Kerryann M. Walsh

Peer mentoring for first‐year teacher education students: the mentors’ experience

Universities worldwide are developing peer mentoring programmes to assist first‐year students’ transition into university life. Awareness of the mentees’ experiences in the mentoring programme – the successes and challenges – contributes to ongoing planning for successful transition for first‐year students. Also, understanding the mentors’ experiences can contribute to the success of the programme and, more importantly, can lead to strong self efficacy for the mentors. This qualitative study appraises a mentoring programme for first‐year undergraduate students from the mentors’ perspective. The mentors’ experiences, both positive and negative, are discussed and a relational model of mentoring is presented. The results of this inquiry have implications for the development of future mentoring programmes, particularly in terms of mentor recruitment and preparation, if first‐year students are to be effectively oriented and supported in their transition to university study.

the contested terrain of teachers detecting and reporting child abuse and neglect

This article establishes the important role of early childhood teachers in child abuse and neglect and argues for empirical research into their practice of detecting, and reporting, known or suspected child abuse and neglect in a State with new and unique reporting obligations for teachers. It emphasizes the practical value of such research for the early childhood profession and ultimately for the children in their care.

Mother–Child Communication about Sexual Abuse Prevention

Two hundred and twelve Australian mothers completed an online survey examining features of mother–child communication about child sexual abuse prevention. Two-thirds (67.5%) of respondents had discussed child sexual abuse prevention with their children, with proportions varying according to age range (highest for mothers with children aged 5–12 years) and only-child status (lowest for mothers of only children). The number of topics discussed with their children differed according to child gender (greater number of topics discussed by mothers with both girls and boys) and age range (greater number of topics discussed by mothers with children aged 5–12 years). These findings provide new insights into mother–child communication about child sexual abuse prevention.

School-Based Education Programs for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse: A Cochrane Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Objective: To assess evidence of the effectiveness of school-based education programs for the prevention of child sexual abuse (CSA). The programs deliver information about CSA and strategies to help children avoid it and encourage help seeking. Methods: Systematic review including meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs), cluster RCTs, and quasi-RCTs. Results: Twenty-four studies with 5,802 participants were included. Child self-protective skills, odds ratio = 5.71, confidence interval = [1.98, 16.51]; factual, standardized mean difference (SMD) = 0.61 [0.45, 0.78]; and applied knowledge, SMD = 0.45 [0.24, 0.65], increased in the intervention group, and knowledge gains were retained at 6 months, SMD = 0.69 [0.51, 0.87]. There were no differences in anxiety or fear, SMD = −0.08 [0.22, 0.07], and findings regarding disclosure of abuse were inconclusive. Conclusion: Children’s self-protective skills and knowledge can be increased by participation in school-based sexual abuse prevention programs. However, it is unknown whether gains in skills and knowledge actually decrease the likelihood of CSA.

Developing Peer Mentoring Support for TAFE Students Entering 1st-Year University Early Childhood Studies

At Queensland University of Technology (QUT, Australia), in the Bachelor of Education (BEd) (Early Childhood) (EC), Technical and Further Education (TAFE) students with a diploma enroll with advanced standing (1 year’s credit). These students share many challenges faced by 1st-year university students—workload, technology, academic orientation, and application. They also experience feelings of isolation and uncertainty in dealing with the “university culture” (Cantwell & Scevak, 2004; Dickson, 2000). Often, they do not perform as well academically and their attrition rates are higher than those for 1st-year students and the remainder of the BEd (EC) cohort (Strategic Information & Analysis Division of Finance, Resources, Planning, QUT, 2003). This project addresses issues facing these students in their transition to university by developing an integrated and contextualized mentoring program designed specifically for their needs. Nine early childhood 3rd- and 4th-year students were enlisted as mentors to groups of approximately six transition TAFE students. In this paper we discuss the dynamics of the mentoring scheme and future directions for mentoring projects within the BEd (EC).

Child sexual abuse prevention education: A review of school policy and curriculum provision in Australia

The past four decades have seen increasing public and professional awareness of child sexual abuse. Congruent with public health approaches to prevention, efforts to eliminate child sexual abuse have inspired the emergence of prevention initiatives which can be provided to all children as part of their standard school curriculum. However, relatively little is known about the scope and nature of child sexual abuse prevention efforts in government school systems internationally. This paper assesses and compares the policies and curriculum initiatives in primary (elementary) schools across state and territory Departments of Education in Australia. Using publicly available electronic data, a deductive qualitative content analysis of policy and curriculum documents was undertaken to examine the characteristics of child sexual abuse prevention education in these school systems. It was found that the system-level provision occurs unevenly across state and territory jurisdictions. This results in the potential for substantial inequity in Australian children’s access to learning opportunities in child abuse prevention education as a part of their standard school curriculum. In this research, we have developed a strategy for generating a set of theoretically-sound empirical criteria that may be more extensively applied in comparative research about prevention initiatives internationally.

