This paper reports on a cross-cultural research study of children's preferences for group musical activities in child care centres. A total of 228 young children aged 4-5 years in seven child care centres in Hong Kong and in the Adelaide City of South Australia participated in the study. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected via a…

This paper reports on a component of a research project, Young Australian Indigenous students Literacy and Numeracy (YAILN), a longitudinal study investigating learning and teaching activities that support young Indigenous Australian students as they enter formal schooling. In Queensland, students are allowed to attend a non-compulsory year of…

This paper discusses a recent Australian study of boys' education using case studies to determine successful practices. It focuses on an early childhood site where access to "discourses of power" for students and parents and a valuing of students' "action knowledge" created a particular democratic culture achieving improved…

The Australian Government has recently committed to the development of an integrated system of assuring national quality standards for Australian childcare and preschool services (Australian Government, 2008). This article addresses two fundamental issues relating to the development of an integrated system as it applies to Indigenous children's…

In this article, Grint's model of leadership is used to shape discussions of how "problems" are responded to in the context of a preschool in an Australian regional town. Authority styles are described as command, management, or leadership. These authority styles result in approaching problems as "crises," "tame…

This study examines the effects of public preschool expenditures on the math and science scores of 4th graders, holding constant child, family, and school characteristics, other relevant social expenditures, and country and year effects, in 7 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries--Australia, Japan, the…

This large-scale study describes what children know and can do when they start school in Scotland. The description became possible because a third of Scottish Authorities are involved in a single, broadly based, on-entry baseline assessment of children. The study also looked at variations by home background, sex, age and pre-school experience…

Genetic and environmental influences on prereading skills in preschool and on early reading and spelling development at the end of kindergarten were compared among samples of identical and fraternal twins from the U.S. (Colorado), Australia, and Scandinavia. Mean comparisons revealed significantly lower preschool print knowledge in Scandinavia,…

In the early nineteenth century, governments began to develop specialized educational programs--kindergartens and infant or nursery schools--to give children a head start in life. These programs hinged on new visions of childhood that originated in England and Europe, but what happened when they were transported to the colonies? This book unwinds…

Patterning is an essential skill in early mathematics learning, particularly in the development of spatial awareness, sequencing and ordering, comparison, and classification. This includes the ability to identify and describe attributes of objects and similarities and differences between them. Patterning is also integral to the development of…

Explained is the development of the New England Educational Diagnostic Centre (N.E.E.D. Centre), an assessment and intervention center for children referred for academic, behavioral, communication, and/or developmental problems, with special emphasis on preschoolers. Outlined is information on the program's management and administration; programs…

This article examines ways in which Australian preschools for less advantaged minority groups of children (particularly Aboriginals) might be made more effective by incorporating policies and practices from Piaget's theories. (SB)

The approaches to teaching and learning mathematics in Australian preschools and schools can be quite different. These differences arise from what can be termed different "cultures" within the prior-to-school and school settings. Even the first years of school can be characterized by teacher-centered, syllabus-driven lessons and written,…

Research on career development has focused primarily on adolescents and adults. However, in Gottfredson's theory of circumscription and compromise (2002) it is proposed that career aspirations originate in the preschool years and that the earliest work aspirations of children are sex typed in relation to the activities of same sex adults. This…