Perceptions of Children's Rights in Three Early Childhood Settings

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate perceptions of young children's rights in early childhood settings and contribute to the expanding discourse about children's rights. The research focus canvassed teachers', parents', and young children's perceptions of their rights in early childhood settings: How did they understand children's rights, and what did these perceptions mean for them in the early childhood settings they participated in? A qualitative, interpretive approach to the research generated data through interviews with young children, teachers, and adults, focus groups with the adult participants, and observations of day-to-day life in the three case study centres. The early childhood centres selected represented three mainstream services and included a teacher-led creche for under-two-year-olds, a sessional state, teacher-led kindergarten for three- and four-year-olds, and a parent-led playcentre for mixed ages from birth to six years old. NVIVO, a qualitative data classifying computer program, was used initially to sort and categorise the data alongside more conventional methods for coding categories and identifying emerging themes. The research found that perceptions of children's rights were interwoven, interrelated, and interdependent. Provision rights, protections rights, and participation rights are recognised categories of children's rights. These categories were used to foreground participants' perceptions of rights in particular early childhood settings. Findings suggest that more in-depth awareness of children's rights in early childhood settings would support the development of a children's rights-based pedagogy. This thesis potentially contributes to a growing body of international research about children's rights with a particular focus on the early childhood sector in New Zealand Aotearoa. The contribution that this thesis makes is both theoretical and sociological. It combines sociocultural constructs and ecological perspective with an international human rights convention to understand more clearly what children's rights mean in an early childhood sector. The study of childhood sociology is relatively new and challenges universal definitions of childhood and child. This thesis highlights how different conceptual theoretical ideas intersect with diverse sociological constructs. The broad conclusion drawn by this thesis is that for children to participate fully in their early education, the ethos of the community of practice/learners must explicate what that participation entails in a particular context

The status of children's rights in early childhood education policy 2009

Under the current National-led government the combined effects of a new political agenda and a world-wide recession have resulted in a discernible shift in policy priorities. Using a children’s rights-based lens, this paper considers changes in early childhood policy during 2009 and argues that these shifts impact the integrity of the 10-year early childhood Strategic Plan introduced in 2002. They also put in question whether children’s rights to high-quality early childhood education policy are really taken seriously within the policy arena. The issue of government’s role in providing high quality early childhood services is highlighted as one that derives from children’s citizenship rights. The paper concludes that a new critical ecology of the early childhood sector is emerging which uses a children’s rights perspective to evaluate current policy and envision possible futures

Curriculum in early childhood education: critical questions about content, coherence, and control

A continuing struggle over curriculum in early childhood education is evident in contemporary research and debate at national and international levels. This reflects the dominant influence of developmental psychology in international discourses, and in policy frameworks that determine approaches to curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. Focusing on early childhood education, we argue that this struggle generates critical questions about three significant themes within curriculum theory: content, coherence, and control. We outline two positions from which these themes can be understood: Developmental and Educational Psychology and contemporary policy frameworks. We argue that within and between these positions, curriculum content, coherence, and control are viewed in different and sometimes oppositional ways. Following this analysis, we propose that a focus on ‘working theories’ as a third position offers possibilities for addressing some of these continuing struggles, by exploring different implications for how content, coherence, and control might be understood. We conclude that asking critical questions of curriculum in early childhood education is a necessary endeavour to develop alternative theoretical frameworks for understanding the ways in which curriculum can be considered alongside pedagogy, assessment, play, and learning

Role of fruit juice in achieving the 5-a-day recommendation for fruit and vegetable intake

