Using Philosophical Discussion in Exploring Kindergarten Teachers' Perceptions on the Application of Intercultural Education

Soonhwan Kim,Hyowon Suh The Pacific Early Childhood Education Research Ass 2023 Asia-Pacific journal of research in early childhoo Vol.17 No.2

This study aims to conduct philosophical discussions with kindergarten teachers to understand their perceptions regarding the adoption of intercultural education through. To this end, eight kindergarten teachers’ perceptions of intercultural education were grasped, initially through individual face-to-face interviews and additionally-after dividing the teachers into two groups of four-through philosophical discussions. First, through repeated questioning and grounds suggestions on philosophical questions during the active discussion, the kindergarten teachers were found to engage in reconceptualization toward mutual agreement. Secondly, the teachers were found to have different perceptions of how intercultural education affects early childhood teachers versus how it affects children. They suggested that philosophical discussions may be effective in intercultural education for teachers, while a democratic class climate should be formed within the current framework of education in advance to allow children to practice intercultural education. Ultimately, it was suggested that the highlighted topics and cases that make intercultural education possible should be developed for early childhood teachers and children.

How to Raise Climate Change Awareness to Early Childhood? Perception of In-Service Teacher and Pre-Service Teacher in Indonesia

Yubaedi Siron,Shania Fajriyah,Nisa Fadhliyah Rahmani The Pacific Early Childhood Education Research Ass 2021 Asia-Pacific journal of research in early childhoo Vol.15 No.1

This research aims to describe in-service and preservice teachers perspectives to promote climate change awareness in early childhood education. To engage the study, the respondents join an online interview. This study involved 187 respondents, which separated into two categories: pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, 122 and 65, respectively. This research used a qualitative method. To collect the data, this research uses a structured interview. The data analysis technique used the interactive model of Miles & Huberman with the stages of data collection, data reduction, data presentation, verification, and conclusion drawing. This research revealed no significant difference between teachers and preservice teachers in the perspective of climate change awareness in ECE. Both have diverse ways to express and think about the best thing to pursue climate change awareness in children. Participants also understand how to foster children s awareness using suitable media, learning resources, methods, indoor and outdoor play activities. Besides, participants understand how to assess the learning process to implement climate change awareness in early childhood education.

A Mixed-methods Study on Early Childhood Educators’ Aesthetic Literacy and Aesthetic Teaching Practices

Yu-Ting Chen The Pacific Early Childhood Education Research Ass 2022 Asia-Pacific journal of research in early childhoo Vol.16 No.2

As aesthetic education has become an important component of school curricula in Taiwan, aesthetic education for children is valued in early schooling. This study explores early childhood educators’ aesthetic literacy and aesthetic teaching practices in north Taiwan. The researcher conducted a mixed-methods study, including a survey and interviews, with 490 early childhood educators participating in the survey, 10 of whom participated in the interviews. The findings indicate that: (1) the early childhood educators’ mean score for aesthetic teaching practices was better than that for aesthetic literacy. (2) The high achievers in aesthetic literacy had better aesthetic teaching practices than the moderate achievers and low achievers. (3) There was a significantly positive correlation between aesthetic literacy and aesthetic teaching practices. (4) The 10 interviewed early childhood educators believed that their aesthetic teaching practices were influenced by their aesthetic literacy. They played important roles as aesthetic guides and providers to help the children explore the environment, as well as exploring, creating, and appreciating the arts. This study provides a lens for examining aesthetic education in early schooling in Taiwan, as well as valuable information about early childhood aesthetic education and teacher education in an Asian context.

A Bibliometrics Analysis of Research on Early Childhood Education in 2022

Thi-Lam Bui,Lien – Kim Thi Tran,Thi-Tham Tran,Dung-Thi My Nguyen,Ben-Phạm,Hung-Sy Ho,Linh-Phuong Hoang,Anh-Duc Hoang The Pacific Early Childhood Education Research Ass 2024 Asia-Pacific journal of research in early childhoo Vol.18 No.2

Introduction Methodology Results Conclusion, Recommendations, and Future Research Directions This research aims to find the research focus and to highlight authors, journals, and documents on early childhood education (ECE) in 2022. This article analyzed a dataset with 1586 Clarivate Web of Science indexed articles on this topic, using descriptive, co-occurrence and thematic analyses. The authors applied the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) flow to comply with the dataset. Excel, the R program in the Biblioshiny package, and VOSviewer version 1.7 were used for the descriptive and bibliographic analyses. The findings of this paper demonstrate the remarkable contribution of researchers from the United States and China in terms of research quantity and impact, as well as their collaboration with different researchers. The findings revealed four topics: language and speech; programmes, policies and their impact on children and preschool teachers; behaviour of preschool children; the quality of ECE. In addition, we figured out the top influential authors and journals. This study provided an overview of research in ECE in 2022 and highlighted essential issues that need to be focused on by ECE researchers and practitioners.

