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1 – 10 of 102
Book part
Publication date: 1 December 2014

Ruth Alfaro Piker and Abigail M. Jewkes

The nature of early care and education (ECE) programs in the United States, serving children from birth through age eight, has shifted dramatically in the last 20 years. With his…

Abstract

Purpose

The nature of early care and education (ECE) programs in the United States, serving children from birth through age eight, has shifted dramatically in the last 20 years. With his 2013 State of the Union address, President Obama positioned ECE at the top of his educational reform agenda. His acknowledgment of the importance of the early years in providing a foundation for children’s lifelong learning and the critical need for national reform is welcoming to those of us in the field; yet, we meet it with some trepidation. ECE has a history of fragmented services for children and families, relying primarily on inconsistent state funds. Additionally, the pressure to be more competitive with our global counterparts has led to an academic push down at all levels of education, including ECE, rather than an increase in support for schools to meet the diverse needs of young children. The President’s proposed initiative further contributes to this pressure on our youngest children, their families, and their ECE caregivers.

Design/methodology/approach

In this chapter, we examine the current state of the ECE field, with an emphasis on the years prior to kindergarten.

Findings

We analyze two federal ECE initiatives, and argue for a return to the original purposes of ECE that best serve young children and families.

Details

The Obama Administration and Educational Reform
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78350-709-2

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 January 2019

Jing Wang and Morley Gunderson

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the relative importance of gender discrimination and differences in household responsibilities as determinants of the male–female pay gap.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the relative importance of gender discrimination and differences in household responsibilities as determinants of the male–female pay gap.

Design/methodology/approach

It parses out the relative importance of those two factors by using the pay between gay men vs lesbian women as a comparison group that should reflect only gender discrimination. Subtracting the pay gap between gay men and lesbians (reflecting only gender discrimination) from the male–female pay gap for their heterosexual counterparts (reflecting both gender discrimination and household responsibilities) provides evidence of the relative importance of gender discrimination and household responsibilities in explaining the male–female pay gap.

Findings

The results show that essentially all of the male–female pay gap is attributed to differences in household responsibilities.

Originality/value

This paper advances the literature of gender wage gap by using a novel comparison group – gay men vs lesbian women – to estimate the relative importance of gender discrimination and differences in household responsibilities as determinants of the male–female pay gap.

Details

International Journal of Manpower, vol. 40 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7720

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 27 September 2019

Aihua Hu and Elin Eriksen Ødegaard

This chapter comparatively analyzes the most recent national curriculum guidelines for early childhood education (ECE) in Norway, Finland, China, and Hong Kong. By exploring the…

Abstract

This chapter comparatively analyzes the most recent national curriculum guidelines for early childhood education (ECE) in Norway, Finland, China, and Hong Kong. By exploring the aims and dominant concepts in the guidelines, we aspire to better understand how governments of different cultures utilize the dominant concepts, that is, play and learning to manage and facilitate ECE and children’s development. The major data sources are the national curriculum guidelines for ECE and major policies directing and/or influencing the formulation of the guidelines. Content analysis and comparative analysis methods are utilized to analyze the documents. Through analysis and comparison, this chapter aims to inspire policy makers, practitioners, and interested parties in the four cultures and internationally to understand and reflect on their own ECE so that ECE can be better approached in their own culture as well as in settings of diverse cultures.

Details

Annual Review of Comparative and International Education 2018
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83867-416-8

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 9 May 2017

Rachel Heydon, Zheng Zhang and Beatrix Bocazar

Illustrated through ethnographic data drawn from a case study of a full-day kindergarten in Ontario, Canada, this chapter argues for an approach to inclusive curriculum that…

Abstract

Illustrated through ethnographic data drawn from a case study of a full-day kindergarten in Ontario, Canada, this chapter argues for an approach to inclusive curriculum that places the ethical relation at the center and promotes children’s rights through opportunities for multimodal communication. Theoretically, this case drew on multimodal literacy and ethical curricula. The study used ethnographic tools such as class observations, semi-structured interviews, and collection of children’s work. Findings indicate that responsive, ethical curricula through multimodal pedagogies were intrinsically inclusive of all children’s funds of knowledge and encouraged children to become curricular informants and take control of their choices of meaning making.

Book part
Publication date: 18 January 2021

Gabrielle D. Young, David Philpott, Sharon C. Penney, Kimberly Maich and Emily Butler

This paper examines whether participation in quality early child education (ECE) lessens special education needs and insulates children against requiring costly, intensive…

Abstract

This paper examines whether participation in quality early child education (ECE) lessens special education needs and insulates children against requiring costly, intensive supports. Sixty years of longitudinal data coupled with new research in the United Kingdom and Canada were examined to demonstrate how quality ECE reduces special education needs and mitigates the intensity of later supports for children with special education needs. Research demonstrates that quality ECE strengthens children's language, literacy/numeracy, behavioural regulation, and enhances high-school completion. International longitudinal studies confirm that two years of quality ECE lowers special education placement by 40–60% for children with cognitive risk factors and 10–30% for social/behavioural risk factors. Explicit social-emotional learning outcomes also need to be embedded into ECE curricular frameworks, as maladaptive behaviours, once entrenched, are more difficult (and costly) to remediate. Children who do not have the benefit of attending quality ECE in the earliest years are more likely to encounter learning difficulties in school, in turn impacting the well-being and prosperity of their families and societies.

