critical role that early childhood educators have

Educating Young Children - Learning and teaching in the early childhood years 1

EditorialFrom the Editorial Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2From the President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Message form the 2006 Incoming President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Ian Wallace Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

The Prep YearPrep is a comin’ oh yeah! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Teacher TalkA Day in the Life of a Preschool Teacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7Fruit vs Fruit Juice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8Kaleidoscope Changing Images of Childhood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Teacher ProfileKristian Brennan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

PartnershipsECTA and UQS Building Partnerships in the Wide Bay Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12“Understanding Children” Conference ECTA (Hervey Bay) & USQ - Wide Bay . . . . . . . . . . .14MADECTA Regional Group Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Feature ArticlesYoung Children - Active Governors and Creators of Places . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18The Mural Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21Developing Social Competence in Young Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25Language Acquisition and Young Children. Do they need a Second Language? . . . . . . . . . .27Early Childhood Teacher’s Beliefs about Teaching and Learningand the Factors that Impact on their Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30Compromised or Competent? A Longitudinal Study of Twin Children’s Social Competencies, Friendship and Behavioural Adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

International PerspectivesA Snap Shot of a Rural Japanese Kindergarten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

Book ReviewsPoems by Young Australians Volume 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37Literacies in Early Childhood - Changing Views Challenging Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Turn-around Pedagogies: Literacy Interventions for At-risk Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

Date Claimer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40

Welcome to thethird and finaljournal EducatingYoung Children for2005 - how timeflies! This journalcontains an eclecticmix of informationfor you to enjoy,capturing thedepth, diversity andrichness of ourprofession. Fromchildren’s services

to schools, TAFE and University we feature thevoices of educators who in some way touchchildren’s lives with the same passion anddedication that we know to be the hallmark ofour profession.

Shae Conomos shares her experiences at theEarly Childhood Australia National BiannualConference held in Brisbane this year. Ann LeMarseny and Lindy Austin reflect on theimportance of partnerships and buildingrelationships. Catherine Meehan explores earlychildhood teacher’s beliefs about teaching andlearning. Jeanette Harrison reminds us of the

critical role that early childhood educators havein developing social competence in youngchildren. Ronit Baras shares her knowledge oflanguage acquisition and we welcomecontributions from Leith McDougall andCharlotte Cobb who challenge our thinkingabout children as active governors and creatorsof places and curriculum makers.

As ECTA grows and changes we welcome newmembers and farewell others. Lyn Hunt, whofor many years has given so much to the earlychildhood profession will step down asPresident, and Toni Michael will once again stepforward to take on the position in a mentoringcapacity. Kim Walters will become VicePresident, Shae Conomos, Treasurer and wewelcome Gary Davey as Secretary. With theyear rapidly drawing to an end we look forwardto the year ahead with optimism and wish eachand every one of you a very peaceful Christmasand New Year.

Lynne Moore

Educating Young Children - Learning and teaching in the early childhood years2

President’s Address2005 has seen ECTA further established in its position as a principalprovider of professional development for early childhood teachers inQueensland. You can indeed be very proud of your professionalorganisation which serves its members with a very high degree ofexcellence through a wide variety of means.

These include provision of three high quality and well respected journalsannually, a comprehensive and informative website, a regular e-newsletter, several videolink seminars every year offered in conjunctionwith OLI, regional groups operating in areas all over Queensland,support for early childhood students and early childhood professionalalike, representation at government level in a range of reference groups,along with the very best annual one day early childhood conference witha strong practitioner focus.

From the Editorial Panel


These activities do not simply happen. What themembers see is the end result of many hours ofhard work and commitment undertaken bycommittee members who are dedicated tohelping their peers gain more from their chosenprofession.

Whilst it a vast amount of the work that isundertaken for events such as a conferenceseems relatively apparent, it is the smaller, lessobviously rewarding and occasionally mind-numbingly repetitious tasks that are undertakenbehind the scenes that make things tick oversmoothly at the end.

For example; Imagine putting together 500plus conference bags containing a host of flyers,leaflets and goodies – your conferencecommittee members do that before eachconference.

Imaging devising new brochures from the initialconcept stage, to writing text, working withdesigners, selecting photos and proofreadingcopy so that the new brochure can emerge –members of the executive committee do thatfor each new production.

Imagine seeking articles from anyone andeveryone you know or have simply heard aboutfor the journal, then working things throughfrom a collection of emailed documents to thefinal published form including negotiating themany and varied stages of production that isinvolved in eventually holding a completedpublication in your hand. Member of theeditorial panel do this for each journal.

This list could continue for several pages but Iwill stop there. I really simply wanted to makethe point that with such a huge variety of tasksundertaken by your ECTA Committee Members,it is possible that everyone or anyone whowishes to become involved could take an activerole and find a task that they are comfortabledoing. I urge anyone who would like tobecome a committee member to take theopportunity available at this AGM and enjoy thecamaraderie that working together can bring.I would like to personally thank each and everymember of the Executive Committee, theConference Committee, the Editorial Panel, the

Web Weavers group, and all others, for theirsupport and more importantly for theircommitment to ECTA. There are so manynames that I am loathe to mention any for fearof missing someone out; but you all know whoyou are and I know that you are all justifiableproud of the work that you undertake for thisgroup. However I will mention Toni Michael –whose commitment to the Early ChildhoodTeachers of this state is something of which Iam constantly in awe. Thank you Toni – you arean inspiration. I could not have managed asPresident without your help.

This year has seen ECTA move to employingmore extensive administrative than we hadpreviously utilised. I would like to thank also toLorelei Broadbent whose company AgendaManagement has provided the excellentadministrative support necessary for us tofunction in this busy world where all committeemembers are juggling their employment andtheir commitment to ECTA. We greatly appreciatethe work of both Lorelei and her husband andbusiness partner David, on our behalf.

I intend to finish my time as President this yearand am very grateful and proud to have workedwith such a special group of people. I havelearnt a great deal, enjoyed the support andguidance of an enthusiastic and knowledgeablegroup that has made my time as President apleasurable journey from start to finish and hada truly wonderful time. Thank you everyone –committee members and all ECTA membersacross Queensland alike.

Next year will see ECTA undertake some newprocesses that will further refine many aspectsof our operation. I look forward to seeing thisorganisation further grow and develop as weprogress through to yet another stage of ourdevelopment as a professional body and wishall members a very Merry Christmas .

Lyn Hunt

Held in Mackay at North Mackay State High School - Senior AuditoriumNovember 5th


Message from the 2006 Incoming President

As incoming ECTAPresident for 2006, Iwould first like to thankour outgoing President,Lyn Hunt, for herdedication andcommitment to ECTAand the early childhoodprofession as Vice-President and Presidentover the last nine years.She has been an

inspirational leader who always sees the biggerpicture and has taken ECTA to where it is todaywith 470 members who are receiving a range ofservices almost double to what they were receivingseven years ago. I am very grateful that Lyn has

agreed to stay on the Co-ordinating Committeeand the EYC Journal Committee as her experienceand insights are invaluable.

I am looking forward to leading ECTA in 2006 aswe have many new initiatives planned eg amentoring project in digital portfolios, a freestudent membership package and a long awaitedsuccession plan. You will receive more details aboutthese initiatives after we have met with allcommittees at our annual planning day onSaturday 26 November. The planning for the 2006Annual ECTA Conference is already in full swingand all speakers have been confirmed - look out forthe Date Claimer in this journal.

Thank-youToni Michael

Ian Wallace Conference

Mackay and District ECTA regional group held avery successful conference on Saturday theNovember the 5 at North Mackay State HighSchool. The calibre of our speaker, Ian Wallace aconsultant psychologist from Sydney, wasextremely high and entertaining. The MADECTARegional group would like to sincerely thankECTA for supporting us financially so that wewere able to have Ian in Mackay.

Ian talked about dealing with children withdisruptive and defiant behaviours in both thehome and the classroom. It was made very clearto the audience that as part of addressing anddealing with these behaviours it is vital that wealways look for each child’s unique strengths. Indoing so we are looking for the positives insteadof dwelling and dealing in negatives. While thistopic is of a very serious nature, Ian was able toprovide some light-hearted moments that notonly entertained but lightened the mood.

Ian’s interactive manner with the audience washighly effective as he was able to addressproblems of an immediate nature and relevant tomany people. Ian also highlighted otherconditions that we as teachers and parents needto be aware of when dealing with children withchallenging and defiant behaviours.

Whilst the MADECTA committee was in theplanning phases of the conference, weanticipated a small audience because of the timeof the year and similar conferences that werealready held earlier. After we reached the 100participants mark we realised we would need tofind an alternate venue. When we finally reached160 North Mackay High School came to ourrescue with a fantastic venue. A big thanks toNorth Mackay State High School.

The MADECTA Regional group also advocated quitestrongly for the benefits of being a member ofECTA and many membership forms were taken sowe may see an increase to the ECTA membership.


Singing the old favourite at Group time, 'Trainis a comin' oh yeah!...' I liken it to the 'journey'we at Holland Park Kindy (HPK) haveembarked upon in the past year, readyingourselves for the big 'trip' in 2007 when wearrive at our 'destination'- Prep and Pre Prep.

At first the thought of changing to a newsystem was daunting - no more twoconsecutive years at Kindy and Preschool oreven a third if children weren't ready forschool. Where would the 'community' feel ofour centre go? Will we have to make wholesalechanges to our staffing, enrolment, wait listpolicies, curriculum offered and what will ourchildren face in a 5 day, full-day Prepprogramme at school?

These were the questions that have concernedco-workers and colleagues. I have attendedPrep year forums, visited a very positivefunctioning trial Prep year class, been involvedin many workshops, discussions and readnumerous articles over recent years.

That train song came back to me again -would I join in the 'game', would I sit on theoutside and watch the train go round the trackas a bystander or would I take on the role of

'driver' and call for the other 'passengers' toclimb on board and join me at HPK.

Excitement about the new challenges Prep willafford us in the Early Childhood field has nowovertaken my initial trepidation about thisemotive venture. Just as the children 'play' atKindy, I have asked questions, exploredoptions, asked friends to join in, asked forassistance where needed and found thatplaying the 'game' has become a lot of fun,has offered challenges and of course learninghas occurred during the process.The challenge this year was to instill a feelingof 'community' into the Holland Park area byutilising our newly renovated centre as a hubfor discussion, introspection, garneringknowledge and indeed instigating andmaintaining partnerships in the education fieldwithin our local area.

Approaches were made to our immediate'neighbours'. We are in the unusual situationwhere Mott Park C & K centre is our nearestneighbour - we share a fence! It wasimperative that we communicated, co-operated and worked cohesively to achieve themost equitable outcomes for our families inthe area. We have shared and edited ourletters to the 2007 families and waiting lists toinform them that we will offer two groups ofPre Prep at each centre, one with a five dayfortnight, the other with two and three daygroups. Offering a united front and positiveapproach can only help allay some of theinevitable fears of the new and unknown forour local families about Pre Prep and Prep.From this first collaboration, our networking'train' had taken off. .

The next task was the establishing with someand re-establishing links with the schools in thelocal catchment. Holland Park State School hasan active Early Phase Committee and we

Prep is a comin’ oh yeah!By Judy Pfeffer - Teacher/Director Holland Park Kindergarten


consulted them on who we should contact inour region. HPK was the venue for our Pre -Prep/Prep networking meeting, invitingattendance and/or questions and topics fromlocal schools, preschools, (state andindependent), the childcare sector, C & KCentres and C & K Consultancy staff.This year our State Member, Gary Fenlon,organised a public forum in our area to discussPrep year issues with the then Minister ofEducation Anna Bligh and a panel of State andCatholic School representatives who areoperating Prep year trials. Our local Memberhas supported our network with letters, hispresence at meetings and he has taken ourconcerns direct to the new Minister and hasgiven us written replies and assurances ofcontinued support.

It was apparent at this open forum, thatparents and teachers were concerned aboutthe allocation of Teachers Aide time and thesubsequent ability of Prep classes being able tooffer a play based curriculum. Issues ofprofessional development for teachers andaides and the very strong feelings about moreflexibility needed in the change-over year forthe second half of the year Birthday childrenwere raised.

To best answer these queries and to clarifyassumptions and misconceptions, MarkCooper from Ed Qld was invited to our evergrowing group for our October meeting.Much active discussion followed with questionsfrom the State Member, Principals, Teachersand parents transpiring. The lack ofrepresentation from the independent schoolsin the area is a concern. This will hopefully beremedied as the Catholic Education Prep YearTask Force has been contacted directly forinput. As most of our local centres havechildren following on to local Catholic Schoolswe were keen to find out their policies.

Mark Cooper related the more flexibleapproach to late entry for children in need of ayear in Prep rather than having to go straightto Year 1. Parents will need to approach their

individual schools, armed with observationaldata and reports from their Preschool torequest a late entry by the second week ofterm 3 in 2006. A Special Ed teacher has beeninvited to join our network and should be ableto assist our local teachers in discussionspertaining to criteria guidelines for 'late entry'in 2007.

I have been buoyed by the interest in ourNetwork meetings and minutes from ourOctober meeting and plans for the next gettogether are being disseminated to over 30interested parties.

Invitations to attend Early Phase discussions,and indeed a full staff meeting at Holland ParkState School have offered insights intoconcerns at the school level. The Early Phasegroup and Administration staff are working onhow they will manage the 'Prep' precinct, sign-in procedures, toilet routines, reporting,capping, uniforms, playground supervision aswell as which staff will take on the challenge ofthe Prep classes. These issues were raised andstaff from Greenslopes and Marshall Road StateSchools were able to offer ideas andrecommendations they are considering at theOctober Network Meeting at HPK.

Early Childhood Education is receivingunprecedented attention in the media - it is anexhilarating time to be involved in teachingyoung children. Yes the 'Prep Year train' isindeed coming and in preparing for it, relevantand working partnerships have been forgedand will continue to encourage an ongoingsharing of skills, information, knowledge andexperience via this Net work.

Prep Year has activated the Holland Park regioninto an innovative collaboration between allparticipants - no longer working in isolation,now combining for the benefit of the childrenand their families inspiring confidence in thisnew Early Childhood 'journey' - "Allaboard!"


As a general rule the public believe preschool teachers getto work at 8.00am leave at 3.15pm and have 11 weeksholidays a year. I decided to document a normal workingday for a Kindy director and the diary result follows:

7.10am left home, battled road rage

7.30am Arrive work. Unlock gates and open upcentre.

7.40am Check and respond to emails

7.45am Notice child’s painting from last week ofa police shirt, remembered he wanted to cut itout but it had been too wet. Put shirt on gluingtable so child can finish later. Organise musicsession, set up indoor environment based on lastweeks observations. Notice, chocolate driveboxes on desk in office, mental note to find wherethese should go. Fill in additional paperwork forspecial needs assistant. Organise space forchicken hatching program arriving this morning.

8.00am Set up Outside. Whilst outside phonerings, run to answer phone (Kathy Freemanstyle), parent ringing about an absent child.

8.25am Back inside to teach staff a new songwe are learning today. Discuss with staffactivities and focus children.

8.50am Children and families arrive.

8.52am Phone rings, telstra wanting to know ifwe would like to talk about our phone line.Graciously hang up!!!

9.00am Try to go downstairs to begin spendingtime with children, talk to two, then 4 differentparents wanting information or feedback.

9.30am Attempt to begin spending timeobserving and scaffolding children’s play.

9.45am Engaged in volcano making in thedigging patch which leads to a discussion aboutfire and what would happen if our building wason fire...

10.15am Chicken’s arrive. Great excitement,everyone runs to the gate screaming thechickens are here, they’re here.

10.20am Try to get the children to pack awayso we can see the chickens.

10.25am Man who bought the chickens wantsto talk about their care arrangements.Meanwhile a child has wet their pants, andanother is crying. Phone rings!!!!

10.30am Children sit beautifully inside and listento the instructions on how we are to care for thechickens. Great excitement. Phone rings!!!!!

10.40am Head out to verandah for MorningTea. Phone rings, Waiting List. Parent wishesto discuss their child’s requirement with regardto the prep year for 15 minutes. Coffee cold.Toilet breaks none.

11.00am Head inside for music session. Greatsession. We then plan for the day, as this ishappening a parent turns up who hadforgotten something from last week.

11.20am Inside activity time. Hard todocument interruptions and individualchildren’s needs as not time. Still not toiletbreak, coffee or even water.

12.30pm Pack away, story, toilet transition andmake beds.

1.00pm Lunch time. Help children open itemsthey wish to eat, try to have a bite of lunch,look at what children have eaten before theyhave a drink, take another bite. No drink, nocoffee, AND STILL NOT TOILET BREAK.

A Day in the life of a Preschool teacherby Linda Meinicke


1.30pm-2.15pm Rest time. During this time,write up days planning for parents to read,settle restless children, hang up special chickenpaintings done today for parents and childrento share, post plan days activities and thinkabout tomorrow’s activities. Pack children whoare awake up and get beds away and shoes on.THE PHONE IS NOT RINGING.

2.15pm Parents arrive. More discussions aboutchildren’s day, most children have gone by2.40pm Two different people turn up withitems requiring attention. Trying to get away

by 3.30pm as have a home visit. Quickly writeup an observation wanted to document forparents to see in the morning, sorted throughmail marked roll, prepares some items for nextday. Went to toilet.

3.35pm Home visit. Chocolate cake and coffee.

5.00pm Leave home visit to go home. Getgroceries on way home.

6.00pm Arrive home.

And this was a quiet day ...

Children love the taste of fruit juice and adultslove it because it is a natural, healthy beveragefull of vitamins. However, fruit juice like othersweet drinks, such as soft drinks, sports drinksand cordial contain sugars. Although the sugarin fruit juice are those naturally occurring infresh fruits, they become very concentratedwhen made into juice or when used to makesoft drinks or cordial. Too many sweet drinkscan lead to a range of problems including toothdecay, reduced appetite, picky eating, diarrheaand can contribute to overweight and obesity.

Fruit juice or sweet drinks are not required toachieve a healthy balanced diet. Choose wholefruits and vegetables instead, they are rich infibre, lower in kilojoules than a concentratedglass of juice and provide you with a variety ofvitamins and minerals for good health.

Children particularly should be encouraged toeat whole fruit rather than drink fruit juice tohelp them develop skills such as peeling andchewing, enable them to experience differenttextures, colours and flavours as well as providethem with important fibre.

Fruit juice is also loaded with kilojoules, fillingyou up quickly and making you less hungry forother nutritious foods. This can be particularlydetrimental to children who have additionalnutrient needs for growth. Fruit juices do not

contain protein, fat, iron or calcium needed fora child’s growth. Children who consume fruitjuice or other sweet drinks are at risk of a lownutrient intake, including those essential forgrowth. Problems such as iron deficiencyanaemia, failure to thrive and impaired growthmay occur in toddlers & children who replaceother nutritious foods (including breast milk)with fruit juice or other sweet drinks.

It is also much easier to consume excesskilojoules, if you have a high fruit juice intake,which may lead to unwanted weight gain.

Water should be your and your child’s preferreddrink. Reduced fat milk is also an important partof a healthy diet; however 3 serves of dairyproducts daily is all that is required. So don’tover do it on the milk either as too much canhave the same affect on appetite as fruit juice.

If you wish to include fruit juice in your or yourchild’s diet limit it to 1/2 a cup a day.

For a healthy body & smile drink plenty ofwater and eat your 2 serves of fruit and 5 servesof vegetables each day as part of a healthybalanced diet.

Promoting Consumption of Fruit and Vegetables inSA Project

Claire Flanagan - Project Coordinator (Accredited Practising Dietician)

Fruit vs Fruit Juice


Kaleidoscope Changing Images of Childhood

In 2005 it was the Queensland branch turn toroll out the carpet for the 900+ internationaland interstate and local delegates attending thethree day conference at the BrisbaneConvention and Exhibition Centre. Over the

three days there were four international andnational renowned keynote speakers includingJoe Tobin discussing his work with immigrantfamilies in the preschool setting; Dr JackieMarsh’s study into children and popular culture;Associate Professor Margaret Carr’s keynote wasdirected at assessment in the early years andlastly Associate Professor Ann Sanson whosemain interest revolve around the social andemotional development of young children intheir families and communities. The keynotesand sessions explored creative and inventiveapproaches to working with young childrenfocusing on three central themes; popularculture and technologies, cultural diversity and

changing relationship in early childhoodeducation and young children’s health.

The message Joe Tobin gives us is that enteringinto a meaningful dialogue with newly arrivedparents is necessary to provide culturallyappropriate program for all young children.Jackie Marsh makes the point that children areprovided with more opportunities to interact withsome digital literacy practices in their homes andcommunities than they do in the early childhoodsettings they attend. It is suggested that earlychildhood teachers need to find innovative waysto get around the barriers to digital technologywhether resources, training etc to allow childrenthe opportunity to experience digital literacy inthe classroom. Margaret Carr shared her thoughtson assessment which has been considered andincluded in the Queensland’s Early Years

Curriculum Guidelines, as she outlines in herkeynote and in more detail in her book titledAssessment in Early Childhood Settings: LearningStories for anyone working with young children,learning stories offer some of the richest ways oftracking and sharing children’s experiences,interests, talents, abilities and passions. LastlyAnn Sanson presented data from the Growing upin Australia Longitudinal Study that shows links

Early Childhood Australia National Biannual Conference 2005


between children’s early years of life and theirlater social, emotional, cognitive and physicaldevelopment and well-being. Once againhighlighting an important fact early childhoodteachers have known for a long time, the earlyyears is the most important part in a person’s life,what we must remember is how this impacts onour work as early childhood professionals.

The delegates had a choice of over 100workshop sessions. There was an emphasis oncurrent Australian research that allowed earlychildhood professionals from differentbackground an insight into the theory behindpractice. It was an opportunity to hear up todate, new and relevant research on a variety ofissues relating to early childhood. A highlightwas a forum on childhood obesity withrecognised Australian experts.

A favourite for many including me was themany social events held throughout theconference including a beach reception and abeach party. Only one thing can be said aboutthese and that is early childhood peopledefinitely know how to have a good time. Thisconference also allowed the opportunity fornetworking and socialising amongst peers. Thechosen venue was amazing, the days ran

smoothly and the shopping at the tradedisplays superb. Well done Early ChildhoodAustralia QLD branch. I thoroughly enjoyed thewhole experience the conference had to offerespecially as it was my first ECA conference.Can’t wait till the next one in Canberra. Formore details about ECA or the biannualconferences go towww.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au.


Kristian Brennan

I am a School Officer atHoly Family PrimarySchool, Indooroopilly. Ihave been a practisingArtist for over ten years,a gallery curator, artsadministrator, radioannouncer and I nowfind myself in Primaryeducation.

I started working as aTeacher Aide in Melbourne. I had a thought that Imight like to teach. I needed to know what it feltlike in the classroom and if I enjoyed the interaction.As a boy in primary school and particularly in theearly years I found it painfully hard. In the beginningthis was partly how I felt to be back in a school. Itfelt strange to be an adult in a school. Thankfully itwas okay to be called Kristian and not Mr. Brennan!

I soon understood that my experience as a child atschool was not individual to me and some of theseboys and girls are feeling like I did, in their ownways. I understood that I could facilitate a transitionfor them to grow into this new big world.

My nature as an artist, as a teacher and as a personis calmness, investigation of process and thinkingabstractly about ideas. I ask students to tell me whatit is they know about subject matters, I then try todraw in my ideas to the exchange.

