Democratic experimentation in early childhood education

Qualifications of the early years workforce are a salient predictors of quality and therefore of children’s outcomes. International reports advise that a majority of staff is trained at Bachelor’s levels and rank countries according to this criterion. There is fewer consensus on what this professionalism should be. In a majority of countries, large numbers of professionals are untrained, unqualified and sometimes invisible in the official reports. Many of these unqualified “assistants” take up crucial “care” tasks, while the teacher’s tasks are defined as “education”. The separation between care and education occurs in split systems as well as in systems where education and care are supposed to be integrated. In addition, the growing diversity of families challenges our preconceived ideas about “the good life” for children. These observations urge us to rethink professionalism in terms of reflexivity and the capacity of co-constructing pedagogy with parents and children. A case study in Ghent shows how low qualified professionals develop research capacities. The analysis of their experience suggests that “learning” may be less a quality of the individual than a quality of the systemic relationships that are build in the teams as well as in the interaction between teams and their social contexts

Longitudinal associations in adolescence between cortisol and persistent aggressive or rule-breaking behavior

Although several studies have associated antisocial behavior with decreased cortisol awakening responses (CAR), studies in adolescent samples yielded inconsistent results. In adolescence however, the CAR develops and antisocial behavior is heterogeneous in type and persistence. Therefore this longitudinal study compared persistent aggressive and rule-breaking adolescents to low aggressive and rule-breaking adolescents on the development of the CAR from ages 15 to 17 (N=390). Persistently high aggressive adolescents showed decreased cortisol levels at awakening consistently over the years (Δ

The transition to preschool: a problem or an opportunity for children? A sociological perspective in the context of a 'split system'

This paper discusses the central issue of the transition to preschool. Individual semi-structured interviews with school professionals and parents in the Brussels region revealed that this issue is crucial for the wellbeing of young children, from both an educational and a social perspective. We discovered that the education system works under the assumption that nearly every child has attended daycare before entering preschool. This has serious implications since using these services, which help to prepare children for preschool, is socially differentiated. Children who have to cope with their first socialization outside the family environment and their first encounter with the school environment at the same time face many problems. Not only does it define their first school experience; more importantly, it contributes to shape their entire experience of preschool, with potential long-term harmful effects. The paper discusses the corresponding implications for the school system and puts forward recommendations.Cet article traite de la question centrale de la transition vers l’école maternelle. Au travers d’entretiens semi-directifs, menés auprès de professionnels et de parents en région bruxelloise, cette question est apparue comme cruciale pour le bien-être des jeunes enfants, sur les plans éducatif et social. Comme nous l’avons constaté, l’institution scolaire fonctionne sur l’idée d’un recours quasi-systématique aux milieux d’accueil pour les enfants avant l’entrée en maternelle. Les implications sont lourdes puisque l’utilisation des milieux d’accueil, qui préparent les enfants à l’école maternelle, est en réalité socialement différenciée. Les défis se superposent donc pour ces enfants qui découvrent simultanément la socialisation en dehors du milieu familial et l’environnement scolaire. Plus que la période d’entrée à l’école maternelle, les effets potentiellement néfastes de cette transition peuvent toucher les enfants durablement au travers de l’ensemble de l’expérience scolaire. Les implications pour le système scolaire sont discutées et des recommandations sont proposées.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe