Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Embracing multiple ways of knowing in regulatory assessments of quality in Australian early childhood education and care

  • Published:
The Australian Educational Researcher Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In 2012, a new assessment and rating process for Australian early childhood education and care (ECEC) services was introduced, using a new National Quality Standard (NQS). The NQS assessment and rating process has similarities to observational assessment systems used in educational research, and involves similar strategies for upholding “rigour”, as defined by a positivist research paradigm. Drawing on the author’s own experience supporting authorised officers to conduct NQS assessments, the paper argues that the NQS assessment and rating process also contains certain similarities to educational research conducted using a constructivist paradigm. Understandings of rigour from constructivist research—including rapport with participants, reflective practice and comfort with ambiguity—can therefore offer valuable insights into how NQS assessments can best be implemented. Although government actors maintain a preference for positivist paradigms, greater attention to constructivist paradigms may help to align the NQS assessment process with the ways of knowing valued in contemporary ECEC practice, and improve its ability to accommodate the complexity and diversity of ECEC quality.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • ACECQA. (2012). Assessment and Rating Instrument. Accessed June 25, 2014 from http://files.acecqa.gov.au/files/Assessment%20and%20Rating/1–NQS_Assessment%20and%20Rating%20Instrument_120522_%20FINAL-1.pdf.

  • ACECQA. (2013a). Guide to Assessment and Rating for Regulatory Authorities. Accessed June 25, 2014 from http://files.acecqa.gov.au/files/Assessment%20and%20Rating/Guide%20to%20Assessment%20and%20Rating%20for%20Regulatory%20Authorities_130109.pdf.

  • ACECQA. (2013b). Guide to the National Quality Standard. Accessed April 13, 2015 from http://files.acecqa.gov.au/files/National-Quality-Framework-Resources-Kit/NQF03-Guide-to-NQS-130902.pdf.

  • ACECQA. (2014). Response to the Productivity Commission’s Draft Report on Child Care and Early Childhood Learning. Accessed April 13, 2015 from http://files.acecqa.gov.au/files/Reports/2014/ACECQA%27s%20response%20to%20Productivity%20Commission%20Draft%20Report.pdf.

  • ACECQA. (n.d.) Authorised officer training. Accessed October 23, 2014 from www.acecqa.gov.au/regulatory-authorities1/aotraining-portal.

  • Blackmore, J., & Lauder, H. (2005). Researching policy. In B. Somekh & C. Lewin (Eds.), Research methods in the social sciences (pp. 97–104). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, L. E. (2008). Foucault and the early childhood classroom. Educational Studies, 44(1), 7–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Council of Australian Governments (2007). Best Practice Regulation: A Guide for Ministerial Councils and National Standard Setting Bodies. Accessed December 3, 2014 from www.dpmc.gov.au/deregulation/obpr/proposal/coag_requirements/coag-guidance.cfm.

  • Dockett, S., & Sumsion, J. (2004). Australian research in early childhood education: Contexts, tensions, challenges and future directions. The Australian Educational Researcher, 31(3), 3–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dowling, P., & Brown, A. (2010). Doing research/reading research: Re-interrogating education (2nd ed.). Oxon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farquhar, S. (1999). Research and the Production of “Worthwhile” knowledge about quality in early years education. Paper presented at the AARE—NZARE Conference. Accessed April 13, 2015 from www.aare.edu.au/data/publications/1999/far99779.pdf.

  • Fenech, M. (2011). An analysis of the conceptualisation of ‘Quality’ in early childhood education and care empirical research: Promoting ‘blind spots’ as foci for future research. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 12(2), 102–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fenech, M., Sumsion, J., & Goodfellow, J. (2008). Regulation and risk: Early childhood education and care services as sites where the ‘laugh of Foucault’ resounds. Journal of Education Policy, 23(1), 35–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fleer, M., & Surman, L. (2006). A sociocultural approach to observing and assessing. In M. Fleer, S. Edwards, M. Hammer, A. Kennedy, A. Ridgeway, J. Robbins, & L. Surman (Eds.), Early childhood learning communities: Sociocultural research in practice (pp. 139–160). Sydney: Pearson Australia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flottman, R. Stewart, L., & Tayler, C. (n.d.). Practice Principle 7: Assessment for learning and development. Victorian early years learning and development framework Evidence Paper, authored for the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. Accessed December 3, 2014 from www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/childhood/providers/edcare/pracassess.pdf.