I began as a teacher aide at Fitzroy Primary School.Fitzroy Primary is a culturally and individually diverseinner Melbourne school. I worked mostly in thegrade prep, one and two classes. My role was toassist the teacher in the classroom. I also presentedthe reading programs. Later I was allocated somestudents with difficulties to work with in the classand the playground. I needed to build on thestrategies that were already in place for thesestudents. Some of the time it took patience andtolerance to get to a working position with thesechildren. I discovered that they needed to feelconfident and trusted. I saw that they needed tofeel they had come to me rather than me trying tomake friends with them. Even at this early stage oftheir learning they were used to aides trying to pre-

empt and stop ‘bad behaviour’. I took the role ofbeing a constant for them; to talk to, or work withand to help them. In my time in Melbourne I wasvery lucky to be at schools that I could have suchvaried practice of working within a mentoring role.To me it is about mentoring, it is between afriendship and philosophy. I also worked at PenderísGrove Primary School as a Teacher Aide,Receptionist and after school care assistant. Fitzroyand Penderís Grove Primary Schools were excellentplaces to start my education journey. I had greatsupport and a variety of experiences at two differentand diverse environments.

In my current role at Holy Family Primary School Itake small groups of year 2 students for extraliteracy work. This includes a focus on story writingand reading. I use story writing as a way ofimproving the spelling, fluency, structure,comprehension and enthusiasm of the students inliteracy. The process that I have come up with worksin a number of stages and is preformed overnumerous weeks. It is introduced in stages (not tooverwhelm the students) with a little of an overviewto keep them interested to the next stage. We havebeen doing this program since the middle of theyear and they know the stages well so they are ableto choose which order to do the steps in or what todo next. This moves away from the structure of theclassroom and allows them to make decisions.Recently they took the process one step further andmade a poster of the story as if it had been madeinto a movie. I also work with years 1, 3,4,5,6 and7, in the environment of the classroom, one to oneand group work.

As a Teacher Aide it is sometimes hard to explainwhat it is that you do. Sometimes it is such a subtlesupporting role. It is just being there to predict thenext experience. All of the students in the earlyyears need extra supporting people around, it isincredibly important as they are often used to oneon one contact. It helps the transition into theschool environment; it often supports and identifiespatterns in this early stage.

Kristian [email protected]@bne.catholic.edu.au

School Officer – Teacher Aide – Artist


ECTA and USQ Building Partnerships in the Wide Bay Community

The early childhood staff of USQ-Wide Bay,have had a very busy and successful yearbuilding partnerships within the local Wide Baycommunity. With support from the regionalgroup of the Early Childhood TeacherAssociation (ECTA) and USQ Wide Bay, theyorganized a number of interactive workshopsfor local educators. All in all over 150participants, including representatives fromstate and private preschools/schools, TAFE,kindergarten, and USQ preservice teachers andlecturers attended these professionaldevelopment opportunities.

The first workshop was ‘Choosing and usingbooks with young children’.which wasfacilitated by Assoc. Professor Gillian Potter.USQ-Wide Bay’s Provost Professor Ken Stott,opened this workshop. He congratulated thelocal ECTA members and USQ early childhoodstaff on their collaboration to provide jointprofessional development opportunities for localcommunity members.

In the interactive workshop Gillian discussedstrategies and techniques to use when choosingand using books with young children.Additionally she demonstrated how toincorporate props and drama with books.Gillian had a wide variety of resources todemonstrate specific points of books she made.After the formal section of the workshop the

participants were able to re-enact their favouritechildren’s stories. A wide variety of resourcesand props were available for each group todramatise a children’s book of their choice. Thewinning group, which re-enacted the story“Who rocked the boat?” was awarded theprize. Jane Boss-Walker received the prize of abook and puppet for her pre-school class at theFraser Coast Anglican College.

Our second workshop for the year was a verypopular ‘Digital Documentation Workshop’. Thefocus of this workshop was the use digitalcameras to document young children’s work.Kim Walters facilitated this workshop. Kim is an

By Ann Le Marseny - USQ - Wide Bay

Professor Ken Stott welcomes the participants

Libby Gaedtke, a local preschool teacher, talks toAssoc Professor Gillian Potter

Associate Professor Gillian Potter and preschool teacherJane Boss-Walker


early childhood educator at the GympieCommunity Kindergarten and Preschool.Additionally, she is a renowned Australianspeaker and receives invitations to facilitateworkshops all over the country. Kim’s expertisein the area of digital documentation with youngchildren is now being recognised overseas andshe is now making connections in New Zealand.

Kim’s workshop focused on the advantages ofusing digital photography in the earlychildhood setting to enhance communicationand learning. She demonstrated a wide varietyof resources which could be made by usingdigital photos. Additionally, she demonstratedhow she uses photos to document children’sthinking and learning experiences in postersand children’s individual portfolios.

By popular demand, Kim Walters joined usagain in July to facilitate a sequel to herprevious workshop. This time she demonstrateda wide variety of uses for digitaldocumentation, apart from the individualchildren’s portfolios.

The second“hands-on”workshop wasfacilitated inone of USQ-Wide Bay’scomputerlaboratorieswith about 35participants.Kim walkedparticipantsthrough thesteps of usingdigitaldocumentation

creatively in early childhood settings. Kimadvocated that all centres should have digitalcameras for both teachers and children’s useon a daily bases.

The USQ early childhood staff plan to finish thisvery productive year with a professionaldevelopment conference ‘UnderstandingChildren’ planned for Saturday 22 October.With financial support from ECTA we were ableto ask Ian Wallace to be the keynote speaker.Ian will focus on strategies for dealing withchallenging behaviour at school and home inan interactive format. Other workshops willinclude; ‘Respect, Responsibility andRelationships: The new basics of behaviour’which will be facilitated by Roxanne Finn and‘Child’s Hero Play’ which will be facilitated byDr Patrick O’Brien.

The USQ early childhood staff would like toacknowledge the ongoing support of theExecutive of ECTA, and USQ Wide Bay for theuse of facilities and support with funding.

Kim is proudly displaying the new ECTA banners

Some participants looking at Kim’s resource

Kim Walters demonstrates a point.


“Understanding Children” Conference ECTA (Hervey Bay) & USQ - Wide Bay

Another very successful professionaldevelopment event has been held for earlychildhood educators residing in the Wide Bayregion. Towards the end of October, 70 earlychildhood educators attended the conference“Understanding Children” which was held atthe University of Southern Queensland - WideBay. Participants included representatives fromstate and private schools, university and TAFEstudents, childcare, occasional care and familyday-care carers. Once again this conference wasorganised collaboratively with the regionalECTA group and early childhood lecturers atthis campus. Professor Ken Stott, Provost of theUSQ-Wide Bay campus, officially opened theconference.

The title of this conference was reflected itstheme. The 3 speakers addressed variousaspects of the theme ‘understanding children”in the early childhood age range. The keynotespeaker was Ian Wallace. Ian, a consultantpsychologist, is the Director of the Forestway

Psychology Centre in Sydney. His key note wastitled “Practical strategies for dealing withdefiant behaviour”. Ian discussed a myriad ofdisruptive behaviour disorders and ways todifferentiate these. He provided practicalstrategies for dealing with challengingbehaviours in a variety of settings.

The choice of three workshops was offered tothe participants. Ian ran a master class titled “Apositive practical approach to defiant classroombehaviour” and this built on his key noteaddress. Early childhood lecturer Roxanne Finn’sworkshop was titled “Celebrating behaviour”.This workshop provided an opportunity forparticipants to discuss behaviours whichpractitioners find challenging. Roxannechallenged the participants with the question ofcelebrating misbehaviour and discussedalternatives to use when traditional behaviourmanagement techniques have failed. The thirdworkshop was facilitated by Dr. Patrick O’Brien.This workshop was titled “Child’s hero play”.Discussion focussed on the acceptance ofsuperhero play. Patrick argued that the

By Lindy Austin - Lecturer of Education (early childhood)University of Southern Queensland - Wide Bay

Professor Stott, Provost of USQ-Wide Bay opening the conference

Conference organisers and presentersLindy Austin (ECTA/USQ), Libby Gaedkte (ECTA)Roxanne Finn (ECTA/presenter/USQ), Patrick O’Brien(USQ/presenter), Ian Wallace (Key note presenter),Ann Le Marseny (USQ/ECTA) and Lisa Cooper (ECTA)


acceptance of the inevitability of superhero playcalls for some special considerations for teachersand parents which are not dissimilar to thestrategies used by therapists and counsellors.

The ECTA (Hervey Bay) committee membersand the early childhood lecturers would like toexpress their appreciation and thanks to thefollowing organisations for their sponsorship forthis conference. The ECTA executive’s generousdonation covered the costs of the key notespeaker. The Faculty of Education, USQ paid theconference fees of 19 early childhood students.Use of facilities and some stationary/printingwas provided for by USQ-Wide Bay. Finally, avariety of prizes were donated by the followingorganisations: The Book Garden (Brisbane),Ultra-Music (Hervey Bay), Book City (HerveyBay), Baby Bundles (Hervey Bay &

Maryborough) Mind Games (Hervey Bay) CKSEducational Supplies and Payless BusinessFurniture (Hervey Bay).

Very positive feedback was received in theevaluation forms. Many participants thankedECTA (Hervey Bay) and the USQ-Wide Bay earlychildhood lecturers for organising localprofessional development opportunities of sucha high calibre. In fact this is the thirdprofessional development event in Hervey Bayto which internationally renowned Australianspeakers have presented this year.

The ECTA (Hervey Bay) committee membersand/or USQ-Wide Bay early childhood lecturersLibby Gaedkte, Lisa Cooper, Ann Le Marseny,Roxanne Finn and Lindy Austin have “hung uptheir hats” for 2005.

with keynote speaker

Jackie French,author and Burke’s Backyard presenter

Date: 19-20 May 2006

Venue: QUT – Carseldine Campus,Beams Rd, Carseldine

For more information:ph: 07 3552 5333,toll free: 1800 177 092 oremail: [email protected].

www.candk.asn.au

– environments for children

Outside the inside

Come along to C&K’s

annual conference

Special Friday night guest speaker: SexDiscriminationCommissioner Pru Goward presenting the talk: Striking the balance: women, men, work and family


MADECTA Regional Group Conference

The MADECTA committee worked tirelessly toensure a great day would be held by all. Wehad a wonderful range of guest speakers whocreated a day which was amazing and inspiring.Kim Walters, from the digital preschool inGympie, opened up the world of digitalportfolios, Shane Funnell, a highly motivatedpreschool teacher from Mackay North,presented an inspiring workshop titled “LiteracyThrough Play’. Lyn Duncan the district mathsadvisory teacher shared her wealth ofknowledge about the new maths syllabus withan early childhood focus and Sue Galletlypresented some new findings with regard tohow young children learn to read.

The day ran smoothly due to careful planningand also to the venue, Holy Spirit College. TheCollege provided us with not only a fantasticvenue but also data projectors, screens,computers for all participants, microphones,display boards, full use of their kitchen facilitiesand a beautiful garden area to have morning teaand lunch. The college also allowed us to accesssome of their personnel and special thanks needto be extended to Julie Ward, their computergenius, who supported Kim during herworkshop, Tim Galletly, who for him nothingwas too much trouble, and the office staff whowere very supportive before and during theconference.

I would also like to sincerely thank the hardworking and dedicated MADCTA committee.This conference was a first for us and ourlearning curve was very steep. Leanne Coppoour treasurer, Tracey Galletly and Trish Hobsonour secretaries, thank you very much for allyour time, dedication and support for eachother. Well done.

Below I have included a brief overview of eachpresenter.

Kim Walters - travelled from Gympie toteach many of us how to create digitalportfolios within our early childhood centresand classrooms. Kim, who effortlessly produceshighly technical masterpieces of digitalisedreporting, displayed a great deal of patienceand understanding as we all gradually learntmany of her amazing computer techniquessuccessfully! What a new world she opened up.She generously shared all her knowledge, tipsand short cuts with us as such is her passion forthe use of digital technology in the early year’sclassroom. She is in her own words “keen topass the word on”.

Now all that is left is to practise, make mistakesand therefore learn. Luckily most of us boughtthe ‘bibles according to Kim’-her easy to followstep by step guides.

Thankyou Kim for your inspiration and comeback soon!!

Lyn Duncan - Maths EA for the Mackaydistrict talked with us about the new mathssyllabus for the early years.