Teacher Reporting Attitudes Scale (TRAS) Confirmatory and Exploratory Factor Analyses With a Malaysian Sample

The Teacher Reporting Attitude Scale (TRAS) is a newly developed tool to assess teachers’ attitudes toward reporting child abuse and neglect. This article reports on an investigation of the factor structure and psychometric properties of the short form Malay version of the TRAS. A self-report cross-sectional survey was conducted with 667 teachers in 14 randomly selected schools in Selangor state, Malaysia. Analyses were conducted in a 3-stage process using both confirmatory (stages 1 and 3) and exploratory factor analyses (stage 2) to test, modify, and confirm the underlying factor structure of the TRAS in a non-Western teacher sample. Confirmatory factor analysis did not support a 3-factor model previously reported in the original TRAS study. Exploratory factor analysis revealed an 8-item, 4-factor structure. Further confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated appropriateness of the 4-factor structure. Reliability estimates for the four factors—commitment, value, concern, and confidence—were moderate. The modified short form TRAS (Malay version) has potential to be used as a simple tool for relatively quick assessment of teachers’ attitudes toward reporting child abuse and neglect. Cross-cultural differences in attitudes toward reporting may exist and the transferability of newly developed instruments to other populations should be evaluated.

Young people whose parents are separated or divorced: a case for researching their experiences at the intersection of home and school

Background: Young people whose parents are separated or divorced form a significant and increasing proportion of young people who attend school. To date, empirical research with young people whose parents are separated or divorced has tended to focus on either their household context, or their school context, rather than on both contexts together. This paper redresses this singular focus by examining the intersection of the experiences of young people at both home and school. Purpose: The paper seeks to map the empirical evidence of young peoples home and school experiences as they move between households and schools. Sources of evidence: The paper provides a narrative review of the literature from the 1990s to the present, locating Australian research within an international context. The review is framed by four main questions. What is the impact upon young people of the family transitions that occur when parents separate or divorce? What is the everyday impact upon young people of moving between one household and another? What does the research reveal regarding educational, social and emotional outcomes for this group? What does the research reveal regarding their school experiences? Main argument: The review reveals a paucity of Australian research at the intersection of home and school. It shows that, while young people from these contexts form a growing proportion of the school population, there is little empirical evidence of what is actually occurring in their everyday lives. The review reveals the importance of researching from the perspectives of the young people themselves. Conclusions: Evidence provided in the paper shows that many young people whose parents separate or divorce are affected socially, emotionally and educationally. Such evidence points to the need for research into the everyday experiences of the young people at school, in order to identify, from their perspective, how schools can better cater for these young people and their families.

Evaluative decision-making for high-quality professional development: Cultivating an evaluative stance

Unprecedented policy attention to early childhood education internationally has highlighted the crucial need for a skilled early years workforce. Consequently, professional development of early years educators has become a global policy imperative. At the same time, many maintain that professional development research has reached an impasse. In this paper, we offer a new approach to addressing this impasse. In contrast to calls for a redesign of comparative studies of professional development programmes, or for the refinement of researcher-constructed professional development evaluation frameworks, we argue the need to cultivate what we refer to as an ‘evaluative stance’ amongst all involved in making decisions about professional development in the early years – from senior bureaucrats with responsibilities for funding professional development programmes to individual educators with choices about which professional development opportunities to take up. Drawing on three bodies of literature – evaluation capacity-building, personal epistemology and co-production – that, for the most part, have been overlooked with respect to early years professional learning, this paper proposes a conceptual framework to explain why cultivating an evaluative stance in professional development decision-making has rich possibilities for systemic, sustainable and transformative change in early years education.

Child Observation in Australia and the USA: A Cross‐National Analysis

This article reports findings from a study of how early childhood teachers think about and use child observation in Australian and US classrooms. Qualitative research methods were used to collect and analyze data from the two nations, and the paper reports on how teachers use child observation in each country. Uses in US early child settings included: assessing academic progress, adjusting curriculum/teaching strategies, diagnosing instructional needs/readiness, gathering information for reports to parents, dealing with behavior problems, assessing social adjustments, and documenting special needs. Australian uses included: identifying individual strengths and weaknesses, understanding children to guide their behavior, informing work with parents and other professionals, extending shared interests among children, noting individual differences that can extend the learning of the group, reflecting on the flow of the day, and evaluating teaching. Research methods are described, similarities and differences across data sets are discussed, and implications for policy and practice are presented.