to as orthographic depth (Liberman, Shankweiler and Liberman, 1989) has been shown to influence the acquisition and development of reading.
Given all possible variations in phonetic and orthographic structures of word languages, it is reasonables to ask how an explicit understanding of a spoken word’s internal structure may be influenced by the variation in the phonetic complexity of a language, and after the child is introduced to an alphabetic writing system, how the nature of the orthographic system may influence the development of phonological awareness further.
Studies on beginning readers in orthographies with transparent letter-sound correspondences like Finnish and Turkish have shown that the acquisition of decoding skills takes place rapidly and children become accurate in decoding even complex pseudowords by the end of first grade (Venezky, 1973; Öney & Goldman, 1984, Caravolas & Bruck, 1993). The diversity in writing systems seems to lead to processing differences in word recognition also. While word recognition in phonologically transparent orthographies (sometimes referred to as "shallow orthographies") seems to involve the language’s phonology, the same process may encourage the reader to rely more on the word’s visual-orthographic structure in orthographies where the letter-sound relation is subsequentially equivocal (Katz & Frost, 1992, Seidenberg, 1992).
Öney ve Goldman (1984) conducted a research study in order to investigate how children gain the reading skill in various languages -each having a phoneme-letter relationship. They carried out the research on two different groups of first and third grade Turkish and American students. They found out that the decoding skill was acquired more quickly in Turkish than in English as Turkish has a very high phoneme-letter correlation whereas English has an irregular and complicated relationship between its phonemes and letters.
Öney, Peter and Katz (in press) compared the Turkish language with the English and Hebrew languages. At the end of the research they determined that the Turkish subjects utilized the phonological process more heavily than their American and Jewish peers.
In her research, Topbas (1996) studied phonological development of a group of Turkish and English children at different ages and found that they both demonstrated parallelism in developing phonological awareness.
In other study, Aktan (1996) aimed to investigate how the characteristics of different languages belonging to different alphabetic writing systems affect children’s phonological awareness and their skill at learning to read. In this study, she also aimed at developing the most appropriate teaching methods to facilitate literacy of Turkish children in their native language. Due to the characteristics of its alphabetic writing system, phonological process is heavily used in Turkish in contrast to some other languages, such as English with a different alphabetic writing system.
Turkish has fewer syllable types. 98% of all Turkish syllables belong to one of the four simple syllable forms (V, VC, CV, CVC) with CV being the most frequent syllable form, by far, as over 50% of all Turkish syllables have that form. Thus, Turkish words are very easy to break into syllables and therefore Turkish may lend itself to awareness of syllables. Since the common syllable types do not include consonant clusters, phonemes within the syllable should also easy to identify.
Another important charecteristic of Turkish phonology is vowel harmony. Turkish has an eight-vowel system (a, e, i, i, o, ö, u, ü) where all possible combinations of the distinctive features front/back, high/low, and rounded/unrounded are observed. Vowel harmony is a left-to-right process operating sequentially along syllables. Any of the eight vowels may appear in the first syllable of a word, but each following vowel is conditioned by the vowel immediately preceding it (Underhill, 1976). Thus the following vowel assimilates to the preceding vowel in frontness and rounding. Although these are many exceptions to the vowel harmony rule, most of these exceptions occur in borrowed words.
Vowel harmony becomes a very important feature in word formation when Turkish morphology is considered. Turkish is an agglutinating language where grammatical elements are joined to the word as suffixes. Suffixes mark voice, aspect, modality, mood, person and number in the noun paradigm while they mark derivation, negation, tense, person etc. in the verb paradigm. As a result of vowel harmony, Turkish suffixes have an extremely variable nature. For example, the nominal and participle suffix DIK (indicating past tense, first person plural) has 16 different surface forms (Underhill, 1976). Variation in suffixes is very common, and may result in vowel dropping in the suffix. For example, the suffix meaning "my" has the form – im in Elim (meaning "my hand"), but -m in ANNEm (meaning "my mother"), Vowel harmony may also lead to variation in the stems (e.g.: KITAP-KITABIM, meaning "book" or "my book").
Being a speaker of Turkish requires constant monitoring and manipulation of subword linguistic units where the speaker has to pay constant attention to the phonological characteristics of suffixes, choosing between alternate surface forms of the suffix based on phonological criteria. We believe that these phonological characteristics of spoken Turkish will facilitate the development of phonological awareness earlier.
As it is stated above, during the process of teaching to read in Turkish, the utilized method should give importance to syllable segmentation, phoneme segmentation and to analyzing the relations between the syllables and the corresponding phonemes. Due to the characteristics of this language, a method based on perceiving each word as a whole is not recommended.
In this study, we aimed to support the limited research studies done on this subject in our country. We also thought to give a chance to create new research areas; therefore we firstly consulted preschool teachers in order to obtain their opinions on children’s developing reading skills, in other words, preschool children’s readiness to read. In the meantime, we carried out some situational detection on what the teachers have been doing to support this development.
Later, based on the results of this detection, we designed a New Programme About Children’s Readiness For Learning to Read, which was aimed to enrich the current curriculum. We also measured the effectiveness of the programme.
Method
Subjects
In Istanbul in the 1998-1999 school year, the general survey section of this research consisted of an accessible population of teachers working in public and private kindergartens run under the authority of the Ministry of Education, teachers working in the Institutes of public and private preschool education run under the authority of the Institute of Social Services and Child Care and teachers working in some practice schools in coordination with some universities. 182 preschool teachers selected from this accessible population formed the sample. The second phase of the study was carried out as experimental research in which we chose 26 children out of 77 kindergarten pupils in the 5 to 6 age group attending the Independent Yildiz Erten Kindergarten in Besiktas, a provincial town of Istanbul and we formed two groups out of these 26 pupils. In the Experimental Group, there were 13 pupils; 8 girls and 5 boys. The Control Group also consisted of 13 pupils; 8 girls and 5 boys.
Materials and Procedure
In the survey section, a questionnaire was administered by the researchers of this study to 182 teachers working in preschool institutes in order to determine their points of view on the research topic. The content of the questionnaire included 54 questions aiming to get the opinions of the teachers about preschool children’s readiness for learning to read during the preschool period.
In comparing and contrasting the Experimental Group with the Control Group and testing the significance of the findings of The Programme About Children’s Readiness For Learning to Read, the following tests were used during the implementation of the pretest and the posttest: Phonological Awareness Tests, Concepts about Print Test, Peabody Picture -Vocabulary Test, Test Reversal (Test on Children’s Readiness For Reading) and Stambak’s Rhythms Test. Validity and Reliability Studies for Phonological Awareness Tests, Concepts about Print Test and the Peabody Picture -Vocabulary Test had been scientifically adapted for use in Turkey. On the other hand, the Test Reversal and Stambak’s Rhythms Test were only adapted to Turkish but no reliability studies were done over them. For this reason, in order to utilize these tests in this research, we have carried out the necessary reliability work on them.
In the 1999-2000 school year, in order to ascertain reliability of the Test Reversal we covered 300 pupils aged between 5 and 6-attending educational institutions at preschool level and administered the test to them. The internal validity of the test is a maximum of 0.97 according to the Cronbach Alpha Technique. The Guttman Technique was used to measure the minimum internal validity of the test and it was found to be 0.96. These results demonstrate that the test is highly reliable. In the research, Stambak’s Rhythms Test was administered to 77 pupils in order to determine the Experimental and Control Groups. Having considered the results of the test over these groups, we determined the coefficient of internal validity according to Cronbach Alpha Technique. The result found to be 0.84 demonstrates that the test is 84% reliable.
During the Autumn term of 1999-2000 school year, The Programme About Children’s Readiness For Learning to Read was put into practice together with the 13 subjects in the Experimental Group.
According to the Preschool Curriculum (M.E.B. Anasinifi Programi, 1994) applied in our country, a half hour is allotted to the tasks preparing children to literacy. These tasks should be thought provoking on children’s readiness for learning to read and they could be flexible so that each child would get the most advantage out of them.
In our research we established the database for developing some basic skills needed by 61-72 month old preschool children such as phonological awareness, concepts about print, vocabulary usage, auditorial and visual discrimination. We tried to build a bridge between the preschool and elementary school education, bearing in mind that child education is a continuous, crucial process preparing him/her for life.
Our aim was to prepare children for primary education with the Programme About Children’s Readiness for Learning to Read. The aims of the programme are as follows:
Objectives Related to Phonological Awareness
- They recognize the 29 upper-case and lower-case letters in the Turkish Alphabet.
- They can match upper-case and lower-case letters-A to Z.
- They can say the names of the letters-A to Z.
- They can say the phonemes of all the letters in the Turkish Alphabet.
- They can point out a certain letter among many others.
- They can give a word beginning a certain letter.
- They can count the syllables of a word.
- They can tell the phonemes forming a word.
- They can drop the initial and final phonemes of a word.
Objectives Related to the Development of Concepts About Print
- They know how to hold a storybook.
- They can show you where to start reading.
- They can show you the top and bottom of a page.
- They can show the first and last word to be read.
- They can show the beginning and end of a story.
- They can listen to a story.
- They can retell the story told to them.
- They know the punctuation marks (i.e. full-stop, comma, question mark, quotation marks, exclamation mark, parentheses, dash and colon).
Objectives Related to Vocabulary Usage
- They recognize the new words in activities.
- They can show you a specific picture among the pictures of other objects.
- They can talk about that picture.
- They can raise a hand as a sign to join an activity.
- They can show their feelings through acting in a drama.
- They enrich their active and passive vocabulary.
Objectives Related to Visual Discrimination Skills
- They recognize the thing show to them.
- They can indicate similar shapes and letters.
- They can indicate different shapes and letters.
- They can discriminate similarities and differences.
- They can play a given role in a drama.
Objectives Related to Auditorial Discrimination Skills
- They listen to rhythms.
- They can imitate a rhythm task they have listened to.
- They can beat a certain rhythm.
- They can move slowly or fast according to a rhythm.
- They can become creative while doing an activity.
- They can understand the importance of listening.
- They can discriminate different rhythms.
- They are able to recognize a word when its syllables are tapped.
- They can compare the sounds of different actions with their rhythms.
This programme which consisted of 93 miscellaneous activities (Activities of Readiness for Reading, Activities of Linguistic Competence, Activities in the Acquisition of Conceptual Notions, Activities in the form of Games, Spare-time Activities, Science and Nature Activities, Drama Activities and Music Activities) aimed at to realize our objectives and targets. It was carried out four days a week as 60 to 90-minute activities a day and lasted for six weeks. During the application of the programme aiming at the children’s readiness for learning to read, during the preparations and pre-tests, 5 experts in preschool education helped the researcher one after another. The programme was finalized with the post-test activities conducted with the experimental and control groups.
Results
Before starting the research, the experimental and control groups were matched with each other as it is necessitated by the scientific nature of the work model. This process is achieved by utilizing Phonological Awaraness Tests, Concepts About Print Test, Peabody Picture -Vocabulary Test, Test Reversal (Test on Children’s Readiness For Reading) and Stambak’s Rhythms Test. As both experimental and control groups consisted of 13 pupils, non-parametric technique was considered to be appropriate for matching the two groups. To achieve this, Mann-Whitney Test was used. Both of the experimental and control groups took a number of pre-tests, such as Phonological Awaraness Tests, Concepts About Print Test, Peabody Picture -Vocabulary Test, Test Reversal (Test on Children’s Readiness For Reading) and Stambak’s Rhythms Test.
Table I. The results of Mann-Whitney Test for the pre-test of the experimental and control groups
| Tests | Group | N | Mean Rank | Sum of Ranks | Mann-Whitney | Z | P |
| Phonological Awareness Test | Experimental | 13 | 15.42 | 200.50 | 59.50 | -1.285 | p>0.05 |
| Control | 13 | 11.58 | 150.50 | ||||
| PRE-TEST | Total | 26 | |||||
| Concepts About Print Test | Experimental | 13 | 14.85 | 193.00 | 67.00 | -.906 | p>0.05 |
| Control | 13 | 12.15 | 158.00 | ||||
| PRE-TEST | Total | 26 | |||||
| Peabody Picture-Vocabulary Test | Experimental | 13 | 12.23 | 159.00 | 68.00 | -0.847 | p>0.05 |
| Control | 13 | 14.77 | 192.00 | ||||
| PRE-TEST | Total | 26 | |||||
| Test Reversal | Experimental | 13 | 11.19 | 145.50 | 54.50 | -1.547 | p>0.05 |
| Control | 13 | 15.81 | 205.50 | ||||
| PRE-TEST | Total | 26 | |||||
| Stambak’s Rhythms Test | Experimental | 13 | 14.73 | 191.50 | 68.50 | -0.824 | p>0.05 |
| Control | 13 | 12.27 | 159.50 | ||||
| PRE-TEST | Total | 26 |
As summarised in Table I, both groups were closely matched with each other on the base of the applied tests.
During the second phase of the study, the programme about children’s readiness for learning to read was applied to the experimental group. The programme was completed within 6 weeks. At the end of the alloted time, all the tests utilized in the pre-test session were applied once more. Non-parametric Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test was given to the experimental group to see how effective the programme was.
Table II. The results of Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test for the pre-test and post-test of the experimental group
| Tests | Ranks | N | Mean Rank | Sum of Ranks | Z | P |
| Phonological Awareness Test | Negative Ranks | 0a | .00 | .00 | -3.181 | p<0.01 |
| Positive Ranks | 13b | 7.00 | 91.00 | |||
| PRE-TEST/POST-TEST | Ties | 0c | ||||
| Total | 13 | |||||
| Concepts About Print Test | Negative Ranks | 0d | .00 | .00 | -3.192 | p<0.01 |
| Positive Ranks | 13e | 7.00 | 91.00 | |||
| PRE-TEST/POST-TEST | Ties | 0f | ||||
| Total | 13 | |||||
| Peabody Picture-Vocabulary Test | Negative Ranks | 0g | .00 | .00 | -3.181 | p<0.01 |
| Positive Ranks | 13h | 7.00 | 91.00 | |||
| PRE-TEST/POST-TEST | Ties | 0i | ||||
| Total | 13 | |||||
| Test Reversal | Negative Ranks | 0j | .00 | .00 | -3.181 | p<0.01 |
| Positive Ranks | 13k | 7.00 | 91.00 | |||
| PRE-TEST/POST-TEST | Ties | 0l | ||||
| Total | 13 | |||||
| Stambak’s Rhythms Test | Negative Ranks | 0m | .00 | .00 | -3.186 | p<0.01 |
| Positive Ranks | 13n | 7.00 | 91.00 | |||
| PRE-TEST/POST-TEST | Ties | 0o | ||||
| Total | 13 |
As summarized in Table II, the programme we applied about children’s readiness for learning to read developed the children’s skills in the areas of phonological awareness, concepts about print, vocabulary usage, visual and auditorial discrimination.
In the third phase of the experimental study, Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test was utilized in the pre-test and post-test of the control group. (This data is presented in Table III).
Table III. The results of Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test for the pre-test and post-test of the control group
| Tests | Ranks | N | Mean Rank | Sum of Ranks | Z | P |
| Phonological Awareness Test | Negative Ranks | 2a | 4.50 | 9.00 | -2.550 | p<0.05 |
| Positive Ranks | 11b | 7.45 | 82.00 | |||
| PRE-TEST/POST-TEST | Ties | 0c | ||||
| Total | 13 | |||||
| Concepts About Print Test | Negative Ranks | 8d | 4.63 | 37.00 | -1.721 | p>0.05 |
| Positive Ranks | 1e | 8.00 | 8.00 | |||
| PRE-TEST/POST-TEST | Ties | 4f | ||||
| Total | 13 | |||||
| Peabody Picture-Vocabulary Test | Negative Ranks | 6g | 6.50 | 39.00 | 0.00 | p>0.05 |
| Positive Ranks | 6h | 6.50 | 39.00 | |||
| PRE-TEST/POST-TEST | Ties | 1i | ||||
| Total | 13 | |||||
| Test Reversal | Negative Ranks | 11j | 7.95 | 87.50 | -2.940 | p<0.01 |
| Positive Ranks | 2k | 1.75 | 3.50 | |||
| PRE-TEST/POST-TEST | Ties | 0l | ||||
| Total | 13 | |||||
| Stambak’s Rhythms Test | Negative Ranks | 8m | 6.75 | 54.00 | -1.184 | p>0.05 |
| Positive Ranks | 4n | 6.00 | 24.00 | |||
| PRE-TEST/POST-TEST | Ties | 1o | ||||
| Total | 13 |
Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test was used for the pre-test and post-test of the control group. In the Phonological Awareness Test, there was a significance level of at least 0.05 in favour of the post-test. The same level of significance was found to be in favour of the pre-test in Test Reversal (Test on Children’s Readiness For Reading). Although the programme about readiness for learning to read wasn’t applied to the pupils of the control group, their phonological awareness skill developed; whereas their scores in the Test Reversal (Test on Children’s Readiness For Reading) decreased significantly. We couldn’t find any significant difference between the pre-test and post-test results of Concepts About Print Test, Peabody Picture -Vocabulary Test and Stambak’s Rhythms Test. These findings show that apart from phonological awareness and visual discrimination of the pupils, their concepts about print, vocabulary usage and auditorial discrimination skills didn’t differ in pre-test and post-test applications.
At the end of the last phase of the experimental study, Mann-Whitney Test was utilized to compare the post-tests of the experimental and control groups. (The findings are presented in Table IV).
TABLE IV. The results of Mann-Whitney Test for the post-test of the experimental and control groups
| Tests | Group | N | Mean Rank | Sum of Ranks | Mann-Whitney | Z | P |
| Phonological Awareness Test | Experimental | 13 | 20.00 | 260.00 | 0.00 | -4.339 | p<0.01 |
| Control | 13 | 7.00 | 91.00 | ||||
| PRE-TEST | Total | 26 | |||||
| Concepts About Print Test | Experimental | 13 | 20.00 | 260.00 | 0.00 | -4.378 | p<0.01 |
| Control | 13 | 7.00 | 91.00 | ||||
| PRE-TEST | Total | 26 | |||||
| Peabody Picture-Vocabulary Test | Experimental | 13 | 19.27 | 250.00 | 9.50 | -3.867 | p<0.01 |
| Control | 13 | 7.73 | 100.50 | ||||
| PRE-TEST | Total | 26 | |||||
| Test Reversal | Experimental | 13 | 20.00 | 260.00 | 0.00 | -4.350 | p<0.01 |
| Control | 13 | 7.00 | 91.00 | ||||
| PRE-TEST | Total | 26 | |||||
| Stambak’s Rhythms Test | Experimental | 13 | 20.00 | 260.00 | 0.00 | -4.369 | p<0.01 |
| Control | 13 | 7.00 | 91.00 | ||||
| PRE-TEST | Total | 26 |
As summarized in Table II, the experimental group did better than the control group in the post-tests. There found to be a significant level of 0.01 in statistics in favour of the experimental group. The group of pupils who joined the programme of readiness for learning to read developed their skills of phonological awareness, concepts about print, vocabulary usage, visual and auditorial discrimination to a higher level than compared to the group which didn’t join this programme.
General Discussion
The results of our research clearly indicate that The Programme About Children’s Readiness For Learning to Read applied to a group of children aged between 5 and 6 supports their developing reading skills. After the educational programme was applied to the Experimental Group, we administered 5 different tests to the subjects. When we compared their scores with those of the Control Group, we found out that the scores of the Experimental Group were significantly higher than the scores of the Control Group. The Programme About Children’s Readiness For Learning to Read helped the children of this age to develop their skills such as phonological awareness, concepts about print, vocabulary usage, auditorial and visual discrimination skills. The results of this research cohere with the findings of many research studies (Ball and Blachman, 1988, 1991; Bradley and Bryant, 1983, 1985, 1991; Cunningham, 1988; Lundberg, Wall and Olofsson, 1981; Lundberg, Frost and Petersen, 1988; Olofsson ve Lundberg, 1983; Torgesen, Morgan ve Davis, 1992; Treiman and Baron, 1983; Williams, 1980, 1984) similarly carried out in literature.
In sum, at the end of this research study, we found that the programme we applied was effective on the reading development of children in the 5-6 age group. However, to see how long-lasting this effect is, some follow-up studies should be carried out at certain intervals. Besides, the programme can be more useful if it is applied over a longer period, preferably for a year. For this reason, we think that this programme may be used as part of preschool curriculum. It may also be used with the children in the first year of primary education who haven’t benefited the preschool education before. In our time, there are great advancements in every area of life. Tomorrow’s adults, today’s children in Turkey should be provided with good education so that they could be prepared properly for their future lives. Children attending preschool institutions in our country are 11.9% of all at that age. It seems quite impossible to provide preschool education for all the children because of the financial difficulties the country is in. However, it should be born in mind that the future of this country depends on the proper education given to its children. Therefore, every effort should be made to improve preschool education in our country and to allow all the children to benefit from it.
References
AKTAN, E. (1996) Çocugun Dil Gelisiminde Fonolojik Duyarliligin (Sesbilgisel Duyarlilik) Karsilastirmali Olarak Incelenmesi, Yayinlanmamis Yüksek Lisans Tezi. (Istanbul, Marmara Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü).
