Using metaphor to illuminate quality in early childhood education

This paper reports on a study in which educators from four early childhood centres used metaphor to discuss their provision of high-quality early childhood education. Qualitative mining of focus group data confirmed ‘quality’ to be complex, multi-dimensional and value-laden. Findings contribute to understandings of quality in early childhood education through four key themes: ‘quality’ as a synergetic flow; the facilitative stance and impact of leaders in the enactment of leadership; children as active contributors to quality; and the role of love. Metaphor is shown to be a valuable tool that can highlight tangible and intangible quality contributors, how these contributors link together and the contextual specificity from which quality in individual early childhood education settings emanates

Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections, 11 countries in Europe and Israel, 2011 to 2016

Background: Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a leading cause of community-acquired pneumonia, with large epidemics previously described to occur every 4 to 7 years. Aim: To better understand the diagnostic methods used to detect M. pneumoniae; to better understand M. pneumoniae testing and surveillance in use; to identify epidemics; to determine detection number per age group, age demographics for positive detections, concurrence of epidemics and annual peaks across geographical areas; and to determine the effect of geographical location on the timing of epidemics. Methods: A questionnaire was sent in May 2016 to Mycoplasma experts with national or regional responsibility within the ESCMID Study Group for Mycoplasma and Chlamydia Infections in 17 countries across Europe and Israel, retrospectively requesting details on M. pneumoniae-positive samples from January 2011 to April 2016. The Moving Epidemic Method was used to determine epidemic periods and effect of country latitude across the countries for the five periods under investigation. Results: Representatives from 12 countries provided data on M. pneumoniae infections, accounting for 95,666 positive samples. Two laboratories initiated routine macrolide resistance testing since 2013. Between 2011 and 2016, three epidemics were identified: 2011/12, 2014/15 and 2015/16. The distribution of patient ages for M. pneumoniae-positive samples showed three patterns. During epidemic years, an association between country latitude and calendar week when epidemic periods began was noted. Conclusions: An association between epidemics and latitude was observed. Differences were noted in the age distribution of positive cases and detection methods used and practice. A lack of macrolide resistance monitoring was noted

Suivi des volumes plasmatique, interstitiel et intracelullaire pendant l'hémodialyse par bioimpédance multifréquence et mesure d'hématocrite

Jury : Thierry Petitclere (Rapporteur) Pascal Verdonck (Rapporteur) Bernard Boudailliez (président) Francois Langevin Michel JaffrinThe goal of this thesis was to improve measurement techniques of fluid volume variations in patients during hemodialysis. Extra and intra cellulars volumes were measured by bioimpedance spectroscopy and plasmatic volume change were determined from hematocrit measurements by optical or ultrasound methods. We have proposed a new and more accurate method for measuring hematocrit by ultrasound by taking into account the simultaneous concentration of hemoglobin and plasma protein concentration due to ultrafiltration. We have also tested a new method for measuring total body water from its resistance at high frequency which is more accurate in dialysis. We have also discussed artifacts due to position changes and fluid resistivity changes during dialysis as well as three methods for dry weight determination.Le suivi des volumes hydriques du patient hémodialysé permet d'accroître l'efficacité des traitements et d'aider à la détermination du poids sec. Le but de cette thèse est d'améliorer les techniques d'évaluation des volumes hydriques du corps en hémodialyse. Les volumes extra et intracellulaires sont obtenus par bioimpédance, le volume plasmatique par mesures d'hématocrite optique ou ultrasonore. La précision des mesures d'hématocrite par ultrason pu être améliorée grâce à une modélisation précise de la variation des différents composés sanguins lors de l'ultrafiltration. Nous avons proposé une nouvelle modélisation électrique des compartiments hydriques, qui permet de mesurer la variation d'eau totale avec plus de précision. Trois méthodes de détermination du poids sec par impédance ont été analysées et améliorées. Les erreurs de la méthode d'impédance dues aux changements de position ou à la variation de la résistivité de l'extracellulaire en hémodialyse ont été étudiées

