Research Around the World

Any of you who have read my blog regularly over the past several months (or courses) know that I am interested in knowing more about the ECE field in Australia and New Zealand. So when one of the options to write about this week was the website of Early Childhood Australia (ECA) I was excited. What I found there was a place for advocacy efforts, professional development, publications for professionals, and resources for parents.


When I delved deeper into the research into international topics of early childhood I found a resource that I was particularly interested in. It is a book titled Practitioner Research in Early Childhood: International Issues and Perspectives. Who knew? A whole book

dedicated to precisely the topic I was trying to find more information about. Although I have not ordered the book, and therefore have not read it, I was able to discover some of the international research topics of importance that the book addresses:

• the contribution of practitioner research to curriculum and social change. Professional development and strengthening learning communities

– how practitioners can be supported in documenting and articulating their work
– the relationships between the research community and field of practice through practitioner research projects
– contemporary problems and issues that frame the practices of early childhood educators
– case studies from Australia, South Africa, Sweden and Chile

• A diverse range of case studies that use a range of internationally recognised (sp) research methods are presented. The book offers guidance, support and inspiration to practitioners on how to research their implementation of meaningful and sustainable changes in early childhood contexts (ECA Shop, 2017, para. 2).

Additionally, I was able to identify a Research Symposium that takes place every year in association with both Early Childhood Australia and the Australasian Journal of Early Childhood. The 2018 symposium theme is Politics, power, and agency in early childhood education. This would lead me to believe that, much like in the United States, the political and social climate surrounding ECE is an important topic to consider in research.

Something else I discovered on the website was very interesting to me. ECA has an entire Leadership Program that is offered to current and aspiring leaders in the field. 

" Founded on solid expert research and five years of sector consultation, this essential leadership framework has been designed by early childhood experts and quality assured by early childhood practising (sp) leaders. Our Leadership Program was specifically created as a strengths-based, self-directed, short-term program for both current and aspiring early childhood leaders in diverse settings." 

I found this to be very interesting since a passion and focus for me is in developing strong leadership in the early childhood field. Unfortunately, there is a fairly steep price tag of $599. In a field where income is always a concern that seems like a high price. However, if the program is of extremely high quality then it could be worth it!

Websites referenced:

http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/shop/product/practitioner-research-early-childhood-international-issues-perspectives/

http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/events/ajecsymposium/

http://leadership.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/