BAKER, P. & RABAN, B. (1991) Reading Before and After the Early Days of Schooling. Reading, 25(1), pp. 6-13.
BALL, E. W. & BLACHMAN B. A. (1988) Phoneme Segmentation Training: Effect on Reading Readiness. Annals of Dyslexia, 38, pp. 208-225.
BALL, E. W. & BLACHMAN B. A. (1991) Does Phoneme Awareness Training in Kindergarden Make a Difference in Early Word Recognition and Developmental Speeling?. Reading Research Quarterly, 26(1), pp. 49-66.
BRADLEY, L. & BRYANT, P. (1983) Categorizing sounds and learning to read- A causal connection. Nature, 301, pp. 419-421.
BRADLEY, L. & BRYANT, P. (1985) Children’s Reading Problems. (Oxford, Blackwell).
BRADLEY, L. & BRYANT, P. (1991) Phonological Skills Before and After Learning to Read, in: S. A. BRADY & D. P. SHANKWEILER (Eds) Phonological Processes in Literacy, pp. 37-45 (Hillsdale, NJ, Erlbaum).
BRADY, S., FOWLER, A., STONE, B. & WINBURY, N. (1994). Training Phonological Awareness: A Study with Inner-City Kindergarden Children. Annals of Dyslexia, 44, pp. 26-59.
CARAVOLAS, M. & BRUCK, M. (1993) The effect of oral and written language input on children’s phonological awareness: A cross-linguistic study. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 55, pp. 1-30.
CLAY, M. (1991) Becoming Literate: The Construction of Inner Control. (Auckland, New Zeland, Heinemann Educational Books).
CUNNINGHAM, A. E. (1988) A Developmental Study of Instruction in Phonemic Awareness. This paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association Meeting, pp. 1-24.
EIMAS, P., SIQUELAND, E., JUSCZYK, P. & VIGORITO, J. (1971). Speech perception in infants. Science, 171, pp. 303-306.
ELLER, R. G., PAPPAS, C. C. & BROWN E. (1988) The Lexical Development of Kindergartners: Learning from Written Context. Journal of Reading Behaviour, 20, pp. 5-24.
ELLEY, W. B. (1989) Vocabulary Acquisition from Listening to Stories. Reading Research Quarterly, 24, pp. 174-187.
FEITELSON, D. & GOLDSTEIN, Z. (1986) Patterns of Book Ownership and Reading to Young Children in Israeli School-Oriented and Non-School Oriented Families. The Reading Teacher, 39, pp. 924-930.
FEITELSON, D., KITA B. & GOLDSTEIN Z. (1986) Effects of Listening to Series Stories on First Graders’ Comprehension and Use of Language. Research in the Teaching of English. 20, pp. 339-356.
FERREIRO, E. & TEBEROSKY, A. (1982) Literacy Before Schooling. (London, Heinemann Educational Books).
HIEBERT, E. H. (1981)Developmental Patterns and Interrelationships of Pre-School Children’s Print Awareness. Reading Research Quarterly, 16(2), pp. 236-260.
HIEBERT, E. H. (1988) The Role of Literacy Experiences in Early Childhood Programs. The Elementary School Journal, 89(2), pp. 161-171.
JENKINS, J. R. & DIXON, R. (1983) Vocabulary Learning. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 8, pp. 237-260.
KATZ, L. & FROST, R. (1992) The reading process is different for different orthographies: The orthographic depth hypothesis, in: L. KATZ & R. FROST (Eds) Orthography, phonology, morphology and meaning, pp. 67-84 (Amsterdam, North-Holland).
LEUNG, C. B. & PIKULSKI, J. J. (1990) Incidential Learning of Word Meanings by Kindergarten and First-Grade Children Through Repeated Read Aloud Events. This paper was presented at the National Reading Conference, pp. 1-19.
LIBERMAN, I.Y., SHANKWEILER, D. & LIBERMAN, A. M. (1989) The alphabetic principle and learning to read, in: D. SHANKWEILER & I.Y. LIBERMAN (Eds) Phonology and reading disability: Solving the reading puzzle, pp.1-34 (Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press).
LUNDBERG, I., WALL, S. & OLOFSSON, A. (1981) Reading and Spelling Skils in the First School Years Predicted From Phonemic Awareness Skills in Kindergarten. Scandanavian Journal of Psychology, 21, pp. 159-173.
LUNDBERG, I., FROST, J. & PETERSEN, O. (1988) Stimulating Phonological Awareness. Reading Research Quarterly. 23(3), pp. 263-283.
M.E.B. Anasinifi Programi (61-72) (1994). (Istanbul, Milli Egitim Basimevi).
MORROW, L. M., O’CONNOR, E. M. & SMITH, J. K. (1990) Effects of a Story Reading Program on the Literacy Development of At-risk Kindergarten Children. Journal of Reading Behavior, 22(3), pp. 255-275.
OLOFSSON, A. & LUNDBERG, I. (1983). Can Phonemic Awareness be Trained in Kindergarten,? Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 24, pp. 35-44.
ONEY, B., & GOLDMAN, S. (1984) Decoding and comprehension skills in Turkish and English: effects of the regularity of grapheme-phoneme correspondences. Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, pp. 557-568.
ÖNEY, B., PETER M. & KATZ, R. B. (in press) Printed Word Naming as a Functional of Age and Orthographic Transparency. Journal of the Scientific Study of Reading, (Haskin Laboratories and the University of Connecticut).
ROBBINS, C. & EHRI, L. C. (1994) Reading Storybooks to Kindergartners Helps Them Learn New Vocabulary Words. Journal of Eductional Psychology, 86, pp. 54-64.
RYAN, B. (1999). Helping Your Child Start School – A Practical Guide for Parents. Çev: Müge IZMIRLI. Çocugum Okula Basliyor (Istanbul, Hayat Yayincilik).
SEIDENBERG, M.S. (1992) Beyond orthographic depth in reading: Equitable divison of labor, in: L. KATZ & R. FROST (Eds) Orthography, phonology, morphology and meaning, pp. 85-118. (Amsterdam, North-Holland).
SENECHAL, M (1993) Preschoolers’ Production and Comprehension Vocabulary Acquisition. This paper was presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, pp. 1-25.
SULZBY, E., & TEALE, W. (1991) Emergent Literacy, in: R. BARR, M. L. KAMIL, P. B. MOSENTHAL ve P. D. PEARSON (Eds) Handbook of Reading Research II, pp. 727-757. (New York, Longman)
TOPBAS, S. (1996) Sesbilgisi Açisindan Dil Edinim Süreci. Dilbilim Arastirmalari. (Ankara, Bizim Büro Basimevi).
TORGESEN, J. K., SHARON T. M. & DAVIS, C. (1992) Effects of Two Types of Phonological Awareness Training on Word Learning in Kindergarten Children. Journal of Educational Psychology, 84 (3), pp. 364-370.
TREIMAN, R. & BARON, J. (1983) Phonemic-Analysis Training Helps Children Benefit From Spelling-Sound Rules. Memory and Cognition. 2, pp. 382-389.
TUNCEL, B. (1992) Okuma-Anlama Basarisi, Yayinlanmamis Doktora Tezi. (Istanbul, Istanbul Üniversitesi).
UNDERHILL, R. (1976) Turkish Grammar. (Cambridge, The MIT Press).
VENEZKY, R.L. (1973) Letter-sound generalizations of first-, second-and third- grade Finnish children. Journal of Educational Psychology, 64, pp. 288-292.
WILLIAMS, J. (1980) Teaching Decoding with an Emphasis on Phoneme Analysis and Phoneme Blending. Journal of Educational Psychology. 72, pp. 1-15.
WILLIAMS, J. (1984) Phonemic Analysis and How it Releases to Reading. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 17, pp. 240-245.
Guidelines for Helping Children Deal with Violence
by Diane Levin, Ph.D.
1. PROTECT CHILDREN, ESPECIALLY YOUNG CHILDREN, AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE FROM EXPOSURE TO NEWS VIOLENCE AND FROM HEARING ADULTS TALK ABOUT IT. While it’s rarely possible to protect them fully from news violence, having safety & security predominate is still vital for healthy development.
2. TRUSTED ADULTS HAVE A VITAL ROLE TO PLAY HELPING CHILDREN SORT OUT WHAT THEY SEE & HEAR & FEEL SAFE. When exposed, to violence children need trusted adults to help them safely work out their ideas, often over an extended period of time. How you react plays a big role in determining how they think & feel & what they learn.
3. BASE WHAT YOU SAY ON THE AGE, UNDERSTANDINGS & CONCERNS OF THE CHILDREN.
- YOUNG CHILDREN WON’T UNDERSTAND VIOLENCE AS ADULTS DO. When they see or hear about something scary, they often relate it to themselves and worry about their own safety. They tend to focus on one thing at a time and the most salient aspects of what they see. Because they don’t have logical causal thinking, it’s hard to figure out the logic of what happened and why, or sort out what’s pretend and real. They relate what they hear to what they already know which leads to misunderstandings. "Mommy works in a skyscraper; it can blow up too!" or "Planes in the war carry bombs; so planes I see in the sky carry bombs too!"
- OLDER CHILDREN BEGIN TO THINK ABOUT WHAT UNDERLIES AN EVENT AND POSSIBLE REAL WORLD IMPLICATIONS. They use more accurate language and make logical causal connections, but still don’t understand all the meanings and can develop misunderstandings and fears. Find out the meanings behind their language and base your responses on what they seem to know and be asking.
4. START BY FINDING OUT WHAT CHILDREN KNOW. If a child raises the issue, ask, "What have you heard about that?" You can start a conversation with, "Have you heard anything about a plane crash [or bombs]? What did you hear?"
5. ANSWER QUESTIONS AND CLEAR UP MISCONCEPTIONS THAT WORRY OR CONFUSE. You don’t need to provide the full story. Just tell children what they seem to want to know. Don’t worry about giving "right answers" or if children have ideas that don’t agree with yours. You can help children learn to distinguish real from pretend violence. You can calmly voice your feelings and concerns.
6. SUPPORT CHILDREN’S EFFORTS TO USE PLAY, ART, AND WRITING TO WORK OUT AN UNDERSTANDING OF SCARY THINGS THEY SEE AND HEAR. It’s normal for children to do this in an ongoing way; it helps them work out ideas and feelings; it shows you what they know and worry about. Open-ended (versus highly-structured) play materials-blocks, airplanes, emergency vehicles, miniature people, a doctor’s kit, markers and paper-help children with this.
7. BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR SIGNS OF STRESS. Changes in behavior such as increased aggression or withdrawal, difficulty separating or sleeping, or troubles with transition are all signs that additional supports are needed. Protecting children from violent media images, maintaining routines, providing reassurance & extra hugs can help children regain equilibrium.
8. HELP CHILDREN LEARN ALTERNATIVES TO THE HARMFUL LESSONS THEY MAY BE LEARNING ABOUT VIOLENCE AND PREJUDICE. Talk about non-violent ways to solve conflicts in their own lives. Help them look at different points of view in conflicts. Point to positive experiences with people different from themselves. Try to complicate their thinking rather than tell them how to think.
9. DISCUSS WHAT ADULTS ARE DOING TO MAKE THE SITUATION BETTER AND WHAT CHILDREN CAN DO TO HELP. Children can feel secure when they see adults working to keep the world safe. And taking meaningful action steps themselves also helps children feel more in control.
10. TALK WITH OTHER ADULTS. Work together to support each others efforts to create a safe environment for children. This includes agreeing to protect children from unnecessary exposure to violence. Talking together can also help adults meet their own personal needs.
Resources from the United States on Violence Prevention & Children
Books:
American Psychological Association. (1993). Violence and Youth: Psychology’s Response: Vol. I. Wash., DC.
_________. (1996). Violence & the Family Report of the APA Presidential Task Force on Violence & the Family. Wash, DC.
Arnold, J.C. (2000). Endangered: Your Child in a Hostile World. Farmington, PA: Plough Publishing.
Cairns, E. & Dunn, J. (1996). Children & Political Violence (Understanding Children’s Worlds). Oxford & NY: Blackwells.
Cantor, J. (1998). "Mommy, I’m Scared!" How TV & Movies Frighten Children & What We Can Do to Protect Them. NY: Harcourt Brace.
Carlsson-Paige, N. & Levin, D.E. (1987). The War Play Dilemma: Balancing Needs and Values in the Early Childhood Classroom. NY: Teachers College.
_________. (1990). Who’s Calling the Shots? How to Respond Effectively to Children’s Fascination with War Play and War Toys. Gabriola Island, BC, CAN: New Society Publishers.
_________. (Jan, 1992). Making Peace in Violent Times: A Constructivist Approach to Conflict Resolution. Young Children.
_________. (1998). Before Push Comes to Shove: Building Conflict Resolution Skills with Children. St. Paul, MN: Red Leaf. [Companion children's book: Best Day of the Week. by Carlsson-Paige.]
DeVries, R. & Zan, B. (1994). Moral Classrooms, Moral Children. NY: Teachers College.
Garbarino, J., et al. (1991). Not Place to Be a Child: Growing Up in a War Zone. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
_______. (1992). Children in Danger: Dealing with the Effects of Community Violence. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Garbarino, J. (1995). Raising Children in a Socially Toxic Environment. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Groves, B.M. (2002). Children Who See Too Much: Lessons from the Child Witness to Violence Project. Boston: Beacon.
Katch, J. (2001). Under Deadman’s Skin: Discovering the Meaning of Children’s Violent Play, Boston: Beacon.
Karr-Morse, R. & Wiley M. (1997). Ghosts from the Nursery: Tracing the Roots of Violence. NY: Atlantic Monthly.
Koplow, L. (Ed.). (1996). Unsmiling Faces: How Preschools Can Heal. NY: Teachers College, 1996.
Kreidler, W. & Whittall, S. (1999). Adventures in Peacemaking: A Conflict Resolution Activity Guide for Early Childhood Educators. Cambridge, MA: Educators for Social Responsibility.
Lantieri, L. & Patti, J. (1996). Waging Peace in Our Schools. Boston: Beacon Press.
Levin, D.E. (1994). Teaching Young Children in Violent Times: Building a Peaceable Classroom. Cambridge, MA: Educators for Social Responsibility.
_________. (March, 1995). Understanding and Responding to the Violence in Children’s Lives. Child Care Information Exchange. [Part of Beginnings Section on Violence and Young Children.]
_________. (1996). Endangered Play, Endangered Development: A Constructivist View of the Role of Play in Development and Learning. Playing for Keeps, A. Phillips (Ed.), St. Paul, MN: Red Leaf Press, 1996.
_________. (1998). Remote Control Childhood? Combating the Hazards of Media Culture. Wash., DC.: NAEYC.
_________. (1998), Play with Violence: Understanding and Responding Effectively. In Play from Birth to Twelve: Contexts, Perspectives, and Meanings, D. Fromberg & D. Bergen (Eds.), NY: Garland, 1998.
_________. (July, 1999). Changing Needs, Changing Responses: Rethinking How We Teach Children. Child Care Information Exchange. [Part of Beginnings Section on Young Children and Media Culture.]
_________. (2002). Making Peace in the Playroom: Teaching Conflict Resolution through Play. In Play in Practice: Case Studies in Young Children’s Play, C.R. Brown & C. Marchant (Eds.). St. Paul, MN: Redleaf.
Levin, D.E. & Carlsson-Paige, N. (Sept., 1994). Developmentally Appropriate TV: Putting Children 1st. Young Children.
__________. (Nov., 1995). The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Teachers Voice Concern. Young Children.
Levine, M. (1998). See No Evil: A Guide to Protecting Our Children from Media Violence. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, Inc.
Pirtle, S. (1998). Linking Up! Using Music, Movement, & Language Arts to Promote Caring, Cooperation, and Communication (Preschool-Grade 3). Cambridge, MA: Educators for Social Responsibility.
Slaby, R. et al. (1995). Early Violence Prevention: Tools for Teachers of Young Children. Wash., D.C.: NAEYC.
Stamford. B.H. & Yamamoto, K. (Eds.). (2001). Children & Stress: Understanding & Helping. Olney, MD: Assoc. for Childhood Education International.
Walsh, D. (1994). Selling Out America’s Children: How America Puts Profits Before Values-and What Parents Can Do. Minneapolis: Fairview Press.
VIOLENCE PREVENTION PROGRAMS & TRAINING MATERIALS:
ACT-Adults and Children Together-Against Violence project. American Psychological Association & National Assoc. for the Education of Young Children. An ongoing project providing community-based training for early childhood violence prevention. Brochures: "Understand Child Development as a Violence Prevention Tool." & "Violence Prevention for Families of Young Children." Washington, DC.; www.ActAgainstViolence.org.
Channeling Young Children Away from Media Violence, 2001. Ready At Five Partnership. A 5-lesson manual for an adult education course for professionals and parents on counteracting the negative impact of media violence. Companion publications include: Moving Young Children’s Play Away from TV Violence: A How to Guide for Early Childhood Educators & Bringing Parents into the Picture. Baltimore, MD; available at: www.medialit.org/catalog
Children and Conflict: An Opportunity for Learning in the Early Childhood Classroom, 2000. "Videotape and teacher education materials designed for adults working with children 18 months to 8 years" designed by C. French & L. Wirtanen, Child Care Connections, Boise, Idaho.
Ready to Learn about Conflict. A video-based training program of the PBS "Ready to Learn" Project designed by Media Education Consultants for training professionals to help parents teach children conflict resolution skills. Washington, DC.
Reframing Discipline. A 3-part, video-based training program to help teachers of children three to eight transform "discipline problems" into learning opportunities. Developed by Educational Productions, Beaverton, OR.
The Safe Havens Training Project: Helping Teachers & Child Care Providers Support Children & Families Who Witness Violence in Their Communities, 1998. Video-based training program developed by Family Communications, Pittsburgh, PA.
Second Step: Violence Prevention Curricula for Preschool through Grade 9. Program with curriculum kits for teaching positive social behavior. Developed by Committee for Children, Seattle, WA; www.cfchildren.org
Supporting Children in Resolving Conflicts, 1998. A videotape from High/Scope Press on teaching conflict resolution skills to children through helping them work out conflicts when they arise in the classroom. Ypsilanti, MI; www.highscope.org
What Happened to the World? Helping Children Cope in Turbulent Times, 2001. An 65-page booklet prepared by J. Greenman that is packed with information on helping children, from toddlers through elementary school age, cope with the tragedy of September 11th (can be downloaded from www.brighthorizons.com). Also available is the accompanying 75-page Facilitator’s Guide (by R. Russell & J. Greenman) for training adults to work with children on these issues
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
American Academy of Pediatrics. Publishes position statements on various aspects of children & violence. (www.aap.org)
UNESCO International Clearinghouse on Children and Violence on the Screen. Publishes wide-range of free resources from on all aspects of media violence on a global level. Gotenborg, Sweden; (www.nordicom.gu.se)
Educators for Social Responsibility. Publishes and distributes a comprehensive-range of violence prevention materials for all ages. (www.esrnational.org)
Lion & Lamb Project. Parent organization promoting healthy play & non-violent toys. (www.lionlamb.org)
National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) publishes materials on violence & children including: Media Violence & Children: A Guide for Parents (1994, brochure); Position Statement on Violence in the Lives of Children (1993, brochure); Position Statement on Media Violence in Children’s Lives (1990); (www.naeyc.org)
TRUCE (Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Children’s Entertainment). Prepares the parent guides, "Media Violence and Children: A Call to Action" and "TRUCE Toy Action Guide." Both can be downloaded from the web to copy for distribution (www.truceteachers.org). Also, see the teacher booklet, Help Children See through Violence in the Media (in English and Spanish), available from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (www.violenceprevention.com).
Early Literacy with Pacfic Island Children in ECE Services
by Juliana Malaealu
I was interested in talking with you about early literacy for Pacific Island children as I have worked with a number of groups to look at ways to support Pacific island children in appreciating the use of words and language. Literacy for Pacific Island children who attend ECE services and schools in New Zealand is a complicated issue as children are often in the position of learning to read in a second language. It is usually in English. The children enter school or early childhood services and are expected to grapple with a new language and begin to recognize letters or words in a foreign language. This is of concern to Pacific families as they, like all parents want their children to be successful learners and want their children to be able to read and write.
Historically, Pacific Island languages were communicated through oral language. The challenge for the Pacific Island community in New Zealand is to find a way for their children to speak and read English while retaining their own language and cultural practices. In order to be successful citizens in New Zealand, Pacific Island children need to be able to operate in a print drenched culture and be fluent in a second language. (English).
According to research, children that have a strong background in their first language can acquire a second language more confidently. However there are numerous occasions where children start at an Early Childhood Centre or school where they do not speak English at all and yet are expected to be able to interact and learn to identify letters and words in English.
I believe that children need to have a strong understanding of their own culture and language in order for them to go on to succeed in other languages, such as English. Therefore children need to be strengthened in their first language. So the words, symbols and images children see in print need to reflect their heritage be in their first language not their second.
This has significant implications for the resources. Currently there are only limited resources available to ECE services that reflect Pacific culture and that are written in the eight languages of the Pacific. Teachers who are committed to providing an inclusive curriculum for Pacific children find themselves making their own resources.
