tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca-fr/topics/early-chldhood-education-66855/articlesearly chldhood education – La Conversation2022-02-17T13:12:05Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1756252022-02-17T13:12:05Z2022-02-17T13:12:05ZWant better child care? Invest in entrepreneurial training for child care workers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445730/original/file-20220210-1970-unavhe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C0%2C6689%2C4476&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Entrepreneurial leadership values expertise from providers, educators and parents. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/license/886934186?adppopup=true"> SDI Productions/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Christine Heer – a veteran preschool teacher – had long harbored a passion to run a nature-based preschool. So in 2015 she opened <a href="https://www.growbloomandthrive.com/">Sprouts Farm and Forest Kindergarten</a> in central Massachusetts.</p>
<p>Diana Stinson did something similar in 2018 when she co-founded <a href="https://www.massaudubon.org/get-outdoors/wildlife-sanctuaries/long-pasture/programs-classes-activities/nature-preschool">Nature Explorers Preschool</a>, which is housed on a wildlife sanctuary on Cape Cod.</p>
<p>Five months into the COVID-19 pandemic, <a href="https://blogs.umb.edu/earlyed/2020/07/08/building-community/">Dottie Williams</a>, a Boston child care provider, was invited to testify before Massachusetts lawmakers. She spoke about how child care providers were <a href="https://www.salemnews.com/news/state_news/covid-19-forcing-innovation-at-child-care-centers/article_b608ff39-c7ef-5e78-b7fa-20f7c3b11305.html">helping children adapt</a> during the pandemic.</p>
<p>In the fall of 2021, as very young children exhibited anxiety about playing with other children without a mask – something they had previously been taught was unsafe – <a href="https://blogs.umb.edu/earlyed/2021/11/08/teaching-young-children-about-post-pandemic-social-interaction/">Emilee Johnson</a> wrote a <a href="https://blogs.umb.edu/earlyed/2021/11/08/teaching-young-children-about-post-pandemic-social-interaction/">children’s book</a> about <a href="https://eyeonearlyeducation.org/2021/07/27/a-book-for-young-children-on-the-pandemics-new-normal/">how to stay safe</a>.</p>
<p>All of these early educators have one thing in common – they were all trained in entrepreneurial leadership.</p>
<h2>A different kind of leadership</h2>
<p>As a researcher who studies <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=58-4rKcAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">how to develop effective leadership skills among early childhood educators</a>, I know that <a href="https://www.tcpress.com/leading-for-change-in-early-care-and-education-9780807758359">entrepreneurial leadership training</a> is not like other kinds of leadership training. For instance, it doesn’t emphasize hierarchy. Rather than elevate the expertise of administrators and authorities, it recognizes the expertise of those who work directly with children – that is, the child care providers, educators and parents. </p>
<p>When directors and administrators of early learning centers are trained in entrepreneurial leadership, <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED593623.pdf">innovation becomes a bigger part</a> of what they do. They build relationships that <a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/opre/ccl-report-summary-508_qc.pdf">value “curiosity, questions, and reflections about current practices,”</a> according to a 2021 federal report. Staff members contribute ideas to improve teaching practices, enhance program quality, implement strategies for improving workplace culture, promote equity and welcome feedback from parents. </p>
<h2>Benefits to children</h2>
<p>Children benefit when early educators are trained in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s40723-022-00095-z">entrepreneurial leadership</a>, research <a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/opre/understanding-leadership-ECE-march-2021.pdf">shows</a>. This is largely because classroom quality is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02568543.2012.739589">connected to</a> the improved workplace culture, parental engagement and support for experimentation – all things brought about by entrepreneurial leadership. The quality of leadership and the organizational climate set by early educational leaders are “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02568540709594621">critical variables</a>” for the quality of early education.</p>
<p>Entrepreneurial leadership training transforms how early educators think. It leads them to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-017-0871-9">redefine leadership</a>. They begin to see leadership as collaborative and purpose-driven rather than hierarchical.</p>
<p>Some early educators use their new skills and confidence to open new schools, as Stinson and Heer did. Some develop new resources for educators, as Johnson did. Some become highly effective advocates, as Williams has. But most early educators trained in this form of leadership return to their programs to make <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s40723-022-00095-z">seemingly small but powerful changes</a> that result in better care and education for children.</p>
<h2>Opportunities limited</h2>
