I've Moved!

Hi, this is John and I am excited to tell you that <a href="http://eceducationblog.wordpress.com/?utm_source=Blogger&utm_medium=Weblink&utm_campaign=Invite_To_Wordpress" target="_blank">Topics in Early Childhood Education</a> is now hosted on Wordpress. Just click <a href="http://eceducationblog.wordpress.com/?utm_source=Blogger&utm_medium=Weblink&utm_campaign=Invite_To_Wordpress" target="_blank">here</a>! Please change your bookmarks so you can keep up with my latest art projects!

I've Moved!

Hi, this is John and I am excited to tell you that Topics in Early Childhood Education is now hosted on Wordpress. Just click here ! Please...

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Review of 2012

If it’s nearly Christmas, it must be time for the annual round-up of major developments and new research published in the children’s sector during the last year. After all, you might have missed some of these the first time round…<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The one thing that all practitioners and students can’t have missed was the introduction of the new EYFS in September. You can get quick links to the new EYFS and supporting documentation from <a href="http://bcftcschildhoodeducation.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/support-materials-for-new-eyfs.html" target="_blank">this previous post</a>, while the recent release of the new Profile Handbook and further materials are <a href="http://bcftcschildhoodeducation.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/early-years-foundation-stage-profile.html" target="_blank">dealt with here</a>. On a similar note, at the same time a <a href="http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/r/eyps%20standards%20from%20september%202012.pdf" target="_blank">new set of EYPS standards</a> were introduced for those hoping to achieve the status.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The other large story of the year was the Nutbrown Review, which investigated the current system of early education and childcare qualifications. You can read the final report and other supporting documents from <a href="http://www.education.gov.uk/nutbrownreview" target="_blank">this link</a>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Annual reports from well known organisations are also a handy way of gauging current issues surrounding the sector. Some of the most useful ones from this year include the <a href="http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/STR/d001088/osr18-2012.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey</i></a> and the <a href="http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/filedownloading/?file=documents/ar201112/The%20Annual%20Report%20of%20Her%20Majesty%27s%20Chief%20Inspector%20of%20Education,%20Children%27s%20Services%20and%20Skills%202011-12.pdf&refer=1" target="_blank">Ofsted Annual Report</a>, while for a more international flavour try UNICEF’s <a href="http://www.unicef.org/sowc2012/pdfs/SOWC-2012-Main-Report_EN_21Dec2011.pdf" target="_blank"><i>State of the World’s Children 2012</i></a> or the OECD’s <a href="http://www.oecd.org/edu/EAG%202012_e-book_EN_200912.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Education at a Glance</i></a>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">A few themes seemed to emerge when looking back at publications from the last year: certainly the cost of childcare for families was discussed in a number of reports by different organisations, such as the Resolution Foundation's <a href="http://www.resolutionfoundation.org/media/media/downloads/Counting_the_costs_of_childcare_1.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Counting the Costs of Childcare</i></a>, CPAG's <a href="http://www.cpag.org.uk/sites/default/files/CPAG%20Cost%20of%20a%20Child%202012_0.pdf" target="_blank"><i>The Cost of a Child in the Twenty-First Century</i></a>, and the Family & Parenting Institute's <a href="http://www.familyandparenting.org/Resources/FPI/Documents/FPI_1715_Publication_WEB%20pdf%20%283%29.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Families on the FrontLine</i></a>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Linked to this is the never ending stream of reports into child poverty – just a few that were published this year were Save the Children’s <a href="http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/child_poverty_2012.pdf" target="_blank"><i>It Shouldn’t Happen Here</i></a>, CPAG’s <a href="http://www.cpag.org.uk/sites/default/files/CPAG-Ending-child-poverty-by-2020-progress-made-lessons-learned-0612.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Ending Child Poverty by 2020</i></a>, and UNICEF’s <a href="http://www.unicef.org.uk/Documents/Publications/RC10-measuring-child-poverty.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Measuring Child Poverty</i></a>, which compared the situation in the UK with other developed nations.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Another theme was the growing interest in outdoor play and the benefits which this can have for children. In March the National Trust’s <a href="http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/servlet/file/store5/item823323/version1/Natural%20Childhood%20Brochure.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Natural Childhood</i></a> report made a big contribution to this debate, or you can read this <a href="http://bcftcschildhoodeducation.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/outdoor-play-learning.html" target="_blank">previous post</a> from September which provides links to plenty of the recent research in this area.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And a personal selection of interesting / useful stories and publications from the last year… Back in January the Children’s Society published the <a href="http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/sites/default/files/tcs/good_childhood_report_2012_final.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Good Childhood Report 2012</i></a>; in June the <a href="http://www.savechildhood.net/" target="_blank"><i>Save Childhood</i></a> movement was launched; also in June the <a href="http://www.managementthinking.eiu.com/sites/default/files/downloads/Starting%20Well.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Starting Well: Benchmarking Early Education Across the World</i></a> report was published; and November saw the publication of <a href="http://issuu.com/leyf/docs/leyf-research-report-men-working-in-childcare-2012?mode=window&backgroundColor=%23222222" target="_blank"><i>Men Working in Childcare</i></a>, a useful contribution to a topic about which I get a lot of enquiries.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">A bit more? For research ideas you could do a lot worse than look at <a href="http://www.nfer.ac.uk/nfer/publications/SERC01/SERC01.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Education on the Web</i></a>, an excellent research guide from the NFER. Or you could look at this post on <i><a href="http://bcftcschildhoodeducation.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/open-access-research-for-childhood.html" target="_blank">Open Access Research for Childhood / Education</a></i>, which has attracted a lot of site visitors from search engines in recent months. Or you could look at <a href="http://www.kathybrodie.com/articles/social-bookmarking-an-essential-tool-for-dissertation-students/" target="_blank"><i>Social Bookmarking: an Essential Tool for Dissertation Students</i></a>, an article published on Kathy Brodie’s website back in June (you may recognise the author!).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">If there’s anything significant from the last 12 months that you think I’ve missed, do leave a comment below to let other site users know about it. If you’re a regular visitor here you’ll know I’m a fan of archive films, so get in the festive spirit by enjoying the short clip below from 1946, which includes sleeping children, toys that come alive, and… oh, just watch it! Merry Christmas…</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZFHvRiLJiIM" width="420"></iframe>

