Christine Pascal

Effective early learning: An act of practical theory

SUMMARY This paper aims to describe an innovative methodology for research into what constitutes effective learning for children from birth through to eight years of age (early childhood), which is called an ‘Act of Practical Theory’. It has reflexive thought and action at its heart, and attempts to bridge the gap between theory and practice. It identifies key theoretical and epistemological sources that underpin, and have informed, this methodology, and its application to developing the quality of learning in early childhood settings. The approach is illustrated through an application to collaborative research being carried out at the Centre for Research in Early Childhood in Birmingham, (the Accounting Early for Life Long Learning (AcE) Project). This Project is exploring the development and assessment of social, emotional and dispositional learning in young children as a contribution to professional knowledge. The intention of this work is to promote an empowering, ethical and humanising agenda for those involved in early childhood, with an acknowledged political intent. At the heart of the new methodological approach put forward is an attempt to achieve a synthesis of theory and practice within an act of ‘practical theory’ (Bourdieu, 1990) and carried out as part of a collaborative action research project in Birmingham early childhood settings. The paper describes a clear locus or ‘habitus’ (Bourdieu, 1990) for the work and emphasises the importance of operating in ‘praxis’ (Freire, 1972), with critical reflection and action by participants, operating in a spiral of development within a world of ‘possibilities’ (Freire, 1972). The paper also sets out clearly the multi-disciplinary and international sources of theory and knowledge that have fed this new approach, including sociology (Halsey and Giddens from England, Bourdieu from France), psychology (Bruner from the US) and political science (Freire from Brazil). The first part of the paper is therefore methodological, the second part theoretical and epistemological, and the third part is professionally focused. The fourth and final part of the paper is political, in that it urges a transformative and empowering agenda for children, communities and practitioners, with a stated intention for participatory change.

The Education of Young Children and Their Teachers in Europe.

SUMMARY Throughout Europe there is a debate about how the teachers of young children should be trained, at what level this training should be and what such training should include. This paper is a contribution to this debate. Data gathered from a comparative research project which aimed to document and evaluate the training of early years teachers in eleven European countries is analysed to identify common trends and issues. This analysis is presented through a detailed comparison of provision in England, Sweden and Spain. The data exposes large variations in teacher training and educational provision for the young child across Europe which may be explained by a variety of historical, social, cultural and economic factors. The analysis also identifies a number of common trends which demonstrate a clear European commitment to enhance, lengthen and upgrade the training of teachers of young children in all countries but one. The quality of teacher training was viewed as a key instrument in any strategy to im...

Nurturing the young shoots of talent: Using action research for exploration and theory building

This paper reports the outcomes of a set of action research projects carried out by teacher researchers in 14 local education authorities in England, working collaboratively with university tutors, over a period of three years. The common aim of all the projects was to explore practical ways of nurturing the gifts and talents of children aged four–seven years. The project was funded by the Department of Education and Skills in England as part of the governments gifted and talented programme. The project teachers felt that their understanding of issues relating to nurturing the gifts and talents of younger children was enhanced through their engagement in the project. It was possible to map the findings of the projects to the English governments National Quality Standards for gifted and talented education which include: (1) identification; (2) effective provision in the classroom; (3) enabling curriculum entitlement and choice; (4) assessment for learning; (5) engaging with community, families and beyond. The findings are also analysed within the framework of good practice in educating children in the first years of schooling. Participating practitioners felt that action research offered them a suitable methodology to explore the complexity of the topic of giftedness through cycles of planning, action and reflection and personal theory building.

Evaluating the costs and benefits of early childhood programmes

SUMMARY In recent years, internationally, there has been a trend towards more Government investment in early childhood programmes. This has followed the increasing acknowledgement that the long term social, political and economic stability of a society is dependent to a large extent on the development of its human resources, and that this, in turn, rests on the support provided to young children and families. The increasing amounts of public funding directed at early childhood programmes have been well documented in recent reports (OECD, 2001), and this has impacted in the UK, as elsewhere. Alongside this investment has been a growing requirement that early childhood programmes become more accountable in terms of their costs and benefits. Many early childhood initiatives now have detailed and rigorous evaluations attached to them, which require an economic analysis of the programme costs and benefits. However, currently the concepts and methodologies for carrying out such economic analyses of early childhood programmes are under developed and there is a lack of expertise and experience in successfully carrying out this aspect of evaluation. This paper therefore sets out to make a case for the further development of such strategies and to identify some emerging concepts and methodologies which might support the development. It draws on the experience of a UK team of early childhood evaluators and their attempts to develop an economic strand to their work.