Digitising English Language Learning for Early Childhood Educators in Malaysian Context: The Rationale

Wan Jumani Fauzi,Noor Raha Mohd Radzuan,Ezihaslinda Ngah,Anita Abdul Rani,Fatimah Ali The Pacific Early Childhood Education Research Ass 2021 Asia-Pacific journal of research in early childhoo Vol.15 No.3

Nowadays, many kindergartens in Malaysia are striving toward using English in their daily activities with their children and some even use English language as their medium of instruction. However, some of the early childhood educators were not well equipped with the knowledge of English language. This paper aims to report the rationale for digitising English language learning through the development of Kindy Talk Application in terms of approach, content and design. Kindy Talk Application is a mobile application for Malaysian early childhood educators to utilise accurate language in their daily routine interactions and instructional language typically used at daycare centres. This development of the application stemmed from a series of workshops with 2 modules, namely Communication English and Storytelling techniques. These workshops aimed at increasing 30 Pahang early childhood educators’ professional development. To ensure the sustainability of the training, the Kindy Talk Application, which uses augmented reality technology was developed to allow users to practise the daily routine and instructional language using their mobile phones in a safe autonomous learning environment. This enhances the language proficiency and confidence of Malaysian early childhood educators.

Educating the Teacher Educators: Embedding Te Tiriti o Waitangi Relationships in Ongoing Professional Learning and Development

Sonya Gaches,Rachel Martin,Beverley Clark,Mahana Paerata The Pacific Early Childhood Education Research Ass 2022 Asia-Pacific journal of research in early childhoo Vol.16 No.3

Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the founding document for Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu New Zealand, establishes Māori authority and sovereignty over lands as well as Māori ways of being, doing and knowing (mātauranga Māori). This article describes how a professional learning and development (PLD) programme for university staff was implemented to increase staff integration of te reo Māori (Māori language) and inclusion of Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnerships and relationships in education. Drawing from Kaupapa Māori principles and Te Tiriti o Waitangi framework, two non-Māori lecturers met with two Māori lecturers to better integrate te reo me kā tikaka Māori (Māori language and cultural practices) into their courses. This pairing was created to ensure that a range of Māori and non-Māori perspectives were recognized. Thematic analysis of PLD session transcripts and critical reflexions have indicated the importance of relational, personalised PLD; access to knowledge, skills, and resources; and safe spaces for risk-taking. Outcomes have included increased motivation, confidence and integration of te reo me kā tikaka Māori throughout programmes and increased confidence as Te Tiriti o Waitangi partners. As a result, the PLD programme has had increased uptake with other staff and has provoked change in teaching and learning.

Observational Study of Early Childhood Care and Education Programs in Rural Government Primary Schools in Tamil Nadu, India

Shubha Janardhan,Jayanthi Venkataraman,Suptendra Nath Sarbadhikari The Pacific Early Childhood Education Research Ass 2021 Asia-Pacific journal of research in early childhoo Vol.15 No.2

An Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) program in rural India was evaluated in terms of care and learning outcomes of children. The study was undertaken to observe and describe the ECCE system for children who were economically and educationally disadvantaged and enrolled in three Government Primary Schools (GPS) in India. In particular, the study tries to answer the question, ‘What factors affect the learning of Mathematics and English in the primary schools of rural Tamil Nadu?’ This Observational study was undertaken over a six-month period. The study included 183 children from LKG to Class 3 in normative stages of development as per their age and stage requirements. The parameters that were observed included learning outcomes in Math, English, Science and Social studies. An innovative daily baseline assessment was undertaken over a three-month period to understand children’s learning milestones. Results indicate that the learning outcomes were deplorably poor by Indian and international standards of education. Many challenges still remain in helping children gain a healthy start to life. There is a lack of an integrated framework that combines both health & well-being and learning. In the COVID-19 pandemic era, it is critical to move away from the traditional physical center models to a more hybrid scientific and technology driven systems for scale that are financially viable. These require a planned approach for introduction considering the scale in which it has to be implemented in India. Such plans need to be both top-down and bottom-up approach which entail large up-front investment in communicating and educating all the stakeholders. Personalized attention is not possible in traditional systems catering to such a large population. Additionally, and more importantly, there are no early warning mechanisms in place to help identify issues when it matters the most. Our analysis supports our research question and proves our hypotheses.

