Yes, she's at it again. Only weeks after originally stirring the pot, likening childcare to child abuse, she's taken a second swipe.
Her comments are extraordinarily damaging to the continual battle we have in this country against a pervading motherhood ideology and perceptions about the 'failings' of childcare. Childcare is failing because we have no upward pressure on quality, partly due to this irrational belief that children are always best in the home. How can someone such as Mem Fox get this all so wrong?
Other than the extremely inflammatory and theoretically inconsistent claim that children will suffer brain damage from attending childcare too young, what is most interesting about her comments is the analogies that she draws, which she seems to have just conjured up to support her flawed argument. In this piece she talks about babies being put in childcare at 2 weeks of age for 60 hrs a week. Formal childcare does not accept children under 6 weeks of age and despite a recent report that some children were spending up to 60 hours a week in childcare, it was an extremely small percentage of the hundreds of thousands of children in care across the nation. To boot, that 60 hours of care wasn't necessarily formal care - it was a mix of informal and formal. At the time I commented that it was just another one of those stories feeding into the insecurities of parents needing to put their children in childcare and boosting the 'mummy wars', something that has been also exacerbated by the release of the Productivity Commission interim report around paid maternity leave. Ms Fox is unfortunately doing no favours to a field already misunderstood.
At the end of the article she reveals she's not a fan of young children herself, especially the whiny type. Well Mem, get off your soap box and give people who can tolerate the odd 'whiny' child a chance to advance their profession and do their job instead of reactively receiving body blows because somehow the papers believe that your misinformed celebrity is noteworthy.
24 Oct 2008
17 Oct 2008
The US Presidential hopefuls on early childhood
So I thought with less than 3 weeks out from the US Presidential election it might be worth having a look at who's saying what on early childhood education in the States. Obama has certainly been talking it up and it was his mention of it again in yesterday's Presidential debate that made me jump on the Web to see what the two hopefuls are saying. I AM a supporter of Barack so it shouldn't surprise anyone that I prefer his policy ideas better but I will try to be objective and provide appropriate links so you can assess them yourselves...
Firstly McCain and Palin. McCain seems to be focusing all of his early childhood policy energy on expanding the Head Start program, specifically establishing Centres of Excellence. A centre will be deemed 'excellent' if they have a demonstrated record of preparing children for school. The school readiness theme permeates throughout the rest of the commitment, including how to measure quality and how teachers need to be accountable.
"Standards for quality should be centered on the child and outcome-based. Every federally supported program (including Head Start) must include meaningful, measurable standards designed to determine that students are ready for school by measuring their school readiness skills".
'School readiness' is one of those catch phrases that many in the early childhood field generally loath. Of course children who have the opportunity to experience early childhood programs are usually more equipped to handle formal school entry, however just focusing on readiness narrows funding arguments down to simplistic mechanisms that don't truly recognise the broader possibilities of early childhood education and can additionally have some scary consequences for pedagogy and the way in which early childhood education is perceived in the community.
McCain says nothing about child care. Quite possibly he could say something about it somewhere else in his policy spiels but if he can't figure out that care and education are a combined policy area by now, well he's got much bigger problems than I care to explore.
Obama-Biden. Obama has been talking about early childhood for a few years now. Like any politician he uses the economic evidence to argue for its necessity as a key policy area and also talks about children going to school 'ready to learn' although it doesn't dominate his rhetoric like it does McCain's.
In this speech made late last year he talks of how he was instrumental in establishing an Early Learning Council in his state of Illinois, focused on quality early learning for children birth to five years. Specifically the state of Illinois is committed to universal, voluntary, high quality early year education for 3 year old at risk children and ALL four year olds. He now plans to implement this on a national level if elected President through Early Childhood Challenge grants to states to work on their own 0-5 year old plans but he has also committed to setting up a Presidential Early Years Council. He also indicates a commitment to universal preschool, along with pumping funds into Head Start and Head Start spin off programs. Additionally he is also committed to improving the quality of care in child care centres. Obama has also made promises around financial imperatives in child care aimed at making it easy for low income families to access.
It could be said that Obama clearly sees the economic and the social justice possibilities in investing in early childhood. His references to Heckman infers human capital theory might drive his interest, as it does Kevin Rudd. Obama's promises seem to cover a larger range of areas than McCain's, although he doesn't necessarily make any statements about what he believes 'quality' should look like.
McCain's promises are here, with Obama's here. Don't miss the PDF document at the bottom of Obama's that provides more detail on the plan.
The election is November 4 and one of the most important in American history. While we can't vote as non-American citizens, check out this fun link and have a say!
Firstly McCain and Palin. McCain seems to be focusing all of his early childhood policy energy on expanding the Head Start program, specifically establishing Centres of Excellence. A centre will be deemed 'excellent' if they have a demonstrated record of preparing children for school. The school readiness theme permeates throughout the rest of the commitment, including how to measure quality and how teachers need to be accountable.
"Standards for quality should be centered on the child and outcome-based. Every federally supported program (including Head Start) must include meaningful, measurable standards designed to determine that students are ready for school by measuring their school readiness skills".
'School readiness' is one of those catch phrases that many in the early childhood field generally loath. Of course children who have the opportunity to experience early childhood programs are usually more equipped to handle formal school entry, however just focusing on readiness narrows funding arguments down to simplistic mechanisms that don't truly recognise the broader possibilities of early childhood education and can additionally have some scary consequences for pedagogy and the way in which early childhood education is perceived in the community.
McCain says nothing about child care. Quite possibly he could say something about it somewhere else in his policy spiels but if he can't figure out that care and education are a combined policy area by now, well he's got much bigger problems than I care to explore.
