Participatory approaches to ethical (infant) research and pedagogy

Today I attended a fascinating presentation in the School of Education Research Seminar titled "Intentional research: Participatory approaches to ethical (infant) research and pedagogy" by Dr Andi Salamon. 

Abstract: Participatory research approaches aim to break down distinctions between researchers and those being ‘researched’. Such approaches have been critiqued in relation to very young children with the suggestion that the participation of children under three in research (and often pedagogical practice) is an illusion (Palaiologou, 2014). It is argued, however, that possibilities exist to consider infant research participants in ethically symmetrical ways to adult participants, and by not doing so we can ‘other’ very young children (Salamon, 2015). Such seemingly conflicting perspectives highlight the inherent challenges of including people with the least power as research participants. This week’s SoE Research Seminar presents the innovative methodological shifts of a research project that documented and deconstructed infants’ evocative emotional communication. Framed through a theory of practice architectures lens the project afforded babies opportunities to participate, enabled by methodological choices, critical reflection on the ‘happening-ness’ of practices and considered as ‘intentional research’. The presentation aligns this approach with intentional teaching pedagogy in Australian early childhood education contexts, and discusses implications for high quality practices in pedagogy with infants, in qualitative research and in any educational system more broadly.

 

Early storybook research profiled at three conferences

Over the next 2 months Dr. Michelle Brown (my postdoc) is presenting her research at three conferences as part of her CSU Senior Research Fellowship postdoc:

• Speech Pathology Australia National Conference (SPA)- Brisbane, 3-5 June - "Reading with babies impacts literacy, language, and numeracy skills at 8-9 years"
• Australian Literacy Educators Association (ALEA) - Melbourne 9-12 July - "Reading with young children promotes literacy and language development nine years later "
• Macquarie University Infants and Toddlers Conference - Sydney 19 July - "Reading during infancy strengthens academic achievement" (Brown, Wang & McLeod)

Additionally, Michelle's research will be profiled in a Speech Pathology Australia SpeakUp podcast. Congratulations Michelle!

Magdalena Janus' visit to CSU

This week Magdalena Janus has been visiting CSU sponsored by RIPPLE. She has been involved in the development of the Early Development Index (EDI) that has been adapted for use throughout Australia as the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC). It has been exciting to discuss possibilities for future collaboration.

L-R: Jennifer Sumsion (Director of RIPPLE), Linda Harrison (Acting SubDean Research), Sue Walker (via Skype from Queensland University of Technology), Magdalena Janus, Fran Press, Sharynne McLeod (Kate Williams not in the photo).

What infants talk about: Comparing parents’ and carers’ insights

A book chapter (and book) have just been published:

McLeod, S., Elwick, S., & Stratigos, T. (2014). What infants talk about: Comparing parents’ and carers’ insights. In L. J. Harrison & J. Sumsion (Eds). Lived spaces of infant-toddler education and care: Exploring diverse perspectives on theory, research, practice and policy (173-185). Dordrecht: Springer. 

The chapter came from our Australian Research Council Linkage Grant where we explored what is life like for babies in childcare. We used parents' and teachers' responses on the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Gestures (Fenson et al., 2007) to determine what words were known by young children

Children’s first words are eagerly anticipated and celebrated by their parents and others in their lives. Their first words reflect the context in which children live, words that are heard frequently, and things that may be important to children (Hart, 1991; Hoff-Ginsberg, 1992). There is some evidence to suggest that young children’s language development varies by situational context and in direct response to what is spoken to them by their parents (Sabbagh & Callan, 1998; Snow, 1984). In this chapter, we explore the possibility that children’s first words may also provide insights into important aspects of their lived spaces in early childhood education and care settings.

Words known: "The words that the most educators recorded that the infants understood were: nappy (9), eat (9), outside (8), push (8), dog (7), water (7), lunch (7), drink (7), sleep (7), hat (7), and wait (7). Most of these concepts were also recorded by most parents as well."

Words spoken: "According to the educators, the words spoken by the most children were uh oh (6), daddy (5) and mummy (5). The next most spoken words (4) were social words (bye bye, hello, thank you), onomatopoeic words (meow, moo, quack, woof woof) and the noun, ball. There were other words that were listed by parents that were not in the top list for educators: baby (6), grandma (6), drink (5), and no (5). These words identified by educators and parents capture common daily events (e.g., welcomes and farewells, playing with and reading books about animals) and people in homes and ECEC settings.