In many Western nations (an area of the world identified by Connell as the Global North), the early childhood sector has positioned itself within the education discourse. This positioning brings along with it the neo-liberal agenda in relation to education – i.e. that education’s key aim is the preparation of employable future employees (children as human capital). Along with this is the increasing imposition of employer-identified skills and knowledges on the curriculum in order to shape children, through education, into the ‘right’ attitudes, dispositions and knowledges. Thus, early childhood education has become increasingly subject to external accreditation, whereby services are evaluated based on their adherence to predetermined standards. Early childhood educators’ work has increasingly required the operation of a panoptic view of children, whose every behaviour is observed, recorded and judged. The authors argue that such standards, in some contexts, act as barriers to effective service delivery and present examples of work from the Global South, demonstrating how an early childhood development focus facilitates a holistic approach to early childhood service delivery. The authors demonstrate how that development focus can be operationalised in the Global North and suggest that, as the sector proceeds towards professionalisation, it needs to consider its direction.
BACKGROUND: Nature play is growing in popularity as children's play spaces are transforming from traditional playgrounds into more nature-based play spaces with considerable financial and resource investment from government bodies. This has resulted in the re-development of children's play spaces to incorporate more natural elements such as trees, plants and rocks. Despite this, it is unclear whether there is empirical evidence to support claims that play in nature is beneficial for child health and development. AIM: To conduct a systematic review examining the impacts of nature play on the health and developmental outcomes of children aged 2-12 years. METHODS: Seven electronic databases were searched (MEDLINE, ERIC, Embase, PsycINFO, The Cochrane Library, The Joanna Briggs Institute and Emcare) from inception to July/August 2018 (search updated July/August 2019). The Inclusion criteria were children aged 2-12 years with no health/developmental conditions. The exposure/intervention of interest was unstructured, free play in nature. Critical appraisal of included studies was conducted using the McMaster Critical Appraisal Tool. Descriptive synthesis was then undertaken using the NHMRC FORM Framework. RESULTS: Out of 2927 articles identified, 16 studies met the inclusion criteria. The nature play exposure/intervention was heterogeneously described, and a plethora of outcome measures were used. Nature play had consistent positive impacts on physical activity outcomes and cognitive play behaviours (imaginative and dramatic play). However, there remain some concerns regarding the quality of the evidence base, heterogeneity in intervention description and parameters in the outcome measures used. CONCLUSIONS: While the positive impacts of nature play were encouraging in terms of physical activity and cognitive development, nature play stakeholders should focus on producing a universal definition for nature play, the development of standardised outcome measures and the conduct of robust research designs. Implications of these findings suggest the need for the development of standardised guidelines to inform practice and policy in the design of children's play spaces in different contexts.
Kylie A. Dankiw, Margarita D. Tsiros, Katherine Lorraine Baldock et al.
Background The urban environment presents significant health challenges for children, such as discouraging physical exercise and increasing exposure to air pollution, excessive noise and higher temperatures. Reducing exposures to these negative environmental factors can have great benefits on a child's well-being and lower their risk of developing chronic diseases later in life. There is increasing evidence that suggests that the presence of urban green space can offer benefits to human health and well-being. While studies have reported the impact green space exposure has on the individual health outcomes of children, few have paid attention to the link between green space and the child's development. This review aims to synthesise the evidence of the effect green space exposure has on early childhood development. Objectives To explore the relationship between green space and early childhood development. Methods An online search was conducted using pre-identified keywords related to green space and early childhood development using search engines such as PubMed, MEDLINE, Web of Science, MeSH and PsycINFO. Peer-reviewed papers published in the past 10 years were included in this review. Papers were selected, extracted, analysed and interpreted based on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Results Fifty-one papers were identified, of which 28 were excluded due to duplications or irrelevance, yielding a total of 23 papers to be reviewed. Articles were categorised based on reported outcomes: perinatal health, physical health, psychological health and respiratory health. An increase in green space during pregnancy was associated with increased birth weight and a decreased risk for low birth weight (LBW). Further, higher greenness exposure during childhood was associated with increased levels of physical activity and a lower risk of obesity and neurodevelopmental issues such as inattentiveness. While green space exposure was negatively associated with wheezing and bronchitis in some cohorts, certain plant species increase asthmatic symptoms during childhood, indicating that plant species type is an important determinant. Conclusion The extant literature on green space exposure and early childhood development is small. Regardless, the existing research provides promising insights into the benefits of green space exposure on children's health and well-being in an ever-increasing urban world. Further research is needed on the causal relationships between both quantity and quality of green space to early childhood development.
