Lisa Tregenza

Master of Education (MMRE)

My day job……...

What inspires me...

Why am I doing this? My first taste of research - my involvement in an action research project facilitated by Alma Fleet

and Pam Winter.

What did we find?

• Children’s involvement in an experience was longer if an educator was involved.

• Most educator’s were involved in routine experiences.

• We needed to capitalize on every opportunity that encouraged educator and child interactions.

• Reflecting, building theories, re-planning and implementing

• We needed to provide more choices and more time for educators to engage

• A very big change to our centre culture

Where to next????

My Title/Focus -

Teaching behaviours in three selected long day care centres;

an analysis of educators interactions with children.

Research Questions -• How do educators spend their day in a long day

care setting?• What are the types of interactions which occur?

Educators to educators, educators to children and children to educators.

• What is the quality of those interactions?• What is the relationship between quality and

engagement?• In what ways does an educators’ qualifications

and experience impact on the quality and frequency of interactions?

• What interactions lead to children being engaged?

What the research says -Pam Winter (2003)• Positive interactions between educators and children can

lead to a greater sense of well-being and involvement for children & is critical to their learning and development.

• Her study found that educators rarely found time to have sustained time with children.

• Educators spent much of their day completing routine tasks and cleaning, and therefore, children were left to play with toys that are placed out by the educators.

• Many educators said they valued responsive, reciprocal, meaningful relationships with children, however the research recorded a high number of detached interactions or limited ‘real’ conversations with children.

• By forming close and positive relationships, children develop a sense of trust and confidence in themselves and the environment.

Pascal and Bertram (1997)• They suggest that children learn when they are effectively

supported by the adults that interact with them.• Children need the support of an educator or a peer so they

can move to the next developmental stage, and move to a place they have never visited before.

• An effective educator needs to strive to give children opportunities within the curriculum to challenge and extend themselves in a positive way.

Sims, Guilfoyle & Parry (2005)• Children who attend satisfactory centres have raised

cortisol levels (cortisol is the stress hormone) - concern for children’s long term outcomes.

• Children who have formed secure attachments to caregivers have shown to have reduced cortisol levels.

• Relationships are critical to children’s long term development.

• I want to examine the ‘dynamic’ aspects of quality and explore the interactions and children.

• There has been research conducted on the ‘structural’ aspects of quality.

• They include - group size, staff/child ratios, caregiver training, equipment and space.

• Structural aspects can be static and can be measured against standard indicators.

• I want to see educators in their natural setting, for a whole day and see every aspect of their day and hear their voices.

• With an estimated 14,000 children attending long day in South Australia and spending up to 50 hours a week in care, it’s critical that they receive quality care.

Proposed methodology/plan of action -

• Before- and -after model.• Three long day care centres in metropolitan

Adelaide.• Data to be collected from the ‘Toddler Room’

(children aged from 2 to 3 years of age)• Tracking two educators. One qualified, one

unqualified for their whole shift (8.5 hours).• A total of eight days will be spent at each centre.• Four days before (two days per educator) and four

days after the Intervention.• First collection of data = November 2006• Second collection of data = April 2007

Research Tools

• National Childcare Accreditation Council• Validation Report and Quality Practices Guide• Operational definitions• Data collection tools• Semi-structured Interviews• Field notes

Intervention

• Professional Development• 2 x 2 hour sessions• Session 1. The whole staffing team - session

facilitated by myself. • Session 2. Dr Pam Winter? Wellbeing and

Involvement.

The next step - April 2007

• Repeat the data collection • Analyse the findings

• Start writing and writing…...