High-quality early childhood education requires ongoing professional learning for educators, yet Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educators face barriers to accessing culturally responsive profes...

Written reports act as a communication tool between speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and teachers of students with Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) in Australian schools. In this ...

<p> The goal of this project is to determine the reliability, validity and usability of a brief observational measure of educator responsiveness. Language is a super skill that plays a vital role in cognitive, social, emotional and academic growth. Unfortunately, one in five children have low language skills before they start school, and the prevalence of language difficulties are even higher for children from socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. These inequalities in language are also likely to increase over time. </p> <p> One way to address language inequalities is by promoting responsive early language environments, ensuring all children have the opportunity to develop strong language skills, regardless of their background or circumstances. Outside a child’s home, early childhood educators play a critical role in supporting early language development. Responsive and sensitive educator-child interactions can improve child language outcomes. However, research shows that educators can often lack the necessary skills to support language learning in very young children (aged 0-3 years). There is also a lack of research on how to effectively support young children’s language learning in early childhood education and care settings. One approach to addressing these issues is to create reliable tools to help educators adapt their practices and increase their use of language-promoting strategies to support children’s language learning. Although some tools exist for this purpose, they are often time consuming and expensive. Research shows that parent responsiveness, which can be measured using a brief observational tool called the Parental Responsiveness Rating Scale (PaRRiS), predicts child language outcomes. The PaRRiS is a widely-used, reliable and valid measure of parental responsiveness. The PaRRiS tool has the potential to provide educators with a cost-effective and efficient way of assessing their responsiveness during interactions with children. If demonstrated to be reliable, valid and usable in ECEC settings, an educator version of the PaRRiS tool could assist educators to evaluate and enhance their own practices via language-promoting interactions with those children they work with. </p> <p> This project will involve the collection of naturalistic observations of interactions between educators and children aged 2-3 years, and the rating of these observations using an educator version of the PaRRiS. The proposed research question is: What is the reliability, validity and usability of the PaRRiS-E (Parental Responsiveness Rating Scale - Educator version) as a measure of educator responsiveness? </p> <p> The successful candidate will gain research experience in conducting observation and analysis by collecting video observations from natural settings (home and early childhood education and care) and rating the video observations using the Parental Responsiveness Rating Scale (PaRRiS) and PaRRiS-E (educator version). They will also gain experience in both quantitative and qualitative research methods. </p>

The Early Language in Victoria Study: Reflections and Policy Impacts over 21 years

<p> The goal of this project is to determine the reliability, validity and usability of a brief observational measure of educator responsiveness. Language is a super skill that plays a vital role in cognitive, social, emotional and academic growth. Unfortunately, one in five children have low language skills before they start school, and the prevalence of language difficulties are even higher for children from socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. These inequalities in language are also likely to increase over time. </p> <p> One way to address language inequalities is by promoting responsive early language environments, ensuring all children have the opportunity to develop strong language skills, regardless of their background or circumstances. Outside a child’s home, early childhood educators play a critical role in supporting early language development. Responsive and sensitive educator-child interactions can improve child language outcomes. However, research shows that educators can often lack the necessary skills to support language learning in very young children (aged 0-3 years). There is also a lack of research on how to effectively support young children’s language learning in early childhood education and care settings. One approach to addressing these issues is to create reliable tools to help educators adapt their practices and increase their use of language-promoting strategies to support children’s language learning. Although some tools exist for this purpose, they are often time consuming and expensive. Research shows that parent responsiveness, which can be measured using a brief observational tool called the Parental Responsiveness Rating Scale (PaRRiS), predicts child language outcomes. The PaRRiS is a widely-used, reliable and valid measure of parental responsiveness. The PaRRiS tool has the potential to provide educators with a cost-effective and efficient way of assessing their responsiveness during interactions with children. If demonstrated to be reliable, valid and usable in ECEC settings, an educator version of the PaRRiS tool could assist educators to evaluate and enhance their own practices via language-promoting interactions with those children they work with. </p> <p> This project will involve the collection of naturalistic observations of interactions between educators and children aged 2-3 years, and the rating of these observations using an educator version of the PaRRiS. The proposed research question is: What is the reliability, validity and usability of the PaRRiS-E (Parental Responsiveness Rating Scale - Educator version) as a measure of educator responsiveness? </p> <p> The successful candidate will gain research experience in conducting observation and analysis by collecting video observations from natural settings (home and early childhood education and care) and rating the video observations using the Parental Responsiveness Rating Scale (PaRRiS) and PaRRiS-E (educator version). They will also gain experience in both quantitative and qualitative research methods. </p>

Background There is a need for valid and reliable measures of determinants of sustainability of public health interventions in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. This study aimed to d...