Quality matters: early childhood education policy in Hong Kong

This paper critically analyses how the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administration Region has tackled the issue of preschool quality over the past 30 years. Although early childhood education is not part of the publicly funded education system, there is almost universal preschool attendance among three to six year olds. The government regulates, monitors and evaluates early childhood services, and has taken numerous steps to improve the quality of early childhood provision. However, a paradox lurks within government policy. On one hand, the facility‐focused and provider‐focused regulatory standards for the operation of preschools have been faulted for being too lax; but, on the other hand, policies and incentives have clearly improved the quality of preschool education. These include measures to support the upgrading of serving kindergarten teachers and an emphasis on quality assurance. The implementation of enabling policies is essential to ensure that all children have access to high‐quality early education and care.     

Promoting diversity in early child care education

Preschool‐aged children are aware of differences in the race and abilities of the people around them. Given this awareness it is important to promote children's acceptance of diversity in the preschool period. The goals of this study were to assess the extent to which child care centres provide diversity instruction through classroom activities, materials and displays. The extent to which structural quality characteristics (e.g. staff training and education) contribute to diversity‐positive classrooms was also examined. Data were collected from 103 preschool classrooms in 64 child care centres serving a population of ethnically diverse families in Toronto, Canada. On average, these classrooms were found to be diversity‐positive environments. Hierarchical linear model analyses indicate that utilising a variety of teaching formats, higher salaries, greater supervision and having higher proportions of children who receive a child care subsidy predicted higher scores on a diversity instruction and materials index. This index was largely based on classroom observations. In contrast, lower levels of education and salary predicted staff reports of diversity‐promoting activities. These latter counter‐intuitive results are interpreted in light of potential self‐presentation biases.     

Developing a policy for early childhood education: Challenges and constraints

Against a backcloth of patchy and uncoordinated provision for young children, this paper argues for the development of a national policy framework, within which services can be developed at a local level. Using examples from recent legislation and current initiatives in Britain, the paper puts forward a number of specific policy proposals around five main themes: a national policy that integrates or coordinates “care” and “education” at a structural level and within practice; responsibility for the provision of services as being shared by central and local government as well as the private sector and parents; how to ensure quality and equality of opportunity in meeting the needs of young children; how to make services responsive and accessible to parents; and the importance of ongoing training and support for staff.     

Evaluating a campaign to detect early stage breast tumors in the United States

Growing concern over failure to detect early stage breast cancer has led communities across the United States to participate in the Breast Cancer Awareness Month program. This program mobilizes local public and private institutions, particularly the media, to reach a large audience each October with information on salutary behaviors, including screening, and on resources that can assist newly motivated audiences to adopt the behaviors. Although the scholarly literature includes no assessments of the effect of the program on the actual detection of early stage breast tumors, similar programs targeting other illnesses (e.g., AIDS) are quickly emerging. We attempt such an assessment by applying time-series designs to 92 quarters (beginning January, 1975) of data obtained from cancer registries in the Atlanta and Detroit metropolitan areas as well as in the San Francisco Bay Area. We find that the detection of in situ and local breast tumors increased in all three communities during the quarters that included Breast Cancer Awareness Month. We conclude that community mobilization may have its intended benefit but suggest that community organizers not ignore unintended costs including the emotional and physical sequelae of false positives.     

Evaluating primary prevention programmes against cancer

Based on current knowledge, roughly one third of all cancers worldwide are preventable, and primary prevention is increasingly seen as an important cancer control strategy. Interventions to reduce the exposure to known causes can be effected through legislation or education, or by means of vaccination or chemoprevention. Since primary prevention actions can be costly and will compete for resources needed for other disease control activities, and since there is no guarantee that they will be successful, they should not be introduced haphazardly but on the basis of scientific evaluations. This paper presents the main principles to be followed in designing such evaluations; the illustrations often, of necessity, come from other diseases (particularly cardiovascular disease), where there is considerably more experience. Because the interventions involve changes in lifestyle and behaviour, and because a long time is necessary to observe the ultimate endpoints, controlled intervention studies against cancer present many scientific and logistical difficulties. Some interventions, such as vaccination and chemoprevention (to test suspected protective agents) may be evaluated by traditional clinical trial methodology, using intermediate as well as final (cancer incidence and/or mortality) endpoints. Active, target-directed and preferably controlled health service research studies will definitely be needed to assess community or population interventions based on legislation or education.     

