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A child's home environment has been shown to be related to the development of early numeracy skills in some countries. However, significant relationships between home learning environment and math achievement have not consistently been found, and likely vary across different cultural and socio-political contexts. Here we explored the home environment and early numeracy skills of 243 children (3-5 years), who were not attending preschool programmes in very low-income settings in Cape Town, South Africa. Caregivers completed a questionnaire including information regarding experiences of children in the home; children completed a number identification task, a counting task and the Give-N task. The amount of resources in the home learning environment (e.g. the number of books and toys), frequency of home learning activities caregivers did with their children, and caregiver levels of education and income were not associated with number knowledge. While the home learning environment has been shown to be important for developing early numeracy skills in previous research, this study suggests that factors other than the home learning environment may also be important targets to foster numeracy skills and school readiness in low-income settings in South Africa.

This study aimed to examine associations between gross motor skills and executive functions (EF) in a large sample of Australian preschool-aged children. Of 566 children (mean age = 3.2 ± 0.4 years, 51.2% girls), locomotor, object control, and total skill competence were significantly associated with visual spatial working memory and inhibition (p < 0.05). Total skill competence was associated with shifting and locomotor skills were significantly associated with self-regulation (p < 0.05). Static balance was significantly associated with inhibition and shifting (p < 0.05). In boys, an association between object control skills and visual spatial working memory was observed. In girls, an association between static balance and visual spatial working memory, phonological working memory, and shifting was observed. The identification of significant associations between gross motor skills and different EFs is an important contribution to the growing evidence on the relationship between motor skills and EFs in early childhood.

Due to the lack of tools that can be easily used by practitioners, there is a need to develop acceptable embedded ways to assess children's fine motor skill development within early childhood education and care settings. This study examined the validity and reliability of a brief and ecologically valid fine motor assessment tool for preschool-aged children; the fine motor growth assessment (i.e., FINGA). Children's fine motor performance on FINGA was compared with widely-used and validated performance-based (Peabody Developmental Motor Scales 2nd edition) and informant-based (Ages and Stages Questionnaire 3rd edition) fine motor assessments. Ninety-one children [mean age (y) ± SD = 4.50y ± 0.68] were assessed within seven early childhood education and care services in New South Wales, Australia. Exploratory factor analyses (EFA) and linear regression analyses showed that FINGA had good internal consistency (EFA of 73%) and age sensitivity (B[subscript std] = 0.69, p < 0.001), and bivariate correlation analyses demonstrated good concurrent validity (rs from 0.69 to 0.84, ps < 0.001) against the two comparison assessments. Because of its brevity and ecological validity, the FINGA tool should be further examined as a routine fine motor skills assessment administered within the context of universal early childhood education and care service provision.

Young children's use of digital technologies has presented challenges for parents, particularly in response to an increased reliance on digital resources during the COVID-19 pandemic. This mixed-methods study explored young children's digital practices within the context of their families and homes. Although this study was originally planned, the timing of data collection meant that it was uniquely positioned to capture parent perspectives as the pandemic and first lockdown was unfolding in Australia. Data was collected through questionnaire (N = 101) and semistructured interview (n = 20) about status and change in children's digital practices, and parents' rules and flexibility in governing these experiences. Quantitative findings suggested children's frequency and duration of digital device use trended upwards during lockdown, and parents were more flexible in their rules about the amount of screen time, as well as when and where children could use digital devices. Qualitative results suggested that, more than a temporary and situational change, for many parents, exposure to new ways of engaging with digital technologies facilitated a shift in their perceptions, leading to greater consideration of quality in their choices for their children. This study highlights the influential role of parents in shaping children's digital experiences. Understanding their perceptions, as well as children's current and shifting digital practices in the home, is important for informing efforts and guidance for supporting young children's safe and effective use of digital technologies.