Teachers in Early Childhood Education centres in New Zealand need to plan effectively for the needs of each child. Te Whaarki, the NZ ECE curriculum can be used as a framework to gather relevant information about the child and family. Teachers through effective planning can provide a curriculum, which reflects the individual child and their cultural heritage.
Pacific island children need to see their language being used positively. Early childhood teachers can facilitate this by greeting parents in their own language, using language of the Pacific Islands in everyday situations and playing recorded music of the Pacific throughout the day to provide an atmosphere that reflects Pacific language.
Other strategies can include
- Pacific Island greetings as part of noticeboards and displays,
- Displays of Pacific artifacts with supporting text
- Pictures from the Pacific with supporting text
- Family photos with children’s stories attached,
- Posters displaying the words of pacific Island poems and songs.
Other resources to support children is
- Displays of pacific Island fabrics, patterns, prints
- Cuttings form pacific island newspapers.
Evidence of pacific language must be part of the everyday programme to avoid a tourist approach to the curriculum. For example in the past teachers have acknowledged children’s culture by doing projects or spending a period of time talking about other cultures and then the focus stops and the teacher moves on to another topic. This type of curriculum is not, I believe, appropriate. Pacific island children cannot visit their culture they are living it on a daily basis. They have the right to have educational experiences that acknowledge their place in New Zealand. Cultural recognitions need to be woven into the daily curriculum.
Once the child’s first language has been strengthened and they have had opportunities to explore the use of symbols and language from their culture they can be introduced to English and be supported to be literate in a second language.
From a political perspective the New Zealand Government has acknowledged that educational outcomes for children need to be strengthened. Some of the initiatives and policies the government is currently focusing on in Education are to support improved attainment of literacy for Pacific Island children. The government has acknowledged that attendance at a quality Early childhood centre will assist Pacific island children to have a more successful transition into the school sector and therefore enable the child to be more receptive to the reading and writing aspects of the school curriculum.
Some of the other initiatives include
- Increasing the participation of Pacific Island children in Early Education.
- Producing quality resources to support literacy in their first language.
- Providing equity funding to services that have high numbers of Pacific Island children to enable those services to provide appropriate resources.
- Increasing access to early childhood education.
The Use of Video to Observe Play and Research Socialization Activities in Preschool Settings in Northern Ireland
by Roisin McCooey
Introduction
Assessment based on observations during the daily routine of the preschool child, is the most powerful assessment tool available to early years educators.
"Observation and assessment can illuminate the future, as well as provide information with which to improve the quality of the present. This forward-looking dimension of assessment is the means by which early childhood educators can explore the possible outcomes of the provision they offer; the curriculum, pedagogy, interactions and relationships" (Nutbrown, 2001, p. 69)
Preschool Education in Northern Ireland
Curricular Guidance for Preschool Education, published by the Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) in August 1997.
Observation of Play
Narrative Observation (Bruce, 2001, p.20) involves four steps:
- The observer writes briefly about the context of the observation
- The observer writes down as exact a description as possible of what the child says and does.
- The observation can then be analysed and interpreted.
- The observation can be linked with the observations made by other people of this child. It can also be linked with theories to see if it fits or challenges research findings
Research Study
Four types of preschool provision in Northern Ireland form the focus of the study reported here (nursery schools, playgroups, reception classes and day nurseries). The study covered the experiences of 150 children over the course of one academic year. Issues that are considered in the study include the characteristics of the preschool settings, the role of preschool educator, and quality issues relating to the socialization process.
Audiovisual recording and thematic analysis
Video recording was chosen as the primary data collection method, as this medium has the capacity to allow for a thorough post-observation analysis and interpretation. Video analysis opens up the possibility of adding layer upon layer of meaning and insight to the observation.
Validation of data analysis
This presentation details one aspect of the data analysis, namely its validation by means of an expert group. In this method a group of Early Years experts (comprising advisory and inspection professionals, teachers and academics) was brought together to consider video excerpts that the researchers had already analysed. The group was asked to provide interpretations of what they were observing, against a thematic framework covering aspects of socialization such as collaborative play, conflict, gender and environmental/physical influences.
Excerpt 1: Magnetic shapes activity
- Group collaboration
- Leadership qualities
- Gender differences
- Social interaction between children
- Table shape
- Enjoyment of play activity
Excerpt 2: Floor Play
- Social interaction between children
- Peer acceptance or rejection
- Group membership
- Peer intervention
- Adult intervention
- Circle time
The views of the group were then used to calibrate and validate the researchers’ interpretations, with the intention of giving a degree of authority to these. This approach helped to highlight the important contribution that in-depth analysis of audiovisual data can make to the understanding of peer interaction, play and the overall socialization of preschool children.
Discussion
- Experience of the use video in early childhood settings – advantages/disadvantages
- Strategies used in preschool settings to enhance the quality of the socialization process – considering both children and adults
- Evaluating the adults’ role in observing play for the purpose of assessment
References
Bruce, T. (2001). Learning through Play: Babies, Toddlers and the Foundation Years. London: Hodder & Stoughton Educational
Nutbrown, C. (2001). Watching and Learning: The Tools of Assessment. In Pugh, G. (ed.) Contemporary Issues in the Early Years. Working Collaboratively for Children. Third Edition. pp.66-73. London: Paul Chapman Publishing.
Food rights and responsibilities…’right’ foods, food rites and writing ‘food as…’ — young children and adults sharing the edible
by Nadine L. McCrea
Rights
What are human rights?
- Human rights are privileges entitled by law for people.
- Rightness is about fair treatment, equity, truth and justice.
- Human rights reflect all peoples’ basic needs for ‘survive(ing) and thrive(ing) as whole human beings’ (de los Angeles-Bautista, 2001).
- Geneva Declaration of 1924
- Declaration of the Rights of the Child 1959
- International Year of the Child 1979
- Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 (UNICEF, 1990)
- Health and health promotion…
- Food rights and food-health…at website: http://www.unicef.org/say yes/vote.html
Responsibilities
Which foods are ‘right’ for young children?
- Best or healthiest foods
- Infants – breastfeeding and human milk (Day, 1998; Leeson, 1998)
for an Australian NGO policy example, see: http://www.aeca.org.au/policies.html - Toddlers – introducing and broadening foods variety and balance; physically mobility
- Young children – variety, balance, diversity, active involvement; physically active
- Infants – breastfeeding and human milk (Day, 1998; Leeson, 1998)
Whose food rites are shared within families?
- Settings for foods and eating
- Rites are ceremonial events
- Rituals are often repeated collections of actions, to make ritualistic
- Whose rites…
- Family and background
- Culture
- Country
- Global diversity
Blending rights and responsibilities – changing threats
Writing ‘foods as…’ some ways forward for developed and developing countries
- Developing and changing food policy
- Working towards greater food security
- Respecting food civilisation
- Enabling food education; an everyday model – food living and learning cycle (McCrea, 2002)
- Actively involving parents and educators in food as edible and as education
Paper: Introduction
In the short time we have this afternoon to focus on children’s health and world threats to their health, I want to explore some ideas about children’s food rights: ‘right’ foods, food rites, and writing for food-health. I plan to share a few examples about developing and developed countries.
Rights
What are human rights?
Working definitions. Human rights are global rules or privileges entitled by law for people generally or individuals. ‘Rightness’ is about fairness, fair treatment, equity, truth and justice. Human rights reflect all peoples’ basic needs for ‘survive(ing) and thrive(ing) as whole human beings’ (de los Angeles-Bautista, 2001, p. 11). Having rights is one thing and having them in working order can be very different; also, rights are linked with personal and collective responsibilities.
Global legislation. Internationally, the formal concept of identifying and protecting children’s rights began with the Geneva Declaration of 1924 (Piscitelli & McArdle, 1997). The United Nations’ Declaration of the Rights of the Child was launched in 1959 and twenty years later, during the International Year of the Child, the idea of a Convention on the Rights of the Child was proposed. In 1989 the Convention was formally ratified (UNICEF, 1990).
Health and health promotion. The Ottawa Charter of Health Promotion (WHO, 1986) defined health promotion as a process enabling people to increase their control over and to improve their health. The action components of health promotion are:
creating supportive environments;
building healthy public policy;
strengthening community action;
developing personal skills; and,
reorientating (establishing) health services (NNESP, 1996).
Food rights and food-health. A few examples… Within early childhood care, development and education, a rights perspective compared to a needs perspective challenges us to focus on children’s holistic surviving and thriving, with no hierarchy of the rights; and so, we move beyond working with disadvantaged families and giving charity towards a position of ECDE being central and focal for creating strong and healthy societies (Jonsson, 1998 in de los Angeles-Bautisa, 2001, p. 11).
The food-health linked articles of the Convention include: #6 right to life; #8 preservation of identity; #17 media; #24 health; #28/29 education; #30 minorities; #31 cultural activities.
ASK: Is your country a signatory of this Convention? Which articles would you link to foods?
UNICEF’s ‘Say yes for Children’ Campaign outlines 10 global actions. Action # 3 is ‘Care for every child’ and it incorporates ‘all children must enjoy the highest attainable standard of health, especially through immunisations, good nutrition and diet, clean water and adequate sanitation, proper housing and a safe and healthy environment’ (at website: http://www.unicef.org/say yes/vote.html ).
With regard to such Children’s rights, I certainly acknowledge that focusing on health and food is not sufficient for children around the world or for an early childhood care, development and education perspective (Arnold, 2001; Myers, 2001); and, this is why I encourage a food education approach to food-health rather than a solo nutrition model (McCrea, 2002). I want to move to doing some things about Children’s food rights.
Responsibilities
Which foods are ‘right’ for young children?
The idea of identifying the ‘right’ or proper foods for young children, is about the best or healthiest foods that are available and foods that are culturally appropriate in developing and developed countries. A few broad examples:
For Infants -
breastfeeding and human milk (Day, 1998; Leeson, 1998) are most important.
In developing countries:
- 10.5 million children under five die each year – 99% are from the world’s poorest countries – examples are Angola, Niger, Afghanistan (ExchangeEveryDay, #28, 27 Dec 2000). Many deaths are linked to infant feeding practices and unsafe water.
- Nigerian national early childhood curriculum is incorporating breastfeeding (ExchangeEveryDay, #274, 6 Dec 2001).
In developed countries:
Earlier this year there was a warning about overfeeding infants during the first months of life because setting overeating patterns and growing too fast increase both childhood and adult obesity; breastfeeding-human milk is essential (see newspaper: Stock, 2002, p. 7). And, there are also contrasting pockets of hungry families (refer to Journal of Nutrition Education (supplement), Jan/Feb 1992, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 1S-96S).
In your handout, see AECA policy on breastfeeding http://www.aeca.org.au/policies.html
For Toddlers -
The late infancy and early toddler phases focus on introducing and then broadening food variety and balance within family and cultural boundaries. Toddlers are gaining physical mobility and ought to have surroundings for being active. Which foods are introduced and how differs across families’ cultural backgrounds.
Young children -
From about the age of two years, children’s meals ought to include a wide variety of foods and a balance of different food groups; with children’s active involvement in such food events as: food gardening, shopping for foods, helping prepare foods and sharing meals with other family members. These involvements will vary in developing and developed countries and across family and cultural boundaries. This is a time for extending food tastes for greater diversity. Children aged 2-5/6 years ought to be encouraged and allowed to be physically active in safe spaces.
Whose food rites are shared within families?
Settings for foods and eating
Rites are ceremonial acts or events and observances. Rituals relate to the nature of rites, a set of procedures, a code of ceremonies or an often repeated collection of actions, to make them ritualistic.
Family homes and early childhood services are settings where young children and adults share food, the edible. Rather than just eating and being alone, such sharing of dishes and meals represents foods being much more than a source of nutrition (McCrea, 1996). And the nutritional value of foods may well be enhanced, when during comfortable, calm mealtimes adults model and guide cultural food practices and values for young children. There are everyday foods with ordinary eating habits and special food combinations with more unique eating patterns. Personal beliefs about eating can be placed along a cultural-social continuum that represents a wide breadth of values and actions. For example, eating can be seen as: a duty or a celebration; a fact of life or a reverent family function; dull or interesting; or, a pattern of starvation, even anorexia or gluttony (McCrea, 1996). Culturally or religiously, different family members may eat together or separately, before or after each other.
Whose rites…
It is essential that early childhood staff and workers in state, national and international support and aid organisations have an understanding of and work towards the protection of food rites based on: Families and their backgrounds;
Local – regional ethnic origins and culture/s (Swiniarski, Breitborde & Murphy, 1999, p. 60);
Country perspectives; and,
Global diversity.
I want to note here that such protection may involve advocacy for children’s rights versus the pressures of multinational companies and the invasiveness of multimedia sources and organisations. This is a growing challenge in both developing countries and developed countries.
Blending rights and responsibilities – changing threats
Writing ‘foods as…’ – some ways forward for developed and developing countries
Human rights are generally organised into three groups or clusters: survival, protection and development (Swiniarski, Breitborde & Murphy, 1999, pp. 32-33); all three of these ought to be taken into account if we are to change the threats to young children’s food-health. How might we address these in developing and developed countries?
By…
Developing and changing food policy -
In developed countries this may be legislation related to food labeling and untruthful advertising and marketing of foods.
In developing countries this may mean government legislation, even international bodies and NGOs commitments to policies and practices for land rights and agricultural reform, for provision of seed for crops, for clean water, gardening and food markets.
If we take drinking water as an example, we can contrast river and drinking well sources of family water in parts of developing countries with multiply running taps in homes across most cities of the world. Similarly there is a graphic gap between having to find clean water for household purposes and focusing on cleverly presenting decorated water to encourage children to drink it rather than empty nutritent flavoured drinks (McCrea, 1995). Your task – write some policies…
My acknowledgment: We must be sensible and not over estimate the value or power of policies. It may we wiser to temper our expectations of the role and effectiveness of policies. For example, the UN’s Sub-committee on Nutrition and the UN ‘Nutrition Goals and Targets’ were reviewed last year as not being the whole answer or the only way or best end (See SCN News, #22, July 2001 for challenges/threats).
Working towards greater food security -
Developing countries present many examples of under-nutrition which are manifest as stunting, wasting, underweight, foetal growth retardation, low body mass index, and various micronutrient deficiencies (Allen & Gillespie, 2001). There are examples of crop failures and unstable food sources, with a need for people-focused sustainable ways of producing and accessing culturally linked food crops and animals. There are also examples of families having very adequate and varied diets and comfortable access to foods.
Developed countries reveal expanding examples of childhood malnutrition in the form of overeating with inactivity; and thus, numbers of cases of childhood obesity, constipation, higher cholesterol are increasing. There are also pockets of severe poverty and poor food-health in the most developed countries in the world (see supplement to JNE, Jan/Feb 1992 – a decade ago; see above in infants). Your task – write some responsive practices…
Respecting food civilisation –
Developed countries and developing countries: What do you recall about your childhood food experiences, with your family, extended family and community friends? What about everyday food opportunities and holiday/ceremonial food events as a child? There is a magnifying need to support local food-health practices, rather than ignore local knowledge and family wishes, which can result in a loss of food diversity. Your task – write some advocacy plans…
Enabling food education -
Many developing countries are faced with intermittent or continuous food shortages and starving or near starving children; there is not enough food. This contrasts with many developed countries where many children eat too much food and too much of particularly less healthy foods. Also, more and more developed countries must consider the contrasting realities of children’s fitness versus their fatness (Baur, 1996). This fatness fact suggests needed policies and practices related to the availability of ‘healthiest’ foods (less fat, sugar, salt; more fresh and natural) in early childhood services and schools and plenty of physical activity.
Both these challenging examples of young children’s eating habits lead to the role of early education. One everyday model for learning with a food focus is a ‘food living and learning cycle’ (McCrea, 2002- SEE HANDOUT). This can be coupled with a global education curriculum (Swiniarski, Breitborde & Murphy, 1999, part 4 p.109+). Your task – write some curriculum ideas…
Actively involving parents and educators -
For developing countries: lets encourage and facilitate more personal interactions, daily communicating events, active cultural involvement in community, exploring and deciding about children’s play and children’s roles in food production and preparation work.
For developed countries, involvement examples include the USA Grassroots Success (Washington, Johnson & Brown McCracken, 1995, p. 2) of enabling families and communities towards Goal One of the 1989 National Education Goals: ‘by the year 2000, all children will start school ready to learn.’ [SHOW & TELL BOOK] page 2 outlines critical components – health, nutrition. Your task – write some ways to try…
A brief synthesis
In summary, such ‘writings’ for ‘rights’ as those I have just presented and other activities reflect, at least in part, the lessons that Barbara Piscitelli and Felicity McArdle (2001) learned from ‘children explore their rights through art’. The lessons were:
start with the environment;
work with what your children know;
rights carry responsibilities;
everyone has rights, everyone is responsible; and,
some people and policy makers may not like what you have to say, but you have an ethical responsibility and a human right to speak for children.
References
Allen, Lindsay & Gillespie, Stuart. 2001. What Works? A Review of the Efficacy and Effectiveness of Nutrition Interventions. ACC/SCN Nutrition Policy Paper No. 19; ADB Nutrition and Development Series No. 5, Geneva: UN Administrative Committee on Coordination/Sub-Committee on Nutrition in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank, Manila.
Anderson, Carly, 1997. A Guide to Developing Resources for Good Practice in Food and Nutrition Education. Brisbane: Home Economics Institute of Australia, Inc.
Arnold, Caroline. 2001, ‘Early childhood development programmes and children’s rights’ Early Childhood Matters, No. 98, June, pp. 36-39.
Baur, Louise. 1996, ‘Fitness and fatness in Australian children’ Every Child, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 6-7.
Bear-Wingfield, Rebecca. 1996, Sharing Good Tucker Stories, Canberra: Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services.
Children’s Defense Fund. 2001, 2001 The State of America’s Children. Washington D C: Children’s Defense Fund.
Crotty, Patricia. 1995, Good Nutrition?, fact & fiction in dietary advice, St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin.
Day, Jill. 1998, ‘Breastmilk: The perfect food’ Every Child, vol. 4, no. 3, p. 21.
de los Angeles-Buatista, Feny. 2001, ‘Rights from the start: ECD and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)’ Early Childhood Matters, No. 98, June, pp. 8-21.
Foster, David & Foster, Gerda. 2001. A year of Slow Food, Sydney: Duffy and Snellgrove.
Hobhouse, Henry. 1992. Seeds of Change, five plants that transformed mankind, London: Papermac, Macmillian Pub Ltd.
Leeson, Robyn. 1998, ‘Infant formulas with LCPs, as good as the ‘real thing’?’ Every Child, vol. 4, no. 3, p. 20.
Maurer, Donna & Sobal, Jeffery, eds. 1995, Eating Agendas, Food and nutrition as social problems, NY: Aldine de Gruyter.
McCrea, Nadine. Forthcoming,2002, ‘FOOD as shared living-and-learning’ in Beginnings Workshop – Child Nutrition, Child Care Information Exchange, #145, May/June, pp. ?-?.
McCrea, Nadine. 1996, ‘A sociocultural perspective of foods and food habits – learning beyond nutrition’ Food and Nutrition in Action, A curriculum development package – Teacher Handbook. Carlton: Curriculum Corporation.
McCrea, Nadine. 1995, ‘Summertime and the living is easy’ Every Child, vol. 1, no. 6, p. 23.
McCrea, Nadine. 1994, Early Childhood Foodcycle Learning – Revealing Food Beliefs, Happenings and Management in Three Child Care Centres. Unpub PhD Thesis, University of Queensland, Brisbane.
Ministry of Education. 1993, Te Whariki, Guidelines for Developmentally Appropriate Programmes in Early Childhood Services. Wellington, NZ: Ministry of Education.
Myers, Robert. 2001, ‘Moving promises to action: a critique of the CRC from an ECD perspective’ Early Childhood Matters, No. 98, June, pp. 22-25.
National Nutrition Education in Schools Project. 1996, Health Promoting Schools in Action – A resource booklet to accompany the video, Carlton: Curriculum Corporation.
Piscitelli, Barbara & McArdle, Felicity. 2001, ‘Australia: children explore their rights through art’ Early Childhood Matters, No. 98, June, pp. 52-56.
Piscitelli, Barbara & McArdle, Felicity. 1997, Children’s Rights/Human Rights: A Resource Book for Early Childhood and Primary Teachers, Brisbane: QUT.
Press, Frances & Hayes, Alan. 2000, OECD Thematic Review of Early Childhood Education and Care Policy – Australian Background Report, Canberra: Commonwealth Government of Australia.
Society for Nutrition Education. 1992, Supplement to Journal of Nutrition Education, vol. 24, no. 1. Jan/Feb.
Sokolov, Raymond. 1991, Why we eat what we eat. NY: Touchstone, Simon & Schuster.
Stock, Sarah. 2002, ‘Warning on overfeeding in first months,’ The Weekend Australian, 9-10 Feb 2002, p. 7.
Swiniarski, Louise, Breitborde, Mary-Lou & Murphy, Jo-Anne. 1999, Educating the Global Village, including the young child in the world. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.
UNICEF. 1990, First Call for Children, New York: UN-UNICEF.
Visser, Margaret. 1991. The Rituals of Dinner, NY: Penguin Books.
Washington, Valora & Anderson, J.D., eds. 1998. Children of 2010. Washington D C: NAEYC.
WHO. 1986, Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, Geneva: World Health Organization.
Childcare from a Zimbabwean Perspective: Comparisons and Contrasts
by Jane Nkomo
Profile of Zimbabwe
I am Zimbabwean, currently resident in Australia at Griffith University where I am a postgraduate research candidate, investigating effective models for early childhood programs for low socio-economic urban families in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe is in Southern Africa. It is a sub-tropical southeastern African country, and has an area of approximately 241 500 square kilometres (Leys, 1960). The capital city is Harare, and the country’s population of 12 million is comprised of various ethnic groups including Europeans, Asians, Indians, and indigenous blacks. There are two main languages, Chishona, spoken by the Shona people who live mainly in the northeastern side of the country, and Ndebele/Zulu, spoken by the Amandebele/Amazulu, who occupy the southern part of the country. English is an official language and is used as a medium of communication in schools. According to statistics released by UNICEF, in August 2001, the infant mortality rate is 60 per 1 000 live births. Children are required to attend school until the age of thirteen, and the overall literacy rate is 90 per cent for males and 82 per cent for females.
My focus will be on children in the two main indigenous black groups – the Shona and the Ndebele people. I shall explore contrasts and comparisons between the situation before and after the impact of colonisation. In this endeavour, for the ‘before’ situation, I shall rely heavily, if not entirely on pieces of oral information that have been told down the ages, joining this with what I have seen happen and what my associates have shared with me. In making my observations on Africa and/or Zimbabwe, I am aware that Africa is a vast expanse of land exhibiting great variety. I hope we will appreciate the richness that has been brought up by merging our traditional knowledge with what we consider to be good practice from other cultures, especially from the West. I shall first say a word about care before a child is born (a Zimbabwean perspective). Then I will give an account of what happens after the birth of the child. My narration will be in the present tense even though the majority of people no longer practise most of these things. Some still do, especially in rural areas.
Traditional ways
The first stage in parenthood begins before a child is born. The care of a newly born child in indigenous Zimbabwean culture begins when a newly wed woman conceives. (I will not say anything about children born out of wedlock. The care is however, the same, although the former is characterised by more ceremonious gatherings than the latter).
As soon as the couple is customarily married, both the bride’s and bridegroom’s families await the news of conception with eagerness, because having children gives a woman dignity in her new home, and her in-laws, especially the father in-law, are happy that the family name is being perpetuated. When the pregnancy is advanced, say at six or seven months, the woman goes back to her home where she is to remain until she gives birth. She is escorted through a colourful ceremony by her husband’s relatives. They are happy that she is pregnant. They celebrate the pregnancy.
One or two elderly women are appointed to be in charge of the expectant mother and give her prenatal education and care. One of these women is a traditional midwife. All problems associated with pregnancy, such as labour pains, are dealt with. Her own mother also gives her medicine that will make her deliver without problems. Her diet is watched closely. Okra constitutes her main diet during this period, as it is believed that it aids smooth, quick delivery.
Soon after birth, the mother and the infant are kept in seclusion (in a hut) for about a week, or until the umbilical cord drops. This is aimed at protecting the infant from evil sprits. During this period the midwife gives the infant different medicines to strengthen him against evil forces, when it finally comes out of seclusion. The infant’s bath water is secretly thrown away, or a pit is dug near the door into which the bath water is thrown and covered to protect the infant from witchcraft. When the umbilical cord drops, a special medicine is smeared to treat the child. The cord is tied around the child’s waist during the seclusion period, before it is thrown away.
Before this young mother goes back to her marital home, the child is given a name. At this child naming ceremony, the infant receives gifts, and its father expresses his gratitude by giving the midwife a goat. At this point, perhaps mention should be made that before the introduction of the European monetary system, domestic animals such as cattle, sheep, and goats were regarded as standard currency. A man who had these in large numbers felt no less than a man with a large bank balance. And especially in those days before most people became Christians, sheep and goats were used for various religious sacrifices and purifications. Money, except for the purpose of buying these domestic animals, had little meaning and had no religious or sentimental associations within the people’s custom.
Traditionally, African families tended to be large not only to provide labour for major occupations of the family but also to help each other in such instances.
When the young mother finally returns to her marital home, she is welcomed back with honour. She receives congratulatory gifts. Relatives and neighbours also supply food and home-brewed beer. This exchange of gifts is governed by the principle of ‘give and take." Anyone who does not cooperate in accordance with the laws of the community is boycotted for his individualistic attitude. The role of the nuclear family is important but Africans believe in doing things collectively.
Behind all this happiness is the fact that the young mother has fulfilled her womanhood role; lineage is revived, especially if the baby is a boy, and the paternal name lives on. What our forefathers dreadfully feared, which is to a lesser extent now, was for a man to die without a male child and this was believed to be one of the factors behind the polygamous system of marriage.
Changing times
Tradition is gradually giving way to modern influences, through such forces of social change as money, urbanisation, industrialisation, Christianity, technology, and mass media.
Although the infant is still part of this communal environment, the close-knit ties are now slackening because of economic hardships. Individuals are continually migrating to towns and/or to other distant places to scout for jobs. It is increasingly becoming difficulty to get someone who would render services free of charge. Be that as it may, the child’s mother still endeavours to care for the child the best she can. Education and caring is carried on through the medium of lullabies, in which the whole history and tradition are embodied.
When the child begins to learn how to speak, the mother teaches him correct manners of speech and to acquaint him with important names in the family, past and present. These are given in songs to amuse the child. In this way the history and traditions of the child’s family, maternal and paternal form a fitting background to his environment. When the child has reached the toddler’s stage, at about three years, his education takes a different shape. He is taught among other things, how to sit and how to talk with adults.
With the disintegrating family ties comes also the problem of how to care for young children. The under 5s now have to be looked after by housemaids, who may not be relations. Where there is no substitute help, the mother takes the child with her to the fields or market. The educated working wives usually make relatively more durable arrangements with paid help. The system of paid labour is traditionally unknown. Instead, as has been mentioned earlier, mutual help guided by the rules of give and take plays a significant part. Hence, we find it hard to let go all of our traditional ways of caring for children, particularly under the present economic hardships. Zimbabweans still stick to their roots in many ways, for instance, even though we take our infants to hospitals when they are not well, we still believe there are some ailments, which can be better cured by our traditional doctors – the herbalists. Hence, these herbalists are still visited a great deal. And yet again, there are some within our society who still hold ceremonies to appease the ancestral spirits and plead for this new member to be given good health.
The western way of life has however, reduced infant mortality rates. Children get immunised against childhood diseases, such as smallpox. We now have home health visitors, who teach young mothers about good ways of caring for an infant, like cleanliness, nutritious food and that breastfeeding should not be substituted by any means unless the doctor recommends otherwise.
Next I focus on modern, developmental needs of children and safety procedures that need to be considered as indispensable by caregivers.
Children’s needs change as they grow. For example, some of the safety concerns with infants involve sleeping, and feeding. As infants begin to be mobile, we shift our attention to making the environment safe for them to explore. We begin to concern ourselves with safety measures that make sense for the ages and stages of children. For example, as infants become mobile, areas for crawling need to be protected to make sure furniture won’t tip over as the infant tries to pull self up; electrical outlets and wires should be covered. For toddlers who can walk, run and climb, a safe space for active play needs to be provided as this encourages learning and exploration.
For all that we do to maintain high safety standards, we should not lose sight that ultimately, children need to become responsible for their own safety. These safety practices are learnt gradually as children reach different developmental stages. By providing safe environments for children, we create a "culture of safety." Children become aware of the significance that safety plays in their lives through daily exposure to safe settings, and by so doing the stage is set for future self-responsibility.
Concerns and need for exploration
Although safety plays an important role at home, children need to have opportunities to experiment and take reasonable risks. Children can only learn when they are given a chance to use all their senses to interact with the people and objects in their environment.
Can there be such a thing as too much attention to safety? Are bruises and cuts an inevitable part of growing up? Where can a line be drawn between precaution and freedom of movement? How can an obligation to protect children be balanced with need to let them be "children?" Clearly, the focus should not be so cautious and watchful as to result in overprotection (National Health and safety standards, 1992).
Available literature (notably Dombro and her colleagues 1998) on risk-taking by children supports the view that children should be allowed to take risks, for if children are kept under too close supervision, they are likely to postpone their risk-taking to another time and place, when things may not be as safe as they are at home. However, contrary to the modern, Western way of caring for children, in Zimbabwe for example, it is believed that a child does not need cushions or pampering to grow. The process of socialisation, especially in the olden days, prepared the child to develop all his survival instincts and learn to endure discomfort. Anywhere, whatever is the case; a child needs to be allowed to be creative. Creative people are those who risk failure. If children’s risk-taking ability is cut off, creativity may be eliminated as well.
How about children’s health
Is it not the belief that a healthy child is a strong child? Shouldn’t we make it our goal to teach children self-help skills, to enhance their healthy habits?
Furthermore, as infants and toddlers are in a period when the formation of their mind is taking place, is it not important that we help them learn what is acceptable behaviour and what is not? Rather than be harsh with them, wouldn’t it be nice to have children behave because they have developed self-control and have learnt to balance their own needs with the needs of others? Perhaps we have an obligation, and that obligation is to socialise a child born into a given society to a social being, not only in his society but also globally.
Conclusion
This paper has attempted to indicate that many changes in the way an infant was cared for in Zimbabwean society have taken place as a result of modern influences. The traditional agencies of socialisation – the family, the kin group are still crucial but with lessening roles, and the interrelatedness of the rural community is fairly weakened by educational and economic competitions in the modern world. However, this is not to suggest that changes that have taken place are all incompatible with the African way of life. Perhaps the concern is, Zimbabweans seem to be realising too late that certain values should not be allowed to go. On the other hand, they have also realised that change is inevitable and welcome Western education as being beneficial. The root of the matter is what to revive and what to drop. In this way, the African past will live forever. Lawton (1998) has contended, "Children are our future, yet we still resist knowing historically what we have done to create the future. We deny knowing about childhood, because then we might have to face how we have treated our future" (cited in Schwartz-Kennedy et al. 2001:117-123).
References
American public health association (1992) National health and safety standards, VA: Arlington.
Dombro, A. L. Colker, L. J., & Dodge, D. T. (1998). The creative curriculum for infants and toddlers. Washington DC: Teaching strategies.
Leys, C. (1960) European Politics in Southern Rhodesia. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Shwartz-Kennedy, B. M., McCauley, M. & Epstein, M. A. (2001). Child abuse: a global view. London: Greenwood Press.
Curbing Violence in the Childhood Years in Nigeria
by Dr. (Mrs.) F. Ajike Osanyin
Abstract
This paper examines violence in the preschool years. It investigates the possible causes related to those who are involved in the care and upbringing of the young child. This has become necessary in view of the spade of violence in Nigeria. Since the foundation is the strength of the structure, it is assumed that the seed of violent eruption might have been laid in the early years. As a first step the paper examines the type of groundwork done in the early years that have resulted into the current eruption of violence. The paper found that the main cause of violence resides in the social, political and the economic situation of the Nigerian child. It concludes that there are no proper role models for the child to experience peaceful living and conflict resolutions strategies. The paper therefore recommends a reorientation programme to ensure mind shift of the caregivers, parents and adults in general.
Introduction
Granted that the resources of the world are not enough to be shared equitably by all those wishing to acquire, use and control them at the desired time and space, but then few privileged people control these resources. Expectedly however, it is the stronger people of the world who possess these resources to the exclusion of the weaker members of the world. The weak members, according to Ideh, (2001), become weaker and may eventually die off to leave a crop of those not too weak to challenge the strong. In most cases, these not too weak ones organize themselves into a force to counter the strong ones. The desire of the strong is to put the weak down once and for all. This is to ensure that their supremacy will be forever unchallenged. This natural action and reaction explains the reason for the violent outbursts in the world today. It now seems as if violence should be accepted as the mechanism by which the strong individual asserts authority and control over the weaker individual, community or nation.
Background to the Paper
A running promo on the National Television Authority (NTA 10) channel ten station programme which runs for 5 days a week tagged, "New Dawn on 10" aptly presents and assaults the viewer as it presents atypical daily family occurrence of violence. It shows how typical parents violently chastise their children for "minor" or "grievous" misdemeanor. In this particular model, a father, struggling frantically to whip his son who had erred, roars, "Why did you do it? Tell me. Can’t you speak?" This interrogation was quickly followed by a heavy slap on the boy even before the poor boy could utter a word in response.
Sadly enough, a group of 23 caregivers at a recent training/workshop organized by Osanyin (2001) in Lagos State described the behaviour of the children in their care as stubborn, rude, aggressive, obstinate and destructive.
In Nigeria, violence has unusually been on the increase. From kano, Kaduna, Zamfara, Nassarawa, Plateau, Taraba, Benue States of the Northern parts to Niger Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Anambra, Osun and Lagos, States of the Southern Nigeria, the spate of violence and restiveness has increased. This manifestation of violence is quite disturbing more so when the nation is nursing its democracy after almost thirty years of military rule. Educators and child development specialists are worried about the sudden eruption of violence in our children and would wonder about the latent potentials of the children to develop into volatile and aggressive youth. The main activists of violence in Nigeria are, according to Ziregbe (2001) the youth who now appear to be grossly discontented with the general individual and national neglect. One equally wonders on the amount and quality of groundwork done by the parents and caregivers in the early years that have resulted into the production of these violent citizens. It may be interesting to examine this in relation to the child’s support system in the early years.
The Problem
The home of an individual is the cradle of character formation. If a child’s home is peaceful, loving, caring and in harmony, the child is more likely to grow to be a non-violent person. Children become negatively disposed when their home and childcare environment is hostile. The general hostile and unfriendly environment of the majority of Nigerian children may probably explain why the crops of today’s youth appear to be grossly discontented and undisciplined or thoroughly militarized.
The hope for a healthy, happy, friendly, peaceful and socially competent generation lies in the quality of human and materials environment that surrounds the children in the early years. Since the early years of life are important for laying the foundation for the individual, it becomes imperative to examine some of those things available in the environment that may prevent adverse outcomes which is the root of violence or violent acts in the society. This paper therefore examines the care giving strategies that might be unwittingly promoting and sewing the seed of violence in the children. Specifically, this paper seeks to achieve the following objectives:
Objectives
- Identify the symptoms of violence among children.
- Identify caregiver’s violent behaviours towards children
- Identify toys that may generate violence
- Generate awareness of violent acts in children
- Suggest strategies for orienting care givers on curbing violence
- Promote strong positive and peaceful relationship among the children.
- To provide caregivers with skills of violence prevention.
The Neglected Child
To start with, children in many homes are left on their own because the parents are economically busy elsewhere outside the homes. The parent strives to make money in order to meet the financial obligations of the families. Invariably, the homes become wealthy or rich. They are therefore in a position to purchase an array of modern gadgets for their homes to ease the comfort of living. Most of the parents feel happy for providing the state-of-the-art material things of life for their children. To the parent, these things provided seem to meet their children’s developmental need.
It is not unlikely that majority of the children, who, despite the provision and availability of these sophisticated latest play material inventions feel grossly neglected. This is because right from their childhood period, have come to accept that the presence of their parent is not important to them especially during the day or their waking hours. Thus, right from the early years, these children are most likely to be prone to violence, because of the possibility of their lack of good parental care and guidance. Similarly, children from broken homes may suffer the same fate for want of love, quality interaction, care and attention.
This seeming parental neglect of children in the early years of life may most likely affect the children who are always mostly on their own. At best, such children spend their time with peers and outsiders who are more likely to influence the children negatively. Such children simply become street-wise at tender age.
The Child’s Playthings
Nigeria is a poor nation. Most parents in Nigeria are therefore poor. Majority of them are unable to provide their children with all essential play and learning materials. Moreover, even the most wealthy parents are unlikely to be able provide all types, makes and shapes of the play/learning materials their children would need for their in and outdoor play activities. Children are bound to desire things their playmates possess if only to interact with each other. Young children’s social relationships occur in the context of play. Conflicts among children generally involve dispute over play material. This is because these desirable play materials are not available for all children at the same time.
In a society where the "things" children play and interact with are in plentiful supply, children’s relationships in such an environment are not focused on rivalrous behaviour required in acquisition and defense of possession. The scarcity of the desirable play/learning materials then may serve as the beginning of children’s experience of frustration, which in turn leads to aggression and violence.
Society needs peace to progress and develop politically, economically and socially. However, with the alarming rate of explosion of violence in the country as reflected in the violent activities of the OPC, Egbesu and Bakassi Boys and secret cult in the Higher Institution is affecting individual and national development.
It is against this background that this paper examines the root cause of violence in our society. "Rome", we must remember, "was not built in a day" and the foundation is the strength of the structure there is a need to review what happens down in the early years. Therefore, it is important to examine those things, which adults have unwittingly provided or are providing for the children as stimulus for violence in the early years?
Education in the Early Years
The beginning, according to Weber (1970) is the most important part of any work especially in the case of young tender thing, because that is when the character is formed and the desired impression most readily taken. Early education is the totality of the education and care a child receives in the birth to about the age of eight. It is therefore all those things that the adult caregivers do or fail to do which facilitate or impede the child’s development. The home of the individual child is the most natural for the early education of the child. Family patterns have however undergone changes, which make the homes ineffective in performing their roles. The Van Leer Nigerian Education Trust (1998) has asserted that the mother is the first teacher of a child. When the mother is available, when the mother provides the stimulating environment and adequate model then the child’s future is guaranteed.
Justice Oputa (1998) rightly defined Education as a "process that prepares the moral character of a child, teaches the fundamental and basic truth, inspires and directs the child’s behaviors in all his/her contacts with fellowmen, enables him/her to make correct choices and act responsibly." In general, education has been defined as the aggregate of all other forms of behaviors, which are of positive value to the society in which the child lives.
A society educates its own children and such education starts from the early years. Glen et al (1987) asserted that the future of any society depends on how well it serves the needs of the pre-school population. This is because a society’s children are its future and whatever happens to the children from the early years affects their development and the development of the society.
Learning begins at birth. The underlying goals of a society’s education for its children are derived from the society’s desire to stimulate, support and meaningfully guide the developmental processes in the direction of competence.
Formal education in Nigeria begins at the age of six. This pre-supposes that the parents have laid a solid foundation for their children at home. The parents, the Van Leer Nigerian education Trust asserted are apparently the first and perhaps the best teachers of the children. The children’s schools can only hope to build on the strong moral, social, emotional, spiritual and intellectual foundations provided by the home.
Traditionally, the family and the whole community members had had the collective responsibility of bringing up the child. The notion of the extended family system carries with it, the concept of every one being his/her brother’s keeper. The child enjoyed multiple parental care. The child then was full of certainties with the support and assistance of brothers, sisters, uncles, aunties, parents, grandparents and the good neighbours. The major emphasis then was placed on correct behavior, comportment and industry. The avenues for the child’s early education were identified as:
- a. Role-playing.
- b. Story telling.
- c. Socio-dramatic plays (Make-believe).
- d. Memory games
- e. Opening Wisdom boxes.
- f. Survival games
- g. Poems, ceremonial songs.
- h. Tongue twisters
- i. Imitation games
- j. Riddles and proverbs
- k. Concentration games etc.
Parenthood was then rewarding and joyous because the parent and the community members thoroughly accepted and prepared for the responsibility of rearing the child into a happy, healthy secure and non-violent adult. However, most of the parents are no longer available to utilize any of the avenues or a combination of them to meet the developmental needs of their children.
The Changing Needs of Family
Family unit differs from society to society but the universal responsibility of the family is the socialization and integration of the child into the society. The family today however, has, and is still undergoing changes, which adversely affect the young child. These changes are in varying rates and degrees and noted as:
- A major difference today is that most parents work.
- Career aspiration has necessitated mother’s gainful employment.
- Mothers work outside the home where the children cannot see or contact them
- The increasing tendency towards a nuclear family system.
- The disappearance of the extended family system.
- The growing number of economically active grandparents
- The growing number of single parents.
All these have adversely affected the quality of early childhood education a child receives in the homes. Invariably, most children particularly in the urban centers are sent to the formal institutions. Meanwhile, what is the quality of provision in these institutions? To what extent are they laying the foundation for non-violent youth?
Relevant information was obtained from parents and child caregivers. The information relate to the perceived causes of violence, symptoms, reactions, attitude, type of toys, use of leisure, etc.
Specifically, the following questions were posed:
- What types of violent acts exist in pre-school setting?
- What are the common causes of violence in the pre-school?
- What are the symptoms of violence in children?
- Are children exposed to violence?
- Why do the children become violent?
- Do children admire violent characters?
- What types of toys stimulate violence in children?
- To what extent are the materials in the setting adequate for use?
- How does the caregiver manage the resources?
Methodology
In order to find answers to some of these questions, 24 early childhood institutions in Lagos State were randomly selected. In each school, 4 teachers/caregivers were also selected. The rationale for the selected teachers was that they should have thought in the school for at least 3 years. Moreover, their classes should be limited to primary 3.
Tools used included questionnaire and interview. A total of 93 teachers participated. Tables below present the findings.
