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In AJEC earlier this year, Marilyn Fleer (Fleer, 2005) challenged early childhood professionals to move beyond a developmental approach to their work and consider alternative frameworks. The developmental framework encourages us to think about childhood as a state of potential: a state where children are learning and growing in order to become adults. Childhood is not valued for itself, but simply as a stepping stone to an adult identity. Following a developmental framework, our role as adults is to determine what children need to learn in order to reach the goal of full adult potential, and to shape opportunities today that will allow this learning.
Rethinking our work requires us to first critique our ideas of childhood—challenging ourselves to think differently about questions such as 'Who is a child?' and 'What is childhood?' (see Kilderry, Nolan & Noble, 2004). Writers using a human rights framework have encouraged us to think of childhood as a ‘state of being here and now' rather than as a preparation for the future (James, Jenks & Prout, 1998).
I have been trying to make sense of all these different ideas for some time now, while also trying to reflect on the basis for my own thinking. In this editorial, I hope to explain this in a way that is understandable, while also providing a frame for the articles in this issue of AJEC.
Firstly, it is clear to me that we must consider children as part of the world in which they are immersed. Fleer (2005) identifies a sociocultural framework as one that provides us with the potential to consider children as participants in a social and cultural world. I see the ecological framework of Bronfenbrenner (1979) as providing an overarching framework in which we can see children as participating in, and influencing, the wider social, cultural, political and physical world around them. At the same time, we need to start exploring the mechanisms by which this complex world actually impacts on children and changes outcomes. We know, for example, that children growing up in situations of poverty live shorter and less healthy lives, and are more likely to have less positive mental health outcomes, and lower educational and employment achievements (Allen, 2003). This is demonstrated by Najman and colleagues (2004), who show that disadvantage in the grandparent generation may influence outcomes for grandchildren. How does this happen? How are grandparents' lives internalised by the child, thus shaping child outcomes?
In my work I have been examining neurological and biochemical research that may help us begin to understand this process. The first surprise for me was the key role stress plays. Stress is a major pathway for transferring outside, environmental influences into our bodies and shaping our neurology and biology (Adam, 2003; Gerhardt, 2004). When we are stressed (e.g. through hunger, pain; feeling unsure of ourselves, fearful, anxious) our body's biological response is to produce cortisol to enhance our ability to cope (increased heart rate, blood pressure, levels of alertness etc). At the same time, cortisol shuts down functions such as rational thinking, memory, sexual drive. When we are stressed we can not think clearly and rationally, and we do not lay down memories—both major problems when it comes to learning. With chronically high levels of stress, our ‘switch' for turning cortisol on/off gets stuck—sometimes in the ‘on' position (long-term high cortisol with consequent hypertension, early heart attacks, strokes, and learning/memory impairments) and sometimes in the ‘off' position (low cortisol: can not increase alertness, show a ‘flat' emotional tone, demonstrate difficulty engaging with things, higher risk of post-traumatic stress disorder).
What does this mean for early childhood professionals? To me it means that quality early childhood practice should involve reducing children's stress levels, rather than focusing solely on offering developmentally appropriate activities. Today, what children need is to be in an environment where they feel safe, loved and respected. When this happens their stress levels are down (Gerhardt, 2004) and then they can benefit from developmentally and culturally appropriate learning opportunities. When we emphasise the need for children to feel safe and loved each and every day, we are ensuring their present experience is high quality, and we are creating opportunities for them to learn and grow.
AJEC has, over many years, been at the forefront of publishing articles reflecting high-quality practice. The articles in this edition are no exception. I suggest to you, the reader, that these articles can be seen as the tools and knowledge you can use to shape your practice in new ways—using the framework I have introduced above. Let's work through them and see how they link up. O'Connor and Temple claim that physical activity has been greatly overlooked in the developmental way of seeing things. As a consequence, some professionals do not see it as important to provide opportunities for physical activity in their programs. However, we know from extensive research that increased physical activity is linked with stress reduction in both children (Crews, Lochbaum & Landers, 2004) and adults (Lochbaum, Lutz, Sell, Ready & Carson, 2004; Schnohr, 2005). Providing quality physical activity is essential to children's current wellbeing and will result in many positive longer-term outcomes.