This systematic literature review sought to reconcile the evidence of efficacy for interventions and approaches to enhancing self-regulation and/or executive function in preschool settings. Following PRISMA methodology, a comprehensive search of 20 years of intervention research identified 85 studies that met inclusion criteria. Interventions were categorised by intervention approach and coded for their characteristics (e.g. sample size, dose, duration, interventionist, intervention activities), outcomes (e.g. significance, size of effects) and study quality (i.e. risk of bias). Reconciliation of intervention results indicated (1) within intervention approaches, some approaches had more consistent and robust evidence of efficacy (e.g. mindfulness, mediated play, physical activity) and (2) across intervention approaches, characteristics that had greater (or exclusive) presence amongst the higher efficacy interventions (e.g. cognitive challenge, movement, as well as interventionist, fidelity and dose considerations). Implications for future intervention (re)design, and for theorising about mechanisms of self-regulation and executive function change, are discussed.

This qualitative study explored caregivers' perceptions of factors influencing early childhood development in low-income, urban South African settings, from a social ecological perspective. Individual interviews were conducted with 15 caregivers of 3-5-year-old children; a reflexive thematic analysis approach was adopted. In the family and home context, caregivers spoke about their role in developing, nurturing, providing, protecting and disciplining their children. Risks included low socioeconomic status, dysfunctional relationships and caregiver mental health; resources related to early learning and social support. In the preschool/school context, caregivers discussed the value of early learning, and priorities for selecting early childhood care and education settings. Community risks included violence and crime; resources mentioned were social support, community programmes and infrastructure. The social ecological model provides a holistic and contextually relevant perspective for understanding multiple factors (risks and protective factors) influencing early childhood development in low-income South African settings.

Recent research suggests there is a lacking presence of assessment and its role in informing intentional teaching in the practice of play-based pedagogy. Formative assessment can be effectively embedded in pedagogy when practitioners are geared with practical tools that can be implemented within naturalistic settings. In recent times, there has been growing recognition of the importance of mathematics learning in early childhood education as foundational for later learning. This newly developed assessment -- the Numeracy and Mathematics Block-Based Assessment (NUMBBA) -- aims to embed formative assessment practice within multiple pedagogies for play and learning. The results from the qualitative component of a larger mixed-methods study examined how this validated tool was used by 16 early childhood educators. Thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews revealed shifts in educators' knowledge of mathematics, perceptions of children's abilities, attitudes towards mathematics and assessment, and approaches to intentional mathematical pedagogy and practice

There is need and opportunity for assessments that support quick and playful--yet also accurate, rigorous and developmentally sensitive--appraisals of early numeracy. Ideally, these should be accessible to those who have opportunity to support children's learning development and ultimately shift children's trajectories. The iPad-based "Early Years Toolbox (EYT) Early Numeracy" assessment was developed and evaluated to determine its validity and reliability, and appropriateness of use by researchers and preschool educators. Results from two studies with 246 children aged 3-5 years indicated the following: construct validity and internal consistency, concurrent validity with established measures, developmental sensitivity, test--retest reliability and highly comparable results whether used by a researcher or an educator. This yields a brief and playful assessment of early numeracy and a potential approach to develop broad-use early years assessments.

Background: Over the past few decades early self-regulation has been identified as foundational to positive learning and wellbeing trajectories. As a consequence, a wide range of approaches have been developed to capture children's developmental progress in self-regulation. Little is known, however, about whether and which of these are reliable indicators of future ability and risk for young children. Objective: This study examined measures from prominent approaches to self-regulation assessment (i.e., task-based, observation, adult-report) to determine: their structure; how these predict future academic school readiness in 3-5-year-old children, individually and if combined; and whether thresholds could be ascertained to reliably discriminate those children at risk of poor academic outcomes. Methods: Longitudinal analyses were conducted on start-of-year self-regulation data from 217 children in the final year of pre-school, using three prominent approaches to self-regulation assessment, and their end-of-year school readiness data. Data were subjected to path analysis, structural equation modelling and receiver operating characteristic curve analyses. Results: Start-of-year cognitive self-regulation indices--but not behavioral or emotional self-regulation indices--from each approach reliably predicted school readiness 7 months later, just prior to commencing school. Only when combined into a composite score was a threshold with sufficient sensitivity and specificity for predicting school readiness risk established; yet this provided better prediction of true-negative than true-positive cases. Conclusions: Taken together, these results suggest the importance of cognitive self-regulation in particular for school readiness, as measured here, although self-regulation is just one of the contributing factors to school readiness risk.

