Welcome to this month's edition of Researching education: Five further readings. In this series, we take a look at some further readings available on a particular topic, including open access research papers from various online databases, and Teacher archive content you might not have come across yet.
As an early years educator, how do you ensure students are mastering key core skills needed for further learning? In these five readings, you'll find a paper on how policies for early years learning are shaping the quality and equity of early childhood education and care, and an article from the Teacher archives on how preschool services support children to develop language and literacy skills to help them get ready for school.
- Cunningham Library Catalogue – Early Childhood Education. At this link you can access a range of resources focusing on early childhood education. The Cunningham Library Catalogue is an open access resource filled with references and links to Australian education research material including journals, government reports and books. You can access the entire catalogue here.
- Assessment of children as confident and involved learners in Early Childhood Education and Care : Literature review. This literature review is one of a series of reviews to support Victorian early childhood professionals to assess children's learning and development in relation to the five Learning and Development Outcomes in the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework (VEYLDF). It documents the research that underpins and defines learning for children from birth to eight years, and outlines children's trajectory as confident and involved learners. The resource aims to equip early childhood professionals with the knowledge to identify and assess children's progress towards the VEYLDF Outcome: 'Children are confident and involved learners'.
- Helping our youngest to learn and grow: Policies for early learning. Teacher columnist Andreas Schleicher discusses here the policies and practices shaping quality and equity in early childhood education and care. This report examines how the work environment, including the educational background of staff, and the policies that shape teaching approaches affect the quality of the education provided to our youngest learners. An overview of current thinking about how young children use, and are affected by, information and communication technologies (ICT) is also explored.
- EdResearch Online. Here, you'll find a list of journal articles relating to early childhood education. This list will update as new content is added to the EdResearch Online database. EdResearch Online contains hundreds of articles from Australian education journals, some of which are open access. Click here to search EdResearch Online.
- Teaching phonological awareness skills. In this Teacher article from the archive, we explore a recent study exploring how preschool services support children to develop language and literacy skills to help them get ready for school. The benefits gained by children who have access to high quality early childhood services are explained, and some activity ideas to assess phonological awareness skills are shared.
The Cunningham Library membership is open to individuals, schools and organisations. Membership includes access to a comprehensive collection of education research literature; weekday alerts to a selection of Australian education news; fast supply of articles and books from the collection; support in finding research; and an integrated online search tool that works across all of their resources.
To become a library member, visit the website.