Lyn provided a wealth of information for manyof our early childhood teachers. It is clearly

Friday July 8th, 2005 - Holy Spitit College, Mackay

Concentrating in Kim’s workshop


evident that the new maths syllabus has a more“hands on” focus and this clearly reinforced thegood practises that are evident in earlychildhood classrooms and centres.

Lyn provided some hands on materials for theparticipants to try and there was a lot ofdiscussion and questions being fielded as theworkshop progressed.

Shane Funnell - Preschool teacher fromMackay North talked about “Literacy throughplay”. Shane is very passionate about the wayand manner young children learn.

It is very clear that children learn when they aremotivated, on task and having fun. Play provides

this very important medium for maximumlearning to take place. Through child centredplay, children are engaged in many literacyexperiences. They are discussing, problemsolving, making decisions, writing, identifyingletters and sounds, reading and researching.

Through out Shane’s workshop early childhoodteachers were able to realise the learning that wastaking place when young children are playing.Shane brought along a wonderful assortment ofphotos of the children in her preschool so thatthe participants were able to clearly identify theliteracy development that was taking place whilstthe children were engaging in play.

Sue Galletly - discussed her findings fromthe cross linguistic research she has recentlyundertaken. Her research included studies ofreading accuracy in countries such as Finland,Estonia, Italy, Scotland and Wales. Children inFinland learn to read very quickly as they have atransparent orthography, meaning each letter

only has one sound. English on the other handis far more difficult to learn as the orthographyis opaque and therefore far more complex. Atthe University of Eugene in Oregon, Sue wastrained in DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of EarlyLiteracy Skills). These one minute assessmentsof reading accuracy can provide a teacher withthe knowledge to greatly enhance a child’sreading skills and are currently being trialled insome Mackay schools.

Lyn’s Maths workshop

“Literacy through play” workshop

Sue Galletly’s workshop


Young Children - Active Governors and Creators of Places

Spaces for children and children’s placesToday, children often seem to spend a vastmajority of their time within adult-constructedspaces, such as schools, child-care centres,after-school programs, and playgrounds.Blackford (2004) comments that “we live in anera when children’s spaces are increasinglycircumscribed... and increasingly organised byadults” (p. 229). Spaces for children areincreasingly created by adults and imbued withadult conceptions and regulations. Whenchildren enter these spaces, they contend withadult-imposed expectations and governance.Within these spaces, children are able to take anactive role in shaping their play environmentand creating places of their own within adultconstructed spaces (Blackford, 2004; Cobb,Danby & Farrell, 2005). This paper presentsextracts of interaction among Preparatory agedchildren, examined in response to the questionof how young children create and manage theirown places in a preparatory year classroom.

Within this paper, the term ‘place’ refers tospaces to which children have assignedpersonal meanings through their activities andpeer interactions; whereas ‘space’ will be usedto denote physical locations and areas designedby adults for children. Children’s places, thoughimpacted by adult-imposed regulations, arecreated by children themselves and influencedby their social orders and peer cultures. Theseplaces therefore reflect the social order of thechildren who created them, rather than that ofadults. The data presented in this paper aredrawn from a recent research study conductedin Australia, demonstrating how childrenthemselves enact governance in a preparatoryclassroom context and how they create placeswhen doing this.

The study and its findingsThe study is conceptually based on thesociology of childhood framework, which

enables children to be viewed as competentand active members in constructing andinteracting within their peer cultures (Danby &Baker, 1998, 2000; James & Prout, 1997). Itwas conducted within a Preparatory Year (Prep)classroom at an urban independent school. Avideo-recorder was used to capture children’snaturally occurring interactions. The video-recorder was introduced into the classroomgradually, allowing the children to becomefamiliar with it, as well as with the presence ofthe researcher. The recorded episode that thispaper refers to is an extended sequence ofinteraction that occurred during a creativeactivity (free-structure) session. The setting wasin home-corner, which had been arranged tocorrespond with the week’s theme oftransportation (boxes of toy vehicles, a toypetrol station, car mat etc.). The details of thechildren present during the data collection arepresented below (see Table 1.1).

Table 1.1 The participants’ pseudonyms and ages

Name Age (in years) John 5.4Alice 5.3Campbell 5.11Tommy 5.6Bill 6.1

The video-recorded data was transcribed andthen analysed using the ethnomethodologicalmethods of conversation analysis andmembership categorisation (Heritage, 1984;Sacks, 1992). These methods allow for an in-depth analysis of the interaction, providinginsight into how social orders and structureswithin the interaction are constructed. The children in the preparatory year settingused a variety of strategies to govern theirpeers, including use of verbal and non-verballanguage; developing or drawing on adult andchild-formulated rules and social orders of theclassroom; and manipulating materials and

By Charlotte Cobb


places. Of particular interest was how thechildren created their own places within theadult-constructed space of home-corner. Fivechildren (see Table 1.1) were present during theinteractional episode. Resources, such as toyvehicles and a toy petrol station, had beenplaced in the area for general use. Soon afterentering the area, the children began to createtheir own places. The children initiated thisprocess by claiming toy vehicles as their ownand then by placing them in certain areaswhich then too became theirs. Once toys andplaces were claimed, they were effectively out-of-bounds to anyone other than the claimant.The owner of the toys and place had theauthority to deny or permit access to these. Thefollowing extracts of data demonstrate how thissituation unfolded.

Extract 1: The claiming of place is initiated1. John: These are my - these are my cars

((pulls 2 blue fire-engines ontohis lap)) (you can’t steal) theirhome. ‘cause their home is (.)you can’t steal these fire-engineshome. ((puts fire-engines insidethe toy petrol station))

...7. Campbell: John I’ve got a car and it can’t fit

in my garage ((referring to aspace near the far wall))

John initiated the claiming of toys andmaterials, when he placed the toy cars insidethe toy petrol station and called this petrolstation “their home”. He also emitted awarning that this place was out-of-bounds forother players (“(you can’t steal) their home”),introducing the rule into the game that playerscould take ownership of certain places andexercise authority over these places. Campbelltoo indicated that he had ownership of an area,“the garage”, or a place by the wall. Hefollowed John’s claiming materials and space asone’s own property. In this extract we can seethat by gathering materials (the toy cars andfire-engines) in certain places, both John andCampbell shape the space in ways that governothers without resistance.

The children continued to establish their ownplaces within the adult-constructed space,drawing upon strategies to protect their placesfrom peers and thereby enact governance withinthe area. The following extract provides anexample of how the children protected theirplaces and regulated the behaviour of their peers.

Extract 2: Protection of place158. Tommy: ((moves towards to Alice’s

place/pile of cars in the corner.Picks up a red car)). Oh, ye:ah!

159. Alice: ((turns around, moves towardsTommy)) NO, that’s mine! That’sMY Pile! NO! ((takes the car offTommy and drops it on the pile))

160. Tommy: Oh, that was mine ((reaches forthe car again))

161. Alice: No (.) that’s mine that’s mine.That’s my cars (..) that was mypile. That’s my pile ((turns around,so that back is against the walland is facing Tommy, with thepile of cars beneath her))

162. Tommy: ((moves away, picks up a toyperson)) (.1) This is a boy (1) yes.

In this extract, Tommy tried to gain ownershipof a toy car by moving to Alice’s place, whereshe had accumulated a pile of cars, andattempted take these. Alice quickly defendedher pile of vehicles, proclaiming her ownershipof the vehicles both verbally, throughimperatives, and physically (taking the car awayfrom Tommy). Alice moved quickly andforcefully in this particular situation, speakingloudly and emphatically taking on asuperordinate role. Tommy attempted toreclaim ownership over the toy car. Alicerefuted his statement, using an unmitigatedresponse, beginning the utterance with anoutright “no” and then positioned herself ontop of the pile of cars while maintaining eye-contact with Tommy. Tommy appeared toaccept Alice’s rule, signified by his moving awayand choosing another toy, one that had notbeen claimed by the other players. Suchstrategies were used throughout the interactive


episode by the children to regulate each other’splay that occurred within the area. The childrenalso drew upon teacher constructed rules andsocial orders, such as sharing. However, evenwithin the classroom space framed by theteacher, the children were able to create theirown social spaces and accompanying socialorders (Gracey, 1972).

What does this mean for educators?The extracts examined within this paper showchildren as competent participants who take anactive role in shaping their interactiveenvironment. The children of this study wereable to govern their peers’ movements bycreating certain places where they could storetheir claimed cars. The children then couldcontrol who had access to these and they hadthe right to deny access to other players,thereby controlling the interactive play space(Whalen, 1995). In this way, the childrenenacted governance over particular places andmaterials, as well as governing the actions oftheir fellow players in relation to these placesand materials.

Young children spend increasing amounts oftime in adult constructed spaces, such asschools and child-care centres; spaces whichhave been created for them by adults, andimbued with adult conceptions. As educators ofyoung children, we impose many forms ofgovernance within the classroom and areinvolved in creating spaces for children - do we,though, consider how young childrenthemselves enact governance and constructtheir own places within the spaces that havebeen designed for them? As we develop ourunderstandings of the complex ways in whichchildren are able to interact, their ability atenacting governance over their peers andcompetence at creating their own places, thismay well influence our teaching practice. Thefindings of this study are significant as theydemonstrate children’s own competence andabilities in shaping and creating spaces in whichthey interact everyday and explicate thecomplex social orders that children can co-construct in an early childhood classroom.

ReferencesBlackford, H. (2004). Playground panopticism: Ring-around-the-children, a pocketful of women. Childhood,11(2), 227-249.

Christensen, P., & Prout, A. (2003). Children, places,spaces and generation. In B. Mayall, & H. Zeiher (Eds.),Childhood in generational perspective (pp. 133-154).London: Institute of Education, University of London.

Cobb, C., Danby, S., & Farrell, A. (2005). Governanceof children’s everyday spaces. Australian Journal of EarlyChildhood, 30(1), 14-20.

Danby, S., & Baker, C. (1998). How to be masculine inthe block area. Childhood: A global journal of childresearch, 5(2), 151-175.

Danby, S., & Baker, C. (2000). “What’s the problem?”- Restoring social order in the preschool classroom. In I.Hutchby & J. Moran-Ellis (Eds.), Children and socialcompetence: Arenas of action (pp. 91-140).Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins (Pragmaticsand Beyond Series).

Danby, S., & Farrell, A. (2004). Accounting for youngchildren’s competence in educational research: Newperspectives on research ethics. Australian educationalresearcher, 31(3), 35-49.

Gracey, H. L. (1972). Learning the student role:Kindergarten as academic boot camp. In D. H. Wrong& H. L. Gracey (Eds.), Readings in introductorysociology (pp. 243-254). New York: Macmillan.

Heritage, J. (1984). Garfinkel and ethnomethodology.Great Britain, Worcester: Billing and Sons Ltd.

James, A., & Prout, A. (Eds.). (1997). Constructing andreconstructing childhood. London: Falmer Press.

Sacks, H. (1992). Lectures on conversation, Vols I andII. Edited by G. Jefferson. Oxford: Blackwell.

Sullivan, R. (2002). The role of the commission forchildren and young people and how we can alladvocate for young children. Address by Robin Sullivan:Commissioner for Children and Young People to theCreche & Kindergarten Association of Qld SunshineCoast Early Childhood Seminar at Sunshine CoastUniversity, 23rd March 2002.

Whalen, M. R. (1995). Working toward play:Complexity in children’s fantasy activities. Language inSociety, 24, 315-348.


The Mural Project

As part of my Bachelor of Education studies atthe School of Early Childhood, QUT, I amenrolled in the arts pathway. EAB416 is one ofarts units in this pathway, taught by anartist/teacher team, Sharon Clark and FelicityMcardle. Through this unit, they encouragedme to spend time exploring my particulardeveloping interests in arts education in theearly years. I had become focussed on lookingfor alternatives to the traditional methods ofcreating curriculum, pedagogy anddocumentation in early years programmes.Following are some extracts from myassignment notes and reflections, on what Ilearned through this study.