Compelling evidence supports the foundational importance of early self-regulation (SR). It also supports parents in the home environment as having the foremost influence on early development. Yet, prevailing approaches to support early SR growth have tended to leverage early education and clinical settings. Partners in Play (PiP) was developed as a sustainable approach for parents to learn how and when to support children through experiences of self-regulation challenges in the home learning environment. This study reports the first randomised control trial evaluation of the PiP program, with 21 parent–child dyads (consisting of twelve girl–mother dyads, eight boy–mother dyads, and one boy–father dyad; mean child age = 4.12 years, SD = 0.65). Dyads were randomised to a PiP intervention group (n = 10), which entailed four online parent information sessions and four out-of-home guided practice dyadic play sessions across 8 weeks, or an active control group (n = 11). The primary outcome was parent autonomy support, and the secondary outcome was child SR. Results indicated a significant increase in parents' use of autonomy support and a non-significant but moderate-sized effect on child SR. This innovative proof-of-concept program and evaluation provides a roadmap for effecting change in parental support during children's play, to the prospective benefit of important abilities such as child SR. Analyses show promise for a parent-based model toward parent behaviour change and child SR improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Executive functions (EFs) in early childhood are predictors of later developmental outcomes and school readiness. Much of the research on EFs and their psychosocial correlates has been conducted in high‐income, minority world countries, which represent a small and biased portion of children globally. The aim of this study is to examine EFs among children aged 3–5 years in two African countries, South Africa (SA) and The Gambia (GM), and to explore shared and distinct predictors of EFs in these settings. The SA sample (N = 243, 51.9% female) was recruited from low‐income communities within the Cape Town Metropolitan area. In GM, participants (N = 171, 49.7% female) were recruited from the rural West Kiang region. EFs, working memory (WM), inhibitory control (IC) and cognitive flexibility (CF), were measured using tablet‐based tasks. Associations between EF task performance and indicators of socioeconomic status (household assets, caregiver education) and family enrichment factors (enrichment activities, diversity of caregivers) were assessed. Participants in SA scored higher on all EF tasks, but children in both sites predominantly scored within the expected range for their age. There were no associations between EFs and household or familial variables in SA, except for a trend‐level association between caregiver education and CF. Patterns were similar in GM, where there was a trend‐level association between WM and enrichment activities but no other relationships. We challenge the postulation that children in low‐income settings have poorer EFs, simply due to lower socioeconomic status, but highlight the need to identify predictors of EFs in diverse, global settings. Research Highlights: Assessed Executive Functioning (EF) skills and their psychosocial predictors among pre‐school aged children (aged 3–5 years) in two African settings (The Gambia and South Africa).On average, children within each setting performed within the expected range for their age, although children in South Africa had higher scores across tasks.There was little evidence of any association between socioeconomic variables and EFs in either site.Enrichment activities were marginally associated with better working memory in The Gambia, and caregiver education with cognitive flexibility in South Africa, both associations were trend‐level significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the growing prominence and importance of the field of teacher dispositions for addressing selection criteria and assessment in educational research, there is an absence of psychometrically evaluated instruments to facilitate investigations. Furthermore, research thus far has not explored the relationship between teacher dispositions and better student outcomes. To address this paucity, key dispositional factors conducive to successful teaching and learning were identified through interviewing high performing teachers. Based on the interview, data a 24-item Teacher Disposition Scale (TDS) was constructed consisting of five dimensions: Motivation to teach; Teacher efficacy; Willingness to learn; Conscientiousness; and Interpersonal and communication skill. The scale was psychometrically tested on 179 pre-service undergraduate students at an Australian university. Both factor analysis and Rasch measurement modelling indicated evidence of a reliable and valid multi-dimensional scale. The article concludes with a discussion on the implications of the scale for future research.

