Our book cover has arrived!
Now we have a cover design, soon this book arising from papers at our first Early Childhood Voices Conference in 2020 will be published by Springer.
Friday, 16 February 2024
Thursday, 8 February 2024
ECIR at AJEC Research Symposium
The 2024 Australian Journal of Early Childhood (AJEC) Research Symposium is taking place virtually on 8 and 9 February.
https://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/events/ajecsymposium/
The conference includes papers on innovative research methodologies, research and pedagogical practices. It will be attended by early years professionals, policymakers, researchers, leaders, academics, and students from Australasia and beyond. The 2024 AJEC Research Symposium program includes more than 50 presentations by Australian and international early childhood researchers.
The CSU Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Group (ECIR)presented a symposium on the first day.
Our presentations were titled: Empowering children’s voices through the Children Draw Talking Project
- Listening to children: The Children Draw Talking Project - Belinda Downey, Sharynne McLeod
- Development of an instrument and protocol for the virtual collection and analysis of children’s drawings - Carolyn Gregoric, Van H. Tran, Suzanne C. Hopf, Sharynne McLeod
- A meaning-making analysis of children’s drawing vs children’s talking in the drawing: A cultural-historical perspective - Shukla Sikder, Lysa Dealtry, Sarah Stenson
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| Dr Belinda Downey |
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| Dr Carolyn Gregoric |
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| Dr Shukla Sikder |
ECIR member Leanne Gibbs also presented this morning. Her presentation was entitled "Leading early childhood education through crises and complex times".
We enjoyed the International Keynote Address by Associate Professor Sonja Macfarlane titled “He Awa Whiria and Early Literacy: The emancipatory power of braiding knowledge streams in research and practice”. The keynote speaker shared this resource: https://www.education.govt.nz/early-childhood/teaching-and-learning/assessment-for-learning/te-whatu-pokeka-english/
Tuesday, 9 January 2024
Congratulations MRFF grant recipient, Professor Julian Grant
Congratulations ECIR member Professor Julian Grant on being part of a partnership led by the Sax Institute awarded a Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Indigenous Health Research grant for a project entitled "Decolonising lactation care to support the initiation and maintenance of breastfeeding among First Nations women". The project aims to increase breast feeding by providing culturally appropriate lactation care. Further details https://www.saxinstitute.org.au/news/innovative-project-provides-breastfeeding-support-to-first-nations-women/
Thursday, 14 December 2023
ECIR contributes to the development of the Human Rights 75 Youth Declaration
In August 2023, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) together with the HR75 Youth Advisory Group conducted an online global youth consultation, where young people from all over the world shared their concerns and aspirations with regard to human rights and discussed what should be done by youth, States and the UN to reinforce human rights in the future.. ECIR submitted the only contribution by very young children. The outcomes of the online global youth consultation informed the development of the Human Rights 75 Youth Declaration. View ECIR contribution
View ECIR contribution chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/youth/hr75/submissions/subm-views-youth-led-cso-early-childhood-interdisciplinary-resear.pdf
Link to Human Rights 75 Youth Declaration https://www.ohchr.org/en/calls-for-input/2023/call-input-views-youth-led-and-youth-focused-organizations-and-institutions
Thursday, 7 December 2023
ECV2024 planning commenced
On Tuesday the ECIR team began planning for the next Early Childhood Voices conference (ECV2024). Save the date: 24th to 28th November 2024. Further details to come.
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| First ECV2024 planning meeting |
Tuesday, 5 December 2023
ECIR 2023 Charles Sturt Research Excellence Award winners
Congratulations to everyone in the ECIR team on receiving a Charles Sturt Research Excellence Award. The award recognises and celebrates outstanding contributions of individuals and teams who engage in research excellence that contributes to the success of Charles Sturt and drives regional outcomes with global impact.
What the nomination was for:
This nomination is for excellence in research capacity building. ECIR provides an internship model where early career researchers are well supported by more experienced researchers in a wide range of research activities including organising conferences, editing books, writing book chapters, running research projects, analysing data, writing journal articles, and applying for promotion and grants.
Members work collaboratively on projects such as the hosting of the Early Childhood Voices Conference (ECV2022), recent submission of an edited book arising from ECV2020 presentations, and analysis of children’s drawings from across the globe. These joint projects develop knowledge, skills and experience for members to pursue their own research interests.
Why it is Excellence Award worthy:
Not only have ECIR members been very research active themselves, but they have created capacity building opportunities for other researchers, within and beyond the team. Members willingly share with each other for the benefit of all and to grow knowledge about early childhood and conducting research, particularly from an interdisciplinary perspective.
The group brings together Educators, Speech Pathologists, Psychologists, Computer Scientists, Nurses and Physiotherapists who may not usually research together.
Achievements over the past year include journal articles (55 accepted + 16 submitted), conference papers( 59 presented/accepted for presentation +18 conference workshops/seminars etc + 4 submitted), book chapters (29 published/in press + 1 submitted), books (3 published/in press + 1 under contract), and conference proceedings (1 published).
They also have a high level of community engagement with 3 events hosted/training delivered, 22 media coverages, 4 media contributions, social media profile, 5 public lectures/presentations, 19 community consultations. Members are well recognised for their achievements with 3 individual and 1 group awards, leadership/membership of professional associations and editorial boards, invited working party and advisory participants.
