Strong Foundations

Strong Foundations: Evidence informing practice in early childhood education and care celebrates the progress made by the Australian early childhood education and care profession since the implementation of the Early Years Learning Framework. Recognising this progress, Associate Professor Anna Kilderry and Honorary Professor Bridie Raban lead a team of 33 notable contributors from 11 universities and institutions across Australia, who focus on the challenges of access, equity and quality that remain across the sector.

Together with a Foreword by Professor Alison Elliott, Strong Foundations brings together knowledge and insights from research in education, health, social care, child safety, science, mathematics and the arts. The book addresses policy requirements from the Early Years Learning Framework, the National Quality Standard and Quality Improvement Plans and includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives. With an emphasis on professional practice expectations, it showcases evidence from Australian and international research and provides case studies of how early childhood educators are applying evidence-informed actions in a wide variety of child care centres and services.

Strong Foundations translates high-quality research and supports the everyday practice of early childhood educators and the subsequent long-term outcomes for children in their care, their families and their communities.

Contents & contributors

Foreword by Alison Elliott

About the editors and contributors

Acknowledgements

SECTION 1 – The early childhood years: context

Chapter 1 Early childhood education and care in challenging times

Anna Kilderry and Bridie Raban

Chapter 2 Investigating early childhood practice: insights from a large Australian study

Dan Cloney

Chapter 3 The early childhood professional

Megan Gibson and Lyn Gunn

Chapter 4 Building inclusive education communities

Kathy Cologon

SECTION 2 – Identity, wellbeing and children contributing to their world

Chapter 5 Early childhood outdoor environments: places for play, learning and wellbeing

Anne-Marie Morrissey, Llewellyn Wishart and Deborah Moore

Chapter 6 Healthy lifestyle behaviours in the first five years of life

Rachel Laws, Penny Love, Katherine Downing and Jill Hnatiuk

Chapter 7 Keeping children safe

Nicole Downes

Chapter 8 Social and emotional development in early childhood

Claire Blewitt, Helen Skouteris, Amanda O‘Connor and Heidi Bergmeier

Chapter 9 Facilitating children’s agency in early childhood education and care

Caroline Scott, Andrea Nolan and Anna Kilderry

SECTION 3 – Children as confident and involved learners

Chapter 10 Play and early childhood pedagogies

Nicole Leggett

Chapter 11 Supporting oral language development in young children

Louise Paatsch and Andrea Nolan

Chapter 12 Early literacy

Bridie Raban

Chapter 13 Learning about STEM

Coral Campbell

Chapter 14 Learning about mathematics

Bob Perry and Sue Dockett

Chapter 15 Learning through the arts

Susan Wright and Jan Deans

Chapter 16 Play and learning in the digital age

Nicola Yelland

Chapter 17 Assessment and documentation for children’s learning and development

Bronwyn Reynolds

SECTION 4 – Children and society: building positive futures

Chapter 18 Early years transitions

Sue Dockett and Bob Perry

Chapter 19 Building positive relationships with families and communities

Laura McFarland

Chapter 20 Leading practice in early childhood education

Jo Bird and Angel Mok

Chapter 21 Rethinking research in early childhood: (re)turning the kaleidoscope

Jeanne Marie Iorio and Will Parnell

Chapter 22 Learning to surf: embracing change in the early childhood sector

Jen Jackson

Glossary

Index