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Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in Australia is facing a workforce crisis. A knowledge gap around educators studying to pursue a career in ECEC, particularly in long day care (LDC), has prompted research with Australian educators who engage in further education and training while working in LDC services. The paper examines 32 biographical interviews from an Australian Research Council Linkage project Identifying Effective Strategies to Grow and Sustain a Professional Early Years Workforce. Research reported here applies a social constructivist framework to investigate the personal and structural characteristics of educators studying at Certificate III, Diploma, Bachelor and Master levels of Australia's regulated qualifications and training system. An important finding is that the legislative provisions of Australia's National Quality Framework is a key driver for educator engagement in education and training. The paper highlights the importance of clear qualification pathways in raising the professionalism of the ECEC workforce in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An educator's ability to engage in critical reflection is core to provision of high quality early childhood education and care (ECEC), and is a priority for quality improvement in Australia. This study explored the nature of critical reflection using the example of sleep-rest practices. These practices have been identified as a 'barometer of ECEC quality' because they present significant challenges for educators, requiring negotiation of a complex set of competing priorities. Responses of educators (n = 53) to a scenario presenting a typical sleep-rest issue were analysed. These encompassed different types of reflection used to negotiate information sources and situational demands, namely: Technical—Limited Negotiation involving adherence to standard procedure, Practical—Negotiation with reference to diverse others; and finally, Critical—Negotiations analysing multiple sources of evidence. Overall, the findings showed an over reliance on technical and practical reflective strategies to address the sleep-rest time issue. Only one educator responded in a way that suggested critical reflection in which multiple sources of information, including an evidence base, were applied. The findings direct us to two conclusions. First, researchers and policy makers should consider cognitions about knowledge and knowing, with respect to understanding critical reflection, as integral to the professional work of educators. Second, we identify the potential benefit of providing more structured opportunities in pre-service education and training educational leadership and ongoing professional learning to facilitate dialogical thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services are vital in the establishment of optimal infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices and long-term health. This qualitative study, informed by Social Cognitive Theory, aimed to describe ECEC infant feeding environments. Nineteen formal long day care and family day care ECEC services and 124 educators in metropolitan and regional Queensland, Australia participated in interviews and professional conversations. Inductive and deductive analysis identified three key themes: 'agency', 'IYCF environment', and 'monitoring/surveillance'. This research has identified the key environmental, behavioural and cognitive factors that contribute to optimal IYCF practices in Australian ECEC. Tensions and negotiation between educators, parents, infants and the regulatory framework operate to develop collective agency. Key recommendations are: increasing the visibility of infants in ECEC policy frameworks and building educator and parent self-efficacy in supporting infant agency in order to meet shared goals related to optimal infant health and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sleep and rest provision in early childhood education and care (ECEC) is commonly enacted as a routine – a standard time-period during which children are required to lie down even if they do not sleep. Yet contemporary ECEC policies emphasise responsive pedagogical practice that includes children in decision-making and respects each child's developmental and sociocultural context as appropriate pedagogical practice. To understand current practices, analyses of numeric data and textual accounts from a survey of Australian ECEC service providers, leaders and educators (N = 247) was undertaken. Two broad challenges to enabling responsive practice and inclusion of children in decision-making were identified: (1) Provisions – organisational interpretations of national policy and attendant resourcing set the structural parameters for achievement of responsive pedagogical practice. (2) Practices – individual and communal demands on educators and their professional philosophy set interactional parameters. Service leadership played a pivotal role in determining whether sleep–rest practices were Routine (84%) or Responsive (16%). Responsive leaders were characterised by strong professional advocacy for child rights and child-focused pedagogy. They instigated professional reflection and communication strategies within their service and removed expectation that educators could undertake alternative activity while providing for children's sleep and rest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internationally, professionalization has become a key policy strategy targeting quality improvement in early childhood education and care (ECEC), utilizing top-down managerial strategies including implementation of quality standards and increased workforce qualifications. Set against this backdrop, this study explored educators’ accounts of their professional status and professionalism in their work. Data were collected from a representative sample of Australian educators (n = 