Full Description
Strong Foundations: Evidence informing practice in early childhood education and care celebrates the progress made by the Australian early childhood education and care profession since the implementation of the Early Years Learning Framework. Recognising this progress, Associate Professor Anna Kilderry and Honorary Professor Bridie Raban lead a team of 33 notable contributors from 11 universities and institutions across Australia, who focus on the challenges of access, equity and quality that remain across the sector.
Together with a Foreword by Professor Alison Elliott, Strong Foundations brings together knowledge and insights from research in education, health, social care, child safety, science, mathematics and the arts. The book addresses policy requirements from the Early Years Learning Framework, the National Quality Standard and Quality Improvement Plans and includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives. With an emphasis on professional practice expectations, it showcases evidence from Australian and international research and provides case studies of how early childhood educators are applying evidence-informed actions in a wide variety of childcare centres and services.
Strong Foundations translates high-quality research and supports the everyday practice of early childhood educators and the subsequent long-term outcomes for children in their care, their families and their communities.
Contents
Foreword by Alison Elliott
About the editors and contributors
Acknowledgements
SECTION 1 - The early childhood years: context
Chapter 1 Early childhood education and care in challenging times
Anna Kilderry and Bridie Raban
Chapter 2 Investigating early childhood practice: insights from a large Australian study
Dan Cloney
Chapter 3 The early childhood professional
Megan Gibson and Lyn Gunn
Chapter 4 Building inclusive education communities
Kathy Cologon
SECTION 2 - Identity, wellbeing and children contributing to their world
Chapter 5 Early childhood outdoor environments: places for play, learning and wellbeing
Anne-Marie Morrissey, Llewellyn Wishart and Deborah Moore
Chapter 6 Healthy lifestyle behaviours in the first five years of life
Rachel Laws, Penny Love, Katherine Downing and Jill Hnatiuk
Chapter 7 Keeping children safe
Nicole Downes
Chapter 8 Social and emotional development in early childhood
Claire Blewitt, Helen Skouteris, Heidi Bergmeier and Amanda O'Connor
Chapter 9 Facilitating children's agency in early childhood education and care
Caroline Scott, Andrea Nolan and Anna Kilderry
SECTION 3 - Children as confident and involved learners
Chapter 10 Play and early childhood pedagogies
Nicole Leggett
Chapter 11 Supporting oral language development in young children
Louise Paatsch and Andrea Nolan
Chapter 12 Early literacy
Bridie Raban
Chapter 13 Learning about STEM
Coral Campbell
Chapter 14 Learning about mathematics
Bob Perry and Sue Dockett
Chapter 15 Learning through the arts
Susan Wright and Jan Deans
Chapter 16 Play and learning in the digital age
Nicola Yelland
Chapter 17 Assessment and documentation for children's learning and development
Bronwyn Reynolds
SECTION 4 - Children and society: building positive futures
Chapter 18 Early years transitions
Sue Dockett and Bob Perry
Chapter 19 Building positive relationships with families and communities
Laura McFarland
Chapter 20 Leading practice in early childhood education
Jo Bird and Angel Mok
Chapter 21 Rethinking research in early childhood: (re)turning the kaleidoscope
Jeanne Marie Iorio and Will Parnell
Chapter 22 Learning to surf: embracing change in the early childhood sector
Jen Jackson
Glossary
Index