Book part
Publication date: 16 July 2014

Odis Johnson

Achieving the elimination of racial differences in test performance, as set forth in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), requires education policies that engage the…

Abstract

Achieving the elimination of racial differences in test performance, as set forth in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), requires education policies that engage the reality that African American test performances are not only about race but also about gender and residential status. In an effort to inform education policymaking with research that explores race–gender and residential inequality, I assess the growth of reading gaps in school and non-school contexts using a national and city sample of children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal, Kindergarten Cohort 1998–1999. I found that inequality in test performances was greater in the city than elsewhere, and African American boys shoulder a disproportionate educational burden related to city residency and enrollment in city schools. Additionally, children in city neighborhoods – where drugs and burglary are big problems – experience large shortfalls in reading in school and non-school contexts. I conclude with a discussion of the study’s implications for future educational policy, practice, and research, especially NCLB, which mandates that public schools achieve parity among racial groups by the end of the 2013–2014 academic year.

Details

African American Male Students in PreK-12 Schools: Informing Research, Policy, and Practice
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78350-783-2

Article
Publication date: 19 July 2013

Cordula Zabel

The aim of this paper is to study employment effects of workfare and training programs for lone mothers receiving means‐tested benefits in Germany.

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to study employment effects of workfare and training programs for lone mothers receiving means‐tested benefits in Germany.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical analyses are based on a large‐scale administrative data set covering the entire population of unemployed means‐tested benefit recipients. A timing‐of‐events approach is used to control for possible selectivity in program entries.

Findings

Findings are that lone mothers particularly profit from participating in vocational training programs. It seems they can benefit from updating their job skills after having interrupted their employment for childcare. By contrast, workfare does not seem to be beneficial for those with young children. Workfare is especially intended to enhance participants' motivation to increase their job search efforts. The main reason lone mothers of young children have not been employed is however likely to be lack of childcare, rather than lack of motivation.

Practical implications

Lone mothers of young children are perhaps not an adequate focus group for workfare, and should be assigned there less often, and instead more frequently to skill training programs.

Originality/value

As of yet, very little research has investigated effects of training and workfare programs specifically for lone mothers in Germany. The findings from the present study can contribute to understanding whether lone mothers, who are strongly targeted by these programs despite facing employment obstacles on account of low levels of childcare provision, can actually profit from program participations.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 33 no. 7/8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 26 July 2005

Elizabeth Graue

On the basis of data from a project that examined the school experiences of children who were seen to have readiness risks, this chapter examines the child in the child-centered…

Abstract

On the basis of data from a project that examined the school experiences of children who were seen to have readiness risks, this chapter examines the child in the child-centered classroom and how this child shaped by our notions of development. Across the classrooms observed, the teachers seemed to teach to a kindergarten prototype, a generic child who had the social, physical, and academic maturity and did not have much pedagogical support. The data are then read through three conceptualizations of development (postmodern deconstruction, developmental realism, and cultural developmentalism). I argue that I use these conceptualizations almost simultaneously in my work and that a hybrid reading highlights the invisibility of individual children in child-centered classrooms.

Details

Practical Transformations and Transformational Practices: Globalization, Postmodernism, and Early Childhood Education
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-364-8

Book part
Publication date: 17 June 2020

Edith Mukudi Omwami, Joseph Wright and Andrew Swindell

This chapter examines the context for the implementation of the global commitment to early childhood education (ECE) within the framing of the sustainable development goals (SDGs…

Abstract

This chapter examines the context for the implementation of the global commitment to early childhood education (ECE) within the framing of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) under SDG 4.2. We first define the concept of ECE as broadly understood in the field of education and in practice related to a focus on education of children. The essay adopts chronological age of children served outside of the formal school system, which has traditionally been recognized as basic education, to represent the population captured under ECE in both pre-school and pre-primary settings. UNICEF identifies those ages 3–6 to fall into this category. We present an exploration of the challenges and opportunities presented by multiplicity in multilateral agencies and other agencies driving the international initiatives around advancing ECE and the means by which they promote education opportunities for children. We offer a comparative perspective on the delivery, types, and funding mechanisms of ECE services in both developing and developed country contexts, which informs the possibilities for the realization of the SDG goal of inclusive quality education for all. An examination of the socio-cultural and economic context of accessibility to inclusive and equitable quality ECE is also presented. An overview of settings within which ECE is provided is interrogated within differing national contexts. We conclude with challenges and opportunities for sustained accountability, monitoring and evaluation of SDG 4.2 interventions from a comparative perspective.

Details

Annual Review of Comparative and International Education 2019
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83867-724-4

Keywords

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 18 January 2021

Abstract

Details

Resourcing Inclusive Education
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80043-456-1

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