Although there is strong evidence that consumption of fruit and vegetables is associatedwith a reduced rate of all-cause mortality, only a minority of the population consumes5 servings a day, and campaigns to increase intake have had limited success.This review examines whether encouraging the consumption of fruit juice might offera step toward the 5-a-day target. Reasons given for not consuming whole fruit involvepracticalities, inconvenience, and the effort required. Psychologically, what isimportant is not only basic information about health, but how individuals interprettheir ability to implement that information. It has been argued that fruit juice avoidsthe problems that commonly prevent fruit consumption and thus provides a practicalmeans of increasing intake and benefitting health through an approach with whichthe population can readily engage. Those arguing against consuming fruit juice emphasizethat it is a source of sugar lacking fiber, yet juice provides nutrients such asvitamin C, carotenoids, and polyphenols that offer health-related benefits. Actively encouragingthe daily consumption of fruit juice in public health policy could help populationsachieve the 5-a-day recommendation for fruit and vegetable intake

The impact of natural resource use on bird and reptile communities within multiple-use protected areas: evidence from sub-arid southern Madagascar

Multiple-use protected areas, in which sustainable levels of extractive livelihood activities are permitted, play an increasingly important role in the global protected area estate, and are expected to rise in prevalence. However, we know little about their effectiveness at conserving biodiversity. We surveyed bird and reptile communities in three areas across a forest disturbance gradient resulting from charcoal production and shifting cultivation within a multiple-use protected area in Madagascar’s sub-arid spiny forest. We scored individual species using a Conservation Value Index (CVI; a simple metric based on rarity, threat and distinctiveness), and estimated the total conservation value of each treatment by calculating the sum of frequency-weighted CVI scores across all present species. Bird and reptile community responses to forest disturbance were idiosyncratic. Bird richness was greatest in the moderate-disturbance treatment, but the low-disturbance treatment had the superior conservation value due to higher frequencies of locally-endemic species. Reptile richness was the same in low- and moderate-disturbance treatments, but the conservation value of the latter was greater. The high-disturbance areas had lowest richness and conservation value for both groups. For birds, increasing disturbance levels were accompanied by community turnover from high-value to low-value species, a pattern highlighted by CVI that is masked by assessing species richness alone. Although some endemic species appear to be resilient to degradation, multiple-use protected areas in Madagascar may lose biodiversity since most endemic species are forest-dependent. Stricter protected area models may be more appropriate in areas where much of the high-value biodiversity is sensitive to habitat degradation

Children's Rights and Early Childhood Policy: Impacts and Influences

A combination of research and policy initiatives in early childhood has resulted in a growing interest in young children’s rights. It is a complex discourse characterised by ambiguous understandings of what children’s rights are. This article discusses some of the main early childhood policies and documents from the mid-1980s until the release of the Strategic Plan (Ministry of Education, 2002), with a focus on children’s rights – a focus that has been, at times, subsumed by other contextual influences, including political and economic agendas. While research findings and policy initiatives now appear to be more aligned, children as citizens with rights are still vulnerable

Children's Rights and Early Childhood Policy: Impacts and Influences

A combination of research and policy initiatives in early childhood has resulted in a growing interest in young children’s rights. It is a complex discourse characterised by ambiguous understandings of what children’s rights are. This article discusses some of the main early childhood policies and documents from the mid-1980s until the release of the Strategic Plan (Ministry of Education, 2002), with a focus on children’s rights – a focus that has been, at times, subsumed by other contextual influences, including political and economic agendas. While research findings and policy initiatives now appear to be more aligned, children as citizens with rights are still vulnerable

Mana Whenua, Mataawaka, and Local Government. An Examination of Relationships Between Maori and Local Government in Wellington and the Hutt Valley

