ORCID Profile
0000-0002-9590-1949
Current Organisations
The University of Canberra
,
University Of Strathclyde
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Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 03-07-2021
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 04-05-2022
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 03-2012
DOI: 10.1177/183693911203700109
Abstract: THIS ARTICLE INVESTIGATES EARLY childhood educators' perceptions of advocacy in raising the professional status with multiple stakeholders in erse contexts. The article reports on findings from a phenomenological study investigating the perceptions of 12 educators working full time in long-daycare settings across Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Findings revealed that participants were ambivalent towards power, as they perceived themselves to be influential within internal workplace settings yet felt raising the professional status to be the responsibility of senior stakeholders in wider sociopolitical contexts. Recommendations for the prospective utilisation of advocacy, and implications for supplementary research are relayed.
Publisher: BRILL
Date: 2013
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Date: 2022
Publisher: Peter Lang US
Date: 2020
DOI: 10.3726/B16302
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 2013
DOI: 10.2304/CIEC.2013.14.4.290
Abstract: As an ideology, the concept of social justice has long been a worthy, if slightly volatile, companion of early childhood theorists and researchers. Whilst the majority of the literature has valorised social justice, discontented questions regarding ‘what’ the construct entails and ‘how’ it might be tamed to work still remain. Using complexity theory, this article problematises the amalgam of social justice by readdressing the role of participation, inclusion and equality in early childhood systems. It is argued that social justice evolves from essentially local and relational interactions amongst a range of stakeholders. By framing early childhood interactions as those occurring within the context of relationships which are embedded within open systems (that is, systems within systems), this article discusses how interactions in early childhood involve a set of complex, yet systematic, processes which can only be understood as they unfold. Contextualised against the dominant discourse of ‘normalisation’ in early childhood, this article uses aspects of complexity theory such as non-linearity, emergence and recurrency to focus on the ways in which layers of social justice are embedded in the values and processes experienced in early childhood systems. Drawing on the philosophical roots of transformative education, it focuses particularly on the use of complexity theory to frame concepts of children's power, agency and participation. It discusses how the proactive praxis of social justice might emerge from within early childhood systems.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 17-12-2018
Abstract: While the importance of inclusive approaches to research has been identified, much childhood research is still done ‘to’ not ‘with’ young children, with research focusing on the experiences of children who experience disability commonly involving data from parents/families ractitioners, rather than from children themselves. In this article, we explore the development of an arts-based research project involving young children who experience disability as active participants in an exploration of their perspectives on inclusive education. Accordingly, we ruminate on questions about how we can genuinely ‘listen’ to children who experience disability in an aesthetic and ethical manner, and how we can use artistic ways of knowing to engage in meaning-making with children. Using arts-based research as an aesthetic framework alongside insights from critical pedagogy as a theoretical framework, we explore ‘aesthetic’ approaches to being, teaching, researching and knowing. As a team of researchers who do and do not experience disability, we share reflections on arts-based methodologies informed by critical approaches to conceptualising disability and research. As artistic modes of expression are central to young children’s everyday lives and play and can create enjoyable and safe communicative spaces, we share dialogues, artwork and methodological reflections on opportunities for children to choose ways of interacting and communicating, allowing possibilities for agency, expression and creativity. Specifically, we conceptualise and concentrate on possibilities for using arts to foster ‘listening’, meaning-making and generative or transformative praxis, in order to explore how arts-based research can be a powerful, authentic, ethical and meaningful provocateur for listening ‘generatively’ to young children who experience disability in research.
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Date: 2022
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Date: 26-05-2022
DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780199756810-0291
Abstract: The literature on advocacy and activism in early childhood spans across multiple disciplines including those related to the care, development, and education of children from birth to eight years of age. Advocacy can be defined as the proactive promotion or awareness-raising of a cause or barriers (e.g., barriers to participation, inclusion, and equity). Advocacy aims to influence change in ways of thinking, being, and doing across micro- to macro- level contexts (for ex le, within family-educator relationships and at the policy level). This literature overlaps with scholarship on activism. However, there are also many tensions and conceptual differences in understandings of advocacy and activism, with writers suggesting that advocacy involves working within systems and structures, while activism involves an element of resistance (e.g., protest, civil disobedience, etc.). Given the synergistic nature of overlaps, for the purposes of this article, key works that focus on the intersection of activism and advocacy have been included. However, we acknowledge that the broader literature on concepts related to activism such as resistance (unpacked by seminal scholars—most notably, Peter Moss, Glenda Mac Naughton, Hillevi Lenz Taguchi, and others), are not the focus of this piece as they constitute a closely related, but separate, body of literature. The article therefore remains focused only on activism and advocacy in early childhood, and is organized in five main themes: (a) reconceptualist theory, activism and advocacy, (b) advocacy and activism for children and families, (c) advocacy and activism by children and families, (d) advocacy and activism for/with/by early childhood professions, and (e) enabling and mobilizing advocacy and activism. Reconceptualist theories are central to much scholarship in early childhood (see for ex le, the seminal book series Contesting Early Childhood, published by Routledge). In particular, as a reconceptualist lens is often used in discussing advocacy and activism-related early childhood topics such as quality, leadership, social justice and professional identity—a section on reconceptualist theory, activism, and advocacy is included here at the outset. Advocacy and activism for children and families involves professionals across international contexts advocating for issues affecting children (such as childhood obesity) and is largely led by practitioners—such as healthcare professionals, educators, social care workers, civil society organizations, and other allied professionals or entities (e.g., faith-based organizations)—in order to meet children’s needs and/or improve outcomes for children and families. Advocacy and activism by children and families involves writings on advocacy initiatives led by families and children—for ex le, families advocating for their children’s rights to quality education where their child experiences disability. Advocacy and activism for/with/by early childhood professionals is focused primarily on self-advocacy for those working in early childhood sectors. This section investigates work on the understandings and practices of practitioners in advocating for improved professionalism, greater valuing of early childhood in policy and practice, and better status, pay, and working conditions—particularly for early childhood educators. The themes of leadership and enabling and mobilizing advocacy investigate works where in iduals and organizations seek to empower and support in iduals (including children, families, teachers, pre-service educators, etc.) to engage with/in advocacy. This includes research on leadership, advocacy training, activism tools, and articles highlighting pertinent gaps where advocacy and activism skill development is needed. As far as possible, this bibliography includes only recent literature (from 2012).
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 08-12-2017
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-06-2021
DOI: 10.1002/CAR.2683
Abstract: This study explores perceptions of child abuse and child protection matters involving staff working in the out‐of‐school‐hours care (OSHC) sector. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through an online survey, focus group and interviews with staff and managers employed by one organisation that provided OSHC services in Sydney, Australia. This paper reports on their perceptions about implementing mandatory reporting requirements associated with the concepts of ‘significant harm’ and ‘reportable conduct’. The aim of this paper is to engage OSHC stakeholders, including government, in reviewing child protection policies and practices to support educators in their work with children. Key findings indicate the inadequacy of available training, and the importance of relationships and communication between stakeholders, especially OSHC and school staff. This requires systemic change including raising the status of OSHC and the critical role that these educators have in supporting children's development, learning and wellbeing during the early years of school. It is important that leadership supports educators to engage in respectful partnerships with families and schools to ensure child protection, and thereby child wellbeing and learning outcomes Training in supporting children's safety and wellbeing in OSHC is critical. There is a need for a systems approach to OSHC services which places children's development, learning and wellbeing at the forefront of professional practice. ‘Explores perceptions of child abuse and child protection matters involving staff working in the out‐of‐school‐hours care (OSHC) sector’
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
No related grants have been discovered for Zinnia Mevawalla.