Background Information
Table I: Sex
| MALE | FEMALE |
| 25(26.88) | 68(73.12) |
Table II: Caregivers Age in Years
| 20-25 | 26-30 | 31-35 | 36-40 | 41+ |
| 7(7.53) | 15(16.13) | 34(36.56) | 28(30.11) | 9(9.67) |
Table III: General Causes of Violence
| Soc.Env. | Military | Parenting | Economy | Moral Decay | Lonely |
| 54(58.06) | 63(67.74) | 87(93.55) | 58(62.36) | 91(97.85) | 67(72.04) |
Table IV: Causes of Violence in the Classroom
| Inadtoys | Model | Overcrow | Frust | Stress | Express | Restri |
| 69(74.19) | 85(91.40) | 61(65.59) | 78(83.87) | 56(60.21) | 32(34.41) | 59(63.44) |
Table V: Symptoms of Violence
| Shout | Fight | Grab | Abuse | Curse | Throw | Hit |
| 87(93.55) | 68(73.12) | 89(95.68) | 41(44.08) | 23(24.73) | 71(73.44) | 85(91.40) |
Discussions
From the above Tables, it was observed that majority of the caregivers/teachers involved are women whose ages range between 25 and 40 years. These are women who are still likely to be active in child bearing and child rearing. To this group of people, the causes of violence in Nigeria generally reside in the hostile social environment as attested to by about 60 per cent of the respondents. The character formation of a child is greatly influenced by the social environment in which the child operates. The teachers asserted that children who are from the slum areas, ghettos and shantytown are more naturally prone to violence because they tend to emulate the happenings around them.
Similarly, about 70 per cent of them associated the various violent out burst to the militarization of the Nigerian society. The Nigerian society has been under the siege of the military dominance for a long time. Indiscipline and ruthless behaviour of the erstwhile military ruling class have been imbibed by a majority of the populace as a way of life. Many young children have witnessed the brutal murder/killing of people and In order to survive in the Nigerian society therefore, it is believed that force must be exercised to achieve, obtain and attain success. Adults, senior citizens and parents are noted to constantly engage in one form of protest or another to have their demands and rights met by the government. This therefore serves as the model to the children.
Virtually all the respondents (93.55) indicted the parents for the spade of violence in the country. They claimed that the children often receive mixed and conflicting signals from their parents, caregivers and adults about right and wrong behaviours. While most parents advise children against violent acts, they invariably actively participate in violent protests, may be overtly hostile to the environment and unwittingly supportive of children’s disruptive behaviour. Some instruct their children to fight back if any one tries to hit or insult them.
Politics, bad governance and economy have a symbiotic relationship in determining violence in a society. Bad politics will definitely lead to bad governance, which in itself will lead to bad economic policies and management. The implication is that poverty, unemployment, squalor, wants, lack of basic infrastructure, quality education and all other attendant effects of bad governance and economy will increase among the populace. It means therefore that the average Nigerian in Nigeria is an angry person and an angry person is a violent person. When there is a high level of unemployment, it is the children who are mostly affected since their parents would no longer be in a position to take proper care of them. Emanating from the squalor and poverty of the people is the moral decadence in the nation. The moral orientation of the individual greatly influences the mode of thought and actions of the individual. Nigerian parents are known to for being pre-occupied with the acquisition of material things at all cost to the detriment of their children. This has affected the moral standard of the children. Crave and greed for acquiring things has resulted in all sorts of malpractices and corruption all over the place. Societal moral norms are discarded and the traditional cultural values and ways of life are also neglected. Worthy of note is the pornographic materials, films and books with violent characterizations, which are easily accessed by young children. The teachers claimed that the children become exposed to passions and emotions they can hardly control through these things. In order for the children to experience and express their feelings, knowledge and skills acquired, they commit crimes. This is because "Violence" after all starts in the mind as a feeling of frustration, betrayal, oppression or suppression.
On the perceived causes of violence among children in the early childhood classrooms, about 90 the caregivers agreed that a major reason is the lack of proper role model from the adults, parents and caregivers. To the respondents, these adults are themselves sources of violence since they are violent in their behaviour. Of equal importance is the fact that the caregivers believe that many of the children experience frustration and are constantly under pressure. These evidently lead to frustration in the children.
Conclusion
In view of the above findings the paper strongly implores Nigerian parents to be more interested in their children. There is a need for mind shift in the homes, day care centers and nursery schools, especially in resolving issue and confrontations. Early childhood settings should portray more child-friendly environment. Politicians should desist from using the youth as their thugs and intimidating them with money.
Lastly, law enforcement agents should be more alert to matters relating to crimes and nip violence in the bud. Economic empower would provide the individual members with the much needed self-confidence and sense of personal worth.
References
Akinware, M.A. 1990: "Child Survival and Development: UNICEF Concern and Opportunities for Action". UNICEF, Lagos.
Anyanwu, C.N 2000: Practical strategies for making UBE People’s programme". Presentation at Local Policy Dialogue. Ibadan
Blackstone, T. 1972: "The First School of the Future" Fabian Research Services. Vol.34
Bloom, J 1964: Stability & Change in human Characteristics. John Wiley. N.Y
Federal Republic National Policy on Education of Nigeria 1981: NERDC Press, Yaba, Lagos.
Glen, M. Arango, M & Hearn, L. 1987: Meeting the Needs of Young Children. BvL. No,2. The Hague.
Ideh, E.U. 2001: " Strategies in Conflict Resolution". VLNET Workshop in Warri.
Oputa, C. 1989: To Restore the Dignity of Man: The Role of the University New Generation Books. Enugu.
Osanyin,F.A. 2001: Caregiver Training Programme in Sari Iganmu area of Lagos State.
Van Leer Nigerian 1998: Mother is the First Teacher. Education Trust UPL, Ibadan.
Ziregbe, E. 2001 "Symptoms of Violence" VLNET Workshop in Warri.
Children Affected and Infected by HIV/AIDS in Africa: A Joint Initiative of the ECDNA
by Barnabas Otaala, Ed.D.
Introduction
This paper briefly outlines the state of HIV/AIDS in Africa, in Southern Africa and in Namibia. It describes the impact on teachers, on women and girls, and on children and youth. It then describes the initiative that the Early Childhood Network for African (ECDNA) has taken to address issues relating to children affected and infected by HIV/AIDS in five selected African countries – - Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Swaziland, and Namibia.
HIV/AIDS in Africa, in Southern Africa and in Namibia
Background
In Africa it is a truism that the HIV/AIDS pandemic poses the single greatest threat to Africa’s efforts to achieve its full potential.
The pandemic is a "threat that puts in balance the future of nations" (Nelson Mandela, 1997). AIDS kills those on whom society relies to grow the crops, work in the mines and factories, run the schools and hospitals and govern the countries … It creates new pockets of poverty when parents and bread winners die and children leave school earlier to support remaining children – - themselves affected and infected by HIV/AIDS!!
Indeed, since the start of the pandemic, some 11.5 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa have died; – one quarter of those deaths being among children. That toll, representing 83 % of all AIDS deaths worldwide, has been exacted in a region that accounts for just one tenth of the world population. And Sub-Saharan Africa is home to an estimated two thirds of the 34 million people currently living with HIV/AIDS worldwide. Nor is there any sign that the scourge of HIV/AIDS is abating in the region. In 1998, Sub-Saharan Africa was home to seven out of ten people newly infected with HIV, (according to UNAIDS/World Health Organization estimates); among children, the proportion was nine out of ten. The region accounted for four fifths of the World’s AIDS deaths in 1998. Adding to the problem is the fact that people in Southern Africa are infected predominantly with a singularly aggressive form of HIV – Sub-type C – that is more easily transmitted, and causes sickness faster and death sooner.
In Namibia HIV/AIDS and poverty and disparity remain key challenges as we enter the new millennium. Despite significant progress since independence, less than half of the country’s population enjoys income more than five times the average. The country ranks as one of the four most affected countries in the world with HIV/AIDS with an overall prevalence of about 20 % among sexually active adults.
Continuing sentinel surveillance among pregnant women in the Northeast reveals a sharp increase in HIV prevalence over the past three years at several sites. In 1998, AIDS continued as the number one killer of Namibians, causing more deaths than tuberculosis and malaria combined. AIDS has already caused life expectancy at birth in Namibia to fall from 61 years in 1995 to 52 in 1998. Life expectancy by the year 2010 would have been 70 years without AIDS; now it is expected to be less than 40 years. The three regions with the highest prevalence rates include Caprivi, Ohangwena, and Oshana. And Khomas Region is competing for a place in this league table! These are truly staggering statistics, and for a population of 1.7 million, truly disturbing statistics. HIV/AIDS has impacted negatively on every sector including education. We briefly refer to the impact on teachers; and women and girls, and children and youth.
Impact on Teachers
Countries invest huge sums of money in the education of their children. When an educated person dies prematurely due to AIDS, much of that investment is lost. In 2000 alone about 2 % of the teaching staff in Namibia (350) died of HIV/AIDS (Ellis, 2001). The deaths were reported to be amongst the younger teaching staff, and those more qualified. When the supply of experienced or better-qualified teachers is reduced by AIDS-related illness and death, there is a serious threat to the quality of education in the classroom. Information is required to establish on a national and regional level the loss of teachers due to HIV/AIDS related illnesses and death to establish the magnitude of the problem and to propose remedial actions.
Impact on Women and Girls
The number of women living with HIV/AIDS (estimated at 75 000 in 1997) is growing. Women’s social status combined with greater biological susceptibility to HIV, put them (and girls) at increased risk of infection. Economic conditions in Namibia, which make it difficult for women to access health and social services, compound their vulnerability. That young girls are particularly at risk of contracting HIV undermines their hopes for education. The resulting lower female education will undermine recent gains in health, nutrition, and family planning (World Bank, 2000). The full extent of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in communal and commercial agricultural communities needs to be assessed to reverse this trend.
Impact on Children, and Youth
Forty-two percent of the Namibian population is under the age of 15. UNAIDS estimates that 5 000 Namibian children were living with HIV/AIDS in 1997. The HIV pandemic has a disproportionate impact on children, causing high morbidity and mortality rates among infected children and orphaning many others.
School-aged children and youth are kept out of school if they are needed at home to care for sick family members, or to work in the fields or other income-generating assignments (including prostitution). Children drop out of school if their families or sponsors cannot afford school fees due to reduced household income as a result of an AIDS death, or incapacitating HIV-related illness.
A third impact on children and youth is that teenage children are especially susceptible to HIV infection. The full impact of HIV/AIDS on children and youth, both in ordinary subsistence agricultural communities and commercial agricultural areas needs full investigation to establish the baseline situation beyond preliminary studies already conducted (2000) in order to identify appropriate responses related to some issues in the education sector as well as for other stakeholders.
All in all, HIV/AIDS impacts negatively on the education of any country for some of the reasons cited. The full extent of this impact in many countries in Africa has yet to be explored fully. Some initiatives, however, have been taken to provide a basis for action. We refer here specifically to the initiative of the Early Childhood Development Network for Africa (ECDNA). First a brief word about ECDNA, and then the initiative it has taken.
Early Childhood Development Network in Africa
The ECDNA was established in mid 1990′s to respond to the challenges of Education for All in Africa. The Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) encouraged the establishment of such a network to help with the following:
- Promoting of the effective utilization of financial, human and other resources through linkages with the ADEA;
- Development of effective policies on ECD;
- Integration of viable programmes and the avoidance of fragmentation;
- Promotion of closer collaboration amongst other ECD organizations and agencies in Africa;
- Ensuring a holistic approach to the development of young children in Africa.
Since its establishment, ECDNA has collaborated with several agencies, multi-lateral (World Bank, and UN agencies), and NGO’s (Aga Khan, B. van Leer Foundation). It has organised several training workshops, and Summer Institutes in Africa in collaboration with the University of Victoria, BC, Canada, and helped with the dissemination of ECD documentation in local languages (Ki-swahili). Its members have contributed evaluative ECD missions in countries in Africa and been invited to participate in several international ECD fora to highlight recent developments in the field of ECD in Africa.
ECDNA in relation to children affected and infected by HIV/AIDS has noted the increase of orphans; that young children are suffering most, and that some actions are being taken. A word about each of these statements.
Number of Orphans is on the Increase
The number of orphans whose parents have died of AIDS has been on the increase all over the continent south of the Sahara. Today, more than 10 million children under 15 have lost their mother or both parents to AIDS (UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children 2001). In parts of sub-Saharan Africa, due to AIDS, the percentage of children who have been orphaned is between two and thirteen times higher than it is in industrialized countries.
By the end of year 2000, figures of over six hundred thousand AIDS orphans were quoted for countries like Kenya and Ivory Coast. Many other countries like Botswana, Malawi, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe have reported that numbers of orphans are on the increase as 20 or more per cent of the population in the age range 15 – 45 years are reported to be HIV positive. Existing systems, traditional as well as emergent social services, cannot cope with large numbers of children finding themselves in the streets, left on their own, or abandoned. It has been reported in some studies that some 40 per cent of these orphans may be themselves HIV-positive.
Young Children are Suffering Most
Documentation of the effects of HIV/AIDS on young children in the Republic of South Africa (Smart, 2000) illustrates how young children are coping with the effects of the illness; losing parents and family members to the illness; the collapse of house-hold economy where there are no wage-earners; the care of very young orphaned children, and lack of understanding and stigma. The burden of care often falls on the very young and very old. Young orphaned children are a particularly vulnerable group.
Actions are Being Undertaken
It is also the case that in the face of these overwhelming difficulties communities can find resilience to cope, and careful and sensitive local support strategies can mitigate the situation. Projects that combine support for community visiting, healthcare and financial contributions towards schooling for orphaned children have complemented without undermining local efforts to cope in rural Zimbabwe (Drew et al 1998). Poverty exacerbates attempts by local communities to cope, and some schemes have included income generations as part of their intervention strategy (UNDP, UNICEF, Cote d’Ivoire, 1999 – 2000). It is reported that similar efforts are being undertaken in Kenya, Uganda, RSA and several other neighbouring countries with assistance from International NGO’s and local NGO’s, as well as other partners of the International Partnership for AIDS in Africa (IPAA) coordinated by UNAIDS, Geneva. The World Bank has a region-wide HIV/AIDS program for Africa to scale up national prevention, care, support and treatment programmes. ECDNA has made a proposal for a joint initiative as briefly described below.
Proposals for a Joint Initiative
It was pointed out earlier that members of ECDNA have participated in several international fora to highlight recent developments in the field of ECDNA in Africa. At one such event held in London, UK, in August and September 2000 to review on-going research in the field of Young Child Development in Europe, several members of ECDNA were invited to discuss with researchers at the University of East London, at the Institute of Education, London University, UK, and with the Department for International Development (DFID-UK) the impact of HIV/AIDS on the young African child.
It was agreed that it would be most appropriate to join forces in a North-South collaboration to review early childhood development strategies and programmes for young children affected by HIV/AIDS in four of the most affected countries in sub-Saharan Africa through four major components:
- Consultation and liaison with leading agencies working in the field, in particular UNICEF and UNAIDS, in order to complement and supplement their work in this field.
- A literature review, to be carried out mainly from UK and Geneva, building on other systematic health, education and care evaluations currently being carried out in the field.
- In-country reviews of strategies and programmes to be undertaken by ECDNA members.
- Five case-studies in Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, Namibia and Swaziland will provide more detailed information on programmes and strategies in those countries.
Outcomes
- a) to define and identify best practice in the care and education of young children affected by HIV/AIDS, and to provide a report to those particularly interested (UN agencies and bi-laterals such as DFID) which document such practices to orientate their programmes.
- b) to make policy relevant recommendations both at a general level for such agencies and at a country level for participating countries.
- c) to identify areas for further investigation.
- d) to provide contributions to the work of international agencies in the field by giving papers/attending workshops as requested, on the basis of the documentation collected.
Actions
Members of the ECDNA to lead the initiatives in the four pre-selected countries have been identified and expressed interest. They met with the conveners in Johannesburg end of August 2001 to develop the background paper, set the research protocol for the Case Study, agree on a budget and confirm their plan of action for 2001 – 2002. They will from the Core Group. A further meeting has been arranged at UNESCO, Paris, may 13 – 17th 2002 to firm up plans.
Proposers
- Helen Penn, Professor of Early Childhood at the University of East London, Visiting Fellow at the Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, London University, UK.
- Jean Cyril Dalais co-proposer, previously Senior Adviser ECD, UNICEF, New York, USA, presently Senior Consultant, Child Development and Protection, Joint Child Health Project, Mauritius.
- Barnabas Otaala, Professor of Education at the University of Namibia, Consultant on Early Childhood Programmes in Africa.
Conclusion Remarks
Clearly HIV/AIDS is a challenge to all our creative energies to develop strategies that minimize its impact among children and youth in many African countries. Using children and youth, both in and out of school and in tertiary institutions is one promising lead. They should be involved in planning, implementation and delivery of programmes aimed at their peers.
They should also be involved in research, which is relevant and meaningful in the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Many previous studies have focused on the needs and deficiencies of people (Myers, 1992). Studies are needed to document the strengths of local communities as the foundation upon which to build successful and sustainable programmes. In this respect it is helpful to remember the words of The Bernard van Leer Foundation reminding us of the need to build on people’s strength:
In Africa … there are strengths that are universal yet rarely recognized by outsiders and even by those inside . … Within communities there are people who are helping others – - what can we do to support them? There are programmes that are having a positive impact on communities – - let us identify why they are having such an impact. People co-operate and share for their mutual benefit – - can we extend this sharing and co-operation into other areas of their lives? Traditionally, children are prepared for adult life from a very early age by participating in household and family duties – - how can this be adapted to prepare children for the next century while still retaining the bet of their traditions? How can we develop an instinctive ability to listen to the community and interpret its strengths so as not to impose our agendas but build on what the community already does and knows?
References
UNICEF (2000) The State of the World’s Children 2000. UNICEF, New York.
UNICEF The State of the World’s Children 2001. (Early Childhood).
UNICEF (2002) The State of the World’s Children 2002-Leadership. UNICEF, New York.
Levine, A (Ed, 2001) Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children: What Role for Social Protection. World Bank/World Vision, Washington, D.C.
UNDP (2000) Namibian Human Development Report, 2000. UNDP, Windhoek, Namibia.
UNAIDS (2000) Report on the Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic. UNAIDS, Geneva.
Appendix I
Table I: Global Summary of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic as of End of 1999
| People newly infected with HIV in 1999 |
Total |
5.4 million |
(Women 2.3 million) |
| Adults | 4.7 million | ||
| Children < 15 years | 620,000 | ||
| Number of people living with HIV/AIDS |
Total |
3.4 million |
(women 15.7 million) |
| Adults | 33.0 million | ||
| Children < 15 years | 1.3 million | ||
| AIDS deaths in 1999 |
Total |
2.8 million |
(women 1.2 million) |
| Adults | 2.3 million | ||
| Children < 15 years | 50,000 | ||
| Total number of AIDS deaths since the beginning of the epidemic |
Total |
18.8 million |
(women 7.7 million) |
| Adults | 15.0 million | ||
| Children < 15 years | 3.8 million | ||
| Total number of AIDS orphans* since the beginning of the epidemic | 13.2 million |
Source: Namibian Human Development Report 2000
* Children who lost their mother or both parents to AIDS while under the age of 15.
Source UNAIDS Report on the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, June 2000.
Appendix II
Table II: HIV/AIDS Estimates for the Countries of Southern Africa, 1999*
| People living with HIV/AIDS, end 1999 | Deaths | Orphans | |||
| Countries | Adult prevalence rate | Number of infected adults | Number of infected children | AIDS deaths (adults and children) | Cumulative number of |
| Namibia+ | 19.54 | 150,000 | 6,600 | 18,000 | 67,000 |
| Angola | 2.78 | 150,000 | 7,900 | 15,000 | 98,000 |
| Botswana | 35.8 | 280,000 | 10,000 | 24,000 | 66,000 |
| Lesotho | 23.57 | 240,000 | 8,200 | 16,000 | 35,000 |
| Malawi | 15.96 | 760,000 | 40,000 | 70,000 | 390,000 |
| Mozambique | 13.22 | 1,100,000 | 52,000 | 98,000 | 310,000 |
| South Africa | 19.94 | 4,100,000 | 95,000 | 250,000 | 420,000 |
| Swaziland | 25.25 | 120,000 | 3,800 | 7,100 | 12,000 |
| Zambia | 19.95 | 830,000 | 40,000 | 99,000 | 650,000 |
| Zimbabwe | 25.06 | 1,400,000 | 56,000 | 160,000 | 900,000 |
* Source: Namibian Human Development Report 2000.
+ These figures are used for the purpose of comparison and might differ from the official national statistics.
Source: Namibian Human Development Report 2000.
Appendix III
Table 3: Impact of HIV/AIDS in Namibia on Demographic Indicators
| Indicator | 1991 | 1995 | 2001 | 2006 |
| Annual number of deaths from AIDS | 390 | 1440 | 13,880 | 23,220 |
| Crude death rate | 11.4 | 11.2 | 16 | 18.8 |
| Total population (millions) | 1.1 | 1.6 | 1.9 | 2.1 |
| Population growth rate % | 3.6 | 3.1 | 2.1 | 1.5 |
| Life expectancy at birth | 60 | 58.3 | 24.8 | 40.2 |
| Infant mortality rate | 71.6 | 71.5 | 70.1 | 62.9 |
| Under 5 years mortality rate (/ 1000) | 104 | 98 | 106.2 | 100.9 |
| Orphans due to AIDS (<15 years) | 50 | 1630 | 31,290 | 118,050 |
Source: Ministry of Health and Social Services, October 2000
Critical Issues in Early Childhood Education in Africa
By Barnabas Otaala, Ed.D.