On August 1, 2005 I visited CampusKindergarten for the first time. I was there toobserve and document the collaborative visualarts project unfolding in the Kindy room. Iwatched, listened, asked questions, readthrough the displayed documentation,experienced the interactions, and participatedin their program. I reflected on the processesthe children and their teachers undertook tocreate the Campus Kindy learning experience.These processes included negotiating,investigating, observing, recording, exploring,researching, sharing, discussing, designing,making, evaluating and many more.

I reflected on what I was learning from thisexperience, and how I could apply it to myown philosophy and pedagogy. I realised I wasfinally being part of a teaching and learningapproach/philosophy that I have heard aboutand really wanted to see in practice.

The CK Kindy room teaching team (Robert,Sharon and Sarah) take a flexible, emergent,negotiated approach to curriculum planning .The interests of both the children and teachersare discussed and recorded during the dailyplanning meeting. The interests of the teacherstake the form of meaningful investigative

projects often originating from observations ofthe children’s play and explorations. Theteachers’ personal interests in visual arts andenvironmental sustainability are also reflected inthe curriculum. Staff interact with the childrenguiding and scaffolding their investigations, andpromoting play, creativity and risk-taking.

Several documents and early childhood theoriesguide the curriculum and pedagogy at CampusKindy. These include: the theories of Gardnerand Malaguzzi who believe all children arecompetent and communicate their ideas andstrengths in multiple ways; Vygotsky whobelieves children learn through scaffolding andinteracting with more capable others. CampusKindy also draws from the Foundation LearningAreas described in the Preschool CurriculumGuidelines (1998) and the principles assessedby the Quality Improvement and AccreditationSystem (National Childcare AccreditationCouncil, 2001).

This is the story of one project which developedduring the time I spent at CK. This art projectprovides open-ended learning opportunities ina supportive, motivating and safe learningenvironment. It empowers children to makechoices about their learning, contribute at theirown level, create, share and respond to art,learn new skills and vocabulary, and investigateand express their own ideas and theories.Projects like this one promote the acquisitionand construction of knowledge, the mastery ofsocial and basic skills, the strengthening ofimportant intellectual and social dispositions,and the development of desirable feelings (Katz& Chard, 2000, p. 54).

By Leith McDougall with Felicity MacArdle and Sharon Clark


Beginning of projectThe teachers selected the project based on thechildren’s interests in painting and drawingfrom their explorations of different types ofvisual arts media earlier in the year. They aimedto combine and strengthen the children’sdeveloping artistic knowledge and skills, as wellas support and enhance their self- and social-awareness (Wright, 2003). The teachersbrainstormed their goals for the project andrecorded these in a web which became theplanning foundation for the project.

To introduce the project, Sharon read thepicture book For the love of Vincent (Northeast,1996) to the kindy friends. The Kindy friendsdiscussed painting and Van Gogh, sharing theirdiverse experiences, ideas and currentunderstandings. Sharon guided the childrenthrough the processes of analysing, critiquingand contextualising (McArdle, 2003) focussingtheir observations, discussion and learning onthe art works and artist.

Sharon launched the idea of painting acollaborative mural representing Campus Kindy.She invited the Kindy friends to share theirideas on the subject.

Research for themuralThe childrenconductedresearch in thefield using avariety of modesfor gathering data

including digital cameras, and a variety ofquality painting and drawing materials. Theirprimary source of information was throughdirectobservation oftheir chosensubject matter.

The childrenused the photosand their initialsketches as the

basis for further observational drawings. Theirdrawings and paintings became increasinglymore focused and detailed. Sharon extendedthe children’s visual language and skills, madesuggestions, and, at times, explicitly directedthem to specific tasks which she believed wouldsupport their developing skills and artistry.

Sharon gaveAsantawah andChad a larger pieceof paper and apermanent markerand suggested theycreate a largerrepresentation oftheir ideas. She

then suggested developing their image furtherwith acrylic paint.

Designing the muralSharon organised a large piece of paper for themural design. The children referred to theirearlier images as they added to the design.Concepts of spatial awareness were explored,and Sharon urged the children to think aboutwhere other images were going to fit. As thepaper filled up, she guided them in locating asection to draw their image and pointed out tothem the importance of respecting otherimages and not overlapping.

An expertAnother primary source of information for thechildren’s research is experts in the field.Similar to the atelierista in Reggio Emiliaschools, the kindy teacher Sharon is a practisingartist who guides, scaffolds and documents thechildren’s learning and is able to help themwith questions and suggestions.

Stretching the canvasSharon brought in a large wooden frame and apiece of canvas she had at home. Sheintroduced this part of the process by initiatinga discussion reflecting on prior steps in theprocess. She explained what they were goingto, modelling and talking the children throughthe process. Many mathematical as well as art


concepts were introduced in the course of theconversation that followed.

The children discussedthe size of the frameand compared it totheir own size bystanding beside it.They measured therequired size of thecanvas against the sizeof the frame and themural design. Theytook turns to cut thecanvas. A discussion

about different types of scissors occurred whenthe paper scissors they had wouldn’t cut thecanvas.

I steadied thestaple gun and heldthe canvas tightwhile Gabriellestapled the canvasto the frame. Thestretching,preparing andpainting of a

canvas were unfamiliar experiences to thechildren and they relied on Sharon forinstructions. Other, less adult structuredlearning occured during the conversationschildren have with peers and adults. Kindyfriends regularly share their experiences,thoughts and ideas about the project via:informal chats; reflections with peers, teachersand parents; and more formal discussionsduring the daily group reflection and evaluationsession.

The children used rollers and white acrylic toprime the canvas.

Mapping out the designThe children helped Sharon set up theenvironment ready to continue mapping theirimages on the canvas. The mural design was setup where it could be referred to by the Kindyfriends as they mapped out their image.

Sharon addedwater to the acrylicpaint andexplained, “This isthin acrylic paintand you are goingto use line tooutline your

shape.” Together, the children and Sharonlooked for a space where each could map outtheir images. Sharon says to Gemma, “This isyour section here. You might think about thespace you have remembering to respect theother friends work and not overlap.....You couldwipe the side of your brush so that it doesn’tdrip down the canvas.”Gemma: “I’m going to do the two girls on thetwo swings.”Sharon suggested, “Why don’t you let the paintdry today and we can add the colour to it nexttime.”

Painting the muralPrior to painting the mural, Sharon facilitatedan experience where the children could exploreand enhance their knowledge of the visual artselement of colour. Sharon introduced a lot ofarts related vocabulary during this process. Thecolour resource book was set up alongside thepaints and the canvas for the Kindy friends torefer to.

Sharon, Karly and I eachguided a child through acolour mixing episode. Wenoticed the children’sactions were very differentand dependent on theirlevel of understanding.Some children were still at

the exploratory level, adding more and morepaint for the sheer joy of watching it change


colour, not really interested in applying it to thecanvas. Others were trying to make a colourspecifically for the mural.

My reflectionsThroughout this project, my big questionswere:• How much control and direction should a

teacher take? • Are the children missing opportunities to

solve their own problems because wegive too much direction?

• When should we expect them to exercisemore control? (For example do we keepreminding them to wash their brushesbefore adding another colour?)

• Does this take all the fun out of exploringcolour? (Maybe, but it doesn’t waste asmuch paint.)

There is a fine line between too much teacherguidance and not enough.

Secondary sources of informationSharon organised a drawing area. Each friend’svisual diary was kept here. The space could beused to look through Visual Arts resource booksor draw in their Visual diaries. Drawingmaterials and book displays are changedregularly. Sharon hopes this area will inspirethe children to further develop their drawingand artwork whether it is from imagination,memory or observation.

Completion?This project is yet to be completed. As aculminating event the teachers will arrange forthe mural to be displayed at Campus Kindy. Inthis way the children will have the opportunityto share their project with their families andother members of the Campus Kindycommunity.

ReferencesArthur, L., Beecher, B., Dockett, S., Farmer, S., &Death, E. (1996). Programming and planning inearly childhood settings (2nd ed.). Sydney:Harcourt.

Campus Kindergarten. (no defined date). Campusculture. Retrieved September 12, 2005, fromhttp://www.campuskindergarten.org.au/NewFiles/Culture.html

Education Queensland. (2002). Productivepedagogies: Classroom reflection manual.[Electronic version]. Brisbane: CurriculumInnovation Branch.

Edwards, C., Gandini, L., & Forman, G. (1998).Introduction: Background and starting points. InC. Edwards, L. Gandini, & G. Forman (Eds.), Thehundred languages of children: The Reggio Emiliaapproach-advanced reflections (2nd ed.) (pp. 5-25). Westport, CT: Ablex Publishing.

Katz, L. G. (1998). What can we learn fromReggio Emilia? In C. Edwards, L. Gandini, & G.Forman (Eds.), The hundred languages of children:The Reggio Emilia approach-advanced reflections(2nd ed.) (pp. 27-45). Westport, CT: AblexPublishing.

Katz, L. G., & Chard, S. C. (2000). Engagingchildren’s minds: The project approach (2nd ed.).Stamford, Connecticut: Ablex Publishing.

McArdle, F. (2003). The visual arts: ways ofseeing. In S. Wright (Ed.) Children, meaningmaking and the arts. Frenchs Forest, NSW:Pearson Prentice Hall. pp. 35-62.

National Childcare Accreditation Council. (2001).Quality improvement and accreditation systemsource book. [Electronic version]. Surrey Hills,NSW: Author.

Northeast, B. V. (1996). For the love of Vincent.Dingley, Vic.: Reed.

Queensland School Curriculum Council. (1998).Preschool curriculum guidelines. Brisbane: Author.

Wright, S. (2003). Children, meaning making andthe arts. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson PrenticeHall.


Developing Social Competence in Young Children

“Early childhood educators have a critical role indeveloping social competence in young children.We have evidence that if a child is unable todevelop effective social relationships with theirpeers by about 6 years of age, then that childmay be at risk of encountering later academicfailure and dropping out of school.

Young children require quality environments inorder to thrive socially, academically andemotionally”

Early childhood educators work closely withboth the child and the family in these formativeyears. They are in this unique position tocontribute to raising a more effective, caringand capable future community from a numberof different perspectives.

1. The environment that is created in a qualityearly childhood centre will bedevelopmentally planned to enhance(among other things) children’s self esteem,independence, responsibility and prosocialbehaviour. Longitudinal studies in theU.S.(“Toward a State of Esteem”2) havedemonstrated the correlation between selfesteem and behaviour: children with low selfesteem ( “as I am I’m not okay”) are more

likely to be involved in inappropriate socialbehaviours (misbehaviour), whilst those whofeel valued and competent (high selfesteem) are more likely to behave acceptablyand be socially responsible. We only need tolook at studies3 of different parenting stylesto see these outcomes! Early childhoodeducators have a responsibility to establishthese self esteem enhancing environments inorder to encourage the best possibleoutcomes for children.

2. Much of young children’s learning comesthrough their social play with peers, theresponse they gain from adults and the rolemodeling of others around them. Whenchildren are able to accept limits withinacceptable boundaries, learn skills of problemsolving rather than conflict, show respect forother children and adults, animals and theenvironment, they are on a “treadmill” that Irefer to as “a cycle of encouragement”4. Themore encouraged they feel (and I clearlydistinguish between praise andencouragement) the greater improvement insocial, emotional and academic behaviour.

3. Relationships are developed in earlychildhood centres which can nurture andsupport the whole family. For many new

by Jeanette Harrison


parents this is their first experience withyoung children and they value supportiveassistance from responsive professionals.When educators can promote successfulparenting practices, both through their ownrole modeling with children and also byoffering more structured parenting skillsprograms, then young children’s homeenvironments can be improved. Thus againallowing children (and parents) toexperience “the cycle of encouragement”.

4. Again the U.S. study “Toward a State ofEsteem” indicates that where parents developappropriate parenting skills, creating homeenvironments that encourage freedom whilstsetting firm but fair boundaries or limits,practice effective communication and conflictresolution, and demonstrate respectfulbehaviours, then children are more likely todevelop into adults who “live responsibly ...against the lures of crime, violence,substance abuse, child abuse and failure”.

5. Early childhood educators can lead byexample, or become advocates, for highquality infant and preschool programs thatare responsive to the changing needs ofcontemporary families thus assisting youngchildren develop all the above.

