What is life like for babies and toddlers in childcare? Understanding the 'lived experience' of infants through innovative mosaic methodology. High quality childcare provision is a continuing policy challenge for the Australian Government. Lack of public confidence in childcare contributes to Australia's relatively low female workforce participation and constrains economic growth. This study will increase public, professional and parental knowledge of what life in childcare is like for infants; ....What is life like for babies and toddlers in childcare? Understanding the 'lived experience' of infants through innovative mosaic methodology. High quality childcare provision is a continuing policy challenge for the Australian Government. Lack of public confidence in childcare contributes to Australia's relatively low female workforce participation and constrains economic growth. This study will increase public, professional and parental knowledge of what life in childcare is like for infants; assist parents to make informed choices about childcare; enhance carers' professional practice; and provide guidance to the National Childcare Accreditation Council and relevant government departments about how to improve the quality of infant childcare. It will also lead to better outcomes for infants and help to ensure their healthy start to life. Read moreRead less
A Pedagogy for Multiliteracies with Information and Communication Technologies in Early Childhood Education. The goal of this project is to determine the most effective pedagogy for the use of ICT in Australian early childhood education. The research is essential in order to plan for a world-class educational future for young Australians. A collaborative action-research program will be undertaken by three leading academics in association with a network of thirty-six teachers in three states. Thi ....A Pedagogy for Multiliteracies with Information and Communication Technologies in Early Childhood Education. The goal of this project is to determine the most effective pedagogy for the use of ICT in Australian early childhood education. The research is essential in order to plan for a world-class educational future for young Australians. A collaborative action-research program will be undertaken by three leading academics in association with a network of thirty-six teachers in three states. This innovative research approach is based on a multiliteracies framework. The project will investigate how ICT can best be used for enhancing children's learning and identify specific ways in which teachers can develop multiliteracies in early childhood education environments. Read moreRead less
An exploratory cluster trial of a sustainable capacity building intervention to promote positive child mental health in Family Day Care. Rarely is solution-oriented intervention research built and conducted with rigorous research designs in communities of extreme disadvantage. This study builds on the enthusiasm of a leading child welfare organisation in its commitment to contribute to evidence for practice-oriented solutions. The research will serve as a model for the Family Day Care and childc ....An exploratory cluster trial of a sustainable capacity building intervention to promote positive child mental health in Family Day Care. Rarely is solution-oriented intervention research built and conducted with rigorous research designs in communities of extreme disadvantage. This study builds on the enthusiasm of a leading child welfare organisation in its commitment to contribute to evidence for practice-oriented solutions. The research will serve as a model for the Family Day Care and childcare sectors. The study is an essential step in the development of an intervention prior to a large-scale evaluation. With a strong evidence base, this program may be implemented widely within the sector nationally, thus addressing a key area of children's health inequalities - mental health.Read moreRead less
Optimising the quality of long day care: Early childhood teachers' perceptions of the impact of regulation. This study will investigate long day care teachers' perceptions of the cumulative impact of statutory, regulatory and other externally determined requirements on their capacity to provide the quality of care essential to young children's well being, development and healthy start to life. By seeking teachers' views about how to address mounting concerns about balancing public accountability ....Optimising the quality of long day care: Early childhood teachers' perceptions of the impact of regulation. This study will investigate long day care teachers' perceptions of the cumulative impact of statutory, regulatory and other externally determined requirements on their capacity to provide the quality of care essential to young children's well being, development and healthy start to life. By seeking teachers' views about how to address mounting concerns about balancing public accountability and professional autonomy, the study recognises their potential to contribute actively to policy-making. Outcomes will include guidelines to inform policy development by major stakeholders (e.g., government departments, employers, industrial unions); suggested strategies for policy implementation; and resources to facilitate teachers' professional decision-making.Read moreRead less
Children of the new millennium: Using information and communication technologies for playing and learning in the information age. This research explores the development of young children's expertise with information and communication technologies from the preschool to the second year of school. It examines where young children in diverse socioeconomic areas use information and communication technologies, how many forms of it they use and to what extent technology relates to other forms of play ....Children of the new millennium: Using information and communication technologies for playing and learning in the information age. This research explores the development of young children's expertise with information and communication technologies from the preschool to the second year of school. It examines where young children in diverse socioeconomic areas use information and communication technologies, how many forms of it they use and to what extent technology relates to other forms of play and learning in literacy and numeracy. An assessment tool will be developed to explore how children's knowledge, understanding and use of technology changes over time. The research will inform policy and curriculum directions in the early years of education.Read moreRead less
