Profiles and contact information for 14 candidate programs for the 1999 Australian Rural Education Award. Programs feature tree planting, transportation to boarding school, community development, business awareness, early childhood services, GIS technology, community-based curriculum development, reading resources, environmental service learning,…

Examines the relative contribution of phonological short term memory (STM) to vocabulary acquisition in 5-year-old children. The results show that work span, rhyme detection and nonword repetition predict concurrent vocabulary level at age 5. When the study was repeated with same subjects one year later, span and rhyme detection again predicted…

With increasing pressures being placed on early childhood teachers to provide academic programs, many are turning away from programs that foster pretend play. This study examined two contrasting approaches to teaching preschool children and considered their effects on children's linguistic and social abilities. One of the teaching approaches…

In this study, 12 preschool teachers in Queensland, Australia were given opportunities to record and describe their work within their specific teaching context, as well as within the wider contexts of the school campus and the educational and social system. Subjects kept a reflective journal each day over a 2-week period, and entries frequently…

Seventy-two Australian children aged from 4 years 6 months to 9 years 10 months were individually administered a set of six combinatorial problems involving the dressing of toy bears in all possible combinations of clothing items. Six age groups were represented: eight children were in each of the 4, 5, and 6 year categories; and 16 children were…

A study examined the ethical dilemmas faced by Australian early childhood professionals. Data were obtained from responses to a questionnaire mailed to 25 preschool centers and 25 child care centers in Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and the Northern Territory. Of 300 questionnaires mailed, a total of 99…

Child Life Programs in hospital settings aim to involve children in activities and relationships appropriate to their needs. Child Life programming is an essential component of health care, as it promotes: (1) advocacy for children, families, and individuals; (2) the sharing of resources and knowledge; (3) cohesion in the health care team; and (4)…

This first volume in a two-part report reviews completed and proposed research studies on learning needs and problems in primary education and describes research proposed for Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, India, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Thailand. An introductory chapter considers the following…

The COMPIC Development Association, an organization based in Victoria, Australia, has developed techniques for publishing pictographic materials for use by individuals with severe communication impairments. The COMPIC (Computer Pictographs for Communication) system comprises a method of electronically publishing customized communication aids and…

A comparison of regular preschools and their teachers with Montessori preschools and their teachers is made in order to assess the advisability of introducing Montessori teacher education in an Australian teacher education institution. The comparison involves a discussion of general educational objectives, curriculum, teacher education, the role…

This book presents a basis for preschool education derived from a rigorous analysis of the concept of education. The central concern is to provide a strategy for the development of an Australian preschool that is educationally sound, and, at the same time, has an identity of its own. Included are discussions of the dilemmas, issues, and strategies…

This document is an English-language abstract (approximately 1,500 words) of a report concerned with preschoolers and kindergarteners in Tasmania. The committee recommended that preschools should be established as a common extension of the statutory provision for education; a general director should be responsible for the whole area of education…

This paper reports stage 3 of a research project conducted in 40 preschools in Victoria, Australia. During the first stage of this project, preschool teachers were asked about their concerns relating to young children's literacy development. Their responses revealed little access to recent thinking concerning emergent literacy, either through…

Discusses the objectives, practices, and values associated with home-based early childhood programs. (MP)

Presents a study that compared expressive language opportunities provided by shared book reading and facilitated play and examined the language of young Australian children (n=22) with intellectual disabilities. Finds that the shared book reading elicited more intelligible and complex language. Includes references. (CMK)