The website for Early Childhood Australia, the equivalent
to our US based National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC),
has a lot of valuable information to offer (http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/)
. In the area of research, I was particularly interested in their Research in Practice Series. The first
thing that caught my eye was the description “practical, easy to read” and “effective
new approaches”. Both aspects are essential to making research relevant to all
early childhood providers and teachers; many of whom would not choose to read
the technical research abstracts but would certainly seek out a resource that
helped them understand and manage a child with challenging behavior. At the
same time, emphasizing the importance of research-based decision making in the
field.
Some of the topics of interest
include brain development and specifically how the brain develops in sensitive
and critical periods of development. The importance of play-based learning is
also a topic of major interest here in the US, especially with the rise in
standards potentially threaten the early childhood classroom in this area. A third
topic of interest is the Australian and British research into childhood
obesity. America is one of the most obese countries and numbers of obese
children continue to rise with long-term ramifications to the health of a
generation
Especially noteworthy was a recent
media release announcing major reform of Early Childhood as of January 1st,
2012. The reason this perked my interest is because in the mid 1980’s,
Australia also went through major reform; initiating a quality rating and
improvement system. Many of our states are just now initiating something very
similar. Perhaps we should be looking at Australia more closely so as to avoid
the pot holes they have already worked their way around. I am all for saving us
some headaches and getting it right from the start.
Tammra,
ReplyDeleteI also explored Early Childhood Australia. I found many of the issues that they were seeking to find help were similar to those of the United States. I agree with you that we should look to nations that have already invested in a quality rating system in order to avoid making the same mistakes.
It sounds like both the U.S. and Australia are on similar paths. Hopefully, we can put our research minds together in order to create an educational system that will best meets the needs of all children in both countries!
It is good that other countries are researching childhood obesity issues, just like in the US. It is sadly an international issue affecting children in many countries. I would be curious to learn how our nation's obesity rate compares with other nations.
ReplyDeleteTammara,
ReplyDeleteBrain development research benefits early childhood education. Understanding how children learn can help educators and policy makers develop better learning strategies. Therefore, i find that it is necessary to evaluate this type of research to improve the quality of education.
This is a great website. I really enjoyed looking through it. This was my first time going on it and I will view it again.
ReplyDeleteTammra,
ReplyDeleteI was amazed at how similar the Early Childhood Australia to our NAEYC. I can remember wondering what children in other countries were learning as I was growing up. I often thought about how the teachers acted, taught, and treated the students in other worlds. It is good to know that we all have the same concerns and wants for our children.