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There is well-established evidence that the quality of early childhood education workforce impacts upon children's learning. Attracting qualified teacher graduates to work in early childhood centres is an essential component towards the provision of quality care. Significant investment by the Australian Government has been made to prepare early childhood teachers, yet teaching at this level is characterised by poorer working conditions compared with primary school teachers. Various programme models qualify applicants as early childhood teachers, yet there is no evidence of the most appropriate model. Our study's focus was to identify reasons for entering a teacher education programme, career intentions and satisfaction of pre-service teachers enrolled in early childhood/primary degree programmes at two Australian universities. Findings demonstrate that the degrees were not fulfilling the government investment goals for increasing early childhood teacher numbers, nor were the degrees meeting student expectation for an early childhood teaching career. We argue that renewed policy strategies are required to support new early childhood graduates and professionals, and attract teachers to work in early childhood education. Keywords Early childhood teachers, qualifications, pre-service teachers, employment in early childhood, Introduction All children deserve the right to high-quality education that commences in the early years (UNICEF, 2017). Research shows that the higher the qualification of educators, the better the outcomes [...]

THE SEARCH TO IMPROVE achievement in literacy is worldwide. Success is seen as an important social and cultural marker. Contemporary scholars discuss the importance of children's social interactions as they co-construct literacy learning. As early childhood educators play a role in children's communities, their knowledge and literacy teaching and learning approaches are important, and the focus of this paper. Practitioner research, using a literacy environment rating scale and photostories, was used to focus on change in early literacy environments. I share the methods, processes, strategies and approaches for strengthening practice to offer support for others planning and implementing practitioner research or early literacy-focused projects. Action research, accompanied by the use of the mediating artefacts of the scale and photostories, was found to be a useful methodology for change in literacy learning environments, but was not without challenges., Introduction and background Language and literacy are key human achievements for fulfillment, meaning-making and transmission, critical consciousness and empowerment in social, cultural and political life, freeing people to achieve a [...]

WESTERN DISCOURSES OF EARLY childhood pedagogy promote a play-based approach to learning, growth and development. However, play is a contested concept. Educators' understandings can vary from allowing freedom for children to play without interference, through to a range of adult engagement levels. The Australian Early Years Learning Framework adopts a play-based approach to children's growth and development, though says little about adult roles or intentionality in play. This paper draws from recent research that explored educators' beliefs and understandings of their roles as intentional teachers within indoor and outdoor learning environments. Findings highlighted differences between role and responsibility perceptions whereby educators shifted roles from teacher to supervisor between contexts. Drawing on Vygotsky's sociocultural approach that regards play as a social event and the leading source of development, promoting cognitive, emotional and social development in young children (Connery, John-Steiner & MarjanovicShane, 2010), we believe that a re-examination of the role of the educator in children's play requires specific attention. Finally, based on the research, we contest the notion of 'free play'. This paper suggests that by acknowledging the role of the educator as an intentional teacher both indoors and outdoors, and emphasising the complexity of the educator role, a more robust definition of play that is reflective of contemporary early childhood contexts and curricula can evolve to strengthen educator understanding and practice., Introduction Early childhood educators in the western world have long been committed to the notion of 'free play' or 'free choice' as a core pedagogical approach (Lester & Russell, 2008; [...]

THE SEARCH TO IMPROVE achievement in literacy is worldwide. Success is seen as an important social and cultural marker. Contemporary scholars discuss the importance of children's social interactions as they co-construct literacy learning. As early childhood educators play a role in children's communities, their knowledge and literacy teaching and learning approaches are important, and the focus of this paper. Practitioner research, using a literacy environment rating scale and photostories, was used to focus on change in early literacy environments. I share the methods, processes, strategies and approaches for strengthening practice to offer support for others planning and implementing practitioner research or early literacy-focused projects. Action research, accompanied by the use of the mediating artefacts of the scale and photostories, was found to be a useful methodology for change in literacy learning environments, but was not without challenges., Introduction and background Language and literacy are key human achievements for fulfillment, meaning-making and transmission, critical consciousness and empowerment in social, cultural and political life, freeing people to achieve a [...]

All early childhood educators, whether they work directly or indirectly with children and families, are confronted with problematic situations that involve ethical issues needing to be resolved. Ethical issues arise in early childhood educators' relationships with children, with families, with colleagues, with supervisors, with students and with the community and society. In this article, it is argued that early childhood students in their professional preparation courses should be exposed to ethical inquiry and become actively engaged in making ethical judgements. It is our proposition that they will then enter the profession of early childhood education as ethical thinkers well-equipped to make sound ethical judgements. The Ethical Response Cycle is presented as a process-based tool for helping professionals apply and justify sensitive and systematic reflective reasoning to problematic situations. The cycle can be used by tertiary educators and students in professional preparation programs and by professionals already in the workplace., Introduction Establishing and maintaining professionalism of the highest standard is critical for all early childhood educators, whether they work directly or indirectly with children and families. It is argued in [...]

People in leadership positions in early childhood services have multifaceted jobs. Underpinning all aspects of their leadership is the need to act ethically and to lead their team to do likewise. In this paper it is argued that acting ethically is not enough, particularly in a climate of change and challenge. Leaders are called on to reconceptualise their ideas about the importance of the ethical agenda to all aspects of their work. They are prompted to show conceptual leadership by not only leading ethically but also finding ways in which they can move the ethical agenda in Australia forward. Some ideas are proposed and leaders are asked to reconsider the importance of ethics in their work within early childhood settings and beyond., In a Sydney newspaper recently I saw a small article that outlined how child care centres were closing in less affluent suburbs of gydney. The author (unnamed) went on to [...]

The issue of professional ethics is often the subject of media attention. Currently in many parts of Australia, the behaviour of politicians, police, teachers, and journalists is under scrutiny, leading [...]

Making Modern Lives: subjectivity, schooling and social change Julie McLeod and Lyn Yates New York: State University of New York Press, 2006, ISBN 0 791 467 686 This book was [...]

Abstract A questionnaire was designed and mailed to the entire membership (no. = 438) of the San Francisco Bay Area Chiropractic Society to determine their nutrition education backgrounds and counseling practices and the relationship of backgrounds and information resources to counseling practices. Results, based on the 23% response rate, indicated that the hours of formal nutrition education in chiropractic college varied widely in the five categories of responses from zero to more than 120, with the median respondent falling in the median category (81 to 100 hours). Sixty percent of the respondents indicated that they provided nutrition information to their patients on a routine basis, and 38% provided information on request only The major forms of nutrition information dissemination were counseling (87%) and written materials (74%). The majority of respondents reported that they diagnose osteoporosis, arthritis, and allergies and use nutrition treatments for those disorders as a part of overall therapy Chiropractic journals and texts were the most frequently used sources of nutrition information. Awareness of the educational backgrounds of registered dietitians correlated positively with the use of dietitians as a resource for nutrition information p, There are approximately 8,000 chiropractors licensed in the state of California. Although chiropractors are restricted from the use of medications listed in the Materia Medica and from surgery in California [...]