Philip Gammage

Early childhood education and care: politics, policies and possibilities

This paper considers some of the current knowledge about our understanding of and provision for early childhood internationally. It looks at its relative importance, offers a short overview of research and terminology, outlines a global perspective (the big picture) and provides a brief summary of the current South Australian policy and position.

Social education is good for health1

Summary Results from a survey of smoking prevalence among 10,529 pupils from ten co‐educational comprehensive schools in the County of Avon suggest a clear relationship between smoking prevalence and the place of smoking education in the school curriculum. Based on pupils’ recall of lessons, the schools were split into those in which smoking was dealt with more predominantly within (broadly) biology/science lessons as distinct from the social education part of the curriculum. Within the six schools where this ‘science bias’ in smoking education was relatively high, the overall percentage of self‐reported daily smokers was 15.0 per cent compared with 10.1 per cent in the remaining schools with a lower science bias. This finding appears not to be influenced by the social class catchment of the schools, as judged from pupils’ reports of their fathers’ occupations, even though individual pupils’ smoking was related to their own fathers’ occupational status. 1. This study was supported by a grant from the Heal...

Belief correlates of perceived addiction in young smokers

Results from a survey of smoking prevalence and smoking beliefs among 10,579 pupils from 10 co-educational comprehensive schools from the Bristol conurbation suggest that there is more to adolescent smoking than a vulnerability to peer group pressure. Those adolescents who saw themselves as more addicted, those who anticipate more difficulty in stopping and/or reported more craving for cigarettes had more «external control» beliefs about their health, emphasized to a greater extent intrinsic enjoyment and the calming effect of smoking and rejected ideas that smoking by young people is motivated by the desire to look grown up or feel important. Young smokers appear to attribute their behaviour to the intrinsic benefits of smoking itself rather than to external pressure or to the desire to conform to peer group norms. The implications of these findings for health education programmes are discussed.RésuméUne enquête par questionnaire a été effectuée auprès de 10 579 élèves de 10 «compréhensives schools» mixtes de la région urbaine de Bristol. Les questions concernaient la fréquence de l’usage du tabac et les opinions des sujets à propos de cet usage. Les résultats suggèrent que l’usage du tabac par les adolescents est plus, pour eux, que la conséquence de leur vulnérabilité aux pressions du groupe des pairs. Les adolescents qui se perçoivent eux-mêmes comme plus dépendants, ayant du mal à arrêter de fumer et/ou ayant un besoin maladif de cigarettes, affichent par ailleurs davantage d’opinions de type «contrôle externe» concernant leur santé; ils insistent également de façon plus importante sur le plaisir intrinsèque que donne le tabac, son effet calmant, et rejettent l’idée que l’usage du tabac par les jeunes soit motivé par le désir de paraître plus grand ou de se sentir important. Les jeunes fumeurs attribuent leur comportement aux bénéfices intrinsèques de l’usage du tabac plutôt qu’à des pressions externes et au désir de se conformer aux normes du groupe des pairs. Les implications de ces résultats concernant les programmes d’éducation de la santé font l’objet d’une discussion.

The Sacred and the Profane in Early Childhood: an Englishman's guide to context and policy

The change in family structures throughout the post-natural world (‘post-natural’ is used in the way that Anthony Giddens [BBC Reith Lectures, 1999] uses the term, i.e. when even child-rearing is largely no longer ‘natural’ and when institutions, technology and commerce have increasing sway over all dimensions of life) is briefly discussed together with some pressures that now inhibit, inform or constrain modern child rearing. The decline in the birth rate throughout Europe, Scandinavia, North America, and Australasia and the accelerating divorce rate are also seen as part of this changing context. Within these broad social changes comes the recent research on brain development during the early years of childhood. The extreme plasticity of the brain is discussed, as is the paradoxical and now somewhat archaic tendency for formal systems of education to invest in childhood after much of the formative learning is over. The article proposes that for ‘fitness of purpose’ we need educators and carers of vision and compassion, yet articulate and well read. It sees early childhood care and education as indivisible. The article notes that both policies and commercial interests may sometimes cause tension between indoctrination and education and between ‘accountability’ and professionalism. It sees professionalism as inherently ‘problematic’ and rightly about judgement, not about certainty. It insists that teachers and carers should be well educated, not merely trained, and suggests that without the intervention of effective, knowledgeable early years professionals, societies may increasingly lack a collective identity, unity and, perhaps, actual humanity. It builds upon this to suggest that integration of the prime services is best clustered around that of effective childcare and early education and that a professional yet ‘seamless approach’ to families, especially those in poverty, will handsomely repay child achievement and societal and family cohesion in the long term.

Training Teachers for the Early Years

∗ This paper was orginally given at the AGM of TACTYC, May 22nd, 1992 at Derbyshire College of Higher Education (now the University of Derby).

The once and future child

Abstract The change in family structures throughout the modern world is examined together with the various pressures which now inhibit, inform or constrain modern child-rearing. The decline in the birth-rate throughout Europe, Scandinavia, North America, Australasia and Japan (varying between about 1.2 to 2.0 children per family) and the accelerating divorce rate (approx 51% in South Australia, nearing 40% in UK and Canada) are also seen as part of this changing context. Within these broad social changes comes the recent research on brain development during the early years of childhood. The extreme plasticity of the brain is discussed, as is the paradoxical and curiously archaic tendency for formal systems of education to invest in childhood AFTER much of the formative learning is over. Many longitudinal studies testify to the critical and social nature of early learning; and whilst there IS some conflict between experts, most neuro-scientists, criminologists and psychiatrists suggest that reliable predic...

PRE‐SCHOOL EDUCATION: A BRIEF COMPARATIVE OVERVIEW (1)

(1) This paper is based upon a summary prepared for International Encyclopedia of Education, Pergamon Press, 1983.