6. When professionals have a sound knowledgeand understanding of children’s behaviourthen they are more able to respond in an

effective and encouraging manner. The basicmotivation behind children’s social behaviouris the subconscious need to belong, beaccepted, gain recognition.5 Educators whocan learn to recognize children’s needs anddevelop responsive skills to managebehaviour, using encouragement, effectivelimit setting and consequences (among otherstrategies) will provide an environment whereyoung children will thrive - thus creating astrong foundation for our future community.

It is for these reasons that I believe earlychildhood educators are in a unique positionand have a responsibility to children, parentsand the community, to create appropriate selfesteem enhancing programs in order that weeffectively nurture our future generations.

Jeannette HarrisonDirector - Corporate & Family CareFrom paper presented at the C&K ConferenceChildren & Communities Wearing the Fabric ofSociety

References1 Harrison, Jeannette. Understanding

Children:Foundations for Quality. ACER Melbourne2004. Ch 1.

2 California State Department. Toward a State ofEsteem.1992

3 Baumrind, Diane. 4 Harrison, J. chapter 135 Adlerian psychology in Harrison, J. ch 7


Language Acquisition and Young Children.Do they need a Second Language?

Primary vs. Secondary Language

For years, people have been researching theacquisition of languages. I believe thatdistinguishing between primary and secondarylanguage is the key to understanding the powerof language.

Primary languages are stored in an inner,protected place in the brain. Secondarylanguages are stored in a place closer to thesurface of the brain. First, second and thirdprimary languages are learned by creatingpatterns from a load of seemingly randominformation, while secondary languages arelearned by using the primary language as areference and building a “translation net” tomap the secondary language back to it.

Experts still argue about the critical age forforming primary languages, but all estimate itto end between the ages of 7 and 12. Thisleaves the early childhood educators to dealwith one of the most important factors of theeducation in the most critical age - the earlyyears.

Language Acquisition - Myth vs. Fact

Popular belief is that children learn languagesbetter than adults do.

In fact, adults are better at learning secondarylanguages because they have better pattern-matching techniques. By the time they learna secondary language, they already have anestablished language they can relate to.

Young children, on the other hand, are betterat learning primary languages. Their“machine” for sorting masses of informationinto language boxes is very efficient at an earlyage. In fact, children can have several primarylanguages, with the amazing ability to switchfrom one to another.

Secondary Languages in Primary School Based on this, secondary languages in primaryor secondary schools are not very successfulbecause they are taught while the primarylanguage is not completely formed. On theother hand, immersion programs, if done fully,are wonderful and can be very beneficial to thechildren, because they create primarylanguages. Due to the nature of the languagelearning process, immersion in early childhoodis the most effective and successful way toteach another (primary) language.

It is very important to note that secondarylanguages are an excellent tool to enhancecultural and social skills. Teaching secondarylanguages at every stage of a person’s life “oils”the thinking process but does not give thestudents the full advantage of another language.

Bilingual Children and AcademicAchievementWhile working with children around the world,I observed that bilingual children had advancedthinking skills. I found that having to deal witha second primary language did not botherchildren with learning difficulties. Bilingualchildren had better analytic abilities, bettermemory skills, broader general knowledge andone major factor of emotional intelligence:flexibility. Since they had a better languagemachine, they displayed better skills at other“languages,” like Maths, Music, Logic andComputers.

International ProgramsDuring my work in Thailand and Singapore, inorder to create a program to enhanceintelligence, I studied the international programthoroughly. In my research, I found thatchildren in those programs generally had highacademic achievements. I discovered that thesuccess of the program was based mostly ontwo components:

by Ronit Baras


• The program in the international schoolemphasised emotional intelligence -flexibility, acceptance, tolerance andaltruism. The school year included only 169days, during most of which the teachers andstudents worked on cultural events andworldwide issues. They had a major festival,event, party or presentation once a week

• Most kids were at least bilingual

The main idea behind the internationalprogram was that all kids were already madefrom the right material: high emotionalintelligence and a second primary language.

While school emphasised the emotionalintelligence, parents contributed their share ofthe education by giving their children theadvantage of a second primary language.Together, this created children with “bigheads,” children with sophisticated “languagemachines.”

Approaches towards MultilingualismIn some places around the world, communitiesthat stick together in the same languageenvironment are not able to adjust. In thePersian community in Los Angeles, for example,there is a big group of people that can’t speakEnglish, even after 20 years of living in an English-speaking environment. They use a Farsi YellowPages directory, watch Farsi channels, listen toFarsi news, read Farsi papers and thus still pretendto be living in Iran. The lack of integration intosociety limits these people’s options foremployment and self-sufficiency and creates anunnecessary burden on the government.

At the same time, their children have no problemlearning both English and Farsi. This gives themthe emotional and practical advantages ofmeaningful communication with both cultures.

Seeing only the dark side of such communities,the Australian government tried to preventsegregated ethnic environments and activelyencouraged non-English speakers to use Englishas their home language.In Melbourne, I taught children with speechproblems. Upon arrival in Australia, theirparents had been strongly advised to switch to

English, but had not been able to communicateproperly in English. These children weretherefore exposed at home to very basic Englishthat was spoken incorrectly and with a foreignaccent. At the same time, they lost theopportunity to learn a strong primary languageduring the critical period in their life. This putthem at a disadvantage later on, to the pointwhere they needed government-sponsored help.

In some cases, this forced change to usingEnglish contributed to cultural devastation, like inthe Aboriginal communities all around Australia.

The Australian government invests millions ofdollars to enhance academic achievement andcultural awareness, while in the field there aremany reports of parents who are “forbidden”from talking with their kids in their primarylanguage. Unfortunately, instead of using the“cheap” resource of primary foreignlanguages for enhancing intelligence andcultural awareness, there is a trend tominimise migrants’ use of primary languages.

While communities like the Persian community ofL.A. are a burden on the government, eliminatingthe migrants’ primary languages causes a biggerburden on migrant families and deteriorates allaspects of home education. Parents, who areunable to contribute to their children’s educationin the language of their values, perceive thesystem as the enemy. They believe the systemdoes not value them and work against it. Insteadof collaboration between parents and theeducation system, there is a contradiction ofvalues, which significantly increases the need forgovernment support.

Culture and Language Challenges Faced byMigrantsOutside their countries of origin, migrants faceconflicts between keeping their culture andadjusting to the local customs.

• Migrant families face many communicationchallenges with their kids. They find it veryhard to pass on feelings, ideas, beliefs,morals and values in a secondary language.Parents are not fully understood by theirchildren, because of lack of culturalunderstanding. Since culture is formed in


the primary-language “place,” thismisunderstanding causes conflict. Parentsreport they feel inferior and ashamed in theirrelationships with their kids and are not ableto take part in their children’s education.Families report that in a secondary language(English) they communicate at a basic levelwith their children, and are therefore notable to support their education

• Another problem they face is dealing withfamily members who can’t speak English(children can’t speak to grandparents).People who do not speak the children’slanguage can no longer be resources forthem, which puts a burden on the earlychildhood system

• Later on, peer pressure makes teenagersavoid speaking their home language

The system reports that children of migrants area challenge compared to English-speakingchildren, because migrants cannot support theirchildren’s education in a secondary language.The parents’ primary language is perceived as abarrier, rather then an asset, when the mainvehicle for education is the primary language.

The SolutionThe advantage of the international programs inSingapore and Thailand was that they didn’t putany pressure on the students to adapt to thelocal culture. Every culture received its fair shareof the cultural curriculum. Children were notashamed to be part of their culture and wereencouraged to speak their home language.

The Solution to the above challenges is toencourage family languages to enhancecommunication at home. Family languages mustbe primary, to ease the flow of communication.Parents will be able to pass on values and culture,and children will be able to communicate withtheir parents using the “language of the heart.”In this scenario, instead of educating the childrenoutside of their home environment only, theireducation can be supported at home. Byallowing parents to take a major part in theirchildren’s education, we can create a multi-dimensional education where parents andeducation system, collaborate into creating “bigheads” with high academic achievement,emotional intelligence and cultural awareness.

Summary• It is important to distinguish between

primary and secondary languages• Having an additional primary language

promotes academic achievement andemotional intelligence

• Because of the nature of the languagelearning process, immersion in earlychildhood is the most effective and successfulway to teach another (primary) language

• Feelings, values, needs, ideas, beliefs andculture are formed in a primary languageplace and a primary language is formed inthe same way (sorting ability in a critical age)

• The ability of parents to pass on feelings,values, needs, ideas, beliefs and culture iscrucial to the development of children,especially in the early years

• One of the ways to form an even relationshipbetween the education system and parentsand to enhance the collaboration betweenthem is to encourage multilingualism and touse the parents as a resource by valuing andsupporting their culture - their language

• Encouraging parents to keep their primarylanguages alive with their children willpromote communication, pride, academicachievement and cultural awareness

About the Author

Ronit Baras has a bachelor of education inSpecial Education and 15 years of experience inlearning difficulties and gifted children,especially in the early years. She specialises inwriting programs to enhance intelligence and“produce” gifted children. She’s lived with herhusband and 3 children in Israel, the UnitedStates, Thailand, Singapore and Australia. Eachof her kids was born in a different place in theworld and they are all bilingual. She ownedand directed a child care centre in Israel. Shewas the academic director of an early childhoodcentre in Singapore. She was a teacher and aneducational consultant in Australia, USA andThailand. She’s a presenter on life coaching,education, language and culture.

To contact Ronit email: [email protected]


IntroductionTeachers’ beliefs about learning and teachingunderpin classroom practice (Charlesworth, Hart,Burts, & Hernandez, 1991). An understanding ofthis complex relationship and the factors thatimpinge assists in the development ofmeaningful professional development forteachers. This paper reports on the preliminaryfindings of an Australia wide study thatinvestigates the beliefs and practices of earlychildhood teachers in Catholic schools. Teachersinvolved in the study were teaching four to sixyear children in Preschool (QLD), Prep (VIC),Kindergarten (NSW), Reception (SA) andPreprimary (WA). This paper reports a smallportion of the data collected during a widerinvestigation into early childhood teachers beliefsand practice with regard to learning, teachingand Religious Education.

Why study teachers’ beliefs and practice?Stipek and Byler (1997) suggested that earlychildhood teachers do not always practice whatthey preach. Similarly, Wood and Bennett (2000)found that studying teachers’ beliefs provides anopportunity for teachers to reflect on their ownprofessional learning: “The findings confirm theimportance of teachers’ voices in confronting therelationship between their theories and practices”(p. 646). The research also examines the factorsthat impact on teachers’ day to day classroompractice.

It is highlighted in the literature, that therelationship between beliefs and practice iscomplex. Both intrinsic and extrinsic factorsimpinge on beliefs and practice. Charlesworth etal. (1991) and others identified several factorsthat are internal to an individual teacher (Smith &Shepard, 1988a; Stipek & Byler, 1997). Theseinclude beliefs, knowledge (both theoretical andpractical), values, stress, experience, attitudes andfeelings of self-worth, self-efficacy, self esteem andlocus of control. For example, Spidell-Rusher,McGrevin and Lambiotte (1992), found thatKindergarten teachers perceived an increasing

emphasis on academic skill development and firstgrade curriculum being pushed down as factorsinfluencing their practice. This intrinsic factor orpressure are teachers’ perceptions (real orperceived), an influenced their classroom practice.

Extrinsic factors are more visible and observable.The literature identifies several factors that mayinfluence teachers’ beliefs. These include: formaleducation, social networks, classroom structure,colleagues, principal and school administration,systemic policies and demands, laws andregulations, experience, familiarity with thecontent of the curriculum area, school climateand philosophy, parents’ beliefs and expectationsand interactions with children (Abbot-Shim,Lambert & McCarty, 2000; Aston & Hyle, 1997;McMullen, 1999; Smith, 1997; Stipek & Byler,1997; Tomchin & Impara, 1992). It is thesefactors that may force a mismatch between beliefsand practice. Early childhood teachers do notalways feel free to implement a program which isconsistent with their beliefs (Stipek & Byler, 1997)For example, Bryant, Clifford and Peisner (1991)found low levels of developmentally appropriatepractice in some classrooms. It was asserted byBryant et al. (1991), that this was due tolimitations in teachers’ knowledge and there wasin fact a gap between teachers’ purported beliefsand classroom practice.

