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This article discusses infant-toddler educators' perspectives of using the Observe, Reflect, Improve Children's Learning tool (ORICL) in practice. ORICL is a new tool informed by implementation science and co-designed with Australian early childhood education and care policy-makers, practitioners, and service providers. It aims to support infant-toddler educators to observe, reflect on, assess, and improve the quality of individual children's learning experiences. Twenty-one educators working in Australian long day care and family day care services participated in the study, with a total of 66 ORICLs being completed for children ranging from 7 to 33 months of age. Educators also participated in an interview to share their experiences of using ORICL in practice. Findings show that ORICL enhanced educators' understandings of infants' and toddlers' learning, development and wellbeing, and educators' critical reflection. ORICL also helped educators to notice interactions, document and plan for children's learning, and communicate children's learning to others.

Early childhood educators are key to delivering early childhood education and care (ECEC) for the benefit of children, their families and society alike. For the benefits of ECEC to be realised, however, the educators who deliver these services need to be well. Despite growing attention to attracting and retaining a high-quality early childhood workforce, little is known about the work-related psychological and physiological well-being of early childhood educators. This paper contributes an example of a protocol for an holistic study of early childhood educators' well-being. It describes the use of multiple, interdisciplinary, innovative methods to measure educators' physiological and psychological well-being, within the context of their work environment. Recommendations are provided for future studies of educators' holistic well-being.

Despite evidence that inclusion is a research-based practice for students with extensive support needs (ESN), such students are often denied access to meaningful instruction in general education. This article describes an interdisciplinary program that prepares educators to serve all students, including those with low-incidence disabilities, in inclusive environments. Results of the needs assessment that informed program development are shared along with a description of the program model and its implementation. The goal is to ensure that candidates are equipped to not only comply with legal mandates but also meet the social justice intent of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

This paper describes the research protocol for the Educational and Developmental Gains in Early Childhood (EDGE) Study, which will examine the implementation of two years of funded kindergarten prior to the first year of school in Victoria, Australia. EDGE will examine whether children's language, cognitive, social-emotional, and behavioural outcomes are improved after two years of kindergarten compared to one year. The experiences of (and impacts on) teachers, service leaders, and families will also be examined. The study includes a cross-sectional cohort of 95 early childhood education and care (ECEC) services, and an embedded longitudinal observational cohort of children attending these services. Case studies of 15–20 ECEC services will also be collected, in addition to interviews with policy stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The preparation of culturally and linguistically responsive special educators requires planning, substantive collaboration, and valuing the perspectives of underrepresented groups. This article describes restructuring efforts of one special education preparation program that included coursework and field-based experiences designed to enhance candidates' understanding of the complex, dynamic interrelationships among culture, language, and disability as the basis for culturally and linguistically responsive practice. Major activities included identifying key competencies, aligning those competencies with specific coursework and activities, and working with faculty in general education to design opportunities for candidates in both programs to develop collaborative skills. Results of ongoing program evaluation indicate that efforts were successful based on positive responses from participating candidates, cooperating teachers who host them, and the principals who subsequently hire them. Successes, challenges, and future directions are discussed within the context of program design and delivery.

This study examined the experiences of three primary teacher education students participating in early childhood-focused community play sessions, as well as their perceptions of early childhood and primary philosophy and pedagogy. The purpose was to explore perceived differences in primary and early childhood pre-service teacher courses, which may then translate to differences in approaches to pedagogy in the field. Three pre-service teachers participated in a weekly community play session on a rural university campus in NSW, Australia. As these students had been educated in primary education pedagogy, a focus group interview was conducted to gain insights to their experiences in the play sessions, which had an early childhood emphasis in theory and practice. Qualitative analysis suggests that these students found several major differences in their early childhood and primary experiences. Themes and properties that emerged included Pedagogy (curriculum, parents, play) and Foundational Knowledge (developmental theory, discontinuity of development). These primary students found the idea of developing curriculum based on observations and interests rather than mandated Syllabus outcomes, challenging. Also, they found the role of play and parent-teacher relationships in early childhood and primary to differ. Students also noted a lack of foundational developmental theory, specifically in the birth-two period, in their teacher education course, and expressed the idea that younger children are discretely different from older children, rather than seeing development as a continuous process. Implications for teacher education courses and children's transition to school are discussed. (Contains 1 table.)

