Manjula Waniganayake

Multiple Perspectives: Acknowledging the virtue of complexity in measuring quality

During recent years, the various theoretical perspectives that have been presented to preschool professionals can be perceived as giving conflicting advice for practice. Indeed, there may appear to be confusion, misinterpretation and little depth to the actions of teachers who might feel at a loss in driving the practice agenda forward. This paper reviews five major theoretical perspectives and places their relevance next to styles of practice that are seen here as complementary to each other and providing the preschool professional with an increasing repertoire for action, thus identifying a powerful role across a number of domains of childrens development. Issues of quality are explored within a descriptive framework, giving a powerful matrix for evaluating assumptions that lie beneath paths of action.

From Playing with Guns to Playing with Rice: The Challenges of Working with Refugee Children: An Australian Perspective

This true story was retold by Gabrielle Fakhri, who has extensive experience in working with refugee families in Australia. Such stories are part of the everyday lives of refugees fleeing their homelands due to various factors, including armed conflict, communal violence, or large-scale natural disasters. Refugee issues are not new, but the multitudes of refugees around the world today, including large numbers of young children (Rutter & Jones, 1998; United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR], 2000), demands that we adopt a more cohesive, systematic approach to working with refugee children and their families (Doek, van Loon, & Vlaardingerbroek, 1996). The author hopes to raise professionals’ awareness of this issue and to explore opportunities for international collaboration when addressing the concerns of young refugee children. Regardless of the type of work each of us does, whether it be as a teacher in a preschool or child care center, a policy analyst, a trainer, or a researcher, separating the concerns of refugee children from those who have immigrated for other reasons is essential. Refugees have witnessed and/or experienced violence and torture. For most refugees, unlike immigrants, returning to their homelands is rarely a viable option (Refugee Council of Australia, 2000a). Refugees fear being persecuted because of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a social group, and/or expression of political opinion (Rutter, 1994; UNHCR, 2000). The tragic and often violent personal histories of refugee children (Dalglish, 1989; Eisen, 1988; Kaprielian-Churchill & Churchill, 1994) stand in stark contrast to experiences of immigrant children whose parents have actively and freely chosen to leave their native countries. To help

Evaluating a strategic approach to professional development through guided reflection

Research on quality in early childhood has consistently shown that staff are the cornerstone of excellence, and that staff training makes a difference to services provided to children and families. There is also a growing awareness of the importance of adopting a planned approach to career development and that this begins with self‐assessment, and can be enhanced through the use of guided reflection with a mentor. The Early Childhood Consortium Victoria (ECCV) at The University of Melbourne, has developed a self‐assessment manual (SAM) designed as a tool for early childhood practitioners to explore their work in a strategic way. It serves the dual purposes of assisting practitioners to address issues of service quality, as well as promoting individual professional development through reflective practice. SAM has now been piloted in a number of early childhood settings in Australia and this paper presents a formative evaluation of this work and discusses its potential for professional development planning.

Empowering Practitioners to Critically Examine Their Current Practice

The intersection between Early Childhood Development (ECD), peacebuilding, and sustainable ndevelopment is a complex and newly emerging area of research in the cross-disciplinary field of early nchildhood and international development. This paper is important for its contribution to the ndeveloping knowledge-base in its conceptualizations of the role of young children in the promotion of nsocial cohesion and peaceful societies. It begins by discussing the increasingly high profile of ECD nin the global advocacy for building sustainable development. The discussion presents a nmultidimensional conceptualization of early childhood that is rooted in a wider social justice and nhuman rights agenda and encapsulated in an ecological framework that depicts the intrinsic nrelationship between the child, family, community, and wider society. The findings reveal the npotential linkages between ECD and young children’s role in fostering peace as conceptualized in nthree interrelated paradigms – a rights-based, participatory, and pedagogical approach. The paper nargues for the importance of advancing further research to foster greater understanding of the nconnections between children and peacebuilding especially in the context of fragile and conflictaffected ncountries.