98) participating in a national ECEC workforce study. Educator accounts were inductively and deductively coded, while statistical analysis examined association of codes with educator personal and professional characteristics. Educators overwhelmingly named their work as a profession, with three categories of explanation: purpose (educating children), qualification, and public opinions. However, analysis of educator accounts of their work practices, drawing on Moss’s (2006) understandings of the ECEC workforce, found that less than half of the educators presented their roles as other than technical or nurturing/laboring. Degree qualified teachers were more likely than less qualified educators to define professionalization in terms of purpose and professionalism in terms of autonomous decisions based on expert knowledge. Policy or practice: The study provides grassroots perspectives on professionalization and professionalism in ECEC and draws attention to three areas of misalignment between current policy and educators’ views and practices that require attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RETAINING EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHERS in long day care (LDC) is a pressing challenge for Australia's reform agenda in early childhood education and care (ECEC). Case study research with five early childhood teachers in LDC revealed individual and contextual factors that enabled and challenged the teachers to stay in LDC. Drawing on social constructivist approaches, the research contributes empirically based insights that support the recruitment and retention of early childhood teachers in LDC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THE NATIONAL QUALITY FRAMEWORK for Early Childhood Education and Care (NQF) in Australia identifies the need for services to make provision for each child's sleep, rest and relaxation within a national early years' policy framework. The framework also requires that opportunities for learning and physical health are optimised, and that the agency of each child and their family is respected. Against this background, the scheduling of a standard sleep time in early childhood education and care (ECEC) centres remains a common practice, even in rooms catering for older children for whom daytime sleep may no longer be necessary. This article draws upon existing scholarship to explore the issues and tensions associated with sleep/rest, in the context of Australian curriculum and quality standards documents. We review accounts from educators, parents and children and contemporary views regarding high-quality practice in ECEC, with an aim of supporting critical reflection on practice and continuous quality improvement in ECEC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IN 2012, AUSTRALIA INTRODUCED a new National Quality Framework (NQF), comprising enhanced quality expectations for early childhood education and care services, two national learning frameworks and a new assessment and rating system spanning childcare centres, kindergartens and preschools, family day care and outside school hours care. This is the linchpin in a series of education reforms designed to support increased access to higher quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) and successful transition to school. As with any policy change, success in real terms relies upon building shared understanding and the capacity of educators to apply new knowledge and to support change and improved practice within their service. With this in mind, a collaborative research project investigated the efficacy of a new approach to professional learning in ECEC: the professional conversation. This paper reports on the trial and evaluation of a series of professional conversations to support implementation of one element of the NQF, the Early Years Learning Framework (DEEWR, 2009), and their capacity to promote collaborative reflective practice, shared understanding, and improved practice in ECEC. Set against the backdrop of the NQF, this paper details the professional conversation approach, key challenges and critical success factors, and the learning outcomes for conversation participants. Findings support the efficacy of this approach to professional learning in ECEC, and its capacity to support policy reform and practice change in ECEC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background There has been a shift from the initial learning of skills on patients in the clinical setting to initial learning in a simulated environment, using part-task models, with the risk of a task focus to the learning. We contend that quality learning in both the simulated and the clinical environment is crucial to enhance the transferability of skills to the clinical setting. Context We describe teaching strategies, with the sequencing of events and increasing complexity, for the simulated training of basic procedural skills. These teaching strategies can be readily implemented into basic skills training to 'bridge' the gap between the simulated environment and the clinical setting. Implications We suggest that our approach takes basic skills training beyond a task-focused approach to exemplify clinical scenarios encountered in real life. We argue that there is a need to broaden the focus of medical student training in basic procedural skills, and that the use of a preceptor model of supervision in the clinical setting better enables the transferability of the skills. Although our strategies are based on learning theory, well-designed research is required to test the efficacy in improving medical student learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Less than 20 years on from the proclamation of the Child Care Act 1972, and introduction of funding for not-for-profit childcare centres, a series of market-driven public policies paved the way for the emergence of Australia's current ECEC quasi-market. Seeking to respond to increasing demand