The Editorial Board of the and the Early Childhood Development Association of Malta (to be officially launched after the lecture) would like to invite educators and the general public to a lecture in the MRER Lecture Series.
Creating quality early childhood settings for infants and toddlers: what does research say?
Lecturer: Prof. Carmen Dalli
Date: 1 April 2016
Time: 17:00
Venue: P.P. Saydon Hall - Arts Lecture Theatre (ALT)
Chairperson: Prof. Carmel Borg, Editor, Malta review of Educational research
Abstract
Participation rates in out-of-home group-based early childhood services have risen markedly across OECD countries with an average of 33% of children under three using childcare facilities in 2010* (OECD, 2014). For many countries, there have also been sharp increases in the numbers of children under the age of one being cared for outside the home. These figures represent an important change in the conditions under which children experience their childhood. Societies and government agencies world-wide are challenged to create policies and infrastructural arrangements which ensure quality experiences for the growing constituency of very young children in childcare. Drawing on a systematic literature review on quality for under-two year olds in group-based early childhood settings, the lecture is structured around three foci: the nature of quality pedagogy with under-two year olds; regulable elements of quality; and insights from early intervention studies for at risk populations. It argues that quality is a multi-dimensional concept and optimal outcomes for children require attention to a range of interrelated process and structural variables.
Biographical notes
Carmen Dalli is Professor of Early Childhood Education, Director of the Institute for Early Childhood Studies, and Associate Dean (Research) at the Faculty of Education at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Her research combines an interest in developmental issues in the early years with a focus on early childhood policy and pedagogy. She has published widely in the field of early childhood teacher professionalism and has a particular interest in group-based early childhood education and care settings for children aged under three years. She co-convenes a special interest group on early childhood professionalism within the European Early Childhood Research Association, and is co-editor, with E. Jayne White, of a new book series book series (Springer) entitled Policy and Pedagogy with Under-three Year Olds: Cross-disciplinary Insights and Innovations.
The Launch of the Association will start at 18:00 and will be chaired by Ms Anna Baldacchino.
