Terrorism and Early Childhood: Our Role on the Slippery Slope of Racism

In this paper I argue that early childhood professionals have a key role in providing learning opportunities that aim to prevent children placing their feet on the beginning of the slippery slope of racism. At the bottom of this slippery slope of racism, as we have seen in recent world events, are acts of extremist terrorism. This responsibility is increasingly important given that in many countries political rhetoric is leaning further towards far right extremism accompanied by forms of nationalism where those who are different (for example Muslims and refugee groups) are being portrayed as threatening standards of living of citizens in their host countries. As professionals we have a responsibility to identify early (often, on the surface, benign) acts, reflect on the value position underpinning such acts, and provide opportunities for children to learn to value and respect the differences they see every day in the people around them. In this paper I provide suggestions as to the kinds of behaviours (and the value positions underpinning them) that we see in young children and the ways we might address these

Inter-married families: hybridising teaching-for-two-languages and parenting in regional Australia

Children learn language through engaging in a rich language environment. However, some parents make a decision to rear their children bilingually/plurilingually, in a context where the community around them does not use the home language (HL). For some families only one of the parents speaks HL, thus they are in a position of combining their parenting role with an additional one of language teaching. Such role combinations involve emotionally demanding work, which takes place invisibly in the home. Parents develop a hybrid role combining elements of teaching with the relationship and care work expected of them as parents, moving between roles as context requires. In this paper we explore four in-depth case studies of families where one parent is the speaker of a HL different from that spoken by the other parent and the community. We explore their perceptions of the impact of hybridising teaching and parenting roles. The HL speaking parents talked of the cost of their multiple roles, and the challenges of being the HL speaker in terms of stress and tiredness. Their inability, in their eyes, to fulfil both roles (teacher and parent) perfectly led to their feelings of inadequacy and failure which can then impact on their parenting and family life

Bullying Is Not Tolerated Here: We Have Policies and Procedures Which Protect Staff. An Auto-Ethnography of Frustration

This paper holds to account the ideas legitimising staff management practices currently experienced in my workplace, a university, as bullying. Making these practices visible, and locating them in theories allows movement beyond current understandings of reality and points “to new ways of thinking and action about freedom, civic courage, social responsibility, and justice” [1]. Whilst this is titled a story of frustration I aim at a position of hope using auto-ethnography to reflect on my experiences as a volunteer case worker for the staff union (National Tertiary Education Union - NTEU). I have supported staff complaining of bullying in the workplace and have struggled to achieve fair and equitable outcomes. I have witnessed hard working, valued colleagues becoming disenchanted, disengaged, and resigning. Accepting this without attempting to drive change is unacceptable, thus this study was born. I locate this work in literature related to workplace bullying and the Australian higher education context. I explore my reflections, examining how these link to, and extend understandings of theory. Finally I explain why I think workplace bullying needs redefinition in order for us to enliven democracy as a way of life for those of us working in the university context

The Bold and The Backlash: When Marginalised Voices are Heard in Neoliberal Land

The hierarchy in our educational institutions and services often mirror societal attitudes towards power and whose voices are privileged or ignored. Historically, those with power feel uncomfortable when marginalised voices are heard. There is a lot at stake when power is threatened and new voices demand changes within society. This discussion paper explores various instances of where that has happened and the backlash faced by those who are given a chance for their opinions to be heard or those who assist them to voice their narrative through research and reporting. Using publicly available data and our own experiences, we examine incidences where society has listened to children, the victims of sexual abuse in institutions and Indigenous Australians. For people to reach their potential, their voices need to be heard in matters that affect them, according to the United Nations Human Rights Declaration (United Nations, 1948). Using discourse and narrative analysis, the authors discuss the cost of exercising those rights within a neoliberal context and examine how this influences peoples’ agency as they face media backlash, online trolling and death threats. Despite this, when marginalised people are bold enough and are allowed to tell their stories, societies, educational institutions, and services have the chance to adapt and improve. This will interest those who educate and research with marginalised people or who study social and institutionalised power

The top five ways COVID places harsher burdens on educators. There's an urgent need for change

COVID has caused commotion in the early childhood education and care sector since it arrived in 2020. It made educators more stressed and added burdens to those already overburdened. The current level of chaos is unsustainable as shown in our research with Australian directors from long daycare centres, community preschools and family daycare services. Six directors from rural and regional areas in NSW participated in the study. In their hour-long interview, the directors revealed stressors within the sector related to the pandemic in a number of areas. Here are the top five

Parents Grow Old, Children Embody Our Hope (Pha gee ba ta bu so): How are Western theories and Bhutanese parenting philosophies harmonized in the Childcare Education programmes in Bhutan?

