Research Around The World

I went into the Early Childhood Australia website and went into resource themes and found The Early Years learning Framework (EYLF) it is the first early years framework endorsed by the Council of Australia Governments.  I found myself drawn into finding out more about it so I went to the table of contents where you can find  5 principles  each focusing on  what we consider effective and quality programming.  It also lists Practice and discusses topics such as responsiveness to children, learning through play, Holistic approaches, cultural competency, continuity of learning and transitions, and assessment for learning.  The third section focuses on the learning outcomes which are sectioned into five outcomes for children.  I have become completely absorb in this area and find myself going through the practice section to learn more about how they feel practices should be reflected in the classrooms. The Holistic  approaches discusses effective practice through play and pedagogy , and a section called swings and rounabouts with an emphasis on giving children a voice and listening to parents to learn about them and their children.  The responsiveness to children focuses on scaffolding instruction and the research on how children learn to talk and the importance of talking to babies and the direct link to children’s speech.  Learning through play reports on the importance of play for children to develop in all the areas of development. The practice of intentional teaching has links to how to provide high-quality teaching through sustained shared thinking and persistence to help children learn and explore. The learning environment discusses how to create environments that promote quality.

Each practice offers articles related to the topic and a list of books that can be purchased that also relate to the topic.  I clicked on nurturing persistence in young children and the link took me to an article on the Zero to Three web site.   I also clicked on How do we support children’s sustained shared thinking? and the article gave great strategies for staff to use when they are engaging in conversation. The article gives open ended question starters which are called positive questioning.  It also connects to the High/Scope curriculum.

I find this information useful for me currently because as a mentor/coach I am always looking for information to help teachers become effective within their classrooms.  One of the hardest things I have found is helping teachers find ways to maintain conversations with children instead of asking questions that close the conversations.  I plan on passing this information on to a few teachers who struggle with asking questions to learn what children are doing and learning. As for my research this information would be useful for mentors when working with mentees, it is great literature to add as a tool in my research simulation.