Mohammad Zahirul Islam, Jessika Johnston, Peter David Sly
The concept of well-being has gained increasing currency as policy makers and service providers working in the child welfare sector have aimed to shift their work from compliance based to child-centred approaches. This is also evident in the efforts of national and international monitoring agencies, who have developed indicator frameworks measuring children's well-being outcomes. However, well-being frameworks developed from children's perspectives are rare, in part because of the challenges involved in developing indicators from children's perspectives. In this paper we present a set of wellbeing indicator concepts developed from multi-stage qualitative research exploring children's understandings and experiences of well-being. We outline key domains (agency, security/safety, self/identity) and dimensions (leisure, economic well-being, health) of wellbeing derived from a child standpoint before outlining the distinctive features of these indicator concepts. We conclude by discussing implications for service provision, namely the importance of emotional complexity in service work; an emphasis on lived experience and developmental outcomes in service goals; and the necessity to consider systemic factors as impacting individual well-being.
Abstract Children's participation is essential to achieve good outcomes for children involved in child protection systems. Despite this, research has consistently found children report low levels of participation, are poorly consulted and feel inadequately involved in decisions about their lives. To explore how practitioners understand children's participation, 18 in‐depth interviews were conducted with statutory child protection practitioners in Australia. The interviews explored the ways child protection practitioners understand children's participation. Our findings show practitioners conceptualize children as rights holders and believe it is essential to hear directly from children about their needs and wishes to keep them safe. Practitioners identified the importance of transparent processes and decisions. Different understanding of participation emerged, with some participants talking about children as their central focus but not discussing meaningful participation of the child. It appeared that children's participation relied largely on the views and skills of individual workers, as well as their ability to incorporate meaningful participation in limited time and in complex practice environments where children's safety is a primary concern. Systemic changes to address time barriers, training practitioners to understand and implement participatory practice, and seeking children's input into service design, will support consistent and meaningful participation.
As part of a recent national policy review, young Australian children were consulted through creative listening methods to share their perspectives on changes they would like to see in the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF). Curriculum embedded in policy has been historically adult-driven, positioning adults as the primary decision-makers in matters affecting children&s;s lives. This 14-month, three-phase national project was underpinned by a commitment to child rights and to children&s;s participation where participatory spaces were created that foregrounded listening to children&s;s voices. Listening was conceptualised as an active and dynamic practice, extending beyond verbal communication to include the co-construction of meaning through social interaction. Listening to children in research contexts raises complex ethical considerations, requiring ongoing reflexivity and informed decision-making by researchers and educators. Dialogic drawing, listening circles and photo elicitation were used to support children&s;s expression of their ideas and experiences. This chapter demonstrates the importance of meaningfully involving children in policy development and highlights ways for authentically listening to children in ways that respect their rights and capacities.
Lennie Barblett, Susan Lee Irvine, Fay Hadley et al.
Drawing on 22 years of longitudinal data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey, we investigate how exposure to poverty in childhood is associated with poverty risk in early adulthood. We find a substantial and highly non‐linear gradient in poverty persistence from childhood into early adulthood. Compared with children from households with an income between 150 per cent and 200 per cent of the poverty line, those growing up below the poverty line have an early‐adulthood poverty rate that is 22.4 percentage points higher on average, whereas those growing up in near‐poverty, with an income between 100 per cent and 150 per cent of the poverty line, have a rate 8.7 percentage points higher. These associations remain substantial after controlling for childhood family characteristics, indicating that childhood poverty remains a strong marker of later‐life disadvantage. We then examine whether this persistence is related to differences in educational attainment, employment, partnership, family structure and health in adulthood, and the extent to which these outcomes are in turn associated with poverty risk. Substantial associations between childhood poverty and early‐adulthood poverty remain even after accounting for these factors. While our analysis does not identify causal impacts of childhood poverty, our findings nonetheless suggest that policies directly addressing childhood poverty should be considered alongside downstream interventions focused on education, employment and family stability. We also find that these associations are considerably larger for children growing up in single‐parent families, suggesting that these families warrant particular policy attention.