The Young Learners' Project: Identifying personalised teaching strategies for early literacy in children in preschool and the first year of school. High quality learning experiences coupled with personalised, evidence-based adult support in the preschool years shape children's life-long attitudes and motivation for learning, and form the basis of strong outcomes in adulthood. Of particular importance is the development of literacy. Not all children, however, have such experiences and some need ....The Young Learners' Project: Identifying personalised teaching strategies for early literacy in children in preschool and the first year of school. High quality learning experiences coupled with personalised, evidence-based adult support in the preschool years shape children's life-long attitudes and motivation for learning, and form the basis of strong outcomes in adulthood. Of particular importance is the development of literacy. Not all children, however, have such experiences and some need extra support from their families and teachers. From this study knowledge will be gained that will assist teachers and parents to support children before beginning school so that they are prepared for formal literacy learning. This will lead to greater prospects of financial and social benefits in adulthood. Read moreRead less
Babies, ethnographies of belonging in 'at risk' communities, and the new compulsory Early Years Learning Framework. This project will develop new understandings about how a sense of belonging can be fostered in early childhood education settings, especially for babies and their families in marginalised communities. It will produce rich accounts of belonging to assist early childhood educators to implement the new compulsory national early childhood curriculum.
Beyond letters, numbers and screens: new basics, technologies, numeracy and early childhood education. This project will create detailed models of the 'New Basics' approach to teaching and learning numeracy using information technologies (IT). The models will provide springboards for action for Queensland and Australian teachers. The project will document how numeracy can be learned through IT to produce students who are more technologically aware and whose numeracy skills are enhanced. Resul ....Beyond letters, numbers and screens: new basics, technologies, numeracy and early childhood education. This project will create detailed models of the 'New Basics' approach to teaching and learning numeracy using information technologies (IT). The models will provide springboards for action for Queensland and Australian teachers. The project will document how numeracy can be learned through IT to produce students who are more technologically aware and whose numeracy skills are enhanced. Resulting data will inform the research and educational community about the cognitive and social aspects of young children learning numeracy through IT. The findings will be of strategic importance for planning educational opportunities to produce citizens of the 21st century.Read moreRead less
Building executive function in imaginary play. This project aims to develop a sustainable, play-based program to increase the executive functions of children in the year prior to school. Executive functions (EF) are cognitive processes that control an individual’s behaviour and cognition and include processes such as working memory, inhibitory control and attention. There is evidence that EF skills are critical to a successful transition to formal learning environments and future academic achiev ....Building executive function in imaginary play. This project aims to develop a sustainable, play-based program to increase the executive functions of children in the year prior to school. Executive functions (EF) are cognitive processes that control an individual’s behaviour and cognition and include processes such as working memory, inhibitory control and attention. There is evidence that EF skills are critical to a successful transition to formal learning environments and future academic achievement, and that they are amenable to early intervention. Improving children’s EF skills in the year prior to school could produce lasting benefits across the school years, particularly for more vulnerable children. This project intends to inform professional development programs in early childhood education.Read moreRead less
ABRA: improving foundational literacy through technology in regional and remote schools through a randomized controlled trial. Education outcomes in regional and remote Australia, particularly for Indigenous students, are worsening, to the point of constituting a national crisis. Skilled educators are not consistently available in sufficient numbers to arrest this trend in the early years by giving the intensive, continuous expert instruction required. Under limited pilot conditions, a web-base ....ABRA: improving foundational literacy through technology in regional and remote schools through a randomized controlled trial. Education outcomes in regional and remote Australia, particularly for Indigenous students, are worsening, to the point of constituting a national crisis. Skilled educators are not consistently available in sufficient numbers to arrest this trend in the early years by giving the intensive, continuous expert instruction required. Under limited pilot conditions, a web-based instructional tool known as ABRACADABRA has shown considerable promise as a means of conferring the foundational skills in literacy for emerging learners, despite high workforce turnover. Testing the effectiveness of ABRACADABRA under more stringent experimental conditions is an essential precursor to offering tested solutions based on evidence, not advocacy.Read moreRead less