Introduction
People everywhere, but particularly in developing countries including Africa, are struggling with similar daunting problems: hunger, homelessness, rapid population growth, unemployment, violent crime, poor health, the preventable deaths of millions of children, widespread environmental degradation, and education systems inadequate for countries’ needs and people’s aspirations.
But the world is at the threshold of a new century, with all its promise and possibilities, with the cumulative experience of reform, and innovation. In the case of children, a number of international events in favour of children have marked the last few years:
- The Alma Ata International WHO Conference which took place in 1978.
- The Child-to-Child movement was started in 1978, shortly after the Alma Ata Conference which launched the world-wide commitment to spreading the concept of Primary Health Care (PHC), in preparation for the International Year of the Child (IYC) in 1979;
- The ratification by the United Nations of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989;
- The passage by the Organisation of African Unity of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child;
- The Jomtien World Conference on Education for All, held in Thailand in March, 1990. One thousand five hundred delegates from hundreds of nations and organizations gathered to assess conditions and develop plans to improve education around the world. The World Conference generated an action plan and launched the Education for All movement to meet the basic learning needs of all children, youth and adults in all countries of the world; (Note the Mid-term review in Amman, Jordan, in 1996; and the EFA Assessment in Dakar, Senegal, 2000).
- The World Summit for children in September 1990, which was attended by seventy Heads of State.
We comment briefly on these events.
In 1977 the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted a resolution stating that "the main target of Governments and the WHO in the coming decades should be the attainment by all the citizens of the world by the year 2000 of a level of health that will permit them to lead socially and economically productive lives". Education concerning prevailing health problems and methods of preventing and controlling them was listed as the firs of eight activities in primary health care. The WHO further stresses that:
- a) "educational activities are viewed as the very best way of encouraging people from all walks of life to participate in health care and making of them the true artisans of health and developments".
- b) "activities in the fields of information and education for health should aim to increase individual and community capabilities for involvement and self-reliance in health and to promote healthy behaviour particularly regarding family health and nutrition, environmental health, healthy lifestyles and disease prevention and control".
- c) "the mere absence of health is not sufficient. Good health should enable individuals to develop to the maximum, both their physical and mental potential, and to live socially and economically productive lives in harmony with their environment".
The Principles of Primary Health Care (WHO 1975)
- i) Primary health care should be shaped around the life patterns of the population it should serve;
- ii) A local population should be actively involved in the formulation of health care activities so that health care can be brought into line with local needs and priorities;
- iii) Health care offered should place a maximum reliance on available community resources, especially those which have hitherto remained untapped, and should remain within the stringent cost limitations that are often present;
- iv) Primary health care should be an integrated approach of preventive, curative and promotive services for both the community and the individual;
- v) All health interventions should be undertaken at the most peripheral level, especially as this pertains to technical, supply, supervisory and referral support;
- vi) Primary health services should be fully integrated with the services of the other sectors involved in community development (agriculture, education, public works, housing and communication). [Source: contact in 161/162 June - July and August - September 1998.]
Child-to-Child is an innovative approach to health education in primary schools, and examines one way among many through which approaches to primary schooling may be changed. The approach rests on three basic assumptions:
- i) That primary education becomes more effective if it is linked closely to things that matter both to children and to their families and communities (in this case their health and well being);
- ii) That education in school and education out of school should be linked as closely as possible so that learning becomes a part of life;
- iii) That children have the will, the skill and the motivation to help educate each other and can be trusted to do so.
Goals for the year 2000 proclaimed during the assemblies included expansion of early childhood development activities, universal access to basic education and completion of primary education by at least 80% of primary school age children. (Mayor, 1992)
The declaration of the World Conference on Education For All Article 5 states:
- "Learning begins at birth. This calls for early childhood care and initial education. These can be provided through arrangements involving families, communities, or institutional programmes, as appropriate." (Article 5)
The Framework for Action also sets as one of the targets to be considered in national plans of action for the 1990s:
- "Expansion of early childhood care and development activities, including family and community interventions, especially for poor, disadvantaged and disabled children." (Paragraph 8).
These statements about initial education and early childhood care and development (ECCD) provide the specific starting point for this project which is set within the context of an Assessment, 10 years after the World Conference of the progress toward meeting EFA goals.
The Convention includes fundamental provisions concerning four main areas of children’s rights: survival, development (including healthy development), protection and participation. The Charter advocates the same principle goals as those of the United Nations Declaration but stresses the uniqueness of Africa, its traditions and cultural diversity.
The major goals of World Summit on Children include:
- a) Between 1990 and the year 2000, reduction of infant and under-5 child mortality rate by one third or to 50 and 70 per 1 000 live births respectively, whichever is less;
- b) Between 1990 and the year 2000, reduction of maternal mortality rate by half;
- c) Between 1990 and the year 2000, reduction of severe and moderate malnutrition among under-5 children by half;
- d) Achievement of universal access to safe drinking water and to sanitary means of excreta disposal;
- e) By the year 2000, universal access to basic education and completion of primary education by at least 80 % of primary school-age children;
- f) Reduction of the adult illiteracy rate to at least half its 1990 level with emphasis of female literacy;
- g) Improved protection of children in especially difficult circumstances.
The five conveners of the Education for All (EFA) Forum (UNESCO, UNDP, UNFPA and the World Bank) have initiated the most ambitious assessment exercise ever undertaken in basic education: the Education for All (EFA) 2000 Assessment. Over 160 participating countries around the world are assessing progress made in 1990 with regard to the provision of education for all. Forty-nine countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are participating. A major event for the EFA 2000 assessment exercise in Africa was the conference of all Sub-Saharan African countries that took place December 5 – 10, 1999. In preparation for this conference the CG initiated a project entitled, "In Search of Early Childhood Care and Development Indicators: A contribution to the EFA Year 2000 Assessment" and Namibia was suggested as one of the five countries to participate; the other four countries being the Philippines, Nepal, Colombia and Bolivia. The proposal for Namibia to participate in the project was put to and accepted by a meeting of the ECD Country Committee.
The suggested indicators used in Namibia (as in other identified countries) included the following:
- Effort (access/coverages/use)
Indicator 1: Actual enrolment – Gross enrolment as % of relevant age group.
Indicator 2: Parental education
Indicator 3: Past enrolment – % of new entrants in first year of primary with pre-school. - Quality
Indicator 4: Number of children per teacher/caregiver
Indicator 5: Teacher qualification
Indicator 6: (An indicator of quality of physical environment)
Indicator 7: (An indicator of curriculum or interaction) - Political Will: Policy and Financing
Indicator 8: Presence of a national ECCD Policy
Indicator 9: % of Educational budget or expenditure for ECCD - Costs and Expenditure
Indicator 10: Costs (or expenditure) per child
Indicator 11: Costs (or average expenditure) by government per child on
ECCD programmes as a % of Gross National Product per inhabitant
Indicator 12: Average expenditure per child by family on ECCD for children under 6 - Effects: Building a Profile
Indicator 13: Child development measure
Indicator 14: School readiness
Indicator 15: Nutritional status
Indicator 16: Health status
Achievements in Africa
- During 1996, a mid-term review was undertaken to establish the extent to which there had been progress in the achievement of the 1990 EFA goals. The picture for Africa was not a very rosy one – - for a variety of reasons.
- The Child-to-Child approach that encourages older children to look after the welfare of their own brothers and sisters and other children in the community as well as the welfare of other community members is an approach, which has been embraced in many countries. This approach has been embraced by other organisations including Aga Khan Foundation; Bernard van Leer Foundation; UNICEF; Save the Children, Christian Children’s Fund; and Arab Resource Collective, to name but a few.
Critical Issues
Despite these achievements there are a number of critical issues, some of which include the following:
- There seems to be a trend towards formalizing early learning with more and more emphasis on school readiness, numeracy and literacy and less on learning through play. (In some countries children are given an entry test in pre-school!)
- Transition from pre- to primary school continues to be problematic and in the worst-case scenario even traumatic.
- There is still a lack of culturally relevant support materials in ECD programmes and sometimes the use of local materials as well as local languages is discouraged.
- CTC has evolved from a pre-dominantly health focus to include children’s rights, environment, social and emotional development but are we ready to accept the consequences of true participation of children in all aspects of programme development?
- The worst threat to early childhood development in Africa is HIV/AIDS. What lessons can be learned from CTC approaches in developing programmes on prevention, community-based care and support of children and families affected by HIV/AIDS?
But these issues also constitute opportunities, which leads me to mention some, which have been reviewed at previous meetings, or reported by Bernard van Leer.
Programming Issues: Pre-Schoolers and the Primary School
The triangular relationship between communities, pre-schools and schools was emphasised at the Nyeri conference. This meeting also discussed the Trust’s role in advocating for the promotion of ECCD issues in the health-promoting primary school. Points raised included:
- Continue to emphasise a holistic view of health promotion in schools, in which mental stimulation and emotional well being are interdependent with physical health.
- Refocus on the first year of primary, promoting it as a transitional ‘pre-school experience’. UNESCO currently supports this concept. The importance of the first year of school and the impression it makes on the child must be stressed. Given the challenges countries now face in trying to achieve universal primary education (UPE), it is realistic to focus efforts for pre-school education on the first year of primary schooling, whatever the age of the child. This highlights the importance of teacher quality for this first year and the role of bilingual education.
- Through C-t-C promote child-friendly rather than child-centered approaches as more realistic in large classes. UPE has now created even larger classes (e.g. often over 120 in Ugandan primary schools).
- Parents have great concern for children’s education and may see greater value in early childhood stimulation can be presented as ‘informal education’ rather than ‘just play’.
- Advocate for investment in ECCD by promoting research findings indicating the long-term economic benefits of early childhood education.
Bernard van Leer lists a number of opportunities and challenges that they have explored in the many countries in which they operate, which have implications for Child-to-Child approaches.
- In Kenya a study was done that tracked 1 000 children from their pre-schools through to upper primary and the first form of secondary school. But only 6 % of the pupils had reached their expected class – - the remainder had repeated one or more classes, had transferred to other schools or had dropped out of school all together. The transition from pre-school to primary school emerged as a very serious problem. From the child-friendly environment of the pre-school the children are suddenly plunged into an unfriendly primary school environment characterized by excessive use of formal teaching methods, lack of learning and play materials, lack of adequate textbooks, and harsh discipline. This unfriendly environment has a negative impact on the learning of the pupils, resulting in high wastage in the form of absenteeism and dropping out.
- From Botswana there is an example of the challenges faced by San (Bushman) children on the road to education. The San population is among the last groups of hunter-gatherers still surviving into the 21st century. coming from a culture where children and adults interact freely, where education is informal and where physical abuse of children or harsh corporal punishment was unheard of, the San find it hard to understand the formal system of education. The study recommends more research on the educational and child rearing traditions of the San and the possibility of using traditional knowledge as part of a primary and pre-school curriculum. This would not only enhance the attitudes of parents towards education but would also improve the self-esteem of the people as a whole and enrich those who are working with them. Several projects that are working with indigenous people in different parts of the world work along these lines and have reported success with participation, as well as positive progress in education. Examples are the Nyae Nyae village school programme in Namibia and the Intelyape-lyape Akaltye Project for Aboriginal children in Australia. In 1995, government policies were still very much against the concept of mother-tongue education and all instruction was in Setswana. Recently the concept of different groups being allowed to learn in their own mother tongue has been approved but much debate still takes place about the practical implications of implementing such a policy given the difficulties of not having enough first language teachers available in all minority languages. Presently the lack of sufficient language materials and human resources still surpasses all arguments in favour of the policy especially in regards to the San languages.
Finally, a more comprehensive indication of what can be done to identify critical issues in early childhood education is provided in Appendix I titled "Africa Regional ECD Initiative".
References
Iithete, I; Haihambo-Muetudhana, C; Hengari, J. & Otaala, B. (2000) In Search of Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Indicators: A Contribution to the EFA 2000 Assessment – - The Namibian Case. Polytechnic Printery, Windhoek, Namibia.
Le Roux, W (2002) The Challenges of Change: A Tracer Study of San Pre-school Children in Botswana. Bernard van Leer Foundation, The Hague, The Netherlands.
Njenga, A. & Kabiru, M (2001) In the Web of Cultural Transition: A Tracer Study of Children in Embu District, Kenya. Bernard van Leer Foundation, The Hague, The Netherlands.
Appendix I
Africa Regional ECD Initiative
Products
- Needs assessment of ECD services in the context of changing conditions facing African mothers and children.
- Impact assessment of ECD services against changing conditions.
- Topics for further research.
- Proposal to strengthen capacity of individuals and institutions to plan and deliver services.
- Country and donor commitments to integrate ECD services in health, nutrition and early education.
- Increased family and community support services.
Principal Findings
- Recognize child development as a joint responsibility
- Involve parents in program conception and development;
- Construct partnership within the community, and public private (e.g. NGO) partnerships that can be united with national agendas (policy) to form an integrated system of child support.
- Formulate policies that define roles and responsibilities of levels of government and codify the complementary roles of public and private sectors.
- Promote accountability and responsibility
- Develop a clear understanding of the roles and duties of the various actors and administrative sectors.
- Monitor processes and development impacts; draw lessons; adjust course where needed.
- Respect the socio-cultural environment
- Fit solutions to the changing social and environmental ecology.
- Build or draw upon local socio-cultural resources to promote local ownership and commitment.
- Build consensus where it does not exist.
- Build public awareness and support for ECD
Maximize communication and information flow. - Target those most in need and likely to benefit
Serve the youngest children who are most at risk and those without access to services in rural and informal settlements. - Build on community strengths
- Recognize local traditions
- Rely on local language
- Strengthen the Education of women
- Consider the whole child
Integrate or merge interventions in health, nutrition, and early education, caregiver and daycare needs thus capitalizing on synergistic, mutually reinforcing effects … but keep it simple. - Respect social and economic realities and the important role of ECD in creating social capital
Create or link ECD with income-generating opportunities because local support may be unstable due to poverty or other conditions such as drought. - Earn the client’s support
Build an efficient and quality infrastructure including facilities, personnel selection, training, and curricula but realize the program and the people are the key ingredients, not bricks and mortar. - Create institutional capacity for ECD
- Provide support where little infrastructure exists.
- Ensure there are resource centres for ongoing support and training
- Draw upon external resources as feasible
- View child growth as a continuum
Link ECD with the transition to primary school
Framework for Action
Strategy/Scale/Sustainability
- Strategy
- Realign priorities to put children first
- Make ECD an integral part of overall poverty reduction strategies
- Emphasize an integrated, comprehensive, ‘whole-child’ approach
- Design ECD policy and program objectives that are specific to the African context.
- Ensure government development policies give priority to young children and provide for inter-sectoral delivery of services.
- Target programs and initiatives to identify segments of the population.
- Provide incentives to establish and sustain ECD.
- Create informed opinion, demand, and support from civil society (including parents, NGOs and other organized groups) for ECD.
- Conduct ongoing research and evaluation.
- Scale
Leverage scarce financial and human resources and accelerate the process of scaling up ECD coverage.- Pursue scale through partnerships.
- Complement local efforts with strategic government support. Forge partnerships between local community, non-governmental organizations, government and international agencies and institutions.
- Develop a range of working models suitable for different circumstances.
- Establish a well developed network of NGO’s engaged in ECD provision, training and other service delivery.
- Increase and accelerate local efforts.
- Sustainability
Initiate actions that will have long term effects and that strengthen the capacity of individuals and institutions to carry out ECD- Provide public and private funding for ECD in much larger amounts and specifically earmarked for ECD.
- Foster a stronger tradition of community participation and involvement in delivering ECD services.
- Insert stakeholder bodies into the policy formulation process and advocate for ECD.
- Support ECD policy and program objectives with Africa-based and Africa-tested expertise.
- Emphasize individual and institutional capacity building in policy, programs, training and research.
- Develop information systems for planning, managing and evaluating ECD
Identifying and Serving Young Children with Special Needs in Natural Environments and Inclusive Community-Based Programs
by Don Piburn
IDEA
INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION ACT (1997 US Public Law 105-17)
IDENTIFICATION
EVALUATION
INDIVIDUALIZED PLAN
SUPPORTS/SERVICES
LOCATION/PLACEMENT
IDEA on Natural Environments
Part C (Birth to Age Three Years)
- Natural Environments are: the home, and community settings in which children without disabilities participate. IDEA – 34 CFR 303.12(b)
- Participating States must establish and implement policies and procedures to ensure that:
- To the maximum extent appropriate, early intervention services are provided in natural environments; and
- The provision of early intervention services for any infant or toddler occurs in a setting other than a natural environment only if early intervention cannot be achieved satisfactorily for the infant or toddler in a natural environment. 34 CFR 303.167(c)
IDEA on Least Restrictive Environment
Part B (Ages 3 to 21 years) ð Least Restrictive Environments (LRE) are: IDEA’s significant support for educating students with disabilities in regular classes with appropriate aides and supports. IDEA – 34 CFR ’300.550-300.556
Participating States must establish and implement policies and procedures to ensure that:
- To the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities are to be educated with children without disabilities; and
- Special classes or separate schooling are to be considered only when the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes with supplementary aids and services cannot be satisfactorily achieved. 34 CFR 300.550
National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) &
Division Early Childhood (DEC) Positions on Inclusion.
Inclusion, as a value, supports the right of all children, regardless of their diverse abilities, to participate actively in natural settings within their communities.
-Adopted 1993, reaffirmed 1996 & 1998
Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs – Revised
Bredekamp, S. & Copple, C. 1997
- Pg. 19 #2D(3). NAEYC Position Statement: Guidelines for Decisions About DAP: Teachers are prepared to meet identified special needs of children with disabilities…
- Pg. 24 #1. NAEYC Position Statement: Policies Essential to Achieve DAP: Specialists in early childhood special education are available to provide assistance and consultation…Pg. 125 & Pg. 163 Examples of Appropriate and Inappropriate Practices: As much as possible…receive therapeutic or other services within their regular classroom…
NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct
From Feeney, S. & Freeman, N.K., 1999
- Preamble: Guidelines for responsible behavior
- Core Values: Central beliefs & common purpose.
- Sections of ethical responsibilities to: (1) children, (2) families, (3) colleagues, and (4) community & society.
- Ideals: point individual in direction of desirable and exemplary behavior.
- Principles: distinguishes acceptable and unacceptable professional behavior.
Code of Ethical Conduct: Section I
Ethical responsibilities to children
- I-1.6 …right of each child to play and learn in inclusive e.c. programs children with disabilities are ideally served in the same settings…they would participate if they did not have a disability
- I-1.7 children with disabilities have access to appropriate and convenient support services and to advocate for the resources necessary
- P-1.2 We shall not participate in practices that discriminate…on the basis of ability
- Principles: distinguishes acceptable and unacceptable professional behavior.
point individual in direction of desirable and exemplary behavior.
Code of Ethical Conduct: Section I
Ethical responsibilities to children
- I-1.6 …right of each child to play and learn in inclusive e.c. programs children with disabilities are ideally served in the same settings…they would participate if they did not have a disability
- I-1.7 children with disabilities have access to appropriate and convenient support services and to advocate for the resources necessary
- P-1.2 We shall not participate in practices that discriminate…on the basis of ability
- P-I.4 We shall implement adaptations seek recommendations…communicate with appropriate specialists
Code of Ethical Conduct: Section IV
Ethical responsibilities to community & society
Section IV Introduction: acknowledge an obligation to serve as a voice for children everywhere. - I-4.2 To promote cooperation among agencies and interdisciplinary collaboration
- P-4.2 We shall not accept…positions for which we are professionally unqualified. We shall not offer services that we do not have the competence, qualifications, or resources to provide.
PLACEMENT OPTIONS
(Least to Most Restrictive)
- Inclusive Early Childhood Program – Early childhood care and education setting that includes children with special needs with their typically-developing peers.
- Itinerant – Consultation to early childhood program
- Blended – Combined special and general education class
- Integrated Activities – Limited to the duration of the activity
- Dual Enrollment – Separate general and special ed. classes
- Self-Contained Special Education Class
- Separate Schooling
- Home Instruction
- Instruction in Hospitals and Institutions
If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; That is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
Henry David Thoreau
Having Time for Children, and How to create it
By Ilse Elisabeth Plattner
Time: the bane of our lives?
All over the world, independent of religion or culture, we find people who have internalised deeply the idea that time is a "precious good" and they experience a "guilty conscience" once they do "nothing" (cf. Furnham, 1996). We have a fear to "lose" time and we want to "use" time "meaningfully" and "efficiently".
Children are not spared out from this attitude towards time. Many adults believe that they cannot "afford" to spend time with their children or to let children have the time they would need for their activities. On a daily basis children are confronted with appeals like "get a move on", "don’t dawdle so much" or "hurry up, we don’t have time". For small children it is not understandable that adults are under time pressure. Parents who experience time shortage due to a hectic, stressful life often convey rejection to a child in a sense of "I don’t want you now" or "don’t you also rob me of my time!" (Plattner, 2001).