<p>Despite the positive effects of entrepreneurial leadership training, it’s not widely available. One survey found only <a href="https://goffinstrategygroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2021-Early-Care-and-Education-Leadership-Development-Compendium.pdf">35 leadership programs</a> for early educators in the entire country. Of those, 32 focus on the “positional responsibilities” of directors and administrators.</p>
<p>As the pandemic continues to <a href="https://www.tbf.org/news-and-insights/reports/2021/dec/when-the-bough-breaks-20211213">disrupt early care and education programs</a>, with <a href="https://edpolicy.umich.edu/sites/epi/files/uploads/BPS_ECE_COVID_Policy_Brief.pdf">reduced student enrollment</a> and teachers <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/09/19/childcare-workers-quit/">leaving the profession</a> because of fears of exposure to COVID-19, resources must be used wisely. Investing in entrepreneurial leadership training for early educators is one way to make sure that happens.</p>
<p>[<em>Interested in science headlines but not politics? Or just politics or religion?</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-interested">The Conversation has newsletters to suit your interests</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175625/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anne Douglass receives funding from the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, and the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation at the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as well as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Boston Foundation.
Anne Douglass designs, implements, and evaluates leadership development programs in the early care and education sector.
</span></em></p>When early childhood education providers become more entrepreneurial, the quality of their programs improves, research shows.Anne Douglass, Professor of Early Care and Education Leadership, Policy, and Practice, UMass BostonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1234472019-10-21T21:36:06Z2019-10-21T21:36:06ZNature stories: Children experience the seasons with Indigenous knowledge keepers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297822/original/file-20191021-56228-1520tty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=23%2C17%2C974%2C663&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children in a forest nature program learn about the ‘mitigomin’ (red oak acorns) not buried by the ‘miadidamoo’ (eastern grey squirrels).</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On the winding trails the ground is covered with red and yellow maple tree leaves. These are <em>ininaatigobagaa</em>, the children and adults in our <a href="http://humber.ca/today/news/humber-college-forest-nature-program-receives-edward-burtynsky-award">forest nature program</a> have learned, in the Ojibwe language. </p>
<p>In the Humber Valley in the northwest end of Toronto, children examine and learn about the red oak acorns (<em>mitigomin</em>) that are not buried by the eastern grey squirrels (<em>misagidamoo</em>) and will grow into trees and feed future generations of squirrels. They are learning about the language of nature of that area. </p>
<p>Humber’s nature-based program is located on 250 acres of forest, meadows, wetlands and ponds, a place called <em>Adoobiigok</em>, known as “Place of the Black Alders” in the Michi Saagiig language. Uniquely situated along the Humber River watershed, it historically provided an integral connection for Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and Wendat peoples between the Ontario lakeshore and the Lake Simcoe/Georgian Bay regions.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297768/original/file-20191019-56234-1m7hlbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297768/original/file-20191019-56234-1m7hlbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=836&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297768/original/file-20191019-56234-1m7hlbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=836&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297768/original/file-20191019-56234-1m7hlbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=836&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297768/original/file-20191019-56234-1m7hlbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1050&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297768/original/file-20191019-56234-1m7hlbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1050&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297768/original/file-20191019-56234-1m7hlbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1050&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Lost Words by Robert McFarlane, illustrated by Jackie Morris.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Hamish Hamilton)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But <em>mitigomin</em> aren’t only disappearing from the ground. Writer Robert McFarlane and illustrator Jackie Morris created the book <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-friday-edition-1.4889158/the-lost-words-book-gives-new-life-to-nature-terms-cut-from-oxford-junior-dictionary-1.4889465"><em>The Lost Words</em></a> to draw attention to English-language words pertaining to nature and the ecosystems we know (heron, moss, willows, dandelion) that were <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/13/oxford-junior-dictionary-replacement-natural-words">removed from the <em>Oxford Junior Dictionary</em></a>. </p>
<p>Oxford University Press claimed the words were not being used by children. It introduced words like blog, broadband, attachment and voicemail.</p>