学龄前期儿童早期性心理教育研究初探

目的 通过调查学龄前期儿童早期性心理教育现状,了解家长及教师早期性教育观念,作为进一步确定早期性教育时间、内容和形式的依据.方法 随机整群抽取3所幼儿园学龄前期儿童家长514人,幼师102人,应用问卷法进行调查.结果 认为应从3～5岁开始性教育的家长占43%,教师占27.65%;认为早期性教育很有必要的家长占80.35%,教师占60.25%;有早期性教育经历的家长占40.55%,教师仅占3.92%;问过有关性问题的儿童占95.91%,有过相关性行为的儿童占61.09%;认为学龄前儿童性教育主要内容是"帮助孩子确认自己性别"的家长(80.54%)和教师(60.64%)人数均占首位.结论 建议性教育应从幼儿园阶段开始,教育内容主要围绕生命形成和性别异同,编制适宜教材、摸索健康教育方法、培训家长和教师、加强早期性教育重要性的宣传是实施儿童早期性教育的当务之急.     

广州市幼儿园儿童心理卫生现况调查及早期干预

【目的】 调查广州市荔湾区幼儿园3~7岁气质类型和儿童心理卫生现况,对发现的可疑及阳性病例进行适当干预和随访。 【方法】 以8所幼儿园儿童为调查对象,应用儿童气质问卷和儿童心理障碍症状筛查表,采用二阶段流行病学调查方法进行研究,可疑和确诊病例转介儿童精神专科治疗,并进行一年随访。 【结果】 本研究群体的气质类型以易养型和中间偏易养型为主;儿童心理障碍的总时点患病率为3.83%,其中以情绪障碍、发育障碍和行为问题为主;对可疑和阳性病例进行了追踪或综合性干预,一年随访结果显示接受干预的个体明显改善。 【结论】 幼儿园不同程度地存在各类儿童精神卫生问题,应早期发现和专业治疗。     

学龄前儿童性心理教育调查及健康教育效果评价

目的了解学龄前儿童性心理教育现状及评价相应的幼儿性心理教育的健康教育干预效果。方法采用随机整群抽样的方法抽取深圳市福田区3所托幼机构学龄前儿童的家长和幼儿园教师作为研究对象，以PRECEDE—PROCEED模式为基础设计调查问卷，调查学龄前儿童的性心理问题及家长、教师对儿童性心理教育的知识、态度、行为。采取知识讲座、发放健康宣传册、座谈等方式进行9个月的健康教育干预，比较干预前后家长和教师知识、态度、行为的变化和儿童性行为的变化。结果共调查514名家长和102名教师，干预前，69．65％的家长和85．29％的教师不知如何回答孩子提出的性问题；43．00％的家长及27．45％的教师认为应从3～5岁开始性教育；40．55％的家长及3．92％教师表示进行过有意识的早期性教育；在家中观察到不同程度性相关行为的儿童占61．09％。干预后，家长和老师对开展早期性教育的知识、态度、行为均有所改善，其中有意识进行性教育的比例分别提高到59．84％和50．46％（均P〈0．01）；在家庭表现出性相关行为的儿童比例减少，为34．59％（P〈0．01）。结论深圳市福田区家长和老师对儿童早期性教育的认知不足，对家长和老师进行健康教育干预有利于提高家长和老师对早期性教育的重视程度。     

Learning and knowledge development in preschool teacher education and practicum

In Swedish teacher education, all preschool teacher students have to include a school-based element and to take part in a local educational practice, in a preschool or in another form of educational setting, such as a preschool class or after-school recreation centre. In this study, we have asked a group of supervisors about their perception of the content in learning, knowledge development and supervision and also what is going on in learning and knowledge development situations in practice. The theoretical bases for our analysis are theories of interaction and intersubjectivity. The results show that the content of learning and knowledge development is highly integrated with the situation and practice. A preschool teacher student's learning is understood by the supervisors as something that occurs in interaction, where children and preschool teachers are of great importance. The content of learning is related to practical exercise, observation and reflection together with other preschool teachers. Trying new theories and being curious are also associated with learning.     

Acceptability ratings of language interventions and reasoning as described by early childhood special education teachers

This study utilised a structured analogue method to evaluate factors which impact preschool teachers’ preference for language interventions. These factors included type of treatment approach (naturalistic versus therapeutic), person delivering the intervention (classroom teacher versus speech and language pathologist), and severity of language delay (mild versus severe). Survey participants included 29 preschool special education teachers, five of whom volunteered to complete follow-up interviews. Results demonstrate that teachers prefer naturalistic over therapeutic approaches overall. When stratified by severity of the language delay, teachers rated the three intervention approaches differently. Implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed.     

The effect of continuing medical education programmes on clinical practice: fact or fantasy

This paper reports an evaluation study of a continuing medical education programme on the haemagglutination-inhibition (H.I.) test for rubella antibodies in terms of its effect on the practice of the doctors in attendance. The study employed a pre-post control group design. The data on the doctors' use of the H.I. test were extracted from laboratory records. Through an analysis of co-variance of these data, the lecture was shown to have had an apparently significant impact on the practice of the doctors in attendance. However, available data describing the number of H.I. tests requested by a population of doctors place serious doubt on this conclusion. This paper describes the design of this study as a prototype, identifies constraints which impede the implementation of such studies, and justifies the need to pursue studies of this nature in spite of these constraints.     

Evaluating intervention programmes for quality assurance in hospitals

Describes a methodological framework for evaluating intervention programmes to establish and develop quality assurance systems in general hospitals, based on the authors' experience in participating in a specific intervention programme in quality assurance. Both the approach and the design of the evaluation programme were shaped by the unique characteristics of this intervention programme. The evaluation programme was based on a model of organizational behaviour and change developed especially for the introduction of quality assurance systems into hospitals. With modification. the programme can also be used to evaluate other intervention programmes.     

Improving Latino children's early language and literacy development: key features of early childhood education within family literacy programmes

Noting the lack of research on how early childhood education (ECE) programmes within family literacy programmes influence Latino children's early language and literacy development, this study examined key features of ECE programmes, specifically teacher–child interactions and child engagement in language and literacy activities and how these features relate to Latino children's early language and literacy development. Participants were 181 Latino children (3–5 years old) from low-income families enrolled in 22 ECE programmes within family literacy programmes. Teacher–child interactions were of medium quality on socioemotional support and low quality on instructional quality. Latino children spent about 20% of their day engaged in language and literacy activities. Multilevel regression analysis results showed that the length of Latino children's engagement in language and literacy activities in ECE programmes was more strongly related to their English oral language skills and alphabet knowledge than the quality of teacher–child interactions.     

早期教育对婴幼儿生长发育影响的研究进展

本文从婴幼儿早期教育(以下简称“早教”)的内涵,早教对婴幼儿神经系统、运动与体格发育及社会行为发展的影响,国内发育量表应用情况六个方面进行综述。现有研究大多集中在早教对0~6岁儿童的影响,对远期影响研究较少。笔者认为早教方式、切入时机和持续时间虽各不相同,但其对婴幼儿神经系统、运动与体格发育和提高社会适应能力等方面有积极促进作用。家长认知和母婴关系对早教质量有积极影响,早教时应强化家长对早教内涵的认知。未来的研究应找寻出一种有效并持续时间长的促进婴幼儿生长发育的干预措施和方法。     

Evaluating child disability programmes: the role of commissioners

The paper briefly reviews the role of a health care commissioner in planning and evaluating children's disability services, an area with a strong statutory framework but a paucity of guidance. It also explores how different aspects of evaluation apply to commissioning.