Standardized testing is ubiquitous in educational assessment, but questions have been raised about the extent to which these test scores accurately reflect students' genuine knowledge and skills. To more rigorously investigate this issue, the current study employed a within-subject experimental design to examine item format effects on primary school students' standardized assessment results in literacy, reading comprehension, and numeracy. Eighty-nine Grade 3 students (ages 8-9 years) completed tests that varied only in item format: multiple choice; open-ended; error detection and correction; explain; and, for numeracy questions, low literacy. Analyses contrasted students' performance across these conditions, as well as item response theory-derived item difficulty and ability discrimination estimates. Findings revealed that difficulty increased and accuracy decreased from multiple-choice to open-response to error-correction and explain questions. However, the most difficult item formats tended to yield the greatest discrimination across student ability levels. Despite previous findings to the contrary, low-literacy numeracy questions did not improve student performance or reduce item difficulty. Overall, findings indicated the impact of differing methods of assessment on standardized test performance and highlighted the need for careful consideration of not only the content of assessments but also their approaches to assessment.

The widely and internationally replicated socioeconomic status (SES) gradient of executive function (EF) implies that intervention approaches may do well to extrapolate conditions and practices from contexts that generate better child outcomes (in this case, higher SES circumstances) and translate these to contexts with comparatively poorer outcomes (often low-SES populations). Yet, can the reverse also be true? Using data from equivalent assessments of 1,092 pre-schoolers' EFs in South Africa and Australia, we evaluated: the SES gradient of EF within each sample; and whether this SES gradient extended cross-culturally. The oft-found EF-SES gradients were replicated in both samples. However, contrary to the inferences of EF-SES associations found nationally, the most highly disadvantaged South African subsample outperformed middle- and high-SES Australian pre-schoolers on two of three EFs. This suggests the possibility of EF-protective and -promotive practices within low- and middle-income countries that may aid understandings of the nature and promotion of EFs.

Research increasingly acknowledges the importance of high quality interactions that support and extend children's thinking. Few measurement tools currently exist, however, to capture this specific aspect of process quality. The Sustained Shared Thinking and Emotional Wellbeing (SSTEW) scale was developed to assess interactional quality in early childhood education and care, and it includes dimensions of process quality based on developmental theories and practice in effective settings. This study compared ratings on the SSTEW and Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale -- Extension (ECERS-E) to consider the impact of varying levels of curricular and interactional quality on child development in 45 Australian pre-school centres; namely the language, numeracy and socio-behavioural development of 669 children at the end of their pre-school year. Results indicated a level of predictive validity for interactional quality ratings as measured by SSTEW which, while related to curricular quality ratings on ECERS-E, differed in associations across domains of child development.

Despite recognising the importance of educators in meeting the needs of gifted and talented students, research indicates that teachers often lack the essential knowledge, skills and confidence to identify and meet the needs of gifted and talented students. Evidence suggests this lack of preparation may be related to teachers' professional development. This quantitative study of 96 primary school teachers aimed to provide an initial insight into the knowledge and uptake of the 2005 DEST/GERRIC Gifted and Talented Education Professional Development Package for Teachers. It further aimed to give some insight into teachers' opinions and behaviours as it pertains to this mode of professional development. Results suggest a lack of knowledge and uptake of this professional development package, despite an overwhelming willingness to undertake this mode of professional learning in gifted and talented education. Implications and recommendations conclude the paper.