<p>The book is a lyrical protest against the loss of sentient nature words, digitalized play and childhoods, and a call to wonder for both children and adults.</p>
<h2>With Indigenous partners</h2>
<p>Canada has a history of <a href="http://www.trc.ca/assets/pdf/Honouring_the_Truth_Reconciling_for_the_Future_July_23_2015.pdf">making Indigenous words and languages disappear</a>. I work both as faculty in the early childhood education program at <a href="https://humber.ca/arboretum/">the Humber Arboretum</a> and as a researcher exploring how early childhood programs can develop relationships with Indigenous communities and knowledges.</p>
<p>With gratitude for the generosity of <a href="http://humber.ca/aboriginal/">Indigenous Elders and colleagues</a> who share with our children’s forest nature program, we are dedicated to ensuring nature — and an awareness of Indigenous people and knowledges — are part of children’s experiences. We are learning to understand the relationship <a href="https://ojibiikaan.com/ojiibikens-earlyon-program/">between Indigenous knowledge</a> and ecosystems.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/wonder-and-wisdom-in-a-childrens-forest-nature-program-106692">Wonder and wisdom in a children's forest nature program</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We learn new words and how language is a key transmitter of Indigenous knowledge and culture. This is particularly <a href="https://en.iyil2019.org/">timely in the International Year of Indigenous Languages</a>, dedicated to preserving languages, cultures and knowledge systems. </p>
<h2>Revitalizing words and knowledge</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://europeansting.com/2019/09/11/children-are-forgetting-the-names-for-plants-and-animals/">recent study</a> of 1,000 children aged five to 16, living in the United Kingdom, found that more than 80 per cent of children could not identify a bumblebee, dandelions were unknown to 42 per cent and 23 per cent could not recognize a robin. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292247/original/file-20190912-190026-1tk19gb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292247/original/file-20190912-190026-1tk19gb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292247/original/file-20190912-190026-1tk19gb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292247/original/file-20190912-190026-1tk19gb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292247/original/file-20190912-190026-1tk19gb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292247/original/file-20190912-190026-1tk19gb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292247/original/file-20190912-190026-1tk19gb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A child in a land-based program in B.C., knows about robins: ‘We found this robin egg, it was a blue baby egg and there was nothing in it. The daddy flies away with the pieces so the babies are safe in their nest.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Becky Bristow)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A 2018 survey conducted for the <a href="https://www.natureconservancy.ca/en/blog/archive/nine-out-of-10-canadians-are.html#.YIBRf5NKhQI">Nature Conservancy of Canada</a> with Ipsos Public Affairs found that nine out of 10 Canadians are happier in nature and benefit from being in nature, yet 66 per cent increasingly spend more time indoors than in their youth. They say this is because of busy schedules and barriers such as rain, snow and insects. </p>
<p>Euro-western <a href="https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/jcs/issue/view/881">early learning and education tends to see nature as separate from culture</a>. </p>
<p>In response to growing awareness of the environmental crisis in recent decades, Euro-western <a href="https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/jcs/issue/view/881">early learning and education is being challenged to expand a long-standing approach to nature as separate from culture</a>. In Canadian early childhood education and care settings, rigid schedules and environments have been emphasized over <a href="http://commonworlds.net/childrens-relations-with-place/">Earth-centred worldviews</a> characterized by <a href="http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/outdoor-play/according-experts/indigenizing-outdoor-play">reciprocal relationships with nature</a>. </p>
<h2>Reciprocal relationships</h2>
<p>Given <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/">global ecological challenges</a>, nature-based programs can engage children and adults in ethical and reciprocal relationships in and <a href="http://harmonywithnatureun.org/dialogue/YIncgsUE4FutNIcjm19GEsYoLu08IkvEfvE1OWULjTfcCdEdfxQzzF1iKof5oO39!c8WgzGuIGGyyUc5sISOpQ">with nature</a>. </p>
<p>My research and our program explores how Indigenous and non-Indigenous educators can create ethical partnerships and space where Indigenous ways of knowing, doing and being shape what we do. </p>
<p>Children share the forest and meadows with chickadees, woodpeckers and <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-extensive-study-finds-number-of-north-american-birds-has-dropped-by/">wrens, which are in steep decline</a>.</p>
<p>Through multi-sensory explorations, observations and wondering, in all seasons and <a href="https://weathercollaboratory.blog/2019/04/04/weathering-lively-ongoingness-scales-and-temporalities/">weather</a>, we not only learn the names of plants, animals and creatures, we learn their stories. </p>
