99. Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)
Paper
Comparing Teacher-child Interactions in Age Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Preschool Classes in Czech Republic
Ondřej Koželuh
Charles University, Czech Republic
Presenting Author: Koželuh, Ondřej
The aim of the research is to compare quality of class climate in age homogeneous (hereinafter HO) and heterogeneous (hereinafter HE) preschool classes in Czech Republic, which is demonstrated through the quality of teacher-child interactions. Second aim of the research is to prove suitability of the tool CLASS Pre-K to Czech preschool reality.
The quality of preschool education depends on many different factors. One of them is teacher – his or her level of education, devotion to profession or quality of teacher-child interaction (Melhuish et al., 2015; Bennett, 2011; Bertrand, 2007). Age composition is another phenomenon influencing the quality of class climate. This factor was perceived from many points of view. Impact of age composition on social and emotional, language, cognitive development was examined (Foster et al., 2020; Ansari & Pianta, 2019; Justice et al., 2019; Moller et al., 2008; Mounts & Roopnarine, 1987). In Czech Republic is this area not examined enough, although the national curriculum Framework educational programme for preschool education allows both types of class composition in preschool education (FEP PE, 2021).
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe research was realized in 10 preschool classes (5 age HO and 5 age HE) in Czech Republic. The CLASS Pre-K tool (LaParo, Pianta & Hamre, 2008) was used to quantitavely measure the level of quality of class climate. Using the standardized tool ensured the reliability of the research. In each class were made 4 measuring sequences (each long 20 minutes) – free play, mealtime and two sequences of instruction time. Each sequence was also videorecorded and later assessed by two independent researchers. Interrater reliability (Sandilos & DiPerna, 2011; Downer et al., 2010) was secured by this process and also validating the research. Ten dimensions of classroom environment were observed: positive climate, negative climate, teacher sensitivity, regard for student perspectives, behaviour management, productivity, instructional learning formats, concept development, quality of feedback and language modeling. The observed phenomena were registered into checklist and scaled from 1 to 7 points, when 1 means lowest score and 7 means highest. Finally the collected data of HO and HE classes were compared to determine whether one type of class composition is more supportive for the quality of climate (teacher-child interaction). Data were processed through basic descriptive statistics in Microsoft Excel.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsResults showed no significant difference in quality of teacher-child interaction and quality of class climate in comparation of HO and HE classes. The averaged reached score of all dimensions was 6.09 for HO and 6.14 for HE classes. Highest scores were achieved in relationships and communication (positive and negative climate same, 6.95 for HO and 7.00 for HE). Lowest scores were achieved in concept development, that means in the way how teachers support children´s thinking and creativity development (3.85 for HO and 4.20 for HE). Second lowest score was achieved in dimension of quality of teachers´ feedback (4.90 for HO and 4.65 for HE). These two dimensions offer a potential for improvement for teachers´ approach in planning of education content, evaluation and assessment. Despite that we can state that the overall quality of teacher-child interactions in preschool education in Czech Republic is very high and classroom age composition does not affect it. Nevertheless, generalization of results is not possible due to rather small research sample. The second conclusion of the research is, that CLASS Pre-K is very functional research tool also in Czech preschool reality and can be used in future studies concerning measuring the level of class climate and quality of teacher-child interactions.
ReferencesAnsari, A., & Pianta, R. C. (2019). Teacher–child interaction quality as a function of classroom age diversity and teachers’ beliefs and qualifications. Applied Developmental Science, 23(3), 294-304.
Bennett, J. (2011). Early childhood education and care systems: Issue of tradition and governance. Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development, 1–5.
Bertrand, J. (2007). Preschool programs: Effective curriculum. Comments on Kagan and Kauerz and on Schweinhart. Encyclopedia on early childhood development, 1–7
Downer, J. T., Booren, L. M., Lima, O. K., Luckner, A. E., & Pianta, R. C. (2010). The Individualized Classroom Assessment Scoring System (inCLASS): Preliminary reliability and validity of a system for observing preschoolers’ competence in classroom interactions. Early childhood research quarterly, 25(1), 1-16.
