Research Around the World

In looking through all of the international early childhood websites, the one that I found quite interesting was European Early Childhood Education Research Association or EECERA for short.   This website contained a lot of information in reference to the early childhood world in European states that could influence or by utilized in United States early childhood programs. 

This website is divided into several sub-categories which provide information about membership, conferences, links & partners, county coordinators, Special Interest Groups, officers of the Association, new events, and journals.  What I found to be the most interesting to me was the Special Interest Group section of the website.  This was of interest to me because it is a cross-national venture of individuals that come together with a common experience, knowledge, or education of a topic or issue. “These collaborations can be simply for dialogue and deliberation or have a particular focus such as a research bid or an intended publication.” (EECERA, 2012)  

As I explored the journal section of the website there were some research topics that were informative and useful for any educator.  Some articles within the journal talked about things that could affect a child’s phonological awareness, views transitioning disadvantaged children from preschool to primary school, comparison of two townships of how South African children transition to 1^st grade,  a cultural variations comparison between teachers in Budapest, Hungary and American teachers, a doctoral study conducted in western Sydney on three playgroups supporting a diverse group of parents, and the use of Wenger’s situated theory of learning on 35 early childhood professionals in 15 early childhood setting to get their perspective on early childhood professionalization.

A few things that I considered to be noteworthy would be that fact that the new events section was not available for review.  I think that does the website a dis-service because educators, advocates, parents, and other professionals interesting in the websites activities are not going to be able to access the information.  Another thing that one should know about is that the Journal of EECERA is publicized only four times a year, is currently in its 18^th year of publication and considered a leader in the field worldwide.  And the final thing that I thing everyone should know about the articles in the Journal is that they are in translated into three languages: English, French, German, and Spanish.

 

 

Reference

European Early Childhood Education Research Association. (2012). European Early Childhood Education Research Journal.  Retreived from www.eecera.org/

European Early Childhood Education Research Association. (2013). European Early Childhood Education Research Journal,  21(1). Retreived from www.tandfonline.com/toc/recr20/21/1