ERIC Number: EJ1320636
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021-Dec
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1836-9391
EISSN: N/A
From Birth to Three: Exploring Educators' Understandings of Agency
Burr, Tanya; Degotardi, Sheila
Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, v46 n4 p322-334 Dec 2021
The "Early Years Learning Framework" promotes the need to recognise children's participation rights and for educators to be responsive to and promote child agency. This study explored how infant and toddler educators understand agency, and what role they ascribe to themselves in infants' and toddlers' realisation of agency. Research was undertaken in early childhood settings in Brisbane, Australia. Interviews and reflection activities were conducted with 15 educators working with children under three years, and responses coded through thematic analysis. Participants provided some working definitions of agency and examples of supporting children's agency in their everyday practices. However, responses largely revealed confusion and limited understandings of agency. Through engaging a critical feminist paradigm, a connection between the status provided to infant-toddler educators, and the impact upon their knowledge and practice is proposed, and recommendations put forward for increased opportunities relating to birth to three pedagogy.
Descriptors: Early Childhood Education, Teacher Attitudes, Personal Autonomy, Infants, Toddlers, Foreign Countries, Teaching Methods
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A