Further improvements to early childhood education for Australian babies and toddlers, particularly for at risk communities, is the aim of new research at Charles Sturt University (CSU).

 

Funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC), the $227 000 project, Babies, ethnographies of belonging in 'at risk' communities, and the new compulsory Early Years Learning Framework is headed by CSU Professor of Early Childhood Education Jennifer Sumsion. 

 

She will be joined in the three-year project by fellow CSU academics Professor of Early Childhood Education Linda Harrison and Professor of Psychology Ben Bradley.

 

As part of their work for high-quality early childhood education and care, the CSU academics are key members of the University’s Research Institute for Professional Practice, Learning and Education (RIPPLE).  

 

In line with the aim of ARC Linkage Project scheme to support collaboration between higher education researchers and public, private and not-for-profit organisations, the CSU academics will partner with the company, Centre Support.  Centre Support Director Mr Matthew Stapleton is also an adjunct member of the University’s RIPPLE.

 

“We aim to produce rich accounts of babies’ and toddlers’ sense of belonging in early childhood education settings to assist educators to implement the new compulsory national early childhood curriculum, known as the Early Years Learning Framework,” Professor Sumsion said.

 

“We will also explore ways in which babies and toddlers might contribute to parents’, staff and older children’s sense of belonging.      

 

“In addition to observations and interviews, we will gather information through a range of innovative methods such as time use diaries, spatial mapping and mathematical analyses of babies’ social behaviours.

 

“The project will assist us to develop new understandings about how a sense of belonging can be fostered in early childhood education, especially for babies and their families in marginalised and at risk communities.”

 

The project is due for completion in 2016.

The CSU researchers are no strangers to the first ever national curriculum framework for early childhood education.  Professor Sumsion and Professor Harrison were lead authors of the Early Years Learning Framework endorsed by the Council of Australian Governments in 2009.  Read more on CSU News here.   

 

The Australian Framework is receiving international attention. Professor Sumsion was a keynote speaker on the topic at a conference in New Zealand in June and she is due to speak at another conference in Malaysia in September.