<p>Sacred Tobacco (<em>Asayma</em>) harvested from the Indigenous medicine garden is offered to the towering sugar maple trees that drip sap into metal pails. We ask for permission before tasting the clear maple water — <em>aninaatig'waboo</em> — and give thanks for Elder James Dumont’s teaching about the <em>Maple Tree</em> story and the sweet syrup to come. </p>
<h2>Climate resilience</h2>
<p>Children and adults in our nature program return to known places. </p>
<p>When we walk through the forest, we notice what is, what has changed and wonder what may become. We are attuning ourselves to the rhythms around us. These daily experiences are part of what we call “slow play”: together we live in <a href="http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/outdoor-play/according-experts/indigenizing-outdoor-play">reciprocal relationships</a> with other animals, plants, water and rocks. </p>
<p>We wonder how the sap will run during the day when nights have not been cold enough. In learning to leave acorns and pine cones in their natural habitats, we imagine future oak and pine trees. We witness the cycle of threatened <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/monarch-butterfly-populations-are-on-the-rise">monarch butterflies</a> that journey to Mexico from the arboretum. </p>
<p>In the familiar, we also experience the unknown, perhaps key to thinking <a href="https://thinkdivebiomimicry.com/category/biomimicry/">creatively</a>, adapting to change and empowering resilience. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297790/original/file-20191020-56198-nhdfjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297790/original/file-20191020-56198-nhdfjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297790/original/file-20191020-56198-nhdfjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297790/original/file-20191020-56198-nhdfjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297790/original/file-20191020-56198-nhdfjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297790/original/file-20191020-56198-nhdfjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297790/original/file-20191020-56198-nhdfjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A child in the Willows Forest Nature Program drew a map of the arboretum: ‘I’m with the bees; they’re making honey.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Louise Zimanyi)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Children map their own experiences of nature: how bees make honey, the smell of winter, deer prints in the snow, the adventures of blue-green insects. We learn that dandelion flowers are an early source of nectar for pollinating wild bees and not to pick them. At home, children successfully protest parental attempts to mow the lawn, instructing that dandelions are the first juice for the bees. </p>
<h2>Benefits outweigh risks</h2>
<p>In <a href="http://humberpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Jipe-Zimanyi-Rossovska-Final.pdf">surveys and focus groups</a>, parents note that the benefits of nature play and learning in the <a href="https://youtu.be/Hl-h1fBlhy0">forest nature program</a> far outweigh perceived risks related to weather and insects. </p>
<p>They see increasing confidence and <a href="https://www.childrenandnature.org/research/young-children-from-disadvantaged-backgrounds-show-increased-well-being-and-academic-development-after-participating-in-a-3-year-forest-school-experience/">resilience</a> through problem-solving and embracing new challenges. The benefits they see include nurturing compassion and care for other living creatures and developing a respect for nature through awareness of Indigenous cultures, communities and knowledges. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/srccl/">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)</a> acknowledges the importance of <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/unpfii-sessions-2.html">Indigenous</a> and local knowledge to address climate change. </p>
<p>Earth-centered programs that <a href="https://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/research-news/2018-04-03-where-and-how-children-connect-to-nature.html">integrate</a> education and environment goals, and that seek to build ethical partnerships with Indigenous communities, have an important role today. </p>
<p>They could help inform <a href="https://www.sdgsforall.net/index.php/goal-13-14-15">climate change goals</a> such as learning about mitigating human impact on the land and becoming sensitized to caring for and protecting biodiversity.</p>
<p>[ <em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123447/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Louise Zimanyi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Earth-centred children’s programs that seek to build ethical partnerships with Indigenous communities have an important role in learning about weathering climate change.Louise Zimanyi, Candidate, Doctor of Social Sciences; Professor ECE, Royal Roads UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1137092019-03-26T22:34:28Z2019-03-26T22:34:28ZKindergarten classes are too big for teachers to effectively assess students<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/265634/original/file-20190325-36267-1lddt9x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Helping children think self-reflexively about their choices when they play is part of assessment in kindergarten. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recent educational reforms have led to two fundamental changes in kindergarten classrooms. </p>
<p>Firstly, there has been a surge of play-based learning. Play, now shown to be <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/rev3.3097">beneficial both for academic skills and for socio-personal development</a>, has been repositioned in many kindergarten policies as the dominant approach for teaching and learning.</p>
<p>Play-based learning is rooted in a history across
traditions of early primary education such as <a href="http://www.ccma.ca/what-is-montessori">Montessori</a>, <a href="https://www.reggioalliance.org/">Reggio Emilia</a>, <a href="https://www.early-education.org.uk/about-froebel">Froebel</a> and the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/42643342?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">British Infant School tradition</a>. </p>
<p>Play is further supported as a basic right of all children by the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx">United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child</a>. With Canada’s adoption of this in 1991, Canadian educators had empirical, historical and philosophical grounds for play as a basis for classroom learning.</p>
<p>At the same time, the accountability movement has made its way into kindergarten. This movement results in a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10643-010-0429-6">dramatic increase in academic standards expected of kindergarten students</a>, and the coupled need for teachers to assess and report achievement of curriculum standards.</p>
<p>Both play-based learning and the value of assessment are independently supported by research arguing their value. Yet little research has explored what happens when schools implement these changes simultaneously. </p>
<p>In our three-year study, we found that many teachers <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00220671.2015.1118005">report assessment as one of the primary challenges within the current context of play-based kindergarten education</a>.</p>
<h2>Asking probing questions</h2>
<p>Today, Ontario kindergarten teachers are mandated to use multiple forms of assessment. Overall, these practices have two purposes: firstly, to report on student learning of curriculum expectations through graded report cards; and secondly, to provide feedback to help students <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0969595980050102?src=recsys">become independent learners, which is a fundamental goal for kindergarteners</a>. </p>
<p>Providing feedback happens when teachers engage with children through teacher-led instruction or play-based learning. </p>
<p>For example: a teacher intentionally lingers near children at play. Two children can’t agree on an imaginary scenario, such as whether they are firefighters at a fire or adventurers riding horses to save a runaway train. The teacher asks probing questions to help children solve their own conflicts and imagine a story line. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/265656/original/file-20190325-36256-kysjpu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/265656/original/file-20190325-36256-kysjpu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265656/original/file-20190325-36256-kysjpu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265656/original/file-20190325-36256-kysjpu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265656/original/file-20190325-36256-kysjpu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265656/original/file-20190325-36256-kysjpu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265656/original/file-20190325-36256-kysjpu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Teachers stressed that assessing children while they played was essential.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the same time the teacher is intentionally assessing children’s collaboration and their ability to use existing story structure knowledge. </p>
<p>Thus we can see how assessment — asking probing questions in this case — supports child development. Children are learning to compromise and come to a mutually agreeable consensus. They are also developing the ability to reflect critically on their own thinking.</p>
<p>When assessment is recorded and shared, parents and teachers can identify for students where they are and where they need to go with their learning. Educators and parents can then help provide children with strategies for this. </p>
<p>All assessment practices are meant to <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/policyfunding/growsuccess.pdf">continuously monitor student development and learning towards provincial standards, both academic and socio-personal</a>. </p>
<h2>Teacher challenges</h2>
<p>In our three-year study in Ontario play-based kindergarten classrooms, through a series of initial and follow-up interviews and classroom observations, we explored teachers’ perspectives and intentions about how they fulfil their mandates to assess children. </p>
<p>Teachers overwhelmingly described their intentions to practise child-centred assessment. Further, they stressed that play opportunities were purposefully designed to address curriculum expectations and that assessment in these contexts was essential. But our observations revealed that teachers were not always systematically doing this. </p>
<p>Instead, teachers used a traditional approach of creating multiple centres to engage the majority of children in play-based learning activities — for instance, at a sand table or an imaginary play setting like a restaurant. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/265874/original/file-20190326-36252-fgh7sp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/265874/original/file-20190326-36252-fgh7sp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265874/original/file-20190326-36252-fgh7sp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265874/original/file-20190326-36252-fgh7sp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265874/original/file-20190326-36252-fgh7sp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265874/original/file-20190326-36252-fgh7sp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265874/original/file-20190326-36252-fgh7sp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Teachers lacked time to systematically assess children while they played.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Teachers then assessed the literacy or math skills of individual children, or small groups. An overwhelming majority of teachers in our study (95 per cent) indicated that they used such teacher-led stations because they lacked sufficient time to systematically assess children in all areas of the curriculum while they played.</p>
<p>This challenge was primarily due to large class sizes with up to 30 children. It was compounded by perceived pressure to cover and report on curriculum expectations in order to prepare children for Grade 1.</p>
<p>Over half the teachers (55 per cent) felt pressured to capture the multitude of learning moments occurring simultaneously among children in a busy classroom environment.</p>
<p>Teachers also recognized that a significant portion of their time was spent on <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/policyfunding/growingsuccessaddendum.html">pedagogical documentation — the practice of systematically collecting evidence on individual student learning throughout play and learning periods</a>. </p>
<p>This practice is part of Ontario’s play-based kindergarten policy, and involves ongoing gathering and interpretation of various evidence of student thinking, learning and performance including photographs, videos, work samples, conversations and observations.</p>
<p>The addition of pedagogical documentation has not fundamentally changed how assessment operates in play-based kindergarten classrooms. Rather, as teachers work to navigate the assessments required by academic curriculum expectations and the learning potential within play-based contexts, teachers perceive more assessment work.</p>
<h2>Class size impacts teachers’ assessment capacity</h2>
<p>Assessing children one-on-one or in small groups served to resolve an additional challenge that 75 per cent of the teachers identified: a large proportion of children did not have the self-regulation to play for extended periods of time without adult support and supervision. They had issues with sharing their emotions, controlling their bodies and playing in socially appropriate ways with friends and resources. </p>
<p>While teachers’ strategies of creating the assessment stations appeared to be an effective and necessary approach, it meant that assessment was not fully integrated or responsive to play-based learning. </p>
<p>This observation led us to highlight an irony: despite many children entering kindergarten not having the necessary self-regulation to play independently for long periods of time, due to class size, teachers are unable to fully leverage <a href="https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/assessment-as-learning/book238890">the power of both play and assessment to develop children’s self-regulation</a>.</p>
<p>Teachers in our study described the need to assess a diversity of academic and learning skills in multiple spaces for so many children as an impossible juggling act. </p>
<p>And, many acknowledged they did not have time to collect, let alone engage in, in-depth analysis of much of the assessment information collected. </p>
<p>Our findings suggest to us the need for administrators and teacher professional development programs to support teachers’ broader assessment literacy: in kindergarten, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09695940903319646">assessment is optimally not an add-on to teaching and learning, but part of everyday practices that combine both child-led and teacher-directed practices woven into play-based learning</a>. </p>
<p>Importantly, our findings also suggest that teachers want to practice child-centred assessment, which effectively nurtures academic and socio-personal development, but report they cannot because of large class sizes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113709/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher DeLuca receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angela Pyle receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>Student assessments help children develop self-regulation skills, but teachers don’t have the time when class sizes are large.Christopher DeLuca, Associate Professor in Classroom Assessment and Acting Associate Dean, Graduate Studies & Research, Faculty of Education, Queen's University, OntarioAngela Pyle, Assistant Professor, Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Study, Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development, OISE, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1122752019-03-04T22:07:20Z2019-03-04T22:07:20ZNew research shows quality early childhood education reduces need for later special ed<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261606/original/file-20190301-22871-1t8ivhf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C4%2C992%2C535&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There is a payoff of early quality childhood education for families, for communities and for economies but especially for child development. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If a formula existed for giving children something that reduced the need for, or intensity of, later special education that can be both emotionally and financially costly, wouldn’t it be excellent? </p>
<p>Such a formula does exist. It’s called quality early childhood education. </p>
<p>I was part of a team of special education researchers that examined the impact of early childhood education in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. More than 50 years of data were offered to us by longitudinal studies that tracked children who received this quality education and compared their development to children who did not. </p>
<p>We reached a startling conclusion: <a href="https://research.library.mun.ca/13571/">participation in quality early childhood education programs significantly prevents special education placement and lowers the intensity of supports required for children with exceptionalities</a>. </p>
<p>Exceptionalities could include children on the autism spectrum, as well as other children who would require additional supports beyond the mainstream classroom — for special education placements or tailored plans. </p>
<p>We found that a continuum of evidence, from multiple studies in multiple countries, unanimously demonstrates what specialists call the “pre-emptive nature” of early childhood education: it pre-empts issues from developing or getting more challenging. </p>
<p>There is a payoff of early quality childhood education for families, for communities, for economies but especially for child development. </p>
<p>And, while investments in the early years <a href="https://www.td.com/document/PDF/economics/special/di1112_EarlyChildhoodEducation.pdf">more than pay for themselves</a>, the return is more substantial when factoring the impact on special education.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261929/original/file-20190304-92286-pyw92r.GIF?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261929/original/file-20190304-92286-pyw92r.GIF?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=130&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261929/original/file-20190304-92286-pyw92r.GIF?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261929/original/file-20190304-92286-pyw92r.GIF?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=130&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261929/original/file-20190304-92286-pyw92r.GIF?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=163&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261929/original/file-20190304-92286-pyw92r.GIF?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=163&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261929/original/file-20190304-92286-pyw92r.GIF?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=163&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Philpott</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Collectively, this research offers a wealth of irrefutable insight for policy-makers.</p>
<p>These outcomes stem from the finding that the skills typically targeted by early childhood education programming are likely <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer.103.6.2052">precursors of children’s ability to maintain a positive academic trajectory</a>. They include cognitive skills in language, literacy and math and socio-emotional capacities in self-regulation, motivation, engagement and persistence. </p>
<h2>Canadian findings</h2>
<p>I have spent 38 years at the forefront of special education in this country. When I began, children with disabilities were in different schools. </p>
<p>Now we have today’s highly inclusive educational model where neighbourhood schools are legally mandated to include all children, regardless of need. Today, contemporary classrooms are marked by their heterogeneity.</p>
<p>Canadian schools do a <a href="https://www.unicef.ca/en/unicef-report-card-15?utm_medium=email&utm_source=UNICEF+eNewsletter&utm_campaign=2018_Oct_30_One_Youth_Email_EN&utm_content=ONEYOUTH::One+Youth+Email+Oct+30+2018+EN">relatively decent yet incomplete job at what’s called “equalizing child development.</a>” That means schools quite rapidly bring children up to speed in the first couple of years when they enter the system with less enriched skills — except, it must be stated, in the case of marginalized children, who live in poverty or have special education needs. </p>
<p>In Canada, researchers have found <a href="https://www.conferenceboard.ca/temp/12ef968a-a09b-4484-bf45-a4f87ba1a773/9231_Ready-for-Life_RPT.pdf">quality early childhood education benefits individual children by improving rates of high school completion, post-secondary education and socio-economic status</a>. </p>
<p>For these reasons, front-loading interventions during the early years is wise public policy. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00220671.2018.1486280">In Ontario, the success of junior and senior kindergarten has produced startling results</a>:
academic and developmental gains the children are enjoying are not fading as they get older, and the impact is greatest for those most at-risk for special education placements.</p>
<p>Yet full-day kindergarten now holds a <a href="https://theconversation.com/full-day-kindergarten-is-what-ontario-needs-for-a-stable-future-111335">questionable future under Conservative budget planning</a>. </p>
<p>In order to reach the most vulnerable children in our societies, exploring the pre-emptive nature of early childhood education is timely and particularly significant.</p>
<h2>Who requires special education and why?</h2>
<p>Citing provincial, <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=64">national</a> and <a href="https://www.unicef.org/sowc06/pdfs/sowc06_fullreport.pdf">international data</a>, our research found that approximately 13 per cent of the kindergarten to Grade 12 student population requires special education services. And children with <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=64">low socio-economic status are at a significantly higher risk for special education placement</a>. </p>
<p>These figures are based on the provincial, national and international data we used — what’s true in the U.S. and U.K. also holds up in the Canadian context. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261534/original/file-20190228-106347-wxmj1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261534/original/file-20190228-106347-wxmj1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261534/original/file-20190228-106347-wxmj1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261534/original/file-20190228-106347-wxmj1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261534/original/file-20190228-106347-wxmj1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261534/original/file-20190228-106347-wxmj1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261534/original/file-20190228-106347-wxmj1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many people don’t realize that some special education needs could be outright eliminated with the right supports in kindergarten.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>About 60 per cent of students who receive special education have needs in areas like language, emotional and behavioural regulation or academic performance. </p>
<p>These are areas where difficulties quickly become cumulative, causing children to fall further and further behind, eventually requiring costly interventions to help them catch up. For example, a language delay results in communication problems, erosion of self-esteem, peer isolation and achievement deficits.</p>
<p>All these areas can be significantly impacted by preventive education at the youngest ages. </p>
<p>In the U.S., a research team recently concurred with our findings about the effectiveness of early childhood education for reducing the need for special education interventions. </p>
<p>This team found early childhood education reduced participation in special education programs <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/0013189X17737739">by more than eight per cent, decreased grade retention by 8.29 per cent and increased high school graduation by over 11 per cent</a>. </p>
<h2>Evidence from the U.K.</h2>
<p>Research from the U.K. allowed us to go even further in building the argument for the pre-emptive nature of quality early childhood education. The team contracted a researcher who was part of the <a href="http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10005309/">Effective Provision of Pre-School Education Project</a> in the U.K. This project tracked more than 3,000 children from 1997 to 2015. </p>
<p>We re-examined the data set to track the full school experience for those children. </p>
<p>We were able to identify who fell more than one standard deviation from the mean on measures of academic achievement and emotional and behavioural regulation. </p>
<p>And we were able to compare this particular sub-set of children to those in the control group without early childhood education. On this basis, we were able to further parse out the impact of high-quality versus low-quality early childhood education. </p>
<p>We then found that by the end of high school, this reduction in risk for academic achievment was 40 per cent for those with low-quality early childhood education versus a 55 per cent reduction for those who had a high-quality early education experience. </p>
<p>Similar though less dramatic reductions occurred for well-being and social or behavioral risks. Quality of early childhood education was a more significant factor in the reduction of social and behavioural risks, especially by the end of elementary school.</p>
<p>These children had improved peer interactions, pro-social behaviours and the ability to follow rules and routines. Improvements in managing their behaviours and emotions allowed for greater school success. </p>
<p>For example, children with low-quality early childhood education had a five per cent reduction in risk for well-being concern at age 11. But those with high-quality early childhood education had a 39 per cent reduction in risk for the same concern.</p>
<p>Educators, parents, policy-makers and governments could benefit from these findings and consider the impact of prioritizing quality early childhood education in redirecting the trajectory of young children’s lives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112275/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr. David Philpott received funding from Margaret and Wallace McCain Family Foundation funded the initial project in the way of a research grant to Memorial University. No funds came to Dr. Philpott personally and all money was managed by the Office of Research at Memorial University</span></em></p>A comparative study examining more than 50 years of data in Canada, the U.S. and U.K. finds quality early child education lessens the need for later special education.David Philpott, Professor, Special Education, Memorial University of NewfoundlandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.