Executive function is foundational for cognitive development. Previous research has shown both gross motor skills and physical activity to be related to executive function. However, evidence for these relationships in the preschool years, as well as in low- and middle-income countries is lacking. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationships between components of executive function (inhibition, shifting and working memory) and gross motor skills (locomotor skills and object control skills) in a sample of preschool children from urban and rural low-income settings in South Africa. Results revealed that inhibition and working memory, but not shifting, were associated with gross motor skills. More specifically: inhibition was associated with both locomotor [ß = 0.20, p = 0.047] and object control skills [ß = 0.24, p = 0.024], whereas working memory was only associated with locomotor skills [ß = 0.21, p = 0.039]. Physical activity was not associated with inhibition and shifting but was negatively associated with working memory. These results elaborate a growing evidence base linking executive function and gross motor skills in the early years, and it is the first to look at specific associations of locomotor and object control skills with executive function in the South African context (a low- and middle-income country).

This study examines associations between Australia's regulatory ratings of quality in early childhood education and care (ECEC)--the National Quality Standard (NQS)--and two research-based quality rating scales. The analytic sample consisted of 257 ECEC services across three Australian states. Results indicated (1) modest positive associations between NQS ratings and scale scores; (2) some specificity between NQS quality areas (educational programs and practice; relationships with children) and one research scale--the Sustained Shared Thinking and Emotional Wellbeing (SSTEW) scale; (3) variability in quality scales scores within each NQS designation; and (4) mitigation of these associations when the time-gap between ratings exceeded 24 months. Findings suggest NQS and research scales tap some common core of quality, yet capture different aspects of quality, suggesting both could be used to raise standards of quality in Australian preschools, where the research scales potentiate raising quality to even higher levels than NQS.

Cognitive load theory (CLT) applies what is known about human cognitive architecture to the study of learning and instruction, to generate insights into the characteristics and conditions of effective instruction and learning. Recent developments in CLT suggest that the human motor system plays an important role in cognition and learning; however, it is unclear whether models of working memory (WM) that are typically espoused by CLT researchers can reconcile these novel findings. For instance, often-cited WM models envision separate information processing systems--such as Baddeley and Hitch's (1974) multicomponent model of WM--as a means to interpret modality-specific findings, although possible interactions with the human motor system remain under-explained. In this article, we examine the viability of these models to theoretically integrate recent research findings regarding the human motor system, as well as their ability to explain established CLT effects and other findings. We argue, it is important to explore alternate models of WM that focus on a single and integrated control of attention system that is applied to visual, phonological, embodied, and other sensory and nonsensory information. An integrated model such as this may better account for individual differences in experience and expertise and, parsimoniously, explain both recent and historical CLT findings across domains. To advance this aim, we propose an integrated model of WM that envisions a common and finite attentional resource that can be distributed across multiple modalities. How attention is mobilized and distributed across domains is interdependent, co-reinforcing, and ever-changing based on learners' prior experience and their immediate cognitive demands. As a consequence, the distribution of attentional focus and WM resources will vary across individuals and tasks, depending on the nature of the specific task being performed; the neurological, developmental, and experiential abilities of the individual; and the current availability of internal and external cognitive resources.

Objective: Alcohol media literacy (AML) programs have achieved positive results for alcohol prevention; however, gender may moderate program effectiveness. This study investigated gender differences for an Australian AML intervention. Method: Fifth and sixth graders (N = 165), allocated to an intervention or wait-list control group, participated in an AML program. Student questionnaires were administered at three time points. Results: The intervention resulted in significantly higher media deconstruction skills but did not lead to less preference for branded merchandise or greater understanding of persuasive intent, and these effects did not differ by gender. Gender differences were present in social norms for drinking and alcohol expectancies. Conclusions: AML education likely has appeal and benefit to both genders as it connects with students' lifeworlds. Social norms may be more difficult to shift for males due to a more ingrained drinking culture. Future research could explore contextual factors responsible for gender differences.

