It's December, Christmas is approaching fast and the summer days are lengthening.  We are seeing some very tired little children. And adults are getting grumpy and distracted as they have more to do and more to think about.   

What are you doing to support those who are caring for children?  How about giving a friendly smile to the tired looking mums and dads you see today?    Why not give parents an unexpected treat that is helpful - such as a pre-cooked meal to take home;  or something to make them feel valued and recognised such as a hand-written card saying how you think they are a fabulous parent and mentioning a couple of great things they do for their child? If you are running an early childhood service why not let staff take it in turns to take a longer lunch-break and get some personal time to relax, or provide some other form of stress relief?

This weekly Being Informed update highlights and provides links to the following information and articles:

1. Becoming a Member and Membership Renewal
2. Engaging Fathers
3. Is Early Childhood Teaching Always to be a Mainly Women's Job?
4. Working with Immigrant Fathers
5. The Most Popular Early Childhood Research Articles 
6. Political Update

1. Becoming a Member and Membership Renewal

ChildForum membership can be taken out entirely online, from application, to invoice, and through to payment and confirmation.  We don't use up lots of paper and won't send you out a paper invoice unless you request one.  When your 12 months of membership is about to expire you can renew online as a member and get 10% discount bringing the cost down to just $85.50.  This discount is not available if you let your membership lapse.

When you take out membership it is for a whole 12 months from the date you make payment.  Other organisations may still make you pay on an annual basis from a fixed date regardless of when you actually joined and when you make payment.  And they may charge you a joining fee on top of membership, but we don't. 

There are two membership options:

• Group Membership:  Several childcare and early childhood education services, and so far two tertiary education institutions hold group memberships for their early childhood staff.  They know that ChildForum group membership is the perfect way of giving staff access to high quality information quickly when and as needed, and support for professional learning and development.  And it saves money - with membership being less than the price of sending staff to a single one day course!   Group membership discount is available when 6 or more individuals from the same organisation apply for membership as a group.  Read more by clicking here ...
• Individual Membership:  We are pleased to be able to hold the cost of individual 12 month membership at only $95.00 per person in the coming year.  There will be no increase in charges.  ChildForum members enjoy 24-hour access to information and advice on caring for children, teaching and curriculum, ECE service management, ECE policy and policy changes, and hundreds of research articles and research support.  As well members get discounts on goods and services, and early childhood events and conferences.  Find out more and join by clicking here ...    

Has your membership recently expired?   If you are not sure, test if your username and password still gives you access to the members-only area of the ChildForum website.  If you are not given access you may need to renew your membership.  Contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   or simply and easily renew by going online and purchasing another 12 months membership.  

For a copy of the membership application form click here ... 

2. Engaging with Fathers

Tim Kahn our UK correspondent writes on the topic of parental involvement in early childhood services and engaging fathers in particular in his first column for ChildForum.  He gives some great examples.  For instance,  "in one project fathers and their children built a life-size boat, set up a time-share and sailed it down the river Thames".   But, "many of the 'sexy' projects which focused specifically on working with fathers have gone because the funding for them has dried up. The hope from those who are leading on fatherwork is that the decade or so of experience of working with fathers has had an impact on all workers (98%  female in the early years). This will hopefully mean that work with parents will now be more inclusive of fathers, recognising that parents are fathers as well as mothers. However, this is a big ask" ... 

3.   Early Childhood Teaching:  Is it to Always Be a Women's Job?

An article on people working in gender-bending jobs in the Wellington Dominion Post weekend paper profiled Timmy Porter, a young male early childhood teacher and the only male in his teacher education class to graduate.  If you haven't read the article - try to get hold of it through your library.  Unfortunately we can't reproduce a newspaper article for you.  

4.  Working with Immigrant Families

As New Zealand has opened its doors more to immigrants from all over the world, early childhood services are experiencing a growth in the number of immigrant children attending. Many immigrant children and parents have learning and parenting styles different from 'New Zealanders', posing challenges to teachers and services.  Researcher, Angel Chan discusses experiences that are common amongst immigrant parents and children.  These insights are helpful for teachers and services seeking to lift the effectiveness of early education for immigrant children and involve families.

* READ MORE by clicking on the link here:  Working with Immigrant Families

5.  The Most Popular Research Articles

Out of the providers of teacher and early childhood education courses by far the biggest users of early childhood research articles are the universities, this is followed by polytechnics, while other early childhood training providers report only a tiny use of NZ Research in ECE articles in their materials for students.

Popular articles provided in course readings during the 2010 year included:

• Undertaking and Disseminating Research in Early Childhood Settings by Joy Cullen and Helen Hedges
• Principles in Practice: Ethical Research with Child Participants by Helen Hedges
• Bicultural Meanings: What do Practitioners Say by Chris Jenkins
• Journey of Journaling by Kim McEvilly
• The Quality Journey:  Is there a Leader at the Helm?  By Anne Grey
• Professional Agency for Student Teachers by Margaret Turnbull
• Disabled by the Discourse: Some Impacts of Normalising Mechanisms in Education and Society on the Lives of Disabled Children and their Families by Bernadette Macartney
• Teachers Perceptions of Environmental Education in Early Childhood by Cynthia Prince
• Communication in Early Childhood Centres: What are we Talking About by Lorraine McLeod
• Immigrant Parents and NZ Early Childhood Teachers: Views of Parent-Teacher Relationships by Karen Guo
• The Way We Do Things Around Here:  Environmental Considerations of the Cultures of Two Playcentres by Paulene Gibbons
• The Golden Kiwi Childhood:  Is it a Lottery by Collen Lockie and Jocelyn Wright
• Family Focused Early Intervention by Kathleen Liberty
• Getting It Right Together:  Including Parents by Janis Carroll-Lind and Joy Cullen
• Constructs in Context: Developmental Assessment and Learning Stories in Inclusive Early Intervention Programmes by Lesley Dunn

* READ MORE by clicking on the link here:   Copies of these article, lots of further articles, and the very latest articles published  

6.   Political Update

Britain, a country in a worse economic situtation than NZ, is reaching out to children in disadvantaged  families in new policy to offer free childcare to 2-year-olds.

* READ MORE by clicking here:   Free Childcare for 40% of British Toddlers

If you missed the analysis after the election of what the NZ 2011 election result means for early childhood education, here's a reminder that it is available.   See what the National Party promised in the last election and the election before, what promises have been met and not met, and where policy seems to be heading now.  Should you be worried?  Find out.

* READ MORE by clicking here:  Early Childhood Education and Childcare Under a New National Government

Learn more on a range of Childcare & Teaching, ECE Service Management, Early Childhood Research and Education Policy matters.
Go to our website by clicking here www.childforum.com

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