Propelled by the will of the Bhutanese government to invest in the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) programme, the number of ECCD centres has risen from just 1 in 2005 to 94. However, in the perceived absence of local expertise, the Ministry of Education (MoE) depends fully on experts external to Bhutan who have very little knowledge of the Bhutanese cultural fabric and carry with them Western philosophies and theories of ECCD. Against this backdrop, this study will explore how contextualization of the ECCD programmes can be enhanced. This study adopts qualitative methodology and an interpretive paradigm informed by Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, 2004) and the key Bhutanese values of 'ley judray', law of cause and effect and 'tha damtshig', reciprocity and interdependence (Phuntsho, 2004; Ura, 1994, 1997; Wangyal, 2004; Whitecross, 2008) that stems from the fundamental Buddhist worldview of interconnectedness. These have been combined to create a Bhutanese indigenous methodology

The Role of Staff in Quality Improvement in Early Childhood

There is international recognition of the importance of high quality services for young children with a consensus that three pillars contribute to quality improvement: adult: child ratios, staff qualifications and group size. In Australia over the past 5 years, early childhood policy has attempted to drive improvements in early childhood service quality through national regulations for both adult: child ratios and qualifications. However, a review of early childhood history demonstrates that service quality in the past tended to depend more on the dedication of staff who were expected to be emotionally rewarded through their caring roles rather than from the pay and status associated with their work. The current political direction in Australia is now tending again towards this latter position. We review the literature associated with both positions in relation to quality improvement and flag our concerns for the future

Developing Gratitude and Filial Piety: The Role of Chores

Whilst decades of research in the global north has identified authoritative parenting as producing the better child outcomes, and there is a growing amount of literature from countries such as China, suggesting the contrary: that authoritarian parenting produces desirable outcomes. However, the links between authoritarian parenting and the development of filial piety in China appear to have been disrupted by the incursion of values from the global north, and the actions of Chinese parents themselves responding to the Chinese one-child policy. This has created a situation in China where there are now major concerns about children's lack of filial piety: an issue which has major implications in a nation that depends on familial care rather than state provided welfare. In this paper, we examine issues around parenting and the development of gratitude and filial piety. We suggest that it is important for children to learn how to behave in ways that demonstrate gratitude and filial piety and that competence in performing appropriate behaviours is the pre-requisite to internalizing the associated values. We suggest that engaging in family chores from an early age is one strategy parents can use that will help their children develop the appropriate behavioural repertoire

Development of N/P AlGaAs free-standing top solar cells for tandem applications

The combination of a free standing AlGaAs top solar cell and an existing bottom solar cell is the highest performance, lowest risk approach to implementing the tandem cell concept. The solar cell consists of an AlGaAs substrate layer, an AlGaAs base layer, an AlGaAs emitter, and an ultra-thin AlGaAs window layer. The window layer is compositionally graded which minimizes reflection at the window layer/emitter interface and creates a built-in electric field to improve quantum response in the blue region of the spectrum. Liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) is the only viable method to produce this free standing top solar cell. Small (0.125 sq cm), transparent p/n AlGaAs top solar cells were demonstrated with optimum bandgap for combination with a silicon bottom solar cell. The efficiency of an AlGaAs/Si stack using the free standing AlGaAs device upon an existing silicon bottom solar cell is 24 pct. (1X, Air Mass Zero (AM0). The n/p AlGaAs top solar cell is being developed in order to facilitate the wiring configuration. The two terminal tandem stack will retain fit, form, and function of existing silicon solar cells. Progress in the development of large area (8 and 16 sq cm), free standing AlGaAs top solar cells is discussed