Professional learning and development (PLD) activities for Chinese kindergarten teachers have introduced imported knowledge to promote teaching and learning. Much PLD provision is led by leaders and experts rather than teachers. To understand the educational beliefs and power differences that surface among teachers, leaders and experts during PLD sessions and how teachers navigate this complex terrain, this paper presents a post-intentional phenomenological study involving seven participants from two Chinese early childhood settings. Data collection included semi-structured interviews, observations of PLD meetings and videos of teachers’ implementation of PLD ideas. Educational policies, PLD materials, and the researcher’s reflexive journal were also used for analysis. Analysis involved a line-by-line reading process where theoretical concepts, data and researcher reflexivity interacted. The findings reveal that teachers experienced tensions in relation to formal PLD sessions. These tensions stemmed from established values and hierarchical constraints that limited their joint reflection and actions. Our analysis, framed by the concepts of relational agency and in-between spaces, shows how teachers navigated these tensions. Despite these constraints, the teachers responded by creating opportunities for collaborative learning. They sought out informal situations where they had the flexibility to develop shared knowledge. We argue that Chinese teachers’ PLD can occur within and across such tensions and opportunities. These informal situations empowered teachers to enact relational agency by aligning their expertise to make PLD decisions. This process eased tensions and created space for collaborative learning. The study concludes that valuing these informal, teacher-initiated spaces is crucial for moving beyond top-down knowledge transmission and fostering sustainable professional growth in hierarchical educational contexts. Ultimately, by empowering teachers as collaborative and adaptable professionals, this model of PLD offers new insights into enhancing the professional environments that shape teaching practice and young children’s learning.
Motherhood is inherently demanding, and some of these demands may be amplified for women with borderline personality disorder (BPD). The exacerbation of BPD symptoms from parenting-related stressors can have adverse impacts on mother-infant relationships and infant development. This qualitative study explores Australian mothers' views of the impacts of mother-infant dialectical therapy plus (MI-DBT+). MI-DBT+ is an innovative therapeutic intervention which integrates mother-infant dialectical behavior Therapy (MI-DBT), a known effective intervention for the mental health of mothers with BPD, with attachment and biobehavioral catch-up (ABC) therapy. Specifically, eight mothers completed semi-structured interviews about their experiences of intervention following completion of the MI-DBT+ program. A thematic analysis of this interview data found that mothers appreciated learning more skills to enhance their understanding of their infants' needs, behaviors and emotions. Mothers also reported improved reflective functioning and better control of their emotional responses. These skills assisted in managing emotional distress at both the individual and dyadic level. The study was limited due to available demographic data, with only maternal and child age available. Discussion also focuses on the fit between DBT and ABC, longer term developmental concerns and sustainability.
Jade Pryor, Alyssa C. P. Sawyer, Clemence Due et al.
Abstract Community-based interventions (CBIs) are widely used to prevent childhood obesity, yet evaluating their causal effects is challenging due to multi-level interactions and variation across individuals. Standard statistical approaches often have difficulty addressing these complexities, which can produce biased estimates. To address this, we propose a causal machine learning framework that integrates causal discovery, causal inference, and tree-based models to estimate individual treatment effects and examine heterogeneity in program outcomes. Using data from seven CBI programs involving more than 7000 participants, we first applied causal discovery to identify relationships between children’s demographic and behavioral characteristics, finding links between body mass index (BMI), age, sex, and dietary behaviors such as takeaway food consumption. Individual treatment effect estimation suggested notable differences in intervention outcomes across participants, with age emerging as an important moderator of effectiveness. Tree-based models further highlighted subpopulation characteristics associated with these variations. Our findings suggest that CBI effectiveness is not uniform across children, and that identifying sources of heterogeneity can support the design of more targeted and age-sensitive prevention strategies. While demonstrated here in the context of childhood obesity, the framework provides a generalizable approach for analyzing heterogeneous treatment effects in complex, community-based interventions.
