Journal of Childhood, Education & Society

Play based activities for mathematical thinking at infancy: Nursery teachers’ and parents’ beliefs

Pavlina Petrou — 2022-07-19

Mathematics takes place in a major part of human life and mathematical concepts are used in every part of daily life, starting from the age of infancy. The present study concentrates on the age of 11 months to two years, during nursery education, when formal, informal and non-formal activities enable infants to have experiences related to mathematical concepts. Nursery teachers are expected to include play-based activities at every stage of the teaching process, while parents are recognized as young children’s first educators. We examined nursery teachers’ and parents’ beliefs and practices about the development of the infants’ mathematical skills through the use of play-based activities and their respective roles. The present study was conducted in Cyprus, where obligatory preschool education is only one year before primary education. Questionnaires, interviews and shared diaries with home activities were used for quantitative and qualitative data. Results indicated that both groups of participants expressed positive conceptions on the value of daily life play-based activities which could support mathematical learning. However, it seemed that in the case of parents there was a lack of relevant knowledge about the use of attractive and creative activities which could relate to plenty of mathematical concepts. Parents recognize the vital role of teachers and they asked for further guidance and support. We discuss how we can ensure the quality of early mathematics informal teaching and nonformal learning experiences can be offered for all infants. We discuss the role of the Curriculum in Mathematics at nursery school under a play-based context and the guided parental involvement.

Diversity of assessment discourses in Swedish and Norwegian early mathematics education

Maria Walla — 2022-07-19

In many countries, including those in the Nordic region, there has been a growing trend towards measuring students’ knowledge and understanding, a trend that is evident even in early education. This article presents a discourse analysis of mathematics assessment materials intended for six-year-olds in two neighbouring countries, Sweden and Norway. Thus, the article presents an example of early assessment in two neighboring countries with similar culture and education system. The aim is to investigate the similarities and differences between the various meanings ascribed to their assessment materials, and to discuss how these assessment materials may both influence and be influenced by early mathematics education in these two countries. The results show a diversity of discourses – both between and within the assessment materials – indicating different views on students’ learning of mathematics, on when to assess, on what knowledge to assess, and on how and why to assess. Thus, even though Sweden and Norway have similar cultures and education systems, there is no consensus when it comes to when, what and how to assess the mathematical knowledge of six-year-olds.

Embedding character education into an early childhood classroom through service-learning

Christian Winterbottom — 2022-07-19

The implementation of service-learning in early childhood education classrooms has not been well documented, and the links to service-learning and the potential effects on character education are scarce at best. In this paper, a service-learning pedagogy is presented as a way to enhance character through education with the youngest learners: children in an early childhood classroom. This study examines the experiences of both teachers and children in an early childhood classroom participating in the form of a service-learning pedagogy for a year, and investigates the social emotional and character development of the young children participating in the classroom. Through the implementation of service-learning in early childhood classrooms, it is possible to grow and create a generation of learners who connect academic curricula through projects that deal with real community needs. With an emphasis on building relationships and making connections, service-learning the authors suggest, is an approach that can allows teachers to maximize children’s strengths, while at the same time building character and positive social and emotional traits.

Agency as assemblage: Using childhood artefacts and memories to examine children’s relations with schooling

Julie C. Garlen — 2022-07-19

In this article, we explore how childhood artefacts and memories might help us think retrospectively about children’s agency and its relationship to schooling and teaching. Across four university sites in Canada and the United States, we asked undergraduate students in teacher education and childhood studies programs to choose an artefact or object that encapsulates contemporary conceptions of childhood and to discuss them in a focus group setting at each site. Building on three participants’ descriptions of how they remembered and reflected upon school-oriented objects – a progress report, a notebook, and a pencil sharpener – we explore how participants used their artefacts in ways that allow us to theorize children’s agencies as assemblages, where agency is relational and contingent on multiple social and cultural factors. Drawing on our participants’ interpretations, we consider how a reconceptualized concept of agency may expand our understanding of the possibilities of children’s agencies in school and raise new questions about the meaning of childhood within contexts of teacher education and childhood studies.