Following the beat makes the best music

In 2009-2010 a team of researchers from Charles Sturt University and Macquarie University explored what contributed to six child care centres'/preschools' consistently high-quality ratings.2 page(s

Working in a regulatory environment : challenges and opportunities

The current regulatory environment can pose many challenges for early childhood professionals, states the author. She says many early childhood teachers are creating opportunities to 'push the bar' using various resistance strategies out of a commitment to quality. The author reports on a study she conducted with other researchers at the Institute of Early Childhood at Macquarie University. They investigated how university qualified early childhood teachers in New South Wales long day care (LDC) perceive the impact of the regulatory environment on their professional practice and provision of quality education and care.2 page(s

An analysis of the conceptualisation of 'quality' in early childhood education and care empirical research : promoting 'blind spots' as foci for future research

This article critically analyses how empirical research investigating quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) in the period 1980-2008 has conceptualised 'quality'. Applying Foucault's notion of 'critique' to 338 peer-reviewed journal articles uncovered six interconnected truths: quality is an objective reality; quality enhances children's optimal development; quality is the domain of science/psychology; quality can be known from researchers' perspectives; quality can be understood using an ecological framework that is limited to child, familial and childcare variables; and quality ECEC is more pertinent to preschoolers than babies and infants. The article problematises these prevailing truths, arguing that the dominance of positivist discourse in ECEC research has limited how quality ECEC can be thought and talked about. An addressing of the blind spots this article identifies has the potential to lead to more developed and nuanced understandings of quality ECEC.16 page(s

The Impact of regulatory environments on early childhood professional practice and job satisfaction : a review of conflicting discourses

This article juxtaposes contrasting discourses concerning the impact that regulatory systems such as the NSW Children's Services Regulation and the National Quality Improvement and Accreditation System have on the professional practice and job satisfaction of early childhood professionals in NSW. Juxtaposing dominant government discourses with conflicting critical discourses raises theoretical and practical issues about how the regulatory environment is perceived, the place it holds in early childhood professionals' thinking about quality early childhood practices, and the impact it may have on their job satisfaction.9 page(s

Quality early childhood education for my child or for all children? Parents as activists for equitable, high-quality early childhood education in Australia

Historical accounts of the development of early childhood education (ECE) in Australia up to the passing of Child Care Act in 1972 (Brennan, 1998; Wong, 2006) show that parents' role in the development of the sector has been limited. This trend has continued since the 1970s, with parents seemingly contributing to the development and quality of individual centres more so than to the development of a quality system of ECE in Australia. In the absence of parent-driven demand for such a system, significant and longstanding barriers to the universal provision of high-quality ECE prevail. This paper suggests that three intersecting influences have collectively induced parents to think about ECE as a personal rather than a public concern. These influences are ECE policy as an 'art of government' (Foucault 1991[1978], p. 92); maternalist discourses that naturalise motherhood; and educators' limited engagement with and enacting of systems advocacy. The paper discusses possibilities for educators to subvert these influences and develop activist collaborations with the goal of achieving universal provision of high-quality education for all children in Australia.7 page(s

Share your 'secret teachers' business' with families

2 page(s

Discerning childcare quality : parents as potential informants of policy beyond regulation

In the context of market-based childcare provision, governments in many industrialised countries use regulation to ensure quality standards and practices. Limited research, however, has investigated parents' perceptions of childcare quality and whether what parents value as contributors to quality resonates with regulatory frameworks. This article critically uses the Bourdieuian notion of 'taste' to explore the perspectives of parent users of high-quality childcare in Australia. Findings from six case studies show that irrespective of educational attainment, parents conceptualise 'quality' in childcare in ways that are consistent with, but also extend beyond, regulation. Parents identified factors such as engagement with the local community, not-for-profit community-based provision, and stability of committed staff who experience high job satisfaction as important to the provision of quality childcare. Identification of these factors highlights regulation as a potential discursive strategy that neutralises demand for other complementary but more contentious policy approaches.19 page(s