Methodology- Data collection and analysisFollowing an extensive review of the literature, amixed method approach to data collection andanalysis was used. There was not one instrumentthat covered all aspects of the area of study. Aninstrument grounded in the literature wasdeveloped, it assessed teachers’ beliefs andpractices about children’s learning and teachingwith regard to early childhood and ReligiousEducation. The instrument collected the followingdata:• Demographic details about teachers including

gender, age, education and qualifications, andteaching experience;

• Teachers’ beliefs about learning;• Teachers’ beliefs about teaching;

Early Childhood Teacher’s Beliefs about Teaching and Learningand the Factors that Impact on their Practice

Catherine Meehan - QUT - School of Early Childhood


• Teachers’ beliefs about learning in ReligiousEducation; and,

• Teachers’ beliefs about teaching in ReligiousEducation.

For the purpose of the research, the entirepopulation of Early Childhood Teachers (that is,those working with four to six year old children)in Catholic schools in Australia was surveyed. Thefollowing table shows the breakdown of potentialparticipants for Phase 1.

Table 1. Location and number of participants

State No. of schools No. of DioceseQLD 181 5

NSW (inc ACT) 444 11VIC 390 4WA 125 4SA 12 1TAS 27 1Total 1175 26

The study included teachers from 26 of the 28Catholic Dioceses in Australia. One diocese from SAand another from the Northern Territory declinedthe invitation to be involved in the research. Thequestionnaire items focused on early childhoodteacher beliefs about learning and teaching.Following the data analysis of the quantitative data,four teachers were purposefully selected for thequalitative phase of the study.

Three methods were employed to collect data in thisphase. Firstly, the observation and documentation ofteacher’s typical classroom practice using digitalphotographs with the aid of an audio-tape to recordthe teachers’ classroom practice. Secondly, a semi-structured interview in which the photographs andtranscripts were used to stimulate a discussion aboutwhat was observed. Thirdly, the Early ChildhoodEnvironment Rating Scale- Revised Edition (Harms,Clifford & Cryer, 1998) was used to as a measure toevaluate teachers’ classroom practice. A groundedtheory approach to data analysis was used toexplore the patterns and categories that emergedfrom the data.

ResultsTeachers responses to learning items on thequestionnaire suggest that they sit somewherebetween social-constructivist and behavourist in

their beliefs about children’s learning. This wasconfirmed in the teachers comments in open-ended responses and in early data analysis isappears that teachers adapt their beliefs accordingto the context. Teachers’ beliefs about children’slearning fell into two main categories. Theseinclude: Active, hands on learning and skills basedor academic, content learning. Similarly, teachersresponded to items in the questionnaire abouttheir beliefs about teaching young children in boththe quantitative and qualitative phases of the datacollection. Teacher responses were similar to thoseabout learning, suggesting that 2 main categoriesof beliefs exist. These categories are: Child-centredapproaches to teaching and teacher-directedapproaches. A majority of the teachers indicatedthe belief that both approaches were used in theirdaily classroom practice and this was evident in allfour of the case study classrooms. Teachers selectedapproaches based on the context and objectivesfor various learning experiences and interactions.

The observation, interview and ECERS-R dataprovided an insight into teacher’s classroompractice. Practice was generally congruent withtheir stated beliefs. Classroom observations,conversations and interviews with these teachersconfirmed the complex nature of teachers beliefsand practice and that in fact all teachers drew onan amalgam of beliefs to teach. When speakingwith teachers in the interview, all four had difficultynaming specific child development theories andteaching approaches that influence their teaching.They were all comfortable describing theirclassroom practice and justifying and discussingtheir program. With regard to the factors thatimpact on a teachers ability to teach according totheir beliefs, two factors were most prominent.That is factors that support teaching and factorsthat constrain. Factors that the teachers namedthat support their ability to teach according totheir beliefs include: Principal and administrationsupport, colleagues, networks with other ‘similar’teachers in a range of settings, meaningfulprofessional development, supportive families andteacher aide relationship. Parental expectations,being part of a school community, expectationsfrom other colleagues in the upper school aboutappropriate curriculum content and pedagogy forearly childhood settings, physical implications of a‘school’ environment, and feeling ‘different’ from


other teachers were some factors identified byteachers as limiting of hindering their ability toteach according to their beliefs.

In addition, internal factors such as teacherconfidence and knowledge in a subject ordiscipline area had a major influence on theirability to teach according to their beliefs. This wasparticularly the case in the teaching of ReligiousEducation in the early childhood setting.

DiscussionThe results presented reflect an early analysis ofthe data. However, at this stage it is apparentthat the results are linked to three themespresented earlier in the literature review. Thethemes are presented below:

1. That early childhood teachers educators oftenhave clear ideas about the elements of goodprograms but have difficulty in articulating theirbeliefs (Stipek & Byler, 1997; Stipek, Rosenblatt& DiRocco, 1994) this was found to be true inthe four case study teachers and also in theextent to which teachers responded to the openended questions attached to the questionnaire.

2. That external and internal factors identified inthe literature impact on teachers’ ability toteach according to their beliefs about learningand teaching (e.g. Charlesworth et al., 1991;Stipek & Byler, 1997). The results indicate thatthat a range of factors support or hinder ateacher’s ability to practice what they believed.

3. That there is generally a congruent relationshipbetween teachers beliefs about teaching andlearning and their everyday classroom practice(e.g. Bryant, Clifford & Peisner, 1991;Charlesworth et al., 1991; Kemple, 1996;Smith, 1992; Stipek, 1991; Tomchin & Impara,1992; Smith & Shepard 1988a; Spidell-Rusher,1988). Teachers’ intentions are generally forbest practice and grounded in deep beliefsabout the best way to support and teach youngchildren. However, in the classroom realityactions sometimes do not reflect their beliefsdue to the external and internal factors thatimpact on their teaching.

ConclusionTeacher’s beliefs and practice are important tostudy, because they provide insights into the

decision-making processes used by teachers. As ateacher educator, this knowledge is useful whenthinking about the types of knowledge andprocesses that pre-service teachers need todevelop in order to become effective and reflectiveteachers who are responsive to young childrenand to be able to clearly articulate their beliefs andbe confident in their classroom practice. Thispaper draws on a small portion of the datacollected in a larger project. There are larger issueswhich will be discussed in the thesis that cannotbe covered within the limitations of the paper.

ReferencesAbbot-Shim, M., Lambert, R., & McCarty, F. (2000). Teacher beliefsand classroom structure as influences on Head Start classroomquality. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 15(1), 115-134.Aston, M., & Hyle, A. (1997, October). Social networks, teacherbeliefs and educational change. Paper presented at the AnnualConvention of the University Council of Educational Administration,Orlando. Bryant, D. M., Clifford, R. M., & Peisner, E. S. (1991). Best practicesfor beginners: Developmental appropriateness in kindergarten.American Educational Research Journal, 28, 789-803.Charlesworth, R., Hart, C., Burts, D., & Hernandez, S. (1991).Kindergarten teachers’ beliefs and practices. Early ChildhoodDevelopment and Care, 70, 17-35.Harms, T., Clifford, R. & Cryer, D. (1998). Early childhoodenvironment rating scale. Revised edition. New York: TeachersCollege Press.Kemple, K. M. (1996). Teachers’ beliefs and reported practicesconcerning socio-dramatic play. Journal of Early Childhood TeacherEducation, 17(2), 19-31.McMullen, M. B. (1999). Characteristics of teachers who talk theDAP talk and walk the DAP walk. Journal of Research in ChildhoodEducation, 13(2), 216-230.Smith, K. E. (1997). Student teacher beliefs about developmentallyappropriate practices. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 12(2),221-243.Smith, L., & Shepard, M. (1988a). Escalating academic demand inkindergarten: Counter-productive policies. The Elementary SchoolJournal, 89, 135-145.Smith, L., & Shepard, M. (1988b). Kindergarten readiness andretention: A qualitative study of teachers’ beliefs and practices.American Educational Research Journal, 25 (3), 307-333.Spidell-Rusher, R. A. (1988). Play in the classroom: A descriptivestudy of preschool teacher’s beliefs. Early Child Care andDevelopment, 41(1), 153-172.Spidell-Rusher, R. A., McGrevin, C., & Lambiotte, J. (1992). Beliefsystems of early childhood teachers and their principals regardingearly childhood education. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 7,277-296.Stipek, D. (1991). Characterizing early childhood educationprograms. New directions for child development, 53, 47-55.Stipek, D., & Byler, P. (1997). Early childhood education teachers:Do they practice what they preach? Early Childhood ResearchQuarterly, 12, 305-325.Stipek, D., Rosenblatt, L., & DiRocco, L. (1994). Making parentsyour allies. Young Children, 49, 4-9.Tomchin, E., & Impara, J. (1992). Unravelling teachers’ beliefsabout grade retention. American Educational Research Journal,29(1), 199-223.


Compromised or Competent? A Longitudinal Study of Twin Children’sSocial Competencies, Friendship and Behavioural Adjustment

Associate Professor Karen Thorpe and AssociateProfessor Susan Danby (Queensland Universityof Technology), Professor David Hay (CurtinUniversity) and Dr Elizabeth Stewart ( LondonSchool of Economics) have been awarded aresearch grant by the Australian ResearchCouncil in the latest round of awards(November 2005). This grant has beenawarded to investigate twin children’s transitionto school with a focus on social competence.Specifically, the social competencies, friendshipsand behavioural adjustment of twin childrenwill be investigated. The study will beconducted over the next three years (2006-2008), following twin children in preschoolthrough the transition to school. The results ofthis study will inform the early childhoodeducation community, particularly policymakers, educators and parents about the needsof twin children as they transition to school.

Twinning rates are significantly increasing. InAustralia, one in 32 children in preschool will bea twin. The introduction of new technologies inreproductive (e.g. IVF) and neonatal medicine,and the trends to later motherhood, are allassociated with increased rates of multiple birth(ABS, 2002). This trend is likely to continueupward and means the need to understandtwin children’s social and educational needs hasbecome more pressing.

This increase is particularly significant becausetwins are at greater risk of biological adversity.Amongst multiple births, rates of obstetric andneonatal complications are very much higher(Hay, 2005). A higher rate of overt disabilityoccurs in twins (Hay, 2005) but there may alsobe subtle effects on development for a largernumber of twin children (Pharoah, 2002).

Twin children also experience social adversity(Rutter & Redshaw, 1991; Thorpe, Rutter &Greenwood, 2003). Comparisons with single-born children, even those with closely spaced

siblings, indicate that twins experience poorerquality of social interaction within the family(Thorpe et al., 2003). These effects are direct:young twin children spend less time in individualinteractions with adults; more time with a childof the same age; have shorter interactions withadults; and experience more parental controland less cognitively stimulating interactions(Rutter & Redshaw, 1991; Thorpe et al, 2003).Further, mothers of twins have increased rates ofmaternal depression (Thorpe, Golding,MacGillivray & Greenwood, 1991), which candiminish quality of mother-child interaction andadversely affect development (Murray & Cooper,1997). Many of these effects arise from theincreased demands on parents of twins.

There is little documentation of the social worldof young twin children outside the family(Stewart, 2003). Thus, it is unknown whethertwin children experience greater adversity inthe social environment outside the home. Twohypotheses are possible: 1. Risk Hypothesisfocuses on higher levels of biological and socialadversity experienced by twins. It suggests poorlanguage and social competency would limitsocial interaction, friendship formation andsubsequent developmental outcomes. 2.Competency Hypothesis suggests the twinsituation would increase social competencewhilst facilitating social interaction andfriendships and promoting development. Somerecent studies have found support for thecompetency hypothesis. One study ofadolescent twins in Finland, found that peersrated twins as more socially competent(Pulkkinen et al., 2003). Our own study oflanguage (Thorpe, Greenwood, Eivers & Rutter,2001) indicates that twin children may havehigher levels of social understanding gainedfrom their close relationship with their co-twin.This study seeks to address the lack ofdocumentation on the social world of youngtwins, and will identify whether twinship is arisk or advantage for social development.

