Research Competency

Throughout the course in Building Research Competencies I have gained new insights into the world of research through the field of early childhood. One of the new insights includes the understanding of quasi-experimental research designs. Before this class the only quasi- anything I knew was a hunch back from Notre Dame. Now I can distinguish differences between research designs and make appropriate choices on how to proceed with a research study using the guidelines of various research designs.

Planning a research study in the early childhood field involves great considerations to informed consent of participants and confidentiality as well as conducting the sampling process. Continuing the research process entails deciding on what research design best fits the aim of the topic. I hadn’t thought about a quantitative design being used too much within the early childhood field. Now I know how it can be used on its own as well as in conjunction with qualitative design. Overall, conducting research in the early childhood field requires great thought to what is being examined along with how the participants will be affected by taking part in the study.

While I can’t think of any true challenges that I encountered during the course, there have been many new opportunities for growth of knowledge. Coming out of this course, I feel that I have a better understanding of how research contributes to the early childhood field. Even within my very own program, I now understand and can appreciate the amount of time and investment that is being made through the research being done. I also understand my role in the research process as well.  Coming into this course I did not think I would gain as much as I did. I greatly appreciate all of the insight and support given from everyone that has been a part of this learning process.

International Research

When reading through the Early Childhood Australia website, I took note of the interest in improving relationships between families and early childhood programs. Australia seems to have a common desire to increase the quality of early childhood settings and assisting in the transition to primary schools. Another current research topic of interest is providing resources for early childhood professionals regarding child development and health.

One of the links on the website listed the Code of Ethics for early childhood professionals. Each section lists agreements of action for professionals to follow and guide their involvement with the early childhood field. The Code of Ethics for Australia provides a great reference for anyone in the field to follow and use as a directive when working with children and their families.

 In one of the statements, I was impressed by the move to viewing children as a person with their own thoughts and contributions to society. I will end my blog entry with this noteworthy statement:
"New research has allowed significant changes in understandings to emerge that reposition children as citizens with entitlements and rights. Increasingly, children are seen as competent and capable and able to participate in the negotiation of their learning and social experiences."


http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/code_of_ethics/early_childhood_australias_code_of_ethics.html

Personal Experience with Research benefits

The best personal experience with research participation of children and families comes from my everyday job working with Healthy Families New York. This program is state funded through research-based approaches. While the main focus of the program is to promote child development and prevent child abuse/maltreatment, there are many other topics of significance that the home-visiting program works toward to benefit family well-being.

Through research identified criteria, families work with the program to learn methods and techniques to establish healthy development and well-being for family members. The data collected at home visits consists of the topics of discussion, based on child development, parent-child interaction, and family well-being. Medical visits, demographic information, and frequency of visits are some of the things that are followed in the research data as well.

Through my experience in collecting information about families, I have come to appreciate the research system. The evidence of a home visiting program that follows families beginning prenatally through age 5 years for the "target child" has provided the proof needed in maintaining grant funding. When I enter the necessary data and view reports of what efforts I have made with families and young children, I am resassured that home visiting programs offer a new opportunity for families to have added support and education they may not have had otherwise. Through collecting this data, I am also making strides in preventing child abuse and maltreatment through following guidelines of information and efforts recommended by the program as proven to benefit the families and children.

I encourage anyone interested to view the Healthy Families America website:

http://www.healthyfamiliesamerica.org/about_us/index.shtml

My Research Journey So Far

The topic I have chosen for my research simulation is on early childhood behavior issues and positive discipline. This topic seems to be one that continues to be a challenge for parents as well as myself to assist parents in understanding and implementing positive discipline. While I have a vast understanding of this topic, I feel as though I am always left questioning what more I can offer to parents and the interactions with their young children. Another reason for choosing this topic is because I often hear parents talking about the ways their parents and grandparents raised them with spanking, hitting, etc. and that they turned out fine. I am interested in researching other ways to broach this topic with parents and help them to understand the unintended consequences of some discipline measures. Also, behavior issues are often part of discipline problems, so I would like more information on behavior issues so I may present this information to parents in way they can fully understand.

The research chart will be very useful to break down information and help me to tackle the information in steps. I am open to any insights or sources that others have on this topic. One of the best resources for more information is through learning from others.

Learning about issues and trends in the early childhood field has given me great insight into how I am able to play a role in my own community to make positive changes. Learning about international issues affirms that early childhood education is something to be examined and improved in all countries. One of the consequences I learned through international websites is that funding is a major contributor to the issues in early childhood as not all countries value the importance of early childhood education. I have also gained insight into issues of excellence and equity among many countries. There are numerous international organizations, such as UNESCO, working toward advancing early childhood programs and services which stresses the need for high quality in all areas, especially at risk and low income communities.

One of the biggest goals for the field of early childhood education is gaining advocacy for children and their families in all countries. No matter where a family is from, gaining high quality access to early education programs is important for healthy child development. Advocating for families and children to receive these programs and services may help bring awareness and collaboration to these international issues and trends.

UNESCO

In agreement with the readings from this week, the UNESCO website states there are no universally agreed criteria to determine early childhood education quality. UNESCO addresses the concern that pre-primary education is often putting too much emphasis on preparing children for formal education and not enough importance placed on holistic development. However, an early childhood teacher’s training and work efforts can assist in quality transitioning between pre-primary education and the formal school setting.

Access and equity in early childhood services is a great concern discussed by UNESCO. Countries often provide alternative services for poor children while providing more funding to services and programs for privileged children. The lack of universality of services creates a great need for government and policy makers to examine the equity of services to children’s access and quality of education.

Investment and financing through mobilization of resources may be the greatest difficulty faced in other countries as they try to improve and expand on early childhood programs. Early childhood may be overshadowed particularly in developing countries as primary schools are given priority. While government funding may be small, it is my impression that these countries are missing out on crucial years of development and providing children the foundational education necessary for primary school.

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/

Zero To Three Web Resource

One of the outside links offered is to Early Head Start Resource Center. I like that this resource is directly linked to the Zero To Three organization. It shows the collaboration between early childhood organizations and professionals.

A new area that I explored this week was in the Family, Friend, & Neighbor Care section under Care & Education. This area provides a lot of information for caregivers providing early education care within their home to family, friends, and neighbors. This section offers a tremendous amount of support to enable caregivers to provide the best care within the home. The reason I find this interesting is because I have often heard of stay-at-home mothers opening their homes to other families for daily childcare. This resource has great information on how to get things running, keep it running, and to provide education and well-being to the children.

The Zero To Three website listed an article, “Expanding Access to Early Head Start: State Initiatives for Infants and Toddlers at Risk” which gave insight into ways to improve access to early childhood education. The article discusses efforts to expand or enhance initiatives with the Early Head Start (EHS) program. Building on the Promise outlined diverse ways states enhanced or expanded EHS services including four approaches:

• Extend the day/year of existing EHS services

• Expand the capacity of EHS programs to increase the number of children and pregnant women served

• Provide resources and assistance to child care providers to help them deliver services meeting EHS standards

• Support partnerships between EHS and center-based and family child care providers to improve the quality of child care

With these approaches being utilized, states have made adjustments that fit the needs of their programs. The article offers these findings for other states to utilize in efforts to enhance or expand their own programs and provides funding information and recommendations to improve access to EHS.

I was impressed as I read one of the recommendations that state the importance of having champions for EHS initiatives. This simple recommendation was all I need to motivate and spark my desire to advocate for early childhood education.

 

http://www.zerotothree.org/public-policy/pdf/expanding-access-to-ehs-paper.pdf