This thesis is about governance relationships between Maori and local governments. The research has used a Kaupapa Maori methodology which has aimed at identifying areas of ongoing colonial practice, while also highlighting Maori values, rules and institutions. The thesis has been grounded in Wellington and the Hutt Valley, and investigated the historical and contemporary relationships between British-informed local government and Taranaki Whanui ki te Upoko o te Ika. A key focus has examined how local government legislation has failed to meet Maori te Tiriti o Waitangi/Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti/ the Treaty) expectations of partnership, resulting in on going debate over how Maori are involved in local decision-making. In particular, the thesis has analysed the Local Government Act 2002, and the Local Electoral Act 2001, both pieces of legislation which are meant to support Te Tiriti / the Treaty. Examination of the Local Government Act 2002, reveals that partnership remains a contentious proposition for local governments. Examination of the Local Electoral Act 2001, demonstrates how local governments are unwilling and unable to support Maori as local decision-makers. I argue that neither of these pieces of legislation can produce Te Tiriti / the Treaty partnership as they are only informed by western legal ideas which are sourced in colonial practices of local governance. Although these arguments are also true in Wellington and the Hutt Valley, by examining local government relationships with both mana whenua (iwi) and mataawaka (Maori from outside of Wellington and the Hutt Valley) there is clear evidence of how Maori governing rules and institutions continue to influence how Maori and local governments engage

Early Childhood Education in 2002: Pathways to the Future

In September 2002, the New Zealand Government released Pathways to the Future: Ngā Huarahi Arataki, its policy statement in support of the ten-year strategic plan for the early childhood education sector. The document identifies three core goals as a focus for government action: increasing participation in quality early childhood education (ECE) services; improving quality of ECE services; and promoting collaborative relationships. This article positions Pathways to the Future within the broader context of recent early childhood policy and current discourse about children and children’s rights. It discusses the policy strategies implemented during 2002 in support of the three core goals of the strategic plan, and reviews gains and remaining challenges

Comparative early childhood education services : international perspectives /

"This edited collection reconceptualizes the place of early childhood education within communities. Contributors present a shift in the lens of the teachers and management within early childhood services to incorporate new ways of working with, alongside, and in collaboration with family, whanau (a Maori term referring to an extended family), and the wider community. "--"This edited international collection reconceptualizes the place of early childhood education and care services (ECEC) within communities, and challenges traditional approaches to family involvement and partnerships in ECEC. Using a range of theoretical positions, the authors present research-based discussions from five countries which challenge existing ECEC discourses of child-centeredness. In this book teachers and a range of professionals working with children together with researchers explore pedagogy in ECEC as sites for building socially just, inclusive, democratic communities which enhance families' sense of belonging, connectedness, resilience and identity"--"This edited collection reconceptualizes the place of early childhood education within communities. Contributors present a shift in the lens of the teachers and management within early childhood services to incorporate new ways of working with, alongside, and in collaboration with family, whanau (a Maori term referring to an extended family), and the wider community. "--"This edited international collection reconceptualizes the place of early childhood education and care services (ECEC) within communities, and challenges traditional approaches to family involvement and partnerships in ECEC. Using a range of theoretical positions, the authors present research-based discussions from five countries which challenge existing ECEC discourses of child-centeredness. In this book teachers and a range of professionals working with children together with researchers explore pedagogy in ECEC as sites for building socially just, inclusive, democratic communities which enhance families' sense of belonging, connectedness, resilience and identity"--Machine generated contents note: -- Introduction--Judith Duncan and Sarah Te One * Building communities: Begins in the early years--Judith Duncan * Working with strengths: Building resilience in communities and families--Robyn Munford * Families and young children in Arizona: Stories from a contextualized statewide study--Beth Blue Swadener, Jamie Joanou, and Dawn Holiday * Beyond heteronormativity: Hospitality as curriculum--Debora Lee * Integrated Services in Australia--Jennifer Sumsion, Fraces Press, and Sandie Wong * Disturbing cultures of incarceration: Resilience, the struggle for normality and the imprisoned family--Rachel Holmes, Liz Jones, and Maggie MacLure * Creating community through connections in SPACE (Supporting Parents Alongside Children's Education)--Sarah Te One and Val Podmore * Active adult participation in early childhood centres: Community well-being--Judith Duncan * Collaborative play as new methodology: Co-constructing knowledge of early child development in The CHILD Project--Hillel Goelman and Jayne Pivik * Conclusion and final comments--Judith Duncan.Includes bibliographical references and index