for work-related child care in the 1990s, and to manage associated costs, a succession of Australian governments turned to market theory and New Public Management (NPM) principles to inform ECEC policy. Reflecting on an era of high policy activity within ECEC, this paper examines a series of policy events and texts that set the course for the reform agenda that was to ensue in ECEC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assessed the impact of structural characteristics on quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) outcomes in an Australian national study. Data from the Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) repository of National Quality Standard (NQS) ratings were used to identify long day care services that had improved from Working Towards NQS to Meeting or Exceeding NQS or had no change over two assessments. QRIS outcomes were examined for state/territory jurisdiction, urban–rural location, community socio-economic status, type and size of provider organisation, centre size and stability of centre owner/provider using multinomial logistic regression analyses. Controlling for jurisdiction, results showed that improvement to Meeting NQS was more likely for not-for-profit versus for-profit providers and for large multi-site provider organisations versus small, stand-alone providers. Improvement to Exceeding NQS was also associated with not-for-profit and larger provider organisations, as well as larger versus smaller centres, and centres that had stable ownership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2021, the Australian Government commissioned a review and update of My Time Our Place, its curriculum framework for School-Age Care services for primary-age children. One update trialled was the introduction of passive leisure. Whilst children's passive use of leisure time is recognised as a right, it is often problematised and associated with negative health outcomes. This article explores a trial of passive leisure provision. It provides hopeful evidence that passive leisure spaces can be interactive, conversational and restful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'We're not useless, we know stuff!', said a four-year-old when asked why adults should ask him what he thinks about his experiences at his early learning centre. This paper describes the literature and methods used to gather children's voices in early childhood and education (ECEC) settings across Stage 1 and 2 of the 3 stage national Learning Frameworks Update project. Asking children about their ideas and experiences was undertaken by familiar educators using research tools designed and supported by the research team. The methods of dialogic drawing, talking circles and visual elicitation were described and further explained to enable educators to gather children's perspectives on their learning experiences in ECEC contexts. We reflect on the efficacy of these methods, approaches and strategies to support meaning-making from a diverse representation of children and how this can influence policy decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Motivational interviewing impacts on levels of physical activity in cancer patients and survivors. • Motivational interviewing has a positive impact on depression, functional tasks and body mass index in cancer patients and survivors. • Motivational interviewing has a positive impact on self-efficacy in cancer patients and survivors. • Achievement of minimum physical activity thresholds and motivational interviewing that contained an element of self-efficacy in the management of symptoms had more favourable health and behaviour outcomes. Cancer patients and survivors commonly have poorer health behaviours and subsequent outcomes, often as a result of negative impacts of diagnosis and treatment. Motivational interviewing is reported to be an effective psychological tool to produce a shift in one's behaviour resulting in improved outcomes. However, there is a lack of analyses investigating this tool's impact on healthy behaviours and health outcomes in cancer populations. To investigate the effect of motivational interviewing on behaviours and health outcomes in cancer populations. The studies were identified from four databases using variations of the terms "cancer" and "motivational interviewing". Randomised trials, non-randomised trials and quasi-experimental studies which contained control (or usual care) comparators were included. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Version 5.1.0 and the Risk of Bias In Non-Randomised Studies of Interventions tools. The quality of evidence was assessed using the GRADE framework. Means difference and standardised mean differences and 95 % confidence intervals were used to report the pooled effects using a random effects model. Twenty-one studies were included in the review and 17 studies were included in the meta-analysis. A total of 1752 cancer patients and survivors received MI as an intervention (or part thereof). Quality of life, anxiety, depression, functional tasks (6-minute walk test), body mass index and body weight (BMI/BW), physical activity (PA), self-efficacy and fatigue were outcomes measured in the selected studies. Effects were seen in functional tasks, physical activity, BMI/BW, depression and self-efficacy. All of these outcomes were from studies that were classed as very low-quality evidence except for BMI/BW and PA, which were from moderate-quality evidence. Motivational interviewing had positive effects on functional tasks, PA, BMI/BW, depression and self-efficacy in people diagnosed with cancer. However, more higher-quality studies need to be conducted to further ascertain the effect of this intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This national study explored the role of digital technologies in early childhood education and care settings and whether they could contribute to quality improvement as reported by educators and assessors of quality in Australia. In this paper, data from Stage 2 of the Quality Improvement Research Project were used, which comprised 60 Quality Improvement Plans from educators linked with 60 Assessment and Rating reports from the assessors who visited early childhood centres as part of the administration of the National Quality Standards by each of Australia's State and Territory jurisdictions. Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, U. (1995). Developmental ecology through space and time: A future perspective. In P. Moen, G. H. Elder, Jr., & K. Lüscher (Eds.), Examining lives in context: Perspectives on the ecology of human development (pp. 619–647). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/10176-018; Bronfenbrenner & Ceci, Bronfenbrenner and Ceci, Psychological Review 101:568–586, 1994) was adopted to facilitate a systemic and dynamic view on the use of digital technologies in these 60 ECEC settings. References (e.g. comments/ suggestions/ examples) made by the educators about the implementation of digital technologies were counted and thematically analysed. Results revealed the strong role new technologies (e.g. documentation and management platforms, tablets, apps, etc.) play in the majority of ECEC settings and especially in relation to three of the seven Quality Areas: Educational programme and practice (Quality Area 1); Collaborative partnerships with families and communities (Quality Area 6) and Governance and leadership (Quality Area 7). Future directions for research are suggested and implications for embracing a more holistic, integrated and broad view on the use of digital technologies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article builds on our ongoing work in conceptualising an ‘evaluative stance’ framework to assist in understanding how leaders in the field of early childhood education and care (ECEC) make decisions about the selection of professional development options for themselves and their staff. It introduces the notion that evaluative mindsets can be considered in terms of attitudes towards decision-making that are based on personal epistemologies. Drawing on data from semi-structured interviews, it explores the mindsets of six experienced leaders in two long-established ECEC organisations in Australia with respect to their decision-making about professional development. The article concludes with a consideration of the potential utility of the framework and the coding template used in this exploratory study. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The significant shortfall of staff in the early childhood education and care (ECEC) workforce identifies an imperative not only to recruit educators but to support ongoing qualifications and career advancement of those within. Indeed, Shaping Our Future, Australia’s workforce strategy for 2022–2031 identifies qualifications and career development as key focus areas. Taking this imperative, we asked Who? and How many? within the Australian workforce are committed to ongoing study? Analysing a national survey (N = 1291), we examine characteristics of those studying (20.5%) intending (52.3%) or wavering about further study (18.7%). Study and study intention were associated with being younger and at early career-stage, identifying a positive message for career growth. Those who were older or working part-time were less certain about ongoing training. Those with long tenure in ECEC had higher rates of studying for non-ECEC qualifications. Implications for qualification pipeline, career pathways and workforce strategy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The year 2012 marked 40 years since the introduction of the Child Care Act 1972 and the federal government introduced financial support for the provision of childcare services in Australia. Significant changes have occurred in social, political and theoretical contexts of early childhood education and care (ECEC) during this time. Bringing these to life, this paper investigates archival data of key changes in ECEC in association with oral histories of staff, parents and children associated with The Gowrie Qld during the years 1972-2012. With narrative analysis considered alongside historical information, two dominant issues emerge as integral to ECEC in the past, now and the future. These are: 1) what constitutes effective teaching and learning in the educational program; and 2) professional expectations in ECEC. Building an historical picture, this paper provides for critical reflection on the past to inform current and future practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The international quality-improvement agenda for Early Childhood Education (ECE) directs attention to maximising children's learning experiences. Yet routines, and particularly those relating to sleep-rest provision, are not well conceptualised as learning opportunities. Often children who no longer sleep in the daytime are required to lie down without alternative activity. Educator discourse frames these practices as 'teaching self-regulation', yet these experiences afford little opportunity for child-directed learning, and both observational and cortisol studies suggest the potential for negative learning experiences. Prior studies have examined children's emotional response and identified sleep-rest time as disliked, but have not examined children's accounts of learning. In this study, we analyse accounts of learning from 54 children (mean age = 56 months). Collectively, the children identified three learnings. Most children learned that adults regulate sleep-rest opportunities through instruction, reward, punishment and priveledge. Some children reported learning coping strategies including imagination and subversion. A rare few identitfied learning to self-regulate. The findings identify a discrepancy between policy aspiration and educator intent, that foreground self-regulation and the de facto lessons children draw from their sleep-rest experiences. Our findings identify standard sleep-rest provision as sub-optimal and the imperative to view care routines, such as sleep-rest, as opportunities for learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Protocol for a study of quality improvement in Australian ECEC services. • A sequential three-phase mixed-methods design informed by ecological systems theory. • Research-industry partnerships with government authorities and early childhood researchers. • Scale and depth in sample identification, data selection and analytical techniques. International recognition of the early years as a crucial foundational period has led to the design and implementation of quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) that define, communicate, and monitor the components of quality in early childhood education and care (ECEC). The aim of these policies is to achieve effective quality assurance and improvement through a system-oriented approach to assessment and evaluation. Informed by ecological systems theory, this paper outlines a three-phase, mixed-methods design for researching a national sample of child care centres that showed overall improvement on the Australian National Quality Standard (NQS) assessment and rating (A&R) criteria. The study samples are drawn from a national dataset of centre-based child care services with two or more A&R rounds and an initial rating of Working Towards NQS (N = 1,935). The results of this study will provide insights into the macro-, exo-, meso- and micro-systems level factors and strategies that support quality in ECEC services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early infant feeding practices are a critical part of education and care programs within Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings. With an increasing number of children attending ECEC services from a young age, adherence to best practice infant feeding will improve long-term health outcomes. This paper uses inductive and deductive thematic analysis informed by Social Cognitive Theory and inductive content analysis, to describe Australian infant feeding nutrition ECEC policy environments. Key Australian ECEC policy documents were analysed, revealing the invisibility of infants generally, and infant feeding specifically, in current quality standards. This was followed by analysis of 28 nutrition or infant feeding policies from 19 centre- and home-based ECEC services impacting over 1500 children in Queensland Australia. Five key themes characterising the content of service policies impacting infant feeding emerged: documentation, values, curriculum and pedagogy, supportive environments, and working in partnerships with parents. Service policies are required by legislation and set the foundation for a safe, supportive environment for infant feeding. The lack of infant feeding practice examples and invisibility of infants in legislation increase ambiguity, and health and safety risks. Opportunities exist to adopt separate infant feeding policies which will assist the provision of quality practice for the short-term and long-term optimal health of infants in ECEC settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

EDUCATORS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD education and care (ECEC) settings play a critical role in advancing Australia's agenda for children's health and wellbeing. The LEAPS (Learning, Eating, Active Play, Sleep) professional development program was designed to acknowledge and improve educator knowledge of national healthy eating and physical activity guidelines, as a critical foundation for health and wellbeing of children and families. The program consisted of online reading and face-to-face professional development. Change in educator knowledge and confidence was assessed via pre- and post-questionnaire, with two additional open-ended questions regarding intention to change practice post-program. Educators (n = 765) participating in LEAPS increased their knowledge of nutrition and physical activity guidelines, and planned to implement practice changes as a result--namely communication of healthy eating and physical activity messages with colleagues, parents and children; and engaging parents in these areas within their service. Professional development regarding health guidelines is important to support evidence-based communication between educators and parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unprecedented policy attention to early childhood education internationally has highlighted the crucial need for a skilled early years workforce. Consequently, professional development of early years educators has become a global policy imperative. At the same time, many maintain that professional development research has reached an impasse. In this paper, we offer a new approach to addressing this impasse. In contrast to calls for a redesign of comparative studies of professional development programmes, or for the refinement of researcher-constructed professional development evaluation frameworks, we argue the need to cultivate what we refer to as an ‘evaluative stance’ amongst all involved in making decisions about professional development in the early years – from senior bureaucrats with responsibilities for funding professional development programmes to individual educators with choices about which professional development opportunities to take up. Drawing on three bodies of literature – evaluation capacity-building, personal epistemology and co-production – that, for the most part, have been overlooked with respect to early years professional learning, this paper proposes a conceptual framework to explain why cultivating an evaluative stance in professional development decision-making has rich possibilities for systemic, sustainable and transformative change in early years education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]