Literature Overview Encouraging quality in ECEC 7 th

Literature Overview ‘Encouraging quality in ECEC’ 7 th ECEC Network Meeting – 22 nd June 2010 Ineke Litjens Education and Training Policy Division Directorate for Education

Parent and Community Involvement

To build on the knowledge about children, fostering continuity with learning in the home To promote positive attitudes and behaviours towards children's learning Main reasons for involving parents and community services in ECEC services To provide parents/staff with information and referrals to other services To support parent and staff empowerment

Why does it matter? The Importance of Parents and the wider community v All environments affecting children foster similar goals v. Foster great communication with parents v Better parenting v Increase parents’ understanding of appropriate educational practices v. Better knowledge of child development v. Better understanding of children by staff v Promote positive later achievement

Defining parental and community involvement Child-focused Centre-oriented Communicating Design effective forms of school-to-home and home-toschool communications about school programmes and children’s progress Volunteering Recruit and organise parent help and support Parenting Help all families establish home environments to support children as students Decision making Including parents in school decisions, developing parent councils and parent-teacher organisations. Learning at home Provide information and ideas to families about how to help students at home with homework and other curriculum-related activities, decisions, and planning. Collaborating with community Identify and integrate resources and services from the community to strengthen school programmes, family practices, and student learning and development.

Evidence of its impacts of particular Type of involvement on child outcomes Main Areas Improving the home learning environment(HLE) Home visiting Parenting Education Active Involvement Collaboration with wider community resources Combination of different approaches Details v. Provide activities and materials for parents and children to do together v. Offer parents tips on reading aloud to children and offering literacy learning kits v. Provide confidence in parents’ interactions with children’s education programmes v. Offer great knowledge in children’s development v. Gain positive relationships with children and families for staffs v. Empower parents to engage with their children’s learning v. Positive results on later school measures, regardless of family background or income v. Focus on teaching children literacy skills concentrated on children and families creating meaningful self-authored texts v. Key to children’s motivation for learning and development vdiminish development arrears vhome visits by the pre-school teachers, provision of literacy resources, centre-based group activities, special events, postal communication

Encouraging parent and community involvement at system level v Establish a system of communication with and participation of parents v. Establish mechanisms for community involvement in support of staff and children Set out goals/purposes Requirement Incentives and support Feasible within context

Implementation of effective curricula and pedagogical approaches Perceived barriers (challenges) Key success factors v Language and cultural barriers v Ethos v Stigmatisation v Clarity of objectives v Insufficient knowledge about possibilities v Pro-activeness to engage or participate v. Staff education and training v Parents’ low education level v. Flexibility v Attitudinal barriers v. Funding v Time barriers

Curriculum and Effective Pedagogy

The Importance of Curriculum and Pedagogies v. Key-factors in the quality and effectiveness of the program v. Clarifies development aims v. Provides structure v. Respond adequately to children’s needs v Improve the status of early childhood workers v. Ensure an even level of quality across different provisions v Positive effect on children’s social and cognitive development v. Promote the well-being of young children

What pedagogical and curricular approaches are used in ECEC? Main areas Perspectives of learning Direct instruction curriculum v input by the environment v structured teaching-and-practice lessons v discrete skills, frequent repetition and praise Socialisation curriculum Montessori approach Constructivist curriculum v Developmentally balance of child-initiated learning and guidance Appropriate Practice from staff members vchild’s free learning directly through the materials vless teacher’s personal involvement v Experiential education emphasis on the relevance of emotional wellbeing and child’s involvement v High/Scope curriculum better learning by active experiences that express child’s interests v the Reggio Emilia approach creative communication to develop thinking capacity and child’s own theories v Te Whariki Develop useful understanding attached to cultural and purposeful contexts v Swedish curriculum nurture the child's need for exploration through play and social interactions with adults and peers

Evidence of its impact on child outcomes Main areas Curriculum content Pedagogical approach Details v Early literacy print and phonological awareness v. Mathematics numbers, problem-solving, reasoning skills v Science critical thinking, reasoning skills v Art improve children’s attention and cognition v Physical and health development develop social skills and an understanding of social rules v Importance of interactions and play develop child’s main sensory, cognitive, linguistic and social growth v Child-initiated and teacher-initiated activities and free choice simulate child’s independent thinking and selfregulation v Warm and responsive staff behaviour and close child-staff relationships impact on child’s attitudes toward learning

Factors that contribute to the effectiveness of curricula and pedagogical approaches 1. Cognitive + social development = complementary 2. Sustained shared thinking 3. Behaviour and discipline policies 4. Balance of practitioner-initiated and child-initiated activities 5. Differentiated learning environment 6. Learning materials 7. Appropriate learning intensity and duration 8. Strong parent and community involvement 9. Informative feedback 10. Good knowledge about curriculum and pedagogies 11. Trained staff 12. Low-staff turnover rate 13. Positive work conditions

Implementing effective curriculum and pedagogy v Clear guidelines for the content v Goals of early learning experiences v Pedagogical approaches Main consideration v. Child’s individual needs Challenging task v Determine relationship between the expectations of curriculum guidelines and v Wide cultural variations in specific age-related yearly accomplishments the experiences of young children v Provide flexible descriptions of researchbased learning trajectories or developmental practices

Implementation of effective curricula and pedagogical approaches Perceived Barriers Key success factors v Insufficient knowledge about v Professional education and ongoing appropriate practices for a diverse group of training children v Positive and workable environment v Programme assessment v Providing guidance or access to advice v Insufficient curriculum content and for staff pedagogical knowledge v Involving relevant stakeholders

Professional Education and Working Conditions

Staff’s education, training, and their work environment : Why does it matter? v Centre of children’s environment and experiences in ECEC v Increases knowledge on child development, curriculum content and pedagogical approaches v Create richer and stimulating learning environment v Enhance optimum engagement for children v Promote the educational, physical, socio-emotional, and healthy development of children

Improving child outcomes through teacher and caregiver’s effectiveness Main areas professional development work conditions [ personal characteristics Details v initial(pre-service) education level of formal education and qualifications v on-going (in-service) education and training staff meetings, conferences and workshops, subject training, field-based consultation and training, supervised practices, mentoring v specialisation in ECEC earn higher degree v salary and benefits proper compensation v child-staff ratio positive, nurturing interactions v group size appropriate care-giving v professional support job satisfaction v physical, material resources active engagement v workload working hours, physical demands v mental health status high personal motivations, depression]

Implementation of effective professional development programmes and improving working conditions v A framework with professional (working) standards or guidelines Policies that support staff Induction, mentoring, evaluation Involvement in curriculum design and flexibility in instruction Qualifications for tasks descriptions Adequate work environments Pay scales and (financial) incentives Equitable access and certification standards

Implementation of effective professional development programmes and improving working conditions Challenges v restricted financial resources Key success factors v management support v no incentive to achieve higher qualifications or v inter-professional collaboration and attend in training course coordination v insufficient time v insufficient knowledge about appropriate curriculum content for professionals v unavailability of appropriate training opportunities