An increasing number of children are diagnosed as "hyperactive" (Barkley, 1998) which is actually not surprising in view of the fact that so many parents are themselves hyperactive by "running" from one activity to the next. The parents’ experience of constant time stress becomes transferred to the children and makes them restless and "chirpy" as well.
Instead of asking what adults could do in order to have more time for their children, from early childhood onwards many attempts are undertaken to adjust children to clocktime. Developmental Psychology provides us with the knowledge that children’s understanding of time differs from that of adults and develops along with the general cognitive development (cf. Piaget, 1972; Arlin, 1990; Kaplan 1998). But still many parents as well as professional caregivers overtax children with regard to time, often without being aware of it (Plattner, 2001). Owing to the effort to make ‘good’ use of time, already in early child care institutions a child is expected to "learn" as much as possible (Elkind, 1988).
Challenges in dealing with time
In order to create time for children it can only be the adults who have to change how they deal with time. The experience of time is a subjective one and depends on personal characteristics, abilities and competencies as well as on situational demands resulting from private and work life. There are no "recipes" to solve time problems and so-called time management techniques usually do not help much either. What is more necessary is a way of dealing with time which is tailored according to the specific needs of the individual, also the individual child, and which also allows space for spontaneity and flexibility.
To find such a way we have to become aware of ‘how we do what within time’. To become aware of our dealing ‘within’ time requires that we listen to our own thoughts, feelings and needs. We have to ask ourselves within certain situations again and again, "what am I doing right now?", "how important is this (for me)?" and "what do I want?" Only when we are aware of something can we decide whether we want to change it or whether we want to maintain it as it is.
Hidden causes of time pressure and time shortage
A conscious way of dealing with time is also a way of dealing with the often hidden causes of time pressure and time shortage.
Many people, for instance, get into time pressure owing to their perfectionism (Plattner, 1996). Because they have difficulties to assess their work as "good enough", they often deal with tasks longer than necessary. Then other tasks have to wait. Finally, it is the "time" which seems not to be enough. Some perfectionists even make even of time pressure in order to "save" time, i.e. they start with a task "at the last minute" because subconsciously they know that if they would start earlier they would still work up to the last minute because the result would never be good enough for them. Afterwards they can even claim that their work would have been much better would they have had "more time". Although perfectionists usually produce good outcomes, they have difficulties to assess their abilities and their work as sufficient. This can be regarded as an indicator for a low self-confidence. Self-confidence, however, is necessary in self-determined dealing with time.
Combined with perfectionism and low self-confidence one can often observe an inability to delegate (Plattner, 1996). People who do not trust themselves usually also have little confidence in the capabilities of others. Therefore, they have difficulties to delegate work to others. As a result, they end up with huge work loads and the perception that it is the "time" of which they do not have enough.
Difficulties with delegating work, however, can also be the result of a low self-esteem. In such cases people feel that they could not dare to ask others to do some work for them. They feel they have to prove their worth and their right for existence through working hard and working much (Plattner, 1996).
Low self-esteem can also be at the root of the inability to say "no". In this case we usually find people who are very dedicated to others and who take over all kinds of tasks for them. As a result there seems to be no "time" left for their own needs. They often feel exhausted and perhaps even exploited by others, but they do not have the courage to say "no". The reason for this is not only a lack of assertiveness. Being needed "so much" eventually boosts the self-esteem, and a vicious circle of work overload and time shortage develops (Plattner, 1996).
Causes of time stress are comprehensive and manifold. Apart from the few mentioned above, there are several more which indicate that one might not be aware of what one does ‘within’ time. For instance, many people have the desire to carry out many different tasks at the same. As a result, they "jump" from one task to the next without finishing anything. At the end of a working day they are frustrated about themselves because of their impression of "having done nothing". Wrong estimations of time necessary to fulfill a task and the constant postponement of unpleasant tasks are other causes of time related stress, as are the inability to sort out papers, collected newspaper articles etc. and to throw things away. In the latter case time problems are not visible in the first place but once the person concerned looks for something she will get "stuck" within all the other things she "discovers" whilst looking and "all of a sudden" the time has passed and the intended goal could not be reached (Plattner, 1996).
Such examples indicate that dealing with time also requires decision making abilities. We have to decide whether an outcome is good enough or not in order to proceed, whether we have to do certain work by ourselves or whether we can let others do it, whether we want to please others with a favour or not, whether we could throw things away or whether we should still keep them; in any case we have to make a decision. To make such decisions requires self-confidence, self-esteem and assertiveness.
Creating time for children
To cope with time stress we have to strengthen our self-confidence, self-esteem and assertiveness. A way of doing this could be to ask ourselves in a very conscious way questions like "how important is it (for me), that it becomes still better/that I carry it out by myself/that I do this for him-her/that I do this right now?". The "for me" stands in brackets because even if our decision about the importance has to be made with regard to someone else (a supervisor, a company, a child) it is always the individual who makes the decision from his/her perspective. To listen to an "inner voice" whilst answering such questions includes to consider the interests of others as well.
The application of such an approach with regard to children would, for instance, mean to ask oneself "how important is it (for me) to sit calmly with the child now / to listen to the child / to let the child talk about his or her troubles and sorrows / to respond to the child’s play / to give in to the child’s wish / to be ‘there’ for him now?" and to decide according to the specific situation. Not just the quantity of time is decisive for satisfying a child’s need for loving care (cf. also Arnold, 2000). More important for a child would be to have the certainty of getting the mother’s and father’s time, for instance, when they arrive from work; thus the child does not always have to fight for attention every day.
Because of the conviction that time has always to be used in an active and meaningful manner, children these days also have a full programme and appointments every day. Besides kindergarten or school and homework they have to go to the ballet, to music lessons, to sport activities and so on. Although such activities certainly have their values, an excessive involvement in them limits the time children can spend for their own exploration, fantasies and creative playing.
A challenging question for any parent would be "how important is it (for me) that my child attends all these activities?" The answer to such a question might perhaps encourage a "no", which could, however, also mean a "no" towards the child’s expectations as well as towards the expectations of the social environment (the friends, the neighbours, the teachers, the relatives). Nowadays parents (and professional care givers) need a high level of assertiveness not to be constrained by pressures from society, and they need a lot of willpower to make the time for a child (Plattner, 2000).
Another question that may enable us to create time for children could be to ask in specific situations "how important is it (for me) to allow the child more time for her play?". Little children do not yet have an idea of time passing. That is why they also cannot finish what they are doing ‘in time’. Children are occupied with something as long as they are interested in it, and then they are fully involved in the activity. This was already emphasised by Maria Montessori. When we rouse children from their play, because time is running short, then we do not allow to them that space of time which would correspond with their need for exploration. In concrete terms this means they cannot play a game to its end. As such situations increase, children either lose interest in plays or do not even start developing an interest in certain plays. As a consequence, we have children who get bored with any activity after a short period of time. It would be worthwhile to investigate the numerous diagnoses of "attention deficit disorder" also against the background of our attitude towards time.
Only if we adults are relaxed can we then be a real support for a child. Therefore it is also central to ask from time to time "how important is it (for me) to relax now?". Many adults have difficulties to really relax and to do "nothing", not only because of a "guilty conscience". Although many express a strong desire for "doing nothing" they are also frightened by this idea; it means to them the association with falling into a dark hole (Plattner, 1996). However, we need times for rest and for "doing nothing". In the same manner as each animal has times of rest and as plants do not grow incessantly, it is part of the human nature that we cannot perform all the time. If we nevertheless try it, our health, our subjective well-being, our life-satisfaction, and our children will suffer sooner or later.
Courage for "having time" and "giving time"
No-one has to accept time stress and all its negative effects as irrevocable. To get rid of this erroneous belief, that time must be used "effectively", however, another attitude towards time will be necessary. We will have to learn to value "doing nothing" and "having time" and to enjoy it with a "good conscience". Amongst others we have to create an awareness that the responsibility for a child also includes giving a child time.
Professional caretakers for children could play a central part in sensitising parents, colleagues and students for the importance of "having time" for children and to encourage them to create time for themselves and to the children with confidence and assertiveness. Because it is not the time which determines our life, but it is us human beings who live our life ‘within’ the time.
References
Arlin, M., 1990, What happens to time when you sleep? Children’s development of objective time and its relation to time perception. Cognitive Development, 5, 71-88.
Arnold, J.C., 2000, Endangered. Your Child in a Hostile World. Farmington: Plough.
Barkley, R.A., 1998, Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Scientific American, 279, 66-71.
Elkind, D., 1988, The Hurried Child. USA: Addison-Wesley.
Furnham, A., 1996, The Protestant Work Ethic, London: Whurr.
Kaplan, P.S., 1998, The Human Odyssey. Life-Span Development. Pacific Grove: Brooks/Cole.
Piaget, J., 1972, The child’s conception of time. London: Routledge and Kegan.
Plattner, I.E., 2001, Having Time for Children. ChildCare Information Exchange, 142, 8-11.
Plattner, I.E., 2000, Sei faul und guter Dinge. Ueber den Sinn und Unsinn des Erfolgsstrebens <Be lazy and have a good time. About the sense and nonsense of striving for success>, Muenchen: Knaur.
Plattner, I:E., 1996, Zeit haben. Fuer einen anderen Umgang mit der Zeit. <Having time. For another way of dealing with time>, Muenchen: Knaur.
Children in Detention – An Australian issue
by Judy Radich
Half of the world’s refugees are children. They need special protection and care.
Australia’s current mandatory detention policy for on-shore arrivals will provide another scar on Australian’s patchy humanitarian record.
When fundamental human rights are removed from all the children of a particular social group
When children who have committed no crime are locked up.
When children’s vulnerability and special needs are not recognised.
Who are these disenfranchised children? They are the children who arrive in Australia – with or without their parents – without the correct visa requirements.
The UN Convention on The Rights of the Child to which Australia is a party indicates that a child seeking refugee status is to receive appropriate protection and humanitarian assistance.
The special situation of children and specific needs of children has not been incorporated into Australia’s legislative policy and legislation change has been piecemeal and not out of a considered approach to the issues.
In Australia, the present state of immigration policy stems from the perceived desire to have an "ordered" approach to immigration and a desire to ensure Australian borders are secure – a model of detention/deterrent. Any form of detention applying to children amounts to "cruel and inhuman treatment" or at the very least "harsh treatment" which is itself unacceptable under the terms of the convention.
Article 37 of the convention states that holding children in detention shall be used as a measure of last resort and only for the shortest possible time. Australia is therefore in breach of the convention.
Detention does of course have a bearing on the psychological state of children and contributes to the trauma occasioned by violence – whether direct or vicarious – the grief and loss that these children have already suffered whether accompanied or unaccompanied. Research tells us children who suffer torture and trauma are likely to either internalise their experiences and become indifferent and distracted, or may exhibit more defiant and aggressive behaviours. Many of these children have witnessed that the violent, cruel and ruthless are often highly successful in war.
We know child refugees, with or without families, have been deeply traumatised through war, frequently through the disappearance or torture they have witnessed of close relatives and of course the perils of uncertain "flight" with all its accompanying traumas.
This is compounded when on arrival into Australia, they are detained further. The Australian Government’s response to unlawful arrivals fails in practice to reflect the impact of government policies on children. The main focus is the broader question of unlawful immigration outcomes for Australia and little attention is given to the needs of the children.
In order to support the best interests of children, AECA believes the following principles should be applied to all policies and practices which relate to children of asylum seekers and children of refugees.
- Best Interests In all actions concerning children, the human rights of the child, in particular his or her best interests are to be given primary consideration.
- Non – discrimination Refugee children and children of asylum seekers are entitled to the same treatment and rights as other Australian children.
- Family unity Preserving and restoring family unity are of fundamental concern.
- Family support Actions to benefit refugee children and children of asylum seekers should be directed primarily at enabling their primary care-givers to fulfil their principal responsibility to meet their children’s needs.
- Family participation Where the special needs of refugee children and children of asylum seekers can only be met effectively through child-focussed activities, these should be carried out with the full participation of their families and communities.
- Separated children Unaccompanied refugee children must be the particular focus of protection and care.
- Cultural support The provision of childcare, healthcare and education for refugee children and children of asylum seekers should reflect their linguistic and cultural needs.
- Interpretation Families should be provided with suitable interpreters who speak their preferred language whenever they are interviewed or require access to services.
- Confidentiality Care must be taken to maintain the confidentiality of information provided by children. There should be no disclosure of information that could endanger or compromise the child’s family in Australia or their home country. Information must not be used inappropriately for purposes other than for that for which it is sought.
- Staff training Those working with refugee children should receive appropriate training on the needs of the refugee children.
In relation to these children, the primary goals are
- To ensure the protection and healthy development of all children
- To achieve durable solutions which are appropriate to the immediate and long term developmental needs of children
Recommendations:
The following recommendations will help to achieve the goals and enable all children and their families to have their safety and well being assured:
- Children are not kept in detention as a result of immigration policies
- Families with young children are housed in community settings
- Families have access to the support they needs to participate in the community
- All school aged children have access to school education
- All children are able to use early childhood care and education services, and funding is available to support this
- All children have access to health programs and services
- Language support is available in the child’s home language and to help them learn English
- Specialist support services are available to help children address trauma
We need to ask ourselves the question….What kind of Australia do we want?
We know children’s needs cannot be met in isolation. They are normally met most effectively within the context of family and community. Moreover a child’s welfare is closely linked to the health and security of the primary caregiver. It is therefore necessary to strengthen the capacities of refugee families to meet their own needs and improve the participation and situation of refugee men and particularly women, thereby contributing significantly to the welfare of their children.
A clear distinction needs to be made between Australia’s obligations overseas and our obligations onshore. We cannot control conditions in overseas camps but we can control conditions for asylum seekers and their children within Australia.
Te Whaariki the New Zealand Curriculum Framework
by Jilly Tyler
Introduction
Te Whaariki is the curriculum for early childhood care and education in New Zealand. The curriculum is a relatively new framework in New Zealand and as a result early childhood teachers are still coming to terms with some of the theory, which underpins the document, it’s implementation and the use of appropriate assessment procedures to support the curriculum. Despite this we are immensely proud of the work that Helen May and Margaret Carr have done to create a curriculum framework that supports the work of early childhood teachers in New Zealand and reflects the unique nature of early childhood education in our country.
Background
Early childhood education and care in New Zealand has been diverse in delivery, just as diverse as the communities that exist in New Zealand. Therefore Te Whaariki had to provide for that diversity. Previously Governments in New Zealand had not been concerned with the early childhood sector however the late 1980s NZ saw an introduction of a new funding formula which meant that they were now committed to providing a minimum of 50% of the funding. In some cases more, to licensed early childhood services. Therefore the Government became another stakeholder in the New Zealand early childhood sector.
"Te Whaariki" The Title
Te Whaariki was chosen as the title of the curriculum as it provides New Zealanders with a metaphorical reference to weaving – the early childhood curriculum is envisaged as a Whaariki, a woven mat for all to stand on. The curriculum is made up of the Principals, Strands and Goals and these are able to be woven into the curriculum based on the interests and aspirations of the child or children attending the early childhood service.
In order to understand Te Whaariki and it’s philosophical base teachers and parents must understand that the weaving of the curriculum maybe different for each child. The weaving metaphor describes a complex learning pattern that increases in complexity as the child engages with the environment and develops learning theories and understandings. This is in contrast to a curriculum that is based on steps of development where the child will start at the bottom and work through a series of experiences in order to reach the top and move to the next level in their educational journey. Te Whaariki allows for a range of patterns of learning and each is as important as the other for the individual child.
Te Whaariki – a child initiated curriculum
Te Whaariki defines three age groups – infants, toddlers and the young child.
While Te Whaariki acknowledges the differences between these groups it does not suggest that children will have distinctly separate experiences in the three stages. In fact Te Whaariki emphasises and acknowledges that children learn and grow in the early years in unpredictable ways. It acknowledges that that direction and speed of development will fluctuate for each individual child and in different ways. The curriculum is therefore founded on the following aspirations for children,
"To grow up as confident and capable learners and communicators, healthy in mind, body and spirit, secure in their sens of belonging and in the knowledge that they make a valued contribution to society."
It is about the individual child. The starting point is the learner and the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that the child brings to their experiences. It is also about the strong belief that learning begins in the home and those experiences provide a rich foundation that can form the basis of future successful learning. The curriculum also emphasises the reciprocal and responsive relationships for children with people, places and things. It is based on the belief that children learn most effectively with adults and peers through a process of guided participation and observation of others, as well as through planned learning experiences for the individual.
The Framework
Te Whaariki has four guiding principles. The strands and goals arise from the principles and are woven around these principles.
EMPOWERMENT/WHAKAMANA
Where the curriculum empowers the child to learn and grow.
HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT/KOTAHITANGA
Where the curriculum reflects the holistic way children learn and grow. This means that the cognitive, social, cultural, physical, emotional and spiritual dimensions of human development are of woven together and cannot be separated out from one another.
FAMILY AND COMMUNITY/WHANAU TANGATA
Where the wider world of family and community is an integral part of the early childhood curriculum.
RELATIONSHIPS/NGA HONONGA
Where Children learn through responsive and reciprocal relationships with people, places and things.
A duel set of Parallel Strands/Aims in Maori and English have been developed.
Mana Atua – Well-being
Mana Whenua – Belonging
Mana Tangata – Contribution
Mana Reo – Communication
Mana Aotorua – Exploration
This notion of strands uses quite different concepts from what teachers have worked with in the past. Te Whaariki has moved away from using a development measure of the physical, social, emotional and intellectual development and used a more holistic approach. Teachers now consider children’s well being, their sense of belonging, the contribution they make, the importance of communication and the opportunities available for exploration.
Each Strand has been expanded to include Goals, which allow for learning and development for individuals and the group. These goals, in turn, are expanded upon further by inclusion of learning outcomes and reflective questions that support the teacher to make relevant and appropriate assessments about the child’s engagement in the early childhood centre.
Implementation
The different paths teachers have taken when implementing Te Whaariki has been as diverse as the communities that teachers work in. The result is that the curriculum, in practice can look different in every centre. This is because teachers have engaged with the curriculum based on their own theoretical understandings and individual children’s interests. Implementation of the curriculum can differ from centre to centre and from community to community.
Alongside the implementation of curriculum there needed to be effective assessment procedures established to support children’s learning and to ensure effective teaching occurred to realise children’s interests. While the implementation of appropriate assessment procedures has been another journey the assessment models teachers have begun to use is based on the same theoretical framework allowing for a narrative model of assessment. Teachers have begun to see that narratives can support learning based on the principals of Empowerment, Holistic Development, Family and Community and Relationships.
There is also an acknowledgement of the importance of a Maori immersion curriculum within New Zealand in order to strengthen Te Reo Maori – the Maori language. The avenue that most Maori children have to access Maori immersion curriculum is through Kohanga Reo. Te Whaariki recognises the distinctive role of an identifiable Maori curriculum that protects Maori language and tikanga through using Maori language.
Further acknowledgement is made of Home-based care programmes, special educational needs and Pacific Island early childhood centres as they form part of the rich tapestry of early childhood education in New Zealand.
Summary
Te Whaariki was first introduced to the early childhood community in 1993 and became The Early Childhood Curriculum in 1996. Since that time teachers have continued to access new theoretical material from around the world and to make links with the theoretical underpinning of the Te Whaariki. The exciting thing about this is that Te Whaariki seems to be able to withstand the scrutiny of new theory, as the principals are so sound. Teachers are still learning about the theory that underpins the document and adjusting their teaching to ensure that the interests and aspirations of children and parents are acknowledged. Engaging with Te Whaariki allows teachers to have their own learning journey just as children have theirs. It is for that reason that so many early childhood professionals feel privileged to have such a sound curriculum to work from and therefore work hard to ensure that the implementation is as sound as the document is itself.
References
Carr, May(1997), Making a difference for under fives? The early implementation of Te Whaariki, the New Zealand National Early Childhood Curriculum. Early Years Education, vol 5.
Ministry of Education(1993),Te Whaariki. He Whaariki Matauranga mo nga Mokopuna O Aotearoa. Draft guidelines for Developmentally Appropriate Programmes in Early Childhood Services. Learning Media.
Ministry of Education(1996),Te Whaariki. He Whaariki Matauranga mo nga Mokopuna O Aoteroa. Early Childhood Education. Learning Media.
Ministry of Education(1998),Quality in Action, Te Mahi Whai Hua, Learning Media.
Step by step Model of Developing, Supporting and Maintaining the Quality in the Education of Young Children
by Tatjana Vonta
Step by Step Program was established by Open Society Institute, New York, in 1994.
Goals:
- To introduce and support Child-centered methodology, parent and community participation.
- To engage democratic ideas and values with education in countries in transition.
In 1994 Step by Step program was implemented in 200 classrooms in 14 countries.
In 2002 in 16.000 classrooms in 27 countries.
Adaptation to local cultural and social condition was made in the implementation processes.
The Impact
- On DIFFERENT SYSTEM’S SPHERES (families, communities, professional pre-service and in-service trainings, local economy, etc.).