Karen Thorpe and Susan Danby - Qld University of Technology


This study will also be examining the impact oftwinship on the nature and quality of twinchildren’s friendships. Both the Risk andCompetency hypotheses emphasise theimportance of friendships in mediating positivedevelopment and behavioural adjustment.Friends are a cognitive and social resource fromchildren (Danby & Baker, 2001; Hartup, 2000).They provide a context for social skill learning,and are models for later relationshipdevelopment (Bukowski et al., 1996). Childrenwho have supportive relationships adjust morereadily to life transitions, such as the transitionto school, while those with friendship difficultiesare more likely to encounter adjustmentproblems (Bukowski et al., 1996; Ladd et al.,1999). There is individual variation in howfriends affect development. The identity of thefriend and the quality of the relationship aretwo important factors (Hartup, 2000).

This study will be examining twin children in thetransition to school period. This period has beenselected for study, as little is known about twinchildren’s social experiences in the transition toschool. Further, the transition to school is acritical point in which the importance of familyrelationships and early learning experiencesbecome apparent (Thorpe et al., 2004). At thispoint, children experience the challenges of: 1.Increased formality of the learning environment;2. Expanded peer relationships and reducedadult supervision and intervention (Smith, 2002).

For further information regarding this study, pleasecontact the following members of the researchteam:

Associate Professor Karen ThorpeSchool of Early ChildhoodQueensland University of TechnologyKelvin Grove Campus, B BlockVictoria Park Rd, Kelvin Grove Q 4059Ph: 07 3864 3200Email: [email protected] Professor Susan DanbySchool of Early ChildhoodQueensland University of TechnologyKelvin Grove Campus, B Block,

Victoria Park Rd, Kelvin Grove Q 4059Ph: 07 3864 3547Email: [email protected]

ReferencesAustralian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). (2002). Special Article:Confinements resulting in multiple births, Year book 2002.

Bukowski, W. M., Newcomb, A. F., & Hartup, W. W. (1996).Friendship: Its significance in childhood and adolescence: Introductionand comment. In Bukowski, W. M., Newcomb, A. F., & Hartup, W. W.(Eds). The company they keep: Friendship in childhood andadolescence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Danby, S., & Baker, C. (2001). “Escalating terror: Communicativestrategies in a preschool classroom dispute. Early Childhood &Development, 12(3), 343-359.

Hartup, W. W. (2000). The company they keep: Friendships and theirdevelopmental significance. In W. Craig (Ed.). Childhood socialdevelopment. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell.

Hay, D. A. (2005). Coping with the special needs child. In Blickstein,I., Keith, L. G. Multiple pregnancy: Epidemiology, Gestation andPerinatal Outcome. London/New York: Parthenon Press, Ch 65.

Ladd, G. L., Birch, S. H. & Buhs, E. S. (1999). Children’s social andscholastic lives in kindergarten: Related spheres of influence? ChildDevelopment, 70(6), 1373-1400.

Murray, L. & Cooper, P. J. (Eds.). (1997). Postpartum depression andchild development. New York: Guilford Press.

Pharoah, P. O. (2002). Neurological outcome in twins. Seminars inNeonatology, 7(3), 223-230.

Pulkkinen, L., Vaalamo, I., Hietala, R., Kaprio, J. & Rose, R.J. (2003).Peer reports of adaptive behaviour in twins and singletons: Is twinshipa risk or an advantage? Twin Research, 6(2), 106-118

Rutter, M., & Redshaw, J. (1991). Annotation: Growing up as a twin:Twin-singleton differences in psychological development. Journal ofChild Psychology and Psychiatry, 32, 885-895.

Smith, N. (2002). Transition to the school playground: Anintervention programme for nursery children. Early Years, 22(2), 129-145.

Stewart, E.A. (2003). Exploring twins: Towards a social analysis oftwinship. Basingstoke: Palgrave.

Thorpe, K.J., Golding, J., MacGillivray, I., & Greenwood, R. (1991). Acomparison of the prevalence of depression in the mothers of twinsand the mothers of singletons. British Medical Journal, 302, 875-878.

Thorpe, K., Greenwood, R., Eivers, A., & Rutter, M. (2001). Prevalenceand developmental course of ‘secret language’. International Journalof Language and Communication Disorders, 36, 43-62.

Thorpe, K., Rutter, M., & Greenwood, R. (2003). Twins as a naturalexperiment to study the cause of mild language delay: II Familyinteraction differences. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.44(3), 342-355.

Thorpe, K., Tayler, C., Grieshaber, S., Bridgstock, R., Skoien, P., Danby,S., & Petriwskyj, A. (2004). External evaluation of the Preparing forSchool trial, Queensland Government, www.education.qld.gov/etrf


A Snap Shot of a Rural Japanese Kindergarten

The following photos depict the children of the Yasugi Kindergarten in theMatsue District of Japan. It is located a couple of hours north of Hiroshima.The children are aged three to four years old. The kindergarten is attachedto the Yasugi Elementary School.

by Sue Webster

In the very short hour that I had in thisclassroom, it was clear that these children wereoperating at a very similar level to Kindergartenchildren in Queensland.

The space was a little smaller than our typical

areas but class size in this case was also small -

16 children. I was informed that this is on the

low end of class size scale.

One assistant was looking after these children.

The children were attending for a full day

session.

The day included indoor and outdoor activitiessimilar to those run in our Kindergarten andPreschools.


The children thoroughly enjoyed the story of Possum Magic read in English by myself and retold inJapanese by a friend, though I am not sure the retold version was quite the way Mem Fox intended.The children and staff at the Yasugi Kindergarten were perfectly delightful and I felt very privileged tospend even a short time with these lovely children.

The children were a little shy at first because it

was thought that I was the first foreigner to

converse with them and be in touching

distance. I was quickly invited into home area

will tugs on my shirt and much Japanese

language -none of which I understood - but

their intentions were clear. I was made many

cups of tea and assorted foodstuff.

Children dragged me to the rather sparecollage table to help with a sticky tapeproblem.

I was then guided to the foam blockconstruction and shown where they kept theirbelongings. Each personal tray contained a setof felt pens and a small tin of white dough.

The children also had a separate place to hang

their coat, hat and water bottle.


‘Poems by Young Australians volume 3’ isthe collection of winning and commendedpoems from the 2005 Taronga FoundationPoetry Prize. It is the third anthology inthis exciting series - volume 1 won theAPA Best Designed Children’s Non FictionAward, and volume 2 was a Children’Book Council Notable Book. This book is adelight and a revelation, showcasing theremarkable talent of poets from 8 to 19years of age. These poets display a deepunderstanding and appreciation of theworld around them - the brilliance andenergy of their fresh young minds will takeyour breath away.

The topics explored by the poems are asdiverse as the many and varied forms thepoetry takes - from haiku to graphic, visualexplorations of language. Many of thepoems are inspired by nature. “Nature hasalways been one of the greatestinspirations for poetry. In fact, it is virtuallyimpossible to appreciate the beauty andwonder of nature without a love ofpoetry” - Bradley Trevor Greive.

This is a collection to share and enjoy - thevery best poems by young people, forpeople of all ages.

Title: Poems by Young Australians Volume 3

Author - Many Talented Australian Children aged 8 to 19Illustrations - Bradley Trevor GreiveForward - Bradley Trevor Greive

Poems by Young Australians Volume 3


This book is a very comprehensive text whichaddresses the changing face of literacy. Itfeatures chapters from many contributingauthors all of whom write about contemporarytheories of literacy and how they informpedagogical practice.

The book recognises that there have beenmajor philosophical shifts in the traditionalperspectives of literacy. As we know, childrenlive in a time when they are constantlyconfronted with new literacies which has hugeimplications for our teaching practices. It alsohighlights the importance of the “early years”and how critical children’s home andcommunity experiences are to the acquisition ofliteracy skills.

The book covers a wide range of topicsincluding literacy frameworks, literacy anddiversity and new technologies. All chapters areeasy to read and readers are able to choosethose topics which are relevant to them.

Of particular interest is the section on“Pathways to literacy”. In this section chaptersfocus on literacy transitions, children as readersand writers and authentic assessment. Manypractical ideas and examples are provided inthese chapters.

This book is written by Australian and NewZealand authors and therefore the contexts in

which the papers are set are recognisable. Itwas specifically written for undergraduatestudents and is an easy to read, valuableresource for educators who are interested inchanging theories and in the acquisition ofliteracy skills.

Kim McNamaraHead of CurriculumWellers Hill State School

Title: Literacies in Early Childhood -Changing Views Challenging Practice

Author - Laurie Makin and Criss Jones DiazPublisher - MacLennon & Petty

Literacies in Early ChildhoodChanging Views Challenging Practice


There has been much talk in recent years ofstudents who are failing to reach identifiedlevels of literacy. Every classroom teacher isaware of a present or past student who is indanger of falling behind their peers inexpected reading and writing levels. In thiscollection of edited case studies, classroomteachers explain how they implementedpractical ideas and strategies and embracedstudents’ interests in new technologies,encouraging students to actively takeresponsibility of their own learning.

According to Robyn Ewing, President of thePrimary English Teaching Association (PETA),such a publication, that communicates thereal classroom practices of teachers who haveintegrated the learning needs of students atrisk of falling behind in their literacyachievements, has been long overdue.

Robyn Ewing said, “Here is a bool that willinspire teachers to ‘turn around’ their ownteaching.

“In this book of case studies, each of theclassroom teachers decided to assress theneeds of the ‘at-risk’ student, making thestudent central to the class program ratherthan expecting the student to ‘catch up’ withthe others.

“By engaging with the students themselvesand their families, and incorporating

Title: Turn-around Pedagogies:Literacy Interventions for At-risk Students

Editors - Barbara Comber & Barbara KamlerPublisher - PETA

Turn-around Pedagogies:Literacy Interventions for At-risk Students

students’ interests and new media into the program,each of the teachers have shown that a failing inliteracy activities can be turned around to re-engagein a most positive way.”


The Annual ECTA Conference for 2006 will beheld on Saturday 24 June at John Paul College,Daisy Hill, Brisbane. This time the KeynoteSpeaker will be Dr Sue Bredekamp the famousauthor of “Developmentally appropriatepractice in early childhood programs” (1997).She has written many books since then,including “Play and school readiness” (2004)and has just recently co-authored the book“Where Bright Futures Begin” (2005). Sue iscurrently Director of Research for the Councilof Early Childhood Professional Recognition,Washington, DC and Senior Program Advisorfor RISE Learning Solutions, Cincinnati, Ohio.

With the movement toward state funded Prepclasses, the emphasis on a uniform curriculumframework, and the increased demand foracccountability, early childhood professionalsand teacher educators confront new challengesas well as opportunities. The keynote addresswill present key findings of research oneffective early childhood curriculum andteaching and describe ways the curriculum can

be adjusted to become more effective, whilealso preserving the fundamental values of theculture of early childhood education, includingemphasis on the whole child and play. Thistheme will be further extended on in aMasterclass to be held in the morning.

There will also be 2 other Masterclasses - IanLilico (Boys in Education) and Phil and SusieSplitter (Music) at least 15 other Workshops tochoose from dealing with a range of professionaland curriculum issues. There will also be anexciting and interesting Lunch-Time Program.

Conference brochures will be posted to ECTAmembers sometime in late March but at leasttwo weeks before the general mail-out. Thiswill give ECTA members a chance to registerearly and get their first or secondMasterclass/Workshop preference. The 2006Annual ECTA Conference looks to be anothersuccessful professional learning event. Look outfor further information on the ECTA web-sitewww.ecta.org.au over the next few months.

DATE CLAIMERSaturday 24 June 2006

ECTA ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2006KEYNOTE SPEAKER - DR SUE BREDEKAMP

“Effective early childhood curriculum and teaching: Staying true to our principles”.

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critical role that early childhood educators have