Learning in the early years

Two major studies into early childhood programs underway in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education are confirming the importance of providing high quality learning experiences for disadvantaged children. 

“There’s a real opportunity, especially if we start as early as possible, to change the lives of disadvantaged children through really focused, enriched language and learning games that enable children’s cognition and language development,” says Professor Collette Tayler, Chair of Early Childhood Education and Care.

Professor Tayler’s passion is palpable, and it is no wonder; she has witnessed first-hand the power of high quality early education, most recently through her work with the Gumala Aboriginal Corporation.

The University’s partnership with Gumala began in 2011, when a group of architecture students worked with the corporation to design and build its early childhood centre at Wakathuni in the Pilbara. Since then, Professor Tayler has been working with the centre to implement the Abecedarian Approach Australia (3A) program, along with Professor Joseph Sparling. 

Pioneered by Professor Sparling, the Abecedarian approach uses learning games, conversational reading and enriched care-giving to ensure children from disadvantaged backgrounds do not fall behind their peers before school.

The children who took part in Professor Sparling’s original 1970s study in the US are now in their 30s, and have benefited significantly from this early intervention. By 21 years of age, almost 70 per cent of them were attending college or were employed in a skilled job, compared with about 40 per cent of their peers.

The 3A program is a version of the Abecedarian approach, tailored for Australia and especially to the needs of Aboriginal children. It is already reaping significant rewards for the families involved, with children developing a love of reading and strong vocabularies, standing them in good stead for school.

“Waiting until vulnerable children are three or four years old to intervene is too late to stop them falling behind their peers,” Professor Tayler explains. “We need to start as early as possible, and work with families, for the best results. Families are the first teachers and when they take up the Abecedarian approach children progress quicker and their learning becomes stronger.”

The project has produced a series of conversational reading books and learning games based on local stories, which are being used by families as part of the program.

“The program at Wakathuni is working because the children are in their own place, they have fun and families are really welcome,” Professor Tayler says. “More and more we hope that the families lead the program: adults don’t have to have high levels of English literacy to take an active part.”

Mainstream early childhood centres may be able to learn from the intentional, play-based teaching employed in the 3A program. Emerging findings from the major E4Kids study, also led by Professor Tayler, are showing that teaching within play programs, or instructional support, is lacking in Australian settings.

“We have three years of data on around 2700 children in Victoria and Queensland,” Professor Tayler says. “We’ve assessed every child on their cognitive development over time – for example verbal comprehension, visual acuity and concept formation. We also have a whole set of data about the quality of programs, looking at items like the quality of adult-child interactions and physical environments.”

Significantly, the study baseline established that, although the emotional and organisational support provided to children was generally high in most settings, the quality of instructional support was not high in any setting. 

“Essentially instructional support is looking at where teachers are building concepts, modelling language and giving really strong feedback,” Professor Tayler says. “This area of intentional teaching in a play-based environment is quite new within early childhood programs and it seems to be a place where we can make improvements. As we have seen with the 3A program, it can make a huge difference – particularly for the most vulnerable children.”

It all comes down to the quality of adult-child interactions, Professor Tayler explains.

“Everyday talk is really important – children need to have many high quality engagements with the adults around them. They need to be exposed to rich vocabulary and to be given the opportunity to have back and forth exchanges.”

At a policy level, Professor Tayler says Australia needs to prioritise making high quality early childhood education available to children from an earlier age – particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

“The National Quality Framework encourages this through the introduction of an educational concept and intentional teaching in play-based environments, but there is a lot more work to be done,” she says. “This should absolutely be an area of national priority.”

E4Kids is led by the University of Melbourne’s Graduate School of Education and Queensland University of Technology, with the Victorian, Queensland and Commonwealth Governments.

Watch a time-lapse video of three staff and 16 Masters of Architecture students building a childcare centre in Wakathuni in 2011: 

www.education.unimelb.edu.au