What do parents want from day care services? : perspectives from Australia

A total of 100 parents in 15 Day Care (DC) in Sydney, Australia were surveyed to obtain their views about the different roles of care and education in DC services. Both parents with children under 3 years old and parents with children 3 and above expected a substantial component of education in their child’s DC program. Both groups of parents expected both care and education for their children, and expected a reasonable level of professionalism and qualifications in the staff. These results challenge assumptions about care for infants and education for older children. Policy makers need to attend to parents’ needs and wishes and should be aware of the important value of human resources investment through improved DC services

Self-concept of gifted students : the reddening and blackening effects

Based on an ancient Chinese saying that "near vermillion, you turn red; near sepia, you turn black", when gifted students are grouped together, a vermillion (reddening) effect may result from assimilation. In contrast, when gifted students are grouped with non-gifted students, a sepia (blackening) effect may operate. However, recent theories have also shown a big-fish-little-pond (BFLP) effect resulting from comparison. Four groups of primary students (N=757) were placed into 3 classes. Class 1 had gifted students from Group 1. Class 2 had Group 2 (gifted) and Group 3 (average) students placed together. Average students of Group 4 were placed in class 3. When a gifted program for classes 1 and 2 started, Groups 1 and 2 (the big fish) had higher self-concept than Group 4 (the small fish) but Group 2 did not score higher than Group 3. One year later, whereas Groups 1 and 2 remained higher than Group 4, Group 2 scored higher than Group 3. Initially, there was a strong blackening effect for the big fish in Group 2, but a strong BFLP effect operated later. The results cast doubt on the provision of gifted programs where gifted students are pulled out from the regular classroom

The big-fish-little-pond effect in China

Recent research has distinguished between the components of competency and affect in students' academic self-concept. The competency component operates on the basis of a comparison with peers. This comparison may lead to a big-fish-little-pond (BFLP) effect. To investigate the sustainability of the BFLP effect, a sample of 7th graders from 6 classes in a high school in China was surveyed on both the competency and affect components of school self-concept (N = 295) at the beginning, in the middle and by the end of grade 7 and compared across 4 groups categorised according to their high school entrance exam scores. Analysis of variance results showed that the highest scoring students had the highest self-concept of competency and the scores remained high throughout the year of 7th grade. In essence, the "big fish" remained big and the "small fish" remained small, and the pattern was consistent over time. The scores for the component of affect did not differ across groups, became slightly higher in mid-year, and remained high throughout the year. Instead of attempting to promote a positive affect in schooling, there seems to be a stronger need for enhancing a sense of competency in the "smaller fish"