Early childhood educator’ perspectives on how infants and toddlers learn: Australia and China

摘要

Abstract This paper is an exploratory study to identify similarities and differences between two groups of early childhood educator’ perceptions of how infants and toddlers learn in the contexts of Australia and China. Researchers have demonstrated the importance of high-quality education programs for children in the first 3 years and evidence now exists that these learning experiences can be enhanced when programs include infant and toddler participatory practices. The concept of participation for infants and toddlers was the focus of the data collection. To investigate educator’s perceptions of children’s participation in their own learning was the aim of this research with a purpose of conducting a comparative study on the sharing of knowledge, attitudes and practices across the two contexts. The study was based on a theoretical understanding of learning and participation grounded in socio/cultural theories on the importance of context and the social nature of learning. An anonymous survey was conducted with educators working with infants and toddlers in early childhood services in the two countries. Results were similar for many of the survey questions with two significant areas of difference, relationships with parents and the role of creative activities in children’s learning. These results have been discussed against the infant/toddler education and care literature and contextual information from both countries. Discussion focuses on educator’ perceptions of how children learn and what is participation in these early years. The findings have implications for the training of educators working with infants and toddlers and for the design of early childhood programs for our very youngest.