This study contributes to the understanding of early childhood educators' and parents' attitudes and practices in relation to outdoor risky play for children. This study included 26 early childhood educators and 112 parents in rural and metropolitan areas of Australia and the United States. Participants completed an online survey about their perspectives and practices related to the provision of opportunities for children to engage in outdoor risky play. Questions also investigated reasons that prevented participants from providing such opportunities for children. Findings indicated that most educators thought it was important for children to be provided opportunities for outdoor risky play and did provide appropriate activities. Types of outdoor risky play opportunities fell into the categories of supporting large motor skills, supporting free exploration of the environment, and supporting assessment of risk. However, educators located in Australia rated outdoor risky play opportunities as significantly more important compared to educators in the US. Many parents also felt outdoor risky play was important and provided appropriate activities. Opportunities provided by parents fell into the same categories as educators, with additional features of nervousness and a desire to avoid hovering. Many parents identified the young age of the child and safety concerns as barriers. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

The highly complex demands of the profession often overwhelm new teachers. Burnout and attrition are known consequences of inadequate preparation, burdening the education system with costly turnover and schools with disproportionate numbers of inexperienced teachers, including special educators. Many teacher preparation programs embed field experiences as a formative aspect of professional development with the intention of exposing candidates to the realities and demands of the profession. Little is known, however, about the ways in which preservice teachers' professional awareness develops via in-context learning through field-based experiences. Using an exploratory, qualitative approach we analyzed end of course reflections of 31 special education preservice teachers for insights into the development of their professional awareness (professional roles and responsibilities) following a strategically aligned field experience. Findings suggest that participants expressed a growing understanding of professional practices, teacher dispositions, and professional relationships. A discussion of the findings and implications for teacher preparation are presented.

This review documents the learning disabilities (LD) identification criteria and procedures utilized in empirical research including students with LD published from 2001 to 2013 in three journals dedicated to the study of LD. Results reveal several troublesome findings related to transparency in reporting and the coherence of the LD construct. Nearly one-third of all empirical studies investigating LD did not describe who identified the participants as having LD or how they were identified. Information on the specific area of LD was similarly lacking. Across studies, identification criteria varied widely. Moving forward, we contend that greater transparency and consistency with regard to the definition and operationalization of the construct of LD in empirical research is necessary if solidification of the scientific construct of LD is to be achieved.

Research has established that qualities of student-teacher relationships impact children's self-concept, however, the role of teacher and child gender in these relations is unclear. This study used data from 4169 children aged 10-11 years and 3343 teachers from Wave 4 of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children to examine the relationship between child and teacher gender, qualities of the student-teacher relationship and students' self-concept. A nested structural equation model was constructed to test the concurrent and predictive effects student gender had on student-teacher relationships and students' self-concept. Moreover, analysis of the model examined the extent to which relationships were mediated by student enjoyment of school and student perceptions of their teacher. For boys, closeness with their teachers did not predict their self-concept although conflict in their relationships negatively affected self-concept. For girls, both closeness and conflict predicted self-concept, with conflict having a greater effect on self-concept than closeness.

Content analyses of journals in the field of LD provide a means of surveying research and publication trends, the knowledge of which may inform policy and practice related to future research agendas. As the first decade of the current millennium was particularly contentious for the field of LD, we felt that a content review would be timely. In this paper, the content of three refereed LD journals--"Journal of Learning Disabilities, Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, and Learning Disabilities Quarterly"--was analyzed. Articles from 2001-2010 (n = 841) were systematically coded to capture article type, area of interest, population of interest, sample characteristics, and inclusion of students with LD. Results indicate that across the decade, (a) 68% of articles reported empirical research; (b) empirical research trended up; (c) publication of intervention research remained steady; (d) the most common foci were literacy and the non-academic characteristics of individuals with LD; and (e) inclusion of participants labeled as having a LD declined. We discuss trends, possible explanations, and implications, highlighting areas for future research. (Contains 4 tables and 6 figures.)