Obama-Biden. Obama has been talking about early childhood for a few years now. Like any politician he uses the economic evidence to argue for its necessity as a key policy area and also talks about children going to school 'ready to learn' although it doesn't dominate his rhetoric like it does McCain's.
In this speech made late last year he talks of how he was instrumental in establishing an Early Learning Council in his state of Illinois, focused on quality early learning for children birth to five years. Specifically the state of Illinois is committed to universal, voluntary, high quality early year education for 3 year old at risk children and ALL four year olds. He now plans to implement this on a national level if elected President through Early Childhood Challenge grants to states to work on their own 0-5 year old plans but he has also committed to setting up a Presidential Early Years Council. He also indicates a commitment to universal preschool, along with pumping funds into Head Start and Head Start spin off programs. Additionally he is also committed to improving the quality of care in child care centres. Obama has also made promises around financial imperatives in child care aimed at making it easy for low income families to access.
It could be said that Obama clearly sees the economic and the social justice possibilities in investing in early childhood. His references to Heckman infers human capital theory might drive his interest, as it does Kevin Rudd. Obama's promises seem to cover a larger range of areas than McCain's, although he doesn't necessarily make any statements about what he believes 'quality' should look like.
McCain's promises are here, with Obama's here. Don't miss the PDF document at the bottom of Obama's that provides more detail on the plan.
The election is November 4 and one of the most important in American history. While we can't vote as non-American citizens, check out this fun link and have a say!
3 Oct 2008
Conferencing
I'm spending this weekend in the nation's capital attending the Early Childhood Australia (ECA) National Conference. So no blog posts during the conference, but no doubt PLENTY to talk about post-conference with a whole strand of the conference devoted to Advocacy and Leadership - yay!
It's a consortium
Here's the official press release and below are the names of all the people selected to develop the new Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) that I alluded to in my first post. After an initial look I have to say the list is pretty impressive - contains progressive, contemporary researchers that are on top of the latest and greatest debates in ECEC. Will aim to provide some more indepth analysis in future posts.
CSU Consortium members
The CSU Consortium comprises the following members:
Professor Jennifer Sumsion – Charles Sturt University (project leader)
Associate Professor Linda Harrison – Charles Sturt University (project leader)
Dr Jo Ailwood – Queensland University of Technology
Dr Leonie Arthur – University of Western Sydney
Sally Barnes – Flinders University
Associate Professor Donna Berthelsen – Queensland University of Technology
Carol Burgess – Charles Sturt University
Sandra Cheeseman – Macquarie University
Kaye Colmer – Lady Gowrie Child Centre, Adelaide
Dr Robyn Dolby – Independent consultant
Associate Professor Lyn Fasoli – Batchelor College
Dr Joy Goodfellow – Independent consultant
Miriam Giugni – Independent consultant
Associate Professor Christine Johnston – University of Western Sydney
Veronica Johns – Batchelor College
Anne Kennedy - Independent consultant
Marie Lewis - Independent consultant
Professor Tom Lowrie – Charles Sturt University
Dr Felicity McArdle – Queensland University of Technology
Dr Michelle Ortlipp – Charles Sturt University
Dr Marina Papic – Macquarie University
Frances Press – Charles Sturt University
Melissa Smith – Charles Sturt University
Anne Stonehouse – Independent consultant
Associate Professor Jane Torr – Macquarie University
Rebecca Watson – SDN Children’s Services
Dr Peter Whiteman – Macquarie University
Associate Professor Christine Woodrow – University of Western Sydney
2 Oct 2008
New higher ed places for EC students
Some news hot off the press - Gillard and McKew have made the formal announcement that 500 new higher education places will be offered for prospective early childhood students. This is part of a broader early childhood package to support professionals in the field.
"The new places are part of the Rudd Government’s $126.6 million package of initiatives to train and retain a high-quality early childhood education and care workforce.
The new places will complement the Government’s commitment to pay up to half the HECS-HELP debts of early childhood teachers working in regional and remote areas, Indigenous communities and areas of high disadvantage.
The university places also complement the Government’s commitment to support around 8000 child care workers to gain a qualification by removing TAFE fees for child care diplomas and advanced diplomas from 2009.
The new places are in a mix of courses that support different education pathways, ranging from two-year courses designed for diploma-qualified child care workers to entry-level four-year courses. This mix will ensure the first graduates from these extra places will be ready to join the workforce in 2011.
A total of 150 of the places are allocated to campuses in regional areas. This will increase the opportunities for students to study in these areas without the need to relocate to a metropolitan campus".
There's a breakdown of places across institutions which I will include as soon as I can find the official link!
"The new places are part of the Rudd Government’s $126.6 million package of initiatives to train and retain a high-quality early childhood education and care workforce.
The new places will complement the Government’s commitment to pay up to half the HECS-HELP debts of early childhood teachers working in regional and remote areas, Indigenous communities and areas of high disadvantage.
The university places also complement the Government’s commitment to support around 8000 child care workers to gain a qualification by removing TAFE fees for child care diplomas and advanced diplomas from 2009.
The new places are in a mix of courses that support different education pathways, ranging from two-year courses designed for diploma-qualified child care workers to entry-level four-year courses. This mix will ensure the first graduates from these extra places will be ready to join the workforce in 2011.
A total of 150 of the places are allocated to campuses in regional areas. This will increase the opportunities for students to study in these areas without the need to relocate to a metropolitan campus".
There's a breakdown of places across institutions which I will include as soon as I can find the official link!
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