Critical Analysis of “Sustainability” in Korean Early Childhood Curriculum from Posthuman Perspectives

Hyunsun Suh The Pacific Early Childhood Education Research Ass 2022 Asia-Pacific journal of research in early childhoo Vol.16 No.3

This study analyzed how the recently revised Korean early childhood curriculum describes and discusses sustainability through a critical perspective using posthumanism to destabilize anthropocentric thinking and expand the concept of sustainability. The notion of sustainability described in the General Guidelines and Commentaries of the Korean Early Childhood Curriculum reveal limitations and the potential of the ontological, epistemological, and ethical foundations which serve as the basis of early childhood education. While sustainability was expressed as a new value from which the curriculum stems, it was presented as traditional nature, resource conservation, and raising animals and plants based on human-centered thinking written as educational content. However, through the vison of an educated person of the curriculum, children were found to be relational beings, and in everyday encounters they influenced and interacted with various more-than-human others; there was room for the interpretation that not only children but also other beings exert agency. We live entangled with multiple species. This implies that early childhood pedagogy has the potential to broaden understanding and practice and generate vigorous debate on sustainability.

Preschool Educators’ Readiness to Promote Children’s Emotional Competence

Tammy Somerwil,Helen Klieve,Beryl Exley The Pacific Early Childhood Education Research Ass 2020 Asia-Pacific journal of research in early childhoo Vol.14 No.2

The development of children’s emotional competence (EC) throughout the preschool period is critical for supporting their future social competence, transition to school and long-term academic success. This paper reports on survey responses of 78 Australian preschool educators to the scale Preschool Educators’ Readiness for Promoting Children’s Emotional Competence modified from Bouillet, Ivanec & Miljević-Riđički (2014) and a short open response section. This scale sought the views of educators regarding aspects such as their competence, willingness to promote children’s emotional competence and the influence of institutional environment and conditions, with response variations explored across different locations, centre type and also respondent age. While responses indicated strong agreement regarding ability to successfully conduct activities to promote emotional competence and also respondent’s prioritization of activities for emotional competence before cognitive skills, there also were differences observed across respondents. For example, almost half responded that they were not adequately prepared by their undergraduate education to promote emotional competence. A small number of open responses were supplied (n=24). Given the small sample, these were used as additional evidence to support and explain the findings from the quantitative analysis. Overall findings highlight the need for strategies to support these educators. These include additional information and practical strategies within undergraduate training, the development of a shared language that defines these issues, ongoing professional development in their workplaces and a greater availability of practical strategies and programs to support them in delivering this important role.

Parent Attachment relationships and aggressive tendencies during early years in Kenya

Daughty Onyango,Peter JO Aloka,Benson Charles Odongo The Pacific Early Childhood Education Research Ass 2021 Asia-Pacific journal of research in early childhoo Vol.15 No.2

There are reported cases of relational aggression among learners at public pre-schools in Kenya, however, very scanty research has been done in this regard. The study examined parent attachment relationships and aggressive tendencies among learners during early years in Kenya. Ex-post facto research design was adopted. The sample size consisted of 348 pre-school learners and 277 parents obtained by using the simple random sampling technique. The Parent-child Attachment and Aggressive Tendencies Questionnaires were used to collect data from parents. Construct validity was ensured by the researchers in psychology and early childhood education. Cronbach’s alpha was used to establish the reliability of the questionnaires and the subscales had alpha of between 0.7 to 0.9. The results indicated a strong negative correlation (n=68; r = -.827; p < 0.05) between secure attachment and aggressive tendencies; weak (n=80; r =.248; p=.026), positive correlation between parent-child ambivalent attachment and aggressive tendencies; a fairly strong positive correlation (n=40; r =.684; p < 0.05) between parent-child disorganized attachment and aggressive tendencies and a weak positive correlation [n=48; r =.043; p =.772 between avoidant attachment and aggressive tendencies. The study recommends that teacher counselors should ensure early screening for those with vulnerable attachments.