Batchelor and Taylor remind us that social inclusion—feeling part of the group and having the skills to participate—is an essential component of a quality experience for young children. Children who have friends and feel they belong have lower stress levels and can benefit from the learning opportunities offered in their environment. In a more traditional area of the school curriculum (mathematics), Peters and Young-Loveridge also demonstrate the importance of relationships in providing quality learning experiences for children. Caring, secure relationships make children feel safe. Assessment of mathematical outcomes, they argue, should also incorporate reflection on the relationships (teacher–child interactions) in which learning is embedded. Edwards describes the issues facing teachers using computers in the classroom. Sociocultural theory suggests that teachers should incorporate IT learning experiences in the classroom as the world in which children live requires IT literacy. Teachers are grappling with the best ways to offer these learning experiences to young children. I suggest that the use of IT needs to be considered in a relationship framework.
Teachers following traditional developmental pedagogy often overlook aspects of learning and development that are not easily covered by their checklists. Emotional literacy is one such area that has garnered much attention of late (e.g. Mary Gordon's Roots of Empathy). Sorin discusses one aspect of emotional literacy, that of children's fear and caregivers' responses to fear. Effective responses arise out of an understanding of each individual child, and the relationship between child and caregiver. Caregivers offering high-quality services, where relationships are paramount, will be more effective in recognising, and responding to, children's fears.
Another area often overlooked in developmental pedagogy is the area of sound recognition. Developmentalists may address this simply as a component of language development. Deans, Brown and Dilkes point out that learning to recognise environmental sounds contributes to children's understanding of the world around them, and thus their ability to feel safe and secure in that environment. Working on sound recognition is another strategy to be used in high-quality early childhood environments to enhance children's feelings of safety and belonging, lower stress and thus improve learning.
Finally, Goodfellow offers us a strategy to help us in our reflections as we challenge our own frameworks and attempt to construct new ways of going about our work. It is not enough to identify and clarify what is in our own heads. We need to have that thinking influence what we do when we are with children and families.
Enjoy this issue of AJEC. There are thought-provoking articles that can help you explore the models in your head and will, I hope, enable us all to improve our practice.
References
Adam, E. (2003). Momentary emotions and physiological stress levels in the everyday lives of working parents. (Working paper 01-01). Evanston, IL: Northwestern University.
Allen, J. (2003). Poverty eradication through education: Breaking the poverty cycle for children. Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Crews, D., Lochbaum, M., & Landers, D. (2004). Aerobic physical activity effects on psychological well-being in low-income Hispanic children. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 98(1), 319-326.
Fleer, M. (2005). Developmental fossils—unearthing the artefacts of early childhood education: The reflection of 'Child Development'. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 30(2), 2-7.
Gerhardt, S. (2004). Why love matters: How affection shapes a baby's brain. Hove, UK: Bruner Routledge.
James, A., Jenks, C., & Prout, A. (1998). Theorising childhood. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Kilderry, A., Nolan, A., & Noble, K. (2004). Multiple ways of knowing and seeing: Reflections on the renewed vigour in early childhood research. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 29(2), 24-28.
Lochbaum, M., Lutz, R., Sell, S., Ready, A., & Carson, T. (2004). Perceived stress and health complaints: An examination of the moderating roles of personality and physical activity. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 99(3), 909-915.
Najman, J., Aird, R., Bor, W., O'Callaghan, M., Williams, G., & Shuttlewood, G. (2004). The generational transmission of socioeconomic inequalities in child cognitive development and emotional health. Social Science and Medicine, 58(6), 1147-1158.
Schnohr, P. (2005). Stress, life dissatisfaction decrease as physical activity level increases. Preventive Medicine Week, May 22, 23.
Margaret Sims
Deputy Editor, AJEC
Edith Cowan University
AJEC, Vol. 30 No. 4, December 2005, pp. ii-iii.
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