They have had 2 PhD completions and 2 PhD submissions by ECIR members and provide HDR support to 17 students.
Academic promotions congratulations
Well done to our 2023 ECIR academic promotees:
- Level B, Belinda Downey - Education
- Level D, Libbey Murray - Education.
Congratulations on your promotion.
Tuesday, 7 November 2023
Congratulations Belinda Downey - CSU HDR prize
Congratulations Belinda who was voted Best Presentation in the School of Education Panel, by the HDR Colloquium Fellows ($200 prize!) https://www.thestreamingguys.com.au/production/hdr-2023/
Thursday, 26 October 2023
WHO Regional Committee 74th session
Professor Sharynne McLeod represented the International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders (IALP) at the seventy-fourth session of the World Health Organization Regional Committee for the Western Pacific (#RCM74), 16 to 20 October 2023 in Manila, Philippines https://www.who.int/westernpacific/about/governance/regional-committee/session-74. The Regional Committee for the Western Pacific represents 1.9 billon people across 37 countries and areas. The region is extremely diverse including China (1.4 billon population) and Niue (< 2000 population). This year marks the 75th anniversary of the World Health Organization. The agenda of RCM74 included: Investing in health and universal health coverage; health security; health innovation; communication for health; and the health workforce. Prof McLeod submitted two interventions on behalf of IALP and had many rich discussions, particularly about the Regional Action Framework Communication for Health (C4H).
Tuesday, 24 October 2023
Congratulations Marie Ireland
Congratulations to Marie Ireland who has had an exciting week. First she learned the excellent result of her PhD by Prior Publication. Second, she learned that the following manuscript based on a chapter in her PhD has been accepted for publication:
Ireland, M., McLeod, S, & Verdon, S. (2023, in press). Eligibility determinations for speech and language services in United States public schools: Experiences and tensions. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools.
Here is the abstract:
Purpose: To examine school speech-language pathologists’ (SLPs) experiences regarding students’ eligibility for services in public schools within the United States.
Method: Fifteen school SLPs participated in online focus groups to examine the complex nature of SLPs’ participation within decision-making teams and describe practice experiences in U.S. schools. SLPs worked in 1-10+ schools serving students from pre-K through 12th grade. Data were analyzed using Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) (Engeström, 2015).
Results: School SLPs’ practice is impacted by rules, community, and division of labor in schools. Participants discussed: culture of the work setting; interaction between team members; desire to assist families and children; knowledge of regulations; evaluation practices; and the impact of poverty, cultural and linguistic differences. Nine major tensions were identified: SLPs’ concerns regarding outcomes of eligibility decision-making; documentation of educational impact; need for greater SLP empowerment and advocacy; complexities of students learning English as an additional language; overuse of the diagnosis of speech-language impairment (SLI) for students who do not qualify; administrators’ adherence to rules; parents’ involvement in decision making; disagreement between team members; and concerns about evaluation data for decision making.
Conclusion: Within the schools, the CHAT framework was useful to identify tensions and opportunities for change at the individual and institutional level impacting team decision-making for eligibility, SLPs provision of services, and student outcomes. Acknowledgment of tensions and opportunities for change regarding students’ eligibility for services may guide public policy, pre-service training, and individual, local and national advocacy.
Congratulations Dr Belinda Downey
While at the Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Group Retreat, Belinda Downey learned the news of her successful PhD outcome. She has been approved for graduation - after receiving outstanding examiners' reports. Congratulations Belinda.
Belinda Downey's PhD is now available online. It is titled: Staying in Early Childhood: Struggle, Hope and Connection. Here is the link: https://researchoutput.csu.edu.au/en/publications/staying-in-early-childhood-struggle-hope-and-connection
Belinda with her supervisors A/Prof Will Letts,
Dr Leanne Gibbs and Prof Sharynne McLeod
Dr Leanne Gibbs and Prof Sharynne McLeod
ECIR Research Retreat in Bathurst and online (9-11 October, 2023)
Our ECIR research retreat was a wonderful time of building bonds, collaborative conversations and robust interdisciplinary discussions. Members travelled to Bathurst + joined online. What a wonderful time together celebrating our achievements, learning together, planning our grant writing and holding preliminary discussions about ECV2024. Thank you to Holly McAlister and Belinda Freizer for making us think about how to listen to children, to the Research Office (Dr Emmaline Lear, Dr Lisa Limbrick, Dr Dale Curran) for your excellent workshops and FOAE Admin team for joining us to begin planning ECV2024.
Thursday, 12 October 2023
Congratulations Van Tran, Vietnamese Ambassador
On 8 September, which is the Vietnamese Language Day (for Vietnamese overseas), ECIR member Van Tran attended the conference on Teaching Vietnamese Overseas. In the evening, Vietnam Television and the State Committee of Overseas Vietnamese organised a Gala to celebrate Vietnamese as the Mother Tongue, which was broadcast live on Vietnam Television (VTV2, VTV4) from 8-9.30pm. At this event, they awarded 5 people with the Title/award “Ambassador of Vietnamese” (Van was one of them) for their contribution to maintaining Vietnamese overseas. Van was interviewed by newspapers and media and talked about the CSU VietSpeech project related to home language maintenance.
Further details:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=I00qaa4_dtY
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