Social and emotional learning (SEL): How it finds a place in an early childhood education curriculum in Turkey

Merve Özgünlü — 2022-07-19

The study aims to identify the Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) skills as defined by Collaborative, Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) in the Turkish Early Childhood Education Curriculum (TECEC). Recent studies have pointed out that gaining SEL skills at early ages has many benefits for development. Researchers in the SEL area suggest that having a clear conceptual framework benefits both in research and practice. TECEC document is examined based on CASEL’s framework. Document analysis was used to identify how SEL standards and objectives in TECEC were conceptually designed. The findings show that out of 17 standards to support social and emotional development, only 10 of them are related to SEL, meanwhile, 7 of them are identified as social studies standards. Out of 53 stated objectives, thirty-one of them are related to SEL skills. The current study will provide a tool for researchers, curriculum developers, and practitioners that feel the need to base their research and practice on a solid conceptual framework.

Exploring humour within the early childhood period from children’s and teachers’ perspectives

Betül Yılmaz — 2022-07-19

The purpose of this study was to examine humour from the perspectives of 60-72-month-old children and their teachers in Turkey. A phenomenological method was used to collect data through semi-structured interviews, which included each child making a drawing about something they thought was ‘funny’. Teachers were also interviewed via semi-structured questions related to children’s humour. Data collected from 22 children and five teachers were analysed using McGhee’s humour development theory and Martin’s descriptions of four humour styles. The humour produced by our sample mainly included items related to incongruity. Teachers described children’s humour development in terms of how the children behaved within their social group, and some believing that children who do not make jokes about their peers, have no humour development. Our findings pointed to a lack of awareness of the benefits of humour to the learning process and early years’ education, particularly with teachers needing to account for age, developmental level and cultural differences.

A longitudinal investigation of the effects of parental discipline strategies on social competence in early childhood

Karleah Harris — 2022-07-19

In the current study, we investigated the associations between parenting discipline strategies (i.e., physical punishment and non-violent punishment) and social development using n = 3265 reports from primary caregivers across three waves of data. Analyses were conducted using cross-lagged structural equation modeling, where we evaluated the developmental effects of physical punishment and non-violent punishment on social competence. The findings showed partial support for developmental changes between non-violent punishment and social competence unfold reciprocally and longitudinally; the relationship between physical punishment and social competence appeared unrelated, as physical punishment in Wave 2 only negatively predicted social competence in Wave 3. These findings underscore the importance of understanding the developmental pathways for parenting discipline strategies and social skill development among children living in urban neighborhoods.

Allowing for segregation in ECEC? Legal conditions, administrative structures and enrolment practice in Germany

Gesine Nebe — 2022-07-19

Supposedly children are to learn together in surroundings mirroring the overall democratic and diverse make-up of society. Segregation in ECEC is undesirable. However, substantial segregation exists - even in systems designed for universal, high-quality ECEC provision. While some research has already carved out the role of parents´ choice of institutions, little is known about how children are selected by institutions. This article attempts to shed light on institutional choice as a variable for segregation. Including a detailed picture of the German ECEC system and pointing out administrative relations between municipalities and providers in Germany, this article will depict enrolment. It will draw an empirically based ‘tryptich’, focusing on municipalities´, provider organisation managers` and ECEC centre managers` views on enrolment. Findings will lead to a call for providers and municipalities to join efforts in order to design and implement enrolment procedures that prevent segregation.

What are Singapore parents’ perception of play in the early years?

Nirmala Karuppiah — 2022-07-19

International research indicate that play is the most effective way for children to learn and develop physically, cognitively, socially and emotionally as well as reduces stress and enhances confidence, curiosity and creativity. Despite the importance and benefits of play for children’s learning and development, play seems to be vanishing from preschool classrooms globally (and in Singapore) for various reasons. It is believed that one of the reasons for this phenomenon could be the lack of parents’ support for children’s play due to their high expectations and demand for academic achievement and the lack of their awareness or understanding on the importance of play in children’s development. Hence, the key purpose of this exploratory study is to gather data from parents on their perception of play and holistic development in Singapore preschools. Data were collected from 30 parents through interviews using a semi-structured questionnaire. The data collected were transcribed verbatim and coded and subsequently, organised by research question and analysed and interpreted constructively and reflexively. The findings of the study revealed that although most Singapore parents understood and recognised the importance of play and holistic development in the early years, some of them wanted preschools to prepare their children academically for primary school. Parents also shared a list of factors which supported or impeded their support for children’s play and some of them felt that they could benefit from parent education programmes. These findings highlight the importance of the school-family-community partnership in the education of young children in Singapore.