Early years

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented some unique challenges for early years educators as they move to a remote learning approach. In today’s article, Dr Deborah Price discusses some practical ways for embracing the teaching and learning opportunities this new environment provides.

Australia’s annual Closing the Gap Report communicates progress towards government targets for Indigenous Australians in areas like education, health and employment. In this infographic, we take a look at results detailed in the 2020 report related to education targets. 

The Association of Independent Schools New South Wales (AISNSW) has been working with 38 of its schools on a targeted early years program that aims to help students in Kindergarten to Year 2 master key literacy and numeracy skills.

Helping Indigenous children get the best start to their formal schooling by modelling the day-to-day running of an early primary classroom is one of the aims of the animated children’s series, Little J & Big Cuz, which is back for its second season.

Researchers have assessed the impact of physically active lessons on students’ educational, health and cognition outcomes. They found that implementing physical activity into classroom lessons has a positive impact on some domains.

The newly established Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child will work on a world-first longitudinal study into the impact of digital technology on children. We speak to the lead researcher about why we need more research in this area.

When we think about encouraging risk-taking in the early years of schooling, what kinds of activities spring to mind? These researchers argue we need to broaden our view.

How do the personal musical preferences and practices of early childhood educators shape children’s educational and cultural experiences and understandings? Norwegian researchers have identified five informal roles they term ‘musical pathfinders’.

How do preschool services support children to develop language and literacy skills and help them get ready for school? A recent study has explored this question and provides some practical literacy activity ideas.

A new study examines the types of questions preschool teachers ask during classroom-based shared book reading. It found that they were far too simple for students and didn’t provide the appropriate level of challenge. In today’s podcast, we speak to Dr Tricia Zucker to find out more.