FEP PE (2021). Rámcový vzdělávací program pro předškolní vzdělávání [Framework educational programme for preschool education]. Praha: Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports. Available from: www.msmt.cz
Foster, T. J., Burchinal, M., & Yazejian, N. (2020). The relation between classroom age composition and children’s language and behavioral outcomes: Examining peer effects. Child development, 91(6), 2103-2122.
Justice, L., Logan, J., Purtell, K., Bleses, D. & Højen A. (2019). Does mixing age groups in early childhood education settings support children’s language development?, Applied Developmental Science, 23:3, 214-226, DOI: 10.1080/10888691.2017.1386100.
LaParo, K., Pianta, R., & Hamre, B. (2008). The Classroom Assessment Scoring System: Manual Pre-K.
Melhuish, E., Ereky-Stevens, K., Petrogiannis, K., Ariescu, A., Penderi, E., Rentzou, K., … & Leseman, P. (2015). A review of research on the effects of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) upon child development.
Moller, A. C., Forbes-Jones, E., & Hightower, A. D. (2008). Classroom age composition and developmental change in 70 urban preschool classrooms. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100(4), 741.
Mounts, N. S., & Roopnarine, J. L. (1987). Social-cognitive play patterns in same-age and mixed-age preschool classrooms. American Educational Research Journal, 24(3), 463-476.
Sandilos, L. E., & DiPerna, J. C. (2011). Interrater Reliability of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System-Pre-K (CLASS Pre-K). Journal of Early Childhood & Infant Psychology, (7).
99. Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)
Paper
The Mushroom Watchers: Design-Based Research about Biocultural Diversity and Sustainability in a Portuguese Kindergarten
Bruna Batista, Ana Isabel Andrade, Gabriela Portugal
Language Education Lab - LabELing, CIDTFF – Research Centre on Didactics and Technology in the Education of Trainers, Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Portugal
Presenting Author: Batista, Bruna
Educating for sustainability includes rethinking daily actions, making more sustainable choices, working collaboratively to solve problems, reflecting on individual and collective actions, and creating close relationships with the Other and the context. From an educational perspective understood by its orientation towards the development of lifelong skills and values, education for sustainability intends to promote the development of critical and systemic thinking, as well as the ability to solve problems based on diverse and interdisciplinary strategies in an interpersonal and collaborative way (Mindt & Rieckmann, 2017; UNESCO, 2017; Wiek et al., 2016). Alongside the above, education for sustainability presupposes acting in a locally relevant and contextualised way, to enable stakeholders to participate actively in issues that are part of their interests and daily lives (Boyd, 2019; Ernst & Burcak, 2019; Green, 2017). Currently, special attention has been given to sustainable development objectives, which understand education as one of the main focuses of action to promote relationships between human beings and the context.
It is in the logic of understanding and stimulating the development of cultural, linguistic, and biological relations with the contexts that the concept of biocultural diversity emerges in the present study. It is observed that there is an increasing distance between the subjects and the surrounding context. The importance of the natural and social context in people's lives and well-being is also acknowledged, as well as the benefits associated with greater involvement with the environment from the early years of a child's life (Eriksen, 2013). As such, biocultural diversity emerges as an important concept in the education for sustainability from an early age, as it fosters a relationship with the environment and enables the understanding of relationships in their three dimensions: linguistic diversity, cultural diversity, and biological diversity (Batista & Andrade, 2021; Hanspach et al., 2020; Terralingua, 2014). These three axes are present within the scope of the early years, insofar as the tales, songs, and rhymes have, in many cases, a biocultural past based on traditional environmental knowledge which allows for a more careful, reflected, and sustainable life. The commemorative days, popular festivities, or traditions themselves express, together with the first aspects indicated, part of the linguistic and cultural diversity of the context. Biological diversity appears, in turn, in the songs, the rhymes, the customs, the food, and in the health. In fact, it appears everywhere, since this is where the treatment of biocultural diversity in the educational context comes in. A relationship of synergies where linguistic, biological, and cultural diversities are interdependent and co-evolve (Loh & Harmon, 2005; Maffi (ed.), 2001; Skutnabb-Kangas et al., 2003).
Given the aforementioned, the main aim of the present study is to identify and then analyse and reflect upon possible ways of educating for sustainability through pedagogical-didactic strategies focused on biocultural diversity. This research was developed in a Portuguese kindergarten context and intended to contribute to a possible answer to the research question "How can educational practices focused on biocultural diversity promote more sustainable actions of children in a kindergarten context?”. The objectives were to a) understand which pedagogical-didactic strategies were more and less appropriate to the interests and needs of the children; b) analyse how the children reacted to experiences outside the classroom context to which they were accustomed and; c) reflect on the learning promoted during the implementation of the project on sustainability and biocultural diversity.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThis study aims to analyse reality to understand possible ways of educating for sustainability through practices focused on biocultural diversity. Thus, the study may be contemplated according to two fundamental moments through design-based research. In the first phase, through an intervention within an international project, a teacher education program was developed for educators and teachers with the theme "dialogue, diversity, and inclusion" from the perspective of education for sustainability. During the teacher education program, pedagogical-didactic projects were developed between teacher educators and teachers, which were later implemented by the teachers in school contexts. Based on these projects and data collected from the different teachers, two projects were selected, one in a kindergarten context and the other in a primary school context. After selecting and analysing the projects, we contacted the respective teachers and redesigned the projects collaboratively. This redesign aimed to make biocultural diversity more explicit in the projects so that it would be possible to understand which strategies might be, or might not be, more appropriate.
The methodology adopted is design-based research because of its focus on designing, implementing, and evaluating a set of educational interventions that allow us not only to improve the teachers' educational practices but also to develop competencies related to ways of educating for sustainability (Anderson & Shattuck, 2012; Collins et al., 2004). The feedback that children and teachers revealed during and after the implementation of the projects, allowed the development of improvements in the proposals. We acknowledge that the project may present characteristics associated with action research. However, considering our research question and objectives, as well as the intention to further investigate interventions in educational settings that enable education for sustainability through biocultural diversity, it seems that design-based research would be appropriate. The researcher was actively involved in the processes of design, implementation, and re-adaptation of the projects, combining theoretical and practical issues, and improving the subsequent interventions based on the previous ones and the data collected. As techniques and tools for data collection, we chose to develop a logbook based on the meetings with the teachers and the processes of participant observation, together with the resources produced by the children and teachers (during the teacher education program) and the audio recording of parts of the sessions to obtain potentially informative, and detailed data about the implementation and impact of the interventions. Content analysis will be the method used to analyse the data collected.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsBased on a pre-analysis, it was possible to understand that systems-thinking, strategic, interpersonal, and self-awareness competencies were the most developed competencies based on the competencies frameworks considered (Mindt & Rieckmann, 2017; UNESCO, 2017; Wiek et al., 2016). Through participant observation, it was possible to verify that the children (aged between 3 and 5 years old) were available to question themselves about the relationships that exist between systems, more specifically in a micro-context (family, school, community). Some of the children, especially those who could already express themselves more clearly in oral form, were also interested in their individual and collective role in the functioning of the world and the importance of biological diversity in their lives, more specifically at a cultural level.
For the teachers, the role of biocultural diversity became evident, although biological diversity and cultural diversity were highlighted more frequently. Linguistic diversity issues were not often highlighted by the children or the teachers. However, as the interventions took place, a greater interest in the animal, plant and fungal species from the local context became evident. The children started questioning themselves and demonstrating a more critical, respectful, and curious attitude toward the biological diversity of their environment.