- On the MICROSYSTEM LEVEL OF CLASSROOMS AND SCHOOLS in the quality of life in schools and classrooms.
With Changes of:
MANAGEMENT INDICATORS (care for professional ability, relations with parents and other institutions, program evaluation, assuring conditions for learning and play, etc.).
STRUCTURAL INDICATORS (age-mixed classrooms, on-going trainings for teachers and teacher-assistants, consulting, organization of classroom environment in different activities centers, daily schedule, rules, parent involvement, selection and accessibility of educational materials and toys, etc.).
PROCESS INDICATORS (quality of interaction between child and the other child, small group and the whole group, teacher and a child, teacher and teacher-assistant, teacher – parents, etc.).
The Main Question
How to maintain the quality in all the classrooms implementing Step by Step Methodology?
Measures:
- In 1999 the International Step by Step Organization established Standards Task Force Group.
- Experts from 10 different countries in transition shared vision for quality in teaching and learning to foster democratic principles and actions in teaching staff, children, their families and communities.
We tried to connect early childhood education with:
- open society and
- right-based approaches to early childhood education.
Result: Step by Step Program and Teacher Standards.
The Purpose of the Step by Step Standards is to Support the Efforts of:
- Teachers
- Families
- Community members
- Schools and school administrators, program directors, ministry representatives, university professors
IN IMPROVING AND ESTABLISHING QUALITY EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS FOR ALL PRE-SCHOOL AND PRIMARY SCHOOL AGE CHILDREN.
The Core Beliefs of the Step by Step Program and Teacher Standards are:
- Child-centered methods, which recognize the individual needs of each child, in the context of whole-child development;
- Equal access to educational and care opportunities for all children, culturally appropriate environments and approaches that create welcoming settings for children, families and members of the community, including children with special needs, minority children, poor children and other disadvantaged groups;
- Teachers’ roles as facilitators of children’s learning and their responsibility to create a community of learners;
- Parents as the primary educators of their children, which requires parent involvement in development of goals for their children’s education and active family and community participation in the life of the classroom and school;
- Community-level ownership of public educational systems;
- Learning environments designed to be physically and psychologically safe, with activity centers that promote choices and independence for learners.
Who Should Use the Step by Step Standards
Teachers:
- to analyze their teaching techniques and instructional practice,
- to improve their teaching practices,
- to set goals for professional growth,
- to develop a plan for reaching these goals,
- for self-evaluation and certification.
School administrators, principals and ministry representatives:
- to stimulate discussion about what constitutes quality teaching and programs,
- to compare current practice to the standards,
- to establish a comprehensive plan for school improvement.
Parents and community members:
- to be familiar with quality indicators.
Universities, pedagogical institutes:
- to illustrate the connection between theory and practice,
- as guidance and directions in planning improvements.
Non-governmental organizations:
- to help develop an accreditation process,
- to create professional trainings,
- to provide professional credibility and programmatic support in the development of funding proposals.
How to Use Standards
Each set contains six domains. We provided the description of each standard.
Each domain is followed by standard statements.
Step by Step Program Standards
Address these domains:
- Teacher-child interaction
- Family participation
- Planning a Child-Centered Program
- Strategies for Meaningful Learning
- Learning environment
- Health and Safety
Step by Step Teacher Standards
Address these domains:
- Individualization
- Learning environment
- Family participation
- Teaching Strategies for Meaningful Learning
- Planning and Assessment
- Professional Development
Standard-Based Observation Form
- Arranged by the domain content area for each standard.
- With indicators for each standard.
- A series of examples that help to define indicators.
Rating Key
- The observer rates each indicator using scale: consistently evident, sometimes evident, rarely evident.
- All ratings, that are not rated as consistently evident, require written comment.
- The Observation Form is combined with the report of observer with recommendations.
- Observation Form should be completed at least twice a year.
Children & Violence: Ways of Making Peace
by Norma Williams
Background
Norma Williams is an early childhood service Director, Educator & Trainer, living and working in Canberra, Australia. Norma’s interest in peace studies began in the early 70′s; she has specialised in conflict and dispute resolution theory and practice since 1993 and is an accredited registered Mediator with related post-graduate qualifications. Since that time she has developed and presented related workshops and training sessions for: parents and staff involved in early childhood centres, teachers, community service groups, personnel and managers, and other organisations in the wider community. Norma’s work is concerned with facilitating personal empowerment through developing effective communication and problem solving skills with individuals, within community and organisational development. Working together towards synthesising differing interests and needs, moving from punitive means of addressing conflicts; creating new balances towards fairness and equity: a just and more peaceful society.
Preamble
The topic of conflict resolution is a huge one and I never underestimate the complexity of issues involved and the impact on human relations at personal, community, national and international levels. This discussion paper is offered as more descriptive than prescriptive, with a view to advocate community adult education and training programs in conflict management skills. Creating a means of non-violent intervention for conflicts at the micro, personal and community level, with a view to promoting increased personal and world peace. Adult behaviour is the most powerful influence in the lives of young children. Children will learn peaceful means from adult example.
Children & Violence – Conflict as a Normal Part of Life: Ways of Making Peace.
Definitions of forms of violence:
Physical: force used by individuals
Structural: inflicted by society on individuals eg: forces, situations and attitudes which actively and passively prevent people from reaching their full potential.
Promoting Conflict Resolution Skills in Young Children
Introduction
The promotion and application of conflict resolution methods and processes as a means of restoring, maintaining and promoting peace, does not seek to underestimate or ignore the desperation, devastation, destitution and seemingly irretrievable breakdown to human-relations, protracted and violent conflict brings. But to present an alternative and non-violent pathway, at times taken in conjunction with law-and order means, to preserve social order, justice, and promote peaceful living conditions.
Empowering people to make peace: using conflict resolution skills.
Human behaviour is complex, and influenced by a variety of physical, social, economic and cultural factors. Escalating conflicts sometimes lead to violence, such as where personal violence has been adopted as a means of law and order on the streets, or in response to structural oppression. Conflict resolution (CR) is primarily useful in helping people to develop strategies in preventing differences and clashes from reaching this stage; in addition to managing more complex conflicts between individuals and groups. Conflict resolution theory and practice is also concerned with examining and challenging existing notions about the nature of conflict. Right and wrong, and fault finding are not relevant in the process of conflict resolution. This approach is sometimes described as ‘alternative dispute resolution’: a step away from more traditional punitive or law and order means of addressing undesirable behaviour or activities. The processes involved are about harnessing co-operative power to bring about social justice, changed or improved conditions; moving people towards better understanding, building mutual respect and trust. This incudes working collaboratively to promote self-esteem and personal responsibility for own behaviour, and decision making about relationship and life experiences.
Conflict resolution skills involve cognitive and emotional development: empathy, self-determination, fact finding, tactical, strategic thinking, and communication skills. A responsive approach to exploring problems and behaviour: the impacting underlying needs, concerns and feelings, and individual and collective visions for the present and future situation. This helps to broaden perspective and get a ‘bigger picture’ about what is going on, or may be contributing to conflict, avoiding diagnostic or judgemental reactions. Such an approach to problem solving and decision-making is inclusive, and aimed to be realistic; creating outcomes or solutions that will benefit all concerned, and making a commitment to seeing them through. Conflict resolution is concerned with concepts of equality, personal empowerment and responsibility; and the learning processes can change the way people think and react to problems or overwhelming situations.
The role of third party intervention in conflict resolution: mediation.
Mediation is usually a voluntary process and enables disputing parties to discuss and address impacting issues of the past or present in an environment of safety and civility, where the possibility of such an undertaking has already broken down. The third party mediator is impartial to the parties and the conflict at hand and skilfully guides those involved through an established communication process, ensuring everyone has equal opportunity to have their say. The parties can use the process to raise issues for mutual discussion, negotiation and decision making; it is not advisory or designed to influence the outcome. The process and application of mediation goes beyond diplomacy, counselling and negotiation. Mediation is concerned with human behaviour and its impact on relationships, and everyday transactions.
In Australia mediation is provided as a free or low cost community service in most major cities and regions through community justice and conflict resolution services.
Peer-mediation programs have been trialed in some secondary schools through mentoring programs, as part of social capital and community development projects. Pupils volunteer to undergo coaching in these methods, and then use their skills to help others resolve play-ground and other conflicts, within the school environment. Children in the late primary years should also be able to grasp the basic concepts and principles of mediation. Perhaps the traditional role of ‘prefect’ or ‘monitor’ could incorporate this role of conflict intervention. However, this would present some important considerations: the skilled mediator draws on their prior knowledge and experience of social and inter-personal relations, meta-communication, and intuition when helping parties to actively participate in meaningful discussion, principled negotiations, and good faith bargaining. Mediators must use their ethical judgement, on whether an issue is safe and suitable for mediation or if regulatory, advisory or other means of assistance would be more appropriate. This occurs especially in circumstances when there is a previous history of violence. Given that Mediators are required to undertake regular skill reviews; reflective practice professional development, and debriefing; it is possible that the role and responsibility of third party mediator placed on young shoulders may be unreasonable, hazardous, and burdensome in the long term.
How can conflict resolution skills help in early childhood settings and the class-room?
Children are the adults of the future and will then determine to some degree the kind of world they will live in; however, in childhood they are dependent on adults for their safety and well-being. All children will come into contact with, or directly experience some form of conflict and aggression. Where it may not exist in their immediate surroundings, it is frequently observed in every-day life and through the media of television and movies. We know as children grow they develop social skills, and these skills are copied and learned from others. Adults with well-developed interpersonal, problem solving and communication skills, provide good models from where children will learn how to solve everyday problems in a non-aggressive way. It is not so much a matter of how we "teach" children how to deal with conflict, but more realistically, how we "show" them and promote reasonableness and fairness.
Education and training programs about the thinking behind, and development and practice of conflict resolution skills, present simple, accessible, practical, and very economical ways of managing conflict or addressing problematic behaviour. The practical element of this learning process enables equal opportunity to learn; especially where language or literacy problems are present. In early childhood settings we can make good beginnings by incorporating peace-making resolve into our philosophy, and conflict resolution processes into policy, practices and organisational development procedures. Workshops and information sessions about conflict management skills for both staff and parents can create an informed, practical and consistent approach to passing these skills on to children, to positively influence their behaviour, self-esteem and responses to conflict.
My personal experience with CR, and summarised feedback relating to a variety of CR course and workshop participants:
Groups of parents on the topic of child behaviour: The acquired learning promotes a responsive approach; linking the age/stage of children’s development, and seeing behaviour as a desire to meet needs, gain autonomy and increasing independence. The knowledge and skills enables parents to free themselves from power struggles, and manage their emotions more effectively; creating a bridge between idealism, understanding and everyday reality.
Staff and management from a variety of community groups: conflict resolution education and training has improved personnel relationships and increased team cohesion in meeting the goals of the school or service. Interpersonal and intra-personal conflict is addressed at an early stage. Conflict management process included in organisational development and procedure, provide an accessible, open, responsive, and reliable method of dealing with problems. Motivation is increased through personal empowerment and depression reduced.
Community education programs: "Better at conflict" is a social capital program I developed and facilitate for the Conflict Resolution Service ACT, funded by a local government Healthpact program. Participants are residents of a high-density lower socio-economic housing complex. The environment is home for up to three-thousand people, young and aged; has a high crime rate, incidence of drug dealing, and frequent domestic or interpersonal violence. Participants indicate that the regular CR education and training sessions (12) have helped as follows:
Improved relationships with children and other residents as a result of using assertive communication to address problems. Increased empathy for others needs and concerns; and ability to use skills to problem solve rather than force. Increased confidence and self- esteem and ability to set limits, and seek outside help as a last resort. The acquisition of knowledge and skills about conflict management has met individual needs and benefited the neighbourhood community. Providing, if only a handful, of peer-group role models to promote a more reconciliatory and collaborative approach to managing problems, therefore reducing the potential for further violence in the community.
In summary, community knowledge about conflict resolution skills can help children, through the adults responsible for their welfare and wellbeing; when they use alternative non-violent and less aggressive means of managing problems or difficulties. Adults who feel empowered are likely to manage and initiate life changes more effectively and will experience less stress, increased self-esteem and positive image.
Making Peace
Punishment is not a suitable means of addressing ‘bad’ behaviour in children or adults when we take the view that such behaviour is a reaction or response to perceived or potential emotional, social or physical threat.
Eminent theorist John Burton (1992) asserts: "Empirical evidence suggests, in short, that aggression is not used for its own sake. It is not part of human nature, as has been assumed all along. Indeed we perceive the possibility that violence exists not as the preferred means by which to remedy unacceptable conditions, but as the only available option within social institutions and frameworks that are irredeemably based on power".
Viewing conflict as an agent for change and using non-violent intervention involves paradigm shifts; this includes our ideology, beliefs, attitudes, ethics, values and morals. Adults must take the responsibility for making peace by creating communities that value and promote equality, and function to preserve the innately peaceful and loving nature of all children. Through education and example, we can foster in children the skills and attitudes that will empower them to approach problems confidently, collaboratively and constructively, and to learn and live together compassionately.
Recommended reading: Essays on Peace – Edited by Michael Salla, Walter Tonetto and Enrique Martinez. 1995: Central Queensland University Press.
Accreditation and Quality for the Children of 2010
by Lily Wong, Ed.D.
Introduction
This paper is a sequel to on-going study of the need for accreditation as a means of quality assurance and improvement in childcare programs. The study is based in Singapore where the author conducts an annual survey on a similar random but small sample childcare workers entering training programs. While the answers reflect contemporary perceptions, the implications go beyond the responses.
Indeed, the Singapore public as well as childcare professionals continue see the need for improvement, but depend too heavily on the public government agencies to maintain quality expectations in terms of licensing and regulation. The uneasy feeling that good is not enough continues to gnaw at the observers, who have yet to buy into the need for greater self-regulation on the part of the childcare service industry, and the development of evaluative tools and techniques to accomplish the purpose.
The Survey, Sample, and Methodology
The simple short questionnaire was administered to 86 adult participants who were divided into two adult groups of approximately equal size. Group A consisted of 46 females who had worked in childcare for at least two years. This experience assumed a more realistic assessment of the situation from the insider point of view. Group B consisted 40 (3 male and 37 females) adults who did not have any working experience in childcare but wanted to learn and become childcare workers.
The questionnaire dealt with five major issues phrased in the following questions:
- What is wrong with Childcare in Singapore?
- Is there a shortage of affordable quality care?
- How much quality control should there be in childcare?
- What childcare deserves to be called "Good"?
- What should be the way out?
The qualitative free-expressions were tabulated, summarized, taking into consideration the variety of answers. However, there was no attempt to convert them into percentages or normative data. The answers served to give an indication of the variety of views, although this study presents only the common responses that appeared most frequently.
The Findings
What’s Wrong with Childcare?
Admittedly, this question reflected a measure of bias that not all is well with the childcare industry in Singapore. However, it was asked to isolate the most crucial areas that needed addressing, and by focusing on the negative aspects, the respondents could quickly pinpoint where improvement had to be made.
Both groups of respondents observed what they defined as a shortage of staff and a rather high turnover in teachers. Programs were too academic, structured, and achievement-oriented-thus putting a lot of pressure on the children.
The insiders (group A) felt that childcare was too business-oriented (as opposed to education centered) leading to high teacher-child ratios, inconsistent standards, and parents who do not really respect the teachers. The in-lookers (group B) sensed the same type of commercialization and reflected a typical consumer-oriented perspective that childcare services were too expensive, but not the professional standards expected by the insiders.
Interestingly, the concurrence of opinions confirmed the general impression, and the amazing similarity of answers somewhat reflected (1) the dangers of group-think, (2) goal/achievement cultural orientation, (3) the necessity for a greater variety of approaches in training and educating young children, and (4) a lack of understanding on evaluation that goes beyond licensing.
Is there a Shortage of Affordable Quality Care?
The question really had three dimensions: Adequacy, Affordability, and Quality. The responses were all over the map as the different issues were addressed-indicating the need to further refine the dimensions separately for future studies.
Adequacy, the majority of the respondents (72) felt there was a shortage. However, a deeper investigation of the answers revealed that the answers addressed different issues. Those who did not feel there was a shortage (14) addressed the question in terms of individual issues-thus blurring the dissimilarity, since they really agreed in more detailed terms.
Affordability. While the insiders thought that childcare services were expensive (because of the profit motive on the part of many operators), both groups felt that government subsidies often made childcare affordable and attainable under most circumstances.
Quality. High teacher-turnover was taken to be an indication that quality could be questionable. Coupled with high teacher-child ratios, and the seeming lack of teachers with recognized credentials/training, the feeling was that there was more room of improvement even though present standards might be somewhat adequate because of spot-checks by government agencies or regulators.
The lack of industrial self-regulation made the respondents feel that there must be something better and beyond what existed. What was possible and demonstrated in selected high quality childcare centers set the pace for the others. The respondents had a notion of what they wanted or defined as quality care, and compared their observations to their perceptions of the ideal.
How Much Quality Control in Childcare?
The Insiders (group A) and a sprinkling of the in-lookers (group B) felt that there was no quality control-at least no systematic approach from an educational standpoint. Rather it was market forces that dictate what each center should produce.
The majority of the respondents quickly point to the government as the ultimate assurance of quality since it licenses, regulates, monitors, and ultimately is responsible for the protection of the consuming public. It was obvious that there is an over-dependence on the government to play this role.
The respondents, in giving their somewhat contradictory answers, were expressing both a measure of frustration on quality control, and the need to set guidelines, rules, and requirements as well as train an adequate number of officers to implement them.
What Childcare Deserves to be called "Good?"
Both groups had their own ideas on (1) the curriculum, (2) the teachers, and (3) the learning environment of the child. They readily expressed their ideas and expectations in each of the areas of endeavor. Though express from different viewpoints reflecting those of providers and consumers, there is little controversy or difference. Rather they reflected "both sides of the coin" with the children as the focus of the endeavor.
The answer indicated that intuitively, all the adults had fairly fixed but sound ideas for benchmarks and criteria for "good" programs. Some of the answers could be summarized as…
| Dimension | Group A Insiders | Group B In-lookers |
| Curriculum | Developmentally Appropriate Practices, child-initiated, balance, explore, useful skills, creative | Interactive, Life-skills oriented, learning corners, age-appropriate, creative, good academic achievement, development of play, happy, lots of choice |
| Teachers | Qualified, dedicated, low teacher-child ratios, well-trained in all areas, good rapport with parents and children, good management | Caring, dedicated, trained, qualified, professional, passion for children, low teacher-child ratios, family involvement, and understanding |
| Environment | Good feel for all, affordable, clean, caring, attractive, warm, nurturing | Clean, safe, interesting, have toys, nutritious food |
What is the Way Out?
The solutions proposed by both groups again complement each other. The insiders (group A) were certainly more detailed and practical in terms of what the profession could do in answer to the criteria and problems posed in the previous questions. The in-lookers (group B) were more general and consumer-oriented in their suggestions.
Teachers. Both groups agreed that performance standards should be raised, teachers should be trained, better paid, and have their status improved. Teacher turnovers should be reduced.
Government. The government should take greater control and set up criteria for evaluation. Group A felt that more programs should be subsidized by the government, and the welfare of the caregivers be improved. Government should look into changing the educational system.
Parents. Both groups felt that parent and family education should be provided, and communications between home and school improved.
Reorganization of Childcare. The suggestion was that standards should be raised, an institutional rather than entrepreneurial (business) model be developed, forcing both the public and private sectors to cooperated in their childcare services.
Progress and Plans
By 2004 all the principals and teachers are required to be trained-at least at a two-year diploma level. The government, through various departments, is strongly supporting the upgrading for teachers through generous grants and incentive programs.
Salaries have been increased. However economic pressures have held back business-oriented operators from making great strides-even though the childcare industry is rather recession proof. Being a childcare teacher is still hardly a lucrative job.
The attempt to slow down the teacher turnover rates through bonding of staff to a center for at least two or three years (upon completion of additional training) has not proved effective.
For licensing and monitoring, a set of evaluative tools is used. Although these instruments are under constant review, licensing can only assure a minimum set of conditions-adequate for consumer protection. Such a practice cannot ensure quality improvement beyond a basic framework.
Parent/family education programs have been publicly funded by the Ministry of Community Development and Sports. Children’s rights have been officially adopted in 1999 as a government policy, and since then policies promoting the education of children and their families have been outlined and implemented for the country. The future of children in Singapore is bright and optimistic.
The Question of Quality in Early Childhood Education
Much remains to be done in terms of quality assurance and improvement. Just as it has happened in many other emerging industries, the government and profession are initially interested in meeting basic requirements for adequate performance. However, once the foundations are laid, standards will then be raised to meet the customer (parents, payors, funding agencies) as well as consumer (children) demands. Again, such a step would only move childcare forward incrementally, but as inspections increase, quality will only advance minimally for there is just so much government organizations or supervision can do within the constraints of fairness and opportunity.
True quality improvement can only happen when the profession takes pride in its efforts, set ever-advancing standards, self-regulate its members, promote its own set of ethics, establish benchmarks, and demand compliance to its criteria for excellence.
There is still a lot to be done but the journey has begun. And the longest journey always begins with a single step.