  • Freiberg, A. (2010). The tools of regulation. Sydney: The Federation Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gazan, H. S. (1998). Regulation: An imperative for ensuring quality child care. Working Paper Series. New York (NY): Foundation for Child Development. Sponsoring agency: National Association for Regulatory Administration.

  • Gorur, R. (2014). Towards a sociology of measurement in education policy. European Educational Research Journal, 13(1), 58–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Halasa, K. (1998). Annotated bibliography: Ethics in educational research. Australian Association for Research in Education. Accessed December 3, 2014 from www.aare.edu.au/pages/annotated-bibliography.html.

  • Halse, C. (2013). Presidential address: Culture and the future of education research. The Australian Educational Researcher, 40(2), 139–153.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hill, E., Pocock, B., & Elliott, A. (Eds.). (2007). Kids count: Better early childhood education and care in Australia. Sydney: Sydney University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ishimine, K. (2011). Quality in early childhood education and care: A case study in disadvantage. The Australian Educational Researcher, 38(3), 257–274.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, J. (in press). Constructs of quality in early childhood education and care: a close examination of the NQS Assessment and Rating Instrument. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood.

  • Jensen, C. (1994). Fragments for a discussion about quality. In P. Moss & A. Pence (Eds.), Early childhood education series: Valuing quality in early childhood services: New approaches to defining quality (pp. 142–157). London: SAGE.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kilderry, A., Nolan, A., & Noble, K. (2004). Multiple ways of knowing and seeing: Reflections on the renewed vigour in early childhood research. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 29(2), 24–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • King, N., & Horrocks, C. (2010). Interviews in qualitative research. London: SAGE.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacNaughton, G. (2004). The politics of logic in early childhood research: A case of the brain, hard facts, trees and rhizomes. The Australian Educational Researcher, 31(3), 87–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moss, P. A., Phillips, D. C., Erikson, F. D., Floden, R. E., Lather, P. A., & Schneider, B. L. (2009). Learning from our differences: A dialogue across perspectives on quality in educational research. Educational Researcher, 38(7), 501–517.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • National Research Council. (2008). Early childhood assessment: Why, what, and how. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • NSW Department of Education and Communities. (2013). National quality framework for early childhood education and care—Assessment and rating of services. Sydney: NSW Government.

    Google Scholar 

  • Osgood, J. (2006). Deconstructing professionalism in early childhood education: Resisting the regulatory gaze. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 7(1), 5–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Productivity Commission (2014). Childcare and early childhood learning: Overview. Inquiry Report No. 73. Productivity Commission, Canberra.

  • Rothman, S., Kelly, D., Raban, B., Tobin, M., Cook, J., O’Malley, K., et al. (2012). Evaluation of the assessment and rating process under the National Quality Standard for Early Childhood Education and Care and School Age Care. Accessed April 13, 2015 from http://research.acer.edu.au/early_childhood_misc/8.

  • Rowe, K., Tainton, J., & Taylor, D. (2006). Key features of the Quality Improvement Accreditation System (QIAS) Administered by the National Childcare Accreditation Council (Australia). Accessed December 3, 2014 from ncac.acecqa.gov.au/reports/report-documents/key-features-QIAS-Rowe-Tainton-Taylor-June06.pdf.

  • Sandilos, L. E., & DiPerna, J. C. (2011). Interrater reliability of the classroom assessment scoring system—Pre-K (CLASS Pre-K). Journal of Early Childhood and Infant Psychology, 7, 65–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tayler, C., Ishimine, K., Cloney, D., Cleveland, G., & Thorpe, K. (2013). The quality of early childhood education and care services in Australia. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 38(2), 13–21.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for International Research on Education Systems, Victoria University, 300 Queen St, Melbourne, VIC, 8001, Australia

    Jen Jackson

Authors
  1. Jen Jackson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jen Jackson.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Jackson, J. Embracing multiple ways of knowing in regulatory assessments of quality in Australian early childhood education and care. Aust. Educ. Res. 42, 515–526 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-015-0180-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-015-0180-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation