Looking North Through Southern Eyes

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Starting School with Special Needs: Issues for Families with Complex SupportNeeds as Their Children Start School

The transition to school is a time of change and expectation for children, fami-lies, and communities. It is also a time when a range of factors—both within and outside the family—influence educational experiences and outcomes. This paper reports the experiences and expectations of 24 Australian families as their children with special needs started school. Life for these families was complicated by their experiences of other factors described as complex sup-port needs. Drawing on interview and case study data, we report issues and concerns, and examine the supports available for these families and their chil-dren across the transition to school. In analysing the data, we consider the ways in which children’s special needs interact with the complex support needs of families, and consider implications of this interaction as families navigate access to support. We conclude that this interplay positions many families in ways that reinforce, rather than reduce, the difficulties encountered

Look Who’s Talking: Eliciting the Voices of Children from Birth to Seven

First paragraph: Look who’s talking: Eliciting the voices of children from birth to seven was an international seminar series funded by the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland, that brought together researchers and practitioners who work with young children (birth to seven) to give and support ‘voice’ in respect to different aspects of their lived experience; in other words, to elicit voice. The intention was to create a space for individuals working in this relatively underdeveloped field to work in a collaborative process, engaging with associated theory and practice. The aims of the seminars were: to move debate forwards; to develop guidelines and provocations for practice; and to advance understandings of the affordances and constraints on the implementation of Article 12 of the UNCRC with young children. The series comprises two seminars, one in January and one in June 2017, each of three and a half days duration. The first focused predominantly on mapping the field, sharing and discussing experiences and practices and exploring the affordances and constraints of eliciting the voices of those aged seven and under. It is this seminar on which this submission focuses. The second, held in June 2017, aimed to synthesise participants’ thinking and identify the needs and opportunities for development within the field

Reading the social landscape : theory of mind and popularity among preschool children

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"A buddy doesn't let kids get hurt in the playground" : starting school with buddies

Starting school can be a daunting experience for young children. Recognising the importance of peers and peer support during the start to school, many schools implement ‘buddy programs’ where older, more experienced students are paired with new school starters as a means of helping new children become familiar with school, and as a way of helping older students demonstrate responsibility for others in their school community. During 2004, a buddy training project operated in two suburban schools in Sydney, Australia where 25 teacher education students and 130 Year 5 school students participated in training days aimed to facilitate the development of communication, reflection and community building skills. Using conversational interviews, researchers identified areas of interest and concern as children entered these schools, as well as potential avenues for support. These provided the basis for the development of ‘training’ experiences by the teacher education students. This paper describes the buddy training program implemented in the two schools and uses the perspectives of children, university student teachers and school staff to evaluate the program

Researching with children : insights from the Starting School Research Project

The Starting School Research Project, based at the University of Western Sydney, Australia, promotes the involvement of children in research concerning their transition to school. Using examples of approaches that have been utilised to engage children as part of the research on their transition to school, this paper explores some of the philosophical and methodological issues involved in this stance. Approaches including conversational interviews, oral and written journals, drawings, reflections and digital photographs have been successfully introduced in order to empower four- and five-year-old children to express what they see as important as they start school. Issues of equity and inclusiveness demand a variety of approaches such as these. However, as with all research approaches, both challenges and advantages are associated with each aspect. The paper concludes with a general consideration of the challenges and rewards of engaging young children in researching important aspects of their lives