This longitudinal study of 125 families investigated whether negative child outcomes related to fathers' frightening (FR) behaviours with infants would be mitigated if fathers were also sensitive. Results indicated that children whose fathers were frightening and insensitive with them during infancy showed the highest emotional under-regulation at 24 months and highest teacher ratings of attention problems at age 7, whereas those whose fathers were frightening and sensitive did not differ from children whose fathers were sensitive but not frightening. Sensitive caregiving mitigated the negative impact of FR behaviours on child outcomes for fathers, but not mothers. Perhaps fathers who can be sensitive but also engage in stimulating, albeit frightening, interactions with their infants may actually be scaffolding their ability to regulate their affect in intensely emotional situations. FR behaviours by mothers may be more problematic for child outcomes since these behaviours conflict with the primary caregiver's role of providing comfort. (Contains 4 tables and 2 figures.)

This paper examines the role of self-reflection and self-evaluation in early childhood practicum students' development of positive guidance skills with children. We examine how helpful students find self-reflection and self-evaluation exercises and how their thoroughness of reflection relates to their progress in acquiring positive guidance skills. Self-reflection also plays a role in students' attitudes towards positive guidance and their confidence in using guidance skills. This paper explores the extent to which reflection and evaluation affect the attitudes and confidence of future early childhood educators, which could have an impact on the children and families they work with. Participants were 63 university students (60 female and 3 male) in their junior or senior years in a Human Development and Family Sciences undergraduate program at a university in the southern region of the United States. They were enrolled in an undergraduate class focused on learning "positive guidance" interaction skills and classroom management with young children. Students generally found the self-ratings and goal setting helpful in learning guidance skills. We did not find that thoroughness of self-reflection was related to guidance skills or amount of improvement. There were three groups of students in regards to self-evaluation and supervisor evaluation: those who initially overinflate their abilities, those who initially underinflate their abilities, and those who evaluate themselves consistently.

Empirical studies of early childhood educators' experiences with learning and implementing positive guidance skills are absent from the extant literature. This study explored this topic with 63 junior and senior level university students who were involved in concurrent instructional lecture and practicum experiences. Participants defined "positive guidance" diversely with definitions ranging from accurate to inaccurate. Most participants held inaccurate or somewhat inaccurate definitions both before and after class. Participants considered several positive guidance skills difficult to master, including conflict resolution, positive language usage, setting and following through with limits, and offering choices. They rated positive language usage and conflict resolution as two of the four most improved skills during the course and addressing children's individual needs and confidence as most improved after the course ended. The majority of participants cited the hands-on aspects of class and lab as being important in contributing to positive attitudes about positive guidance. (Contains 5 tables.)

This pilot study examined the experiences of 24 teacher education students and nine caregivers who participated in a weekly community play session on a rural University campus in NSW, Australia. Students completed a questionnaire at the beginning of the 13 week semester and at the end of the semester and were asked about confidence levels in various aspects of infant/toddler teaching skills and about the value and challenges of the play sessions. Parents completed a questionnaire about the benefits of play sessions for themselves and their children. Quantitative results indicated that students rated play session interactions with parents as being least helpful in preparation for practicum and least valuable in general, but indicated they gained most in the area of interactions with parents. Students increased their confidence levels in most areas of teaching skills by the end of the semester, except in parent-interaction. The major challenge cited was the high number of university students compared to children. Qualitative themes that emerged included issues related to environments and student learning and practice. Parents indicated high ratings of benefits for themselves and their children, particularly in the area of supporting social development of children and providing social networking for themselves. Implications for creating practical experiences related to parent interactions and relationship building in teacher education programmes, are discussed. (Contains 6 tables.)

Assessment involves observing and documenting children's development, their learning experiences and relationships, and how they interact with the world around them. The purpose of assessment is to gather meaningful information about children in order to make informed decisions to benefit their education and development. Using a combination of assessment techniques is generally best to gain a fuller understanding of the child. Observational narrative techniques, sometimes called anecdotal records, can result in a rich array of developmental information about individual children that can be used in a variety of ways. An anecdotal record is a detailed descriptive narrative recorded after a specific behavior or interaction occurs. Anecdotal records inform teachers as they plan learning experiences, provide information to families, and give insights into identifying possible developmental delays. This article discusses the advantages of keeping anecdotal records and explores how effective it is in curriculum planning, communicating with families, and tracking of development and possible delays.