Review of 2012

If it’s nearly Christmas, it must be time for the annual round-up of major developments and new research published in the children’s sector ...

Read more »

#EYTalking

Since I joined Twitter I've found it an invaluable way of getting in touch with early years practitioners and for staying up-to-date with breaking news stories and new pieces of research that relate to the sector. So if you're on Twitter and want to engage with other childcare people, you may be interested in a new initiative called #EYTalking.<br /><br />Basically, the idea is for anyone with an interest in childcare or early years to go onto Twitter each Tuesday evening between 8 - 9pm, and swap useful stories, articles, reports and any other type of information using the #EYTalking hashtag. The first session takes place tonight, I'll be logging on to see how it all works in practice, and maybe get some ideas for things to post here in the future.<br /><br />Quite simple really! Though you can read more about it by <a href="http://laurachildcare.wordpress.com/2012/12/05/eytalking/" target="_blank">clicking here</a>.

#EYTalking

Since I joined Twitter I've found it an invaluable way of getting in touch with early years practitioners and for staying up-to-date wit...

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Social Welfare Portal

The British Library has just launched its <a href="http://socialwelfare.bl.uk/" target="_blank">Social Welfare Portal</a>, which aims to provide quick and easy access to high quality research and publications. The portal offers information on all aspects of social welfare in the UK and overseas, often with full-text access to reports, and you can also sign up to receive alerts with details of new material that may be of interest to you. Well worth checking out if you have 5 minutes!<br /><br />A similar service is offered by the long standing <a href="http://www.scie-socialcareonline.org.uk/" target="_blank">Social Care Online</a> which is also free to access. Or if you're a UCB student, then you can use the portal to access the CCInform service which also covers this subject area.<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iGqrKIbjI6w" width="420"></iframe>

Social Welfare Portal

The British Library has just launched its Social Welfare Portal , which aims to provide quick and easy access to high quality research and p...

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European Education Systems

A lot of students ask for information about childcare / education in other countries, so today's featured link should be useful to some site users - it's simply a brief leaflet with easy-to-understand diagrams of the education systems in each of the EU member states, very handy if you want a quick guide to a particular country! To have a look, <a href="http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/documents/facts_and_figures/education_structures_EN.pdf" target="_blank">click here</a>, or to list all of my blog posts dealing with international resources then click <a href="http://bcftcschildhoodeducation.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/International%20Resources" target="_blank">this link</a>.

European Education Systems

A lot of students ask for information about childcare / education in other countries, so today's featured link should be useful to some ...

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Here we are racing to the end of another calendar year.  The miles just keep speeding past as we navigate the race of life.  I wonder how many runners have come to mile 12 in a half-marathon and wished he had prepared better?  That was certainly my feeling the first half-marathon I ran a couple of years ago.  I'm not sure what I would have done more to prepare, but surely there was something I missed.  That last mile seemed endless and my knees and hips felt like they were becoming disembodied. <br />Most of us who are approaching the 'later years,' probably have a few thoughts about what we wished we would have done to prepare.  For example, I sometimes wished I <i>had</i> continued on to medical school and become a doctor.  Maybe I would have been able to save more money for retirement!<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRF6ETfNV0DKZit9CJdQ4582WWOE6GRQeT77a-24x7Yy6K1VbpmNm8rnpdQ-mPAhLzcs8KjdW078QRwR_8oG6HAAQx-xcx2BC0v3-XyUVQ_rnZZsmYqa8OkM0CDkQV8f_z9u8022FaHfU/s1600/Utah+Valley+6-11+-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRF6ETfNV0DKZit9CJdQ4582WWOE6GRQeT77a-24x7Yy6K1VbpmNm8rnpdQ-mPAhLzcs8KjdW078QRwR_8oG6HAAQx-xcx2BC0v3-XyUVQ_rnZZsmYqa8OkM0CDkQV8f_z9u8022FaHfU/s320/Utah+Valley+6-11+-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Early childhood educators have the opportunity to help prepare children for a future that we can just imagine at this point.  We can arm them with thinking skills that will help them in a world that will include many things that have not even been invented yet.  Building the brain connections in young people should be a top priority because it will increase their capacity for the future.  I recently told some students that I wished my early childhood teachers would have stretched my thinking capacity more so that I could understand statistics a bit better.  I said it as a joke, but I certainly hope to never hear that 'joke' from one of <i>my</i> former students.  It surely contains more truth than humor.

Here we are racing to the end of another calendar year.  The miles just keep speeding past as we navigate the race of life.  I wonder how ma...

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