Search

This study explored early years' practitioners' and teachers' attitudes and confidence in delivering the UK Physical Activity guidelines [National Health Service (NHS). (2013). "Physical activity guidelines for children and young people." Retrieved July 15, 2015, from www.nhs.uk/Livewell/fitness/Pages/physical-activity-guidelines-for-young-peopole.aspx] within the curriculum for young children [Department for Education (DfE). (2013). "The national curriculum in England. Key stages 1 and 2 framework document." London: Department for Education, Crown; Department for Education (DfE). (2014). "Statutory framework for the early years' foundation stage. Setting the standards for learning, development and care for children from birth to five." London: Department for Education, Crown]. Using an online questionnaire, data were analysed using thematic framework and statistically. Fifty-nine respondents came from early years' settings, including nurseries, pre-schools and primary schools. The findings suggest that there is a lack of confidence in knowing what to do to support and sustain physical activity. Further research is needed to identify if this is a national trend; this is the next steps of our research, as is the development of resources to help support confidence and the delivery of physical activity for young children.

By the time children are 8 years of age, their attitudes, values, identities and beliefs are shaped and becoming solidly formed. Early childhood educators are uniquely positioned in children's lives to promote positive values and beliefs and to foster authentic appreciation of difference. This important work is challenged by a discourse in wider society, based on fears of certain groups of people linked to extremism and terrorism. Recent policy and law changes in England require teachers to be gatekeepers and report concerns to authorities. Contextual discourse analysis was used as the methodology to identify themes within the policy and curriculum documents reviewed in paper. This paper presents a case for early childhood academics and educators to consider a rationale for how they can promote values of tolerance and compassion and highlight and celebrate a range of religious and cultural traditions, and in order to promote a deeper respect and understanding.

This paper examines the extent by which the four domains of the sustainable early childhood leadership model were evident in the experiences of New Leaders in Early Years (NLEY) participants. This original piece of research explores the impact of pedagogical leadership and focuses on participants recruited to a national pilot to make a difference for children in areas of social disadvantage in England. The significance of this paper is timely given the continued focus on leadership, evidenced in the 'Early Years Workforce Strategy' [Department for Education. (2017). Retrieved March 30, 2017, from https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/596884/Workforce_strategy_02-03-2017.pdf]. This paper contributes a conceptual framework for early childhood leadership as a methodological tool to make sense of the data. The findings suggest that NLEY did have an impact on the settings and the families they were working with and that the conceptual framework for early childhood leadership was an effective tool for making sense of their journey from novice to leader.

Previous research that evaluated first year students' transition into university found that the values of 'being, belonging and becoming' were important in particular within the first few months and within the first year of university. From our previous work, we reported that three things matter to students: the academic staff they work with, the nature of their academic study and the feeling of belonging. This paper provides a further illumination to our work by reporting on the qualitative data collected in the same study. The study included 530 students from five cohorts over a five-year period. As part of the Student Experience Evaluation instrument, open-ended questions probed students about their early experiences of belonging and transition into university. This original research uses rich data to illuminate the scales and items from previous quantitative data analysis to explore 'belonging', triangulated with research from the field. This paper is timely due to increased emphasis placed on learning and teaching with the introduction of the Teaching Excellence Framework. Student satisfaction is not a simplistic measure and this study articulates the complexity of student belonging in Higher Education.

Measuring student experience in terms of satisfaction is a national measure used by prospective students when considering their higher education choices. Increasingly league tables are used as a means to rank universities with a limited interrogation of the reality of students' experiences. This study explored the question 'What really matters to freshers?' during their transition into higher education through to completion. Students on an academic undergraduate Early Childhood Studies degree (n = 530) over a five-year period completed a Student Experience Evaluation in their first term and this data was correlated with the National Student Survey data collected about their cohorts in the final term of their degree. During the five year period, a number of interventions were undertaken by the academic staff to develop a learning community, based on the values linked to 'being, belonging, and becoming'. The results of this study suggest that three things matter to students about their experience, that is, the academic staff they work with, the nature of their academic study and feeling like they belong. A model is proposed which aims to demonstrate the impact of academic staff, studies and the learning community that develops through social and academic experiences at University.

Children's life chances are enhanced when relationships between home and educational settings are strong. This original piece of research involved second-year trainee teachers who were surveyed about their perceptions about parents and the nature of the partnership relationship. Research suggests that teachers act in accordance with their beliefs when their knowledge, understanding and confidence is high. Using this assumption, this small scale study was contextualized utilized a set of open-ended questions. The study consider the participants' own experiences of families and parenting. Contextual discourse analysis was employed to analyse the policy-based data for this project. The initial findings suggest that the challenge for new teachers is their confidence in potential relationships with parents in relation to their feelings of being qualified but a novice. This is a timely paper, given the current developments in education policy in England which may impact on future teacher training.

"Every Child Matters" under New Labour provided a framework for services for young children's care and education. It was pushed aside by the Conservative-led coalition and replaced by "More Great Childcare". The UK as a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, therefore has obligations for legislation, policy and curriculum, specifically with regard to children's rights and participation. On the 25th anniversary of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child, in practice there may be different levels of participation employed to engage children's views in the development of policy about them. This project sets out to ask children about what "matters" to them. Ninety finalist Early Childhood Studies students worked as co-researchers in this project. Five themes are discussed highlighting the powerful thoughts and ideas of children. A range of "child-friendly" methods were used to collect data from children including role-play, interviews, drawings and artefacts, and story-telling.

The article discusses a retrospective analysis of questionnaires filled out by entry-level scuba-diving students in Queensland. Aside from answering the medical forms, the students undergo a medical consultation which is performed by a medical practitioner who is expert in diving medicine. The results of the retrospective analysis reveal that face-to-face medical interview helps in identifying individuals who have health risk while diving.

The article discusses challenges in the development of standards for occupational and recreating diving in Australia. To create or revise standards, organizations have to make initiations and frond-end payment. In the diving industry, no individual organization has the sufficient funds to finance such project. However, the Australian Diver Accreditation Scheme (ADAS) has indicated that it will provide financial and secretarial support to develop or revise standards in the diving industry.