It should be noted, however, that the project also revealed many difficulties and obstacles. At first, some of the activities proposed collaboratively were not considered appropriate for a heterogeneous group, given their different levels of development and interests. The fact that strategies were promoted in an outdoor context such as pine forests and natural parks also had its drawbacks. In the group, some children were not used to the moments of free exploration in these contexts, which sometimes made them afraid to explore. Nevertheless, with time these children began to show more interest in these explorations and in playing with natural elements.
ReferencesAnderson, T., & Shattuck, J. (2012). Design-based research: A decade of progress in education research? Educational Researcher, 41(1), 16–25. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X11428813
Batista, B., & Andrade, A. I. (2021). Educating for Biocultural Diversity and Sustainable Development in First Years of Schooling: An Analysis of Documents From the Portuguese Educational System. Frontiers in Education, 6(September), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2021.652196
Boyd, D. (2019). Utilising place-based learning through local contexts to develop agents of change in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability. Education 3-13, 47(8), 983–997. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2018.1551413
Collins, A., Joseph, D., & Bielaczyc, K. (2004). Design Research: Theoretical and Methodological Issues. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 13(1), 15–42. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327809jls1301_2
Eriksen, K. G. (2013). Why education for sustainable development needs early childhood education: The case of Norway. Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability, 15(1), 107–120. https://doi.org/10.2478/jtes-2013-0007
Ernst, J., & Burcak, F. (2019). Young Children’s Contributions to Sustainability: The Influence of Nature Play on Curiosity, Executive Function Skills, Creative Thinking, and Resilience. Sustainability, 11(15), 4212. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11154212
Green, M. (2017). ‘If there’s no sustainability our future will get wrecked’: Exploring children’s perspectives of sustainability. Childhood, 24(2), 151–167. https://doi.org/10.1177/0907568216649672
Hanspach, J., Jamila Haider, L., Oteros‐Rozas, E., Stahl Olafsson, A., Gulsrud, N. M., Raymond, C. M., Torralba, M., Martín‐López, B., Bieling, C., García‐Martín, M., Albert, C., Beery, T. H., Fagerholm, N., Díaz‐Reviriego, I., Drews‐Shambroom, A., & Plieninger, T. (2020). Biocultural approaches to sustainability: A systematic review of the scientific literature. People and Nature, 2(3), 643–659. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10120
Loh, J., & Harmon, D. (2005). A global index of biocultural diversity. Ecological Indicators, 5(3), 231–241. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2005.02.005
Maffi (ed.), L. (2001). On biocultural diversity: linking language, knowledge and the environment (1 st ed.). Smithsonian Institution Press.
Mindt, L., & Rieckmann, M. (2017). Developing competencies for sustainability-driven entrepreneurship in higher education: A literature review on teaching and learning methods. Teoría de La Educación. Revista Interuniversitaria, 29(1), 129–159. https://doi.org/10.14201/teoredu291129159
Skutnabb-Kangas, T., Maffi, L., & Harmon, D. (2003). Sharing a world of difference: the earth’s linguistic, cultural, and biological diversity.
Terralingua. (2014). Biocultural diversity education initiative.
UNESCO. (2017). Education for Sustainable Development Goals: Learning Objectives. Education for Sustainable Development. The Global Education 2030 Agenda. http://www.unesco.org/open-access/terms-%0Ahttp://www.unesco.org/open-access/terms-use-ccbysa-en
Wiek, A., Bernstein, M. J., Foley, R., Cohen, M., Forrest, N., Kuzdas, C., Kay, B., Keeler, L. W., & Introduction. (2016). Operationalizing Competencies in Higher Education for Sustainable Development. Routledge Book of Higher Education for Sustainable Development, October 2015, 241–260.
99. Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)
Paper
Researching with migrant Families in Chile about their Childhood and Parenting Practices in the Context of Early Childhood Education
Fernanda Ahumada-Medina
University College London, United Kingdom
Presenting Author: Ahumada-Medina, Fernanda
Migration is a complex and worldwide phenomenon. By 2021, Chile’s migrant population corresponded to 7.6% of the total population. Currently, the largest nationalities are representative of Venezuela (30.7%), Peru (12.5%), Haiti (11.4%), and Colombia (11.4%). There has been discrimination against migrant families from these territories not only based on their skin color, nationality, personality, culture, socioeconomic status, but also based on their parenting practices (Pavez-Soto, 2012; Tijoux-Merino, 2013).
By 2019, 12% of children attending any Early Childhood Education Centre (ECEC) were identified as migrants. But the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 led to changes in attendance at ECEC, and since then migrant children exceed non-migrant attendance (Servicio Jesuita a Migrantes, 2021). Exploring how EC practitioners and migrant families are experiencing this new scenario could contribute tremendously to the promotion of culturally-responsive teaching practices. Especially since considering that the National Curriculum and the ECE training in Chile are mainly based on theories from north-western countries.
The majority of studies focused on parenting and children aim to classify parenting practices into standardised categories or to associate specific behaviours with future outcomes on children’s development and learning processes. Research from the area of Sociology of Childhood and Parenting Cultural Studies is relatively new and has contributed enormously to the exploration of migration in the school system but from only one perspective; children, teachers/headteachers, or families. Throughout my doctoral dissertation, Children and Parenting Cultural Studies have been unified since "the positions of adult/parent and child/son/daughter are mutually constituted and changed" (Vergara Del Solar et al., 2019). This research uses a relational approach (Mayall, 2002) and participant observation methodology to examine what are the views about childhood and parenting practices held by children, their migrant caregivers, and their ECE practitioners in Santiago de Chile.
Specifically, I plan to use the submission for the ECER conference to reflect on the process of proposing and implementing a research design that acknowledges and treats migrant families, especially young children, as experts. My experience as an EC practitioner a few years ago has prompted me to ask how to position myself as a researcher who does research with children instead of, continuing to do what was usual for me; researching about children. Would it be possible to carry out an ethnography if my intentions are to involve families in decision-making throughout the process? To what extent this research would be beneficial to these families and EC practitioners and not only to my doctoral research?
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedParticipants include 4 five-to-six years old children, their migrant caregivers (4 mothers and 1 father) from Venezuela and Peru, and 2 EC practitioners from the Kindergarten classroom these families are part of. The school is located in a commune in the south of Santiago, the capital of Chile.
The Participant Observation (PO) methods contributed to the development of a holistic understanding of how the families and EC practitioners from this research “make sense of their experiences and what is occurring around them” (Frey, 2018, p. 2). For four months, I visited this school from 9:00 to 12:30, focusing on the interactions between the different members of the school community, with a special focus on migrant children, their families, and EC practitioners. Apart from observing, I also did research with children at school and at home during this same period of time. This process was represented and summarised in research notebooks created by children and complemented with the perspective of their caregivers.
Parallely, I visited the caregivers in their houses at least two times to share some meals together and develop in-depth interviews with the purpose to know their views on childhood and parenting experiences as migrants. I established a general direction for the conversation while ensuring flexibility for the caregivers to direct part of the conversation.
During those months, I had several conversations and structured interviews with the EC practitioners about their understanding of childhood, migration, their relationship with migrant families, and diversity, among other topics.
Currently, I am following a reflexive data analysis approach and a crystallization technique in order to amplify and connect participants' expertise in their experiences as children and parents (Brown, 2018). The crystallization process provides another method for achieving depth, particularly through the compilation of many details as well as the representation, organization, and analysis of the details (Ellingson, 2009)
Then, the written, audio, and visual data is crystallized with the data generated by reflections of and with children.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsI am currently working on the analysis and constantly reflecting on my positionality while analysing the knowledge co-created with this community. These are the expected conclusions I expect to discuss once the paper is finished:
Researcher positionality: Thorne (1993) claimed that in order to address children as experts, researchers should “disrupt the common-sense adult-centered and adult–child power relations by developing and negotiating child-centered relationships with the children” (as cited in Mayeza, 2017, p. 2). Participating in the daily routine of a classroom as an adult, and considering the understanding children have of what being an adult means, implied children recognised me as an authority. Deciding which role to adopt was one of the main challenges during the research process since including children in the research process requires the researcher to constantly work toward establishing friendly and child-centered relationships with them.
Children’s experiences: Migration is a dynamic and complex process (Fouron & Glick-Schiller, 2001). Young children have experienced different migration journeys that have impacted their subjectivities and identities. They recognise how their life as children has changed during these years, are aware of their fears for the future, and how their relationship with their parents and other relatives has changed, among other topics that arisen.
Caregivers’ experiences: All the families from this research migrated for economic and political reasons. Although they all claimed they have not been discriminated against in Chile, their narratives tell us that they have experienced discrimination in different aspects of their life, even in parenting. They have been facing differences in terms of the language and the meals offered at the school.
EC practitioners’ experiences: There are some contradictions in their practices and discourses regarding their beliefs and interactions with migrant families that will be shared in the final document.
ReferencesBrown, N. (2018). Exploring the lived experience of fibromyalgia using creative data collection methods. Cogent social sciences, 4(1), 1447759.
Cheney, K. (2018). Decolonizing childhood studies: Overcoming patriarchy and prejudice in child-related research and practice. Reimagining childhood studies, 91-104.
Clark, A. (2001). How to listen to very young children: The mosaic approach. Child Care in Practice, 7(4), 333-341.
Dahlberg, G., Moss, P. and Pence, A. (2007). Beyond Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care. Languages of Evaluation. (2nd Ed.). Oxon, England: Routledge
Ellingson, L. L. (2009). Engaging crystallization in qualitative research: An introduction. Sage.
Fouron, G. E., & Schiller, N. C. (2001). The Generation of Identity: Redefining the Second Generation. Migration, transnationalization, and race in a changing New York, 58.
Frey, B. B. (Ed.). (2018). The SAGE encyclopedia of educational research, measurement, and evaluation. Sage Publications.
Faircloth, C., Hoffman, D. M., & Layne, L. L. (2013). Parenting in global perspective (p. 119). Taylor & Francis.
INE (2021). Estadísticas demográficas. Cuadros estadísticos. Migración internacional. INE https://www.ine.cl/estadisticas/sociales/demografia-y-vitales/demografia-y-migracion
Mayall, B. (2002). Towards a sociology for childhood. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Mayeza, E. (2017). ‘Girls don’t play soccer’: Children policing gender on the playground in a township primary school in South Africa. Gender and education, 29(4), 476-494.
Pavez-Soto, I. (2012). Sociología de la Infancia: las niñas y los niños como actores sociales. Revista de Sociología, 27: 81-102.
Pavez Soto, I. (2012). Inmigración y racismo: experiencias de la niñez peruana en Santiago de Chile. Si Somos Americanos, 12(1), 75-99.
Pavez-Soto, I. (2018). Violencias contra la infancia migrante en Santiago de Chile: Resistencias, agencia y actores. Migraciones internacionales, 9(4), 155-186.
Rosen, R., & Faircloth, C. (2020). Adult-child relations in neoliberal times: insights from a dialogue across childhood and parenting culture studies. Families, Relationships and Societies, 9(1), 7-22.
Tijoux-Merino, M. E. (2013). Niños (as) marcados por la inmigración peruana: estigma, sufrimientos, resistencias. Convergencia, 20(61), 83-104.
Vergara, A., Sepúlveda, M., & Salvo, I. (2019). Being a parent and being a child in Chile today: the relational construction of subject positions in a neoliberal context. Subjectivity, 12(4), 371-388.
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