Some aspects of child non-cognitive development in pre-school have independently been shown to predict academic outcomes in later primary and early high school. However, the extent to which each aspect uniquely predicts these outcomes remains unclear. It is also unclear as to what mechanisms may predict these aspects of non-cognitive development. To address these issues, the current study sought to explore the antecedents to, and the predictive strength of, prominent aspects of early non-cognitive development (e.g. hyperactivity, pro-social behaviour, peer and conduct problems at 4-5 years of age) on children's academic achievement at 6-11 years of age from a large, longitudinal and nationally representative sample. The study found early hyperactivity to be the strongest predictor of academic achievement at age 10-11 years of age. Further, early hostile parenting styles, child's gender, and parental educational levels were the strongest and most consistent predictors of children's non-cognitive development. Findings from this study further clarify the relational nature of aspects of non-cognitive development and academic outcomes, as well as the factors that best predict early non-cognitive development.

The majority of the world's children live in low- and middle-income countries, yet the majority of early childhood cognitive research is done with a small proportion of high-income countries. These findings cannot be assumed to apply across all contexts. It is therefore necessary to confront entrenched systems of power and privilege in early childhood cognitive development research as they relate to researchers and vulnerable communities. South Africa (SA) is a previously colonized, Majority World country with a history of white supremacy and racial segregation. Although early cognitive development is a growing field of research in SA, power and privilege in this field of research are yet to be properly considered. Within SA's unique context, we highlight the valuable role of partnerships in shifting power asymmetries; in our case, between early cognitive development researchers and a community-based organization with a 50-year history of working in vulnerable communities to promote young children's development. Our work together thus far has largely focused on executive function and numeracy skills (inspired by Minority World country research) in vulnerable SA children. We reflect on the authors' positionality, the intersectionality of privilege where relevant, and discuss three themes: the assessment of young children's development in vulnerable SA settings; formation of a more equitable partnership with individuals and communities whose voices are not often heard in this research; and translation and dissemination of research findings. We include recommendations for researchers to help with decolonizing early cognitive development research in order to add value to research from diverse settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several methods of assessing executive function (EF), self-regulation, language development, and social development in young children have been developed over previous decades. Yet new technologies make available methods of assessment not previously considered. In resolving conceptual and pragmatic limitations of existing tools, the Early Years Toolbox (EYT) offers substantial advantages for early assessment of language, EF, self-regulation, and social development. In the current study, results of our large-scale administration of this toolbox to 1,764 preschool and early primary school students indicated very good reliability, convergent validity with existing measures, and developmental sensitivity. Results were also suggestive of better capture of children's emerging abilities relative to comparison measures. Preliminary norms are presented, showing a clear developmental trajectory across half-year age groups. The accessibility of the EYT, as well as its advantages over existing measures, offers considerably enhanced opportunities for objective measurement of young children's abilities to enable research and educational applications.

Background: A fundamental aim of standardized educational assessment is to achieve reliable discrimination between students differing in the knowledge, skills and abilities assessed. However, questions of the purity with which these tests index students' genuine abilities have arisen. Specifically, literacy and numeracy assessments may also engage unintentionally assessed capacities. Aims: The current study investigated the extent to which domain-general processes--working memory (WM) and non-verbal reasoning--contribute to students' standardized test performance and the pathway(s) through which they exert this influence. Sample: Participants were 91 Grade 2 students recruited from five regional and metropolitan primary schools in Australia. Methods: Participants completed measures of WM and non-verbal reasoning, as well as literacy and numeracy subtests of a national standardized educational assessment. Results: Path analysis of Rasch-derived ability estimates and residuals with domain-general cognitive abilities indicated: (1) a consistent indirect pathway from WM to literacy and numeracy ability, through non-verbal reasoning; (2) direct paths from phonological WM and literacy ability to numeracy ability estimates; and (3) a direct path from WM to spelling test residuals. Conclusions: Results suggest that the constitution of this nationwide standardized assessment confounded non-targeted abilities with those that were the target of assessment. This appears to extend beyond the effect of WM on learning more generally, to the demands of different assessment types and methods. This has implications for students' abilities to demonstrate genuine competency in assessed areas and the educational supports and provisions they are provided on the basis of these results.