Pub Date : 2022-05-02DOI: 10.1177/20436106221087297
E. Walakira, Aloysious Nnyombi, James T. Ssenfuuma, Agnes Kyamulabi, Francis Kato, H. Natukunda, Lyndsey Lange, D. Oliver
This article aims to elevate children’s and caretakers’ voices in shaping reunification and reintegration planning and implementation. It takes into consideration, the priority for children to experience fulfilling and happy childhoods following reunification from residential care facilities (RCFs) to homebased care (HBC). The article is based on 23 children who were followed up, 12 months post reunification from RCFs into HBC in six districts within central Uganda, a region with the highest concentration of RCFs. We conducted 11 in-depth interviews with older children aged 8–13 years and 23 in-depth interviews from the caregivers, who also provided information on 12 children who on account of age (less than 8 years) could not be interviewed. The qualitative study was nested under a longitudinal study (Randomised Controlled Trial NCT03498469). This study has revealed positive experiences following re-unification of children with homebased caregivers such as; continuous and positive child-caregiver interactions which translated into trusting and loving relationships and bonding between children and caregivers; improved parenting practices characterised by warmth and responsiveness to children’s physical, emotional and material needs and less reliance on harsh disciplinary practices; and social reintegration exemplified by children forging positive relationships with family and community members and their active participation in ongoing social activities. Yet the voices that perceived reunification negatively point to the overarching need to prioritise household welfare through economic strengthening efforts and other forms of provisioning and more crucially, ensuring children’s continued access to quality education as key ingredients in planning and implementing successful child reintegration efforts, including assuring children of happy and fulfilling childhoods.
{"title":"A qualitative insight into children’s and care-givers’ experience following re-integration from Uganda’s residential care facilities into family-based care","authors":"E. Walakira, Aloysious Nnyombi, James T. Ssenfuuma, Agnes Kyamulabi, Francis Kato, H. Natukunda, Lyndsey Lange, D. Oliver","doi":"10.1177/20436106221087297","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20436106221087297","url":null,"abstract":"This article aims to elevate children’s and caretakers’ voices in shaping reunification and reintegration planning and implementation. It takes into consideration, the priority for children to experience fulfilling and happy childhoods following reunification from residential care facilities (RCFs) to homebased care (HBC). The article is based on 23 children who were followed up, 12 months post reunification from RCFs into HBC in six districts within central Uganda, a region with the highest concentration of RCFs. We conducted 11 in-depth interviews with older children aged 8–13 years and 23 in-depth interviews from the caregivers, who also provided information on 12 children who on account of age (less than 8 years) could not be interviewed. The qualitative study was nested under a longitudinal study (Randomised Controlled Trial NCT03498469). This study has revealed positive experiences following re-unification of children with homebased caregivers such as; continuous and positive child-caregiver interactions which translated into trusting and loving relationships and bonding between children and caregivers; improved parenting practices characterised by warmth and responsiveness to children’s physical, emotional and material needs and less reliance on harsh disciplinary practices; and social reintegration exemplified by children forging positive relationships with family and community members and their active participation in ongoing social activities. Yet the voices that perceived reunification negatively point to the overarching need to prioritise household welfare through economic strengthening efforts and other forms of provisioning and more crucially, ensuring children’s continued access to quality education as key ingredients in planning and implementing successful child reintegration efforts, including assuring children of happy and fulfilling childhoods.","PeriodicalId":37143,"journal":{"name":"Global Studies of Childhood","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44020637","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-01DOI: 10.1177/20436106221075636
Nicole Petrowski, C. Cappa, Antoine Deliege, Muhammad Rafiq Khan
Accurate data on the extent to which residential homes for children in Ghana are in compliance with national standards for quality of care and case management are lacking. To begin to address this gap, a census of residential homes and an enumeration of the child population were undertaken in 2019, followed by a survey on a representative sample of children living in such homes. Data were gathered on the types and characteristics of all 139 residential homes operating in the country at the time and the demographic profiles and well-being of children living in such facilities. The purpose of this article is to provide information on the residential care facilities that operate in Ghana in terms of their licensing status, staffing, child safeguarding, and protection policies, as well as the safety and suitability of the premises. The article also describes the demographic profiles of the children who live in such facilities and provides an overview of the care they received and their well-being. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings within the national context and policies on children in residential care in order to demonstrate how results are being used to inform care reform efforts and systems strengthening in Ghana.
{"title":"Residential homes for children in Ghana: Compliance with standards, quality of care, and case management","authors":"Nicole Petrowski, C. Cappa, Antoine Deliege, Muhammad Rafiq Khan","doi":"10.1177/20436106221075636","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20436106221075636","url":null,"abstract":"Accurate data on the extent to which residential homes for children in Ghana are in compliance with national standards for quality of care and case management are lacking. To begin to address this gap, a census of residential homes and an enumeration of the child population were undertaken in 2019, followed by a survey on a representative sample of children living in such homes. Data were gathered on the types and characteristics of all 139 residential homes operating in the country at the time and the demographic profiles and well-being of children living in such facilities. The purpose of this article is to provide information on the residential care facilities that operate in Ghana in terms of their licensing status, staffing, child safeguarding, and protection policies, as well as the safety and suitability of the premises. The article also describes the demographic profiles of the children who live in such facilities and provides an overview of the care they received and their well-being. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings within the national context and policies on children in residential care in order to demonstrate how results are being used to inform care reform efforts and systems strengthening in Ghana.","PeriodicalId":37143,"journal":{"name":"Global Studies of Childhood","volume":"12 1","pages":"40 - 55"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44452095","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-01DOI: 10.1177/20436106221082677
Ruth Edmonds, Alfred Ochaya, Nicola Sansom
This article explores the role resilience processes play in education and well-being outcomes for street-connected children. It draws on research and practice undertaken as part of the Building with Bamboo Programme (BwB) on resilience. BwB investigated the forms a resilience-based approach might usefully take in practice, the effect this has on promoting resilience in children, and how this resilience leads to improved outcomes in their lives. Our article draws specifically on the experiences of street-connected children who were involved in such approaches as part of programmes at S.A.L.V.E. International, Uganda between 2016 and 2018. Drawing on individual street-connected children’s resilience pathways through BwB and beyond, the article unpacks the connections between resilience processes and improved educational and well-being outcomes. It outlines how programme activities were developed and nurtured through cycles of learning and innovation to continually evolve existing strength-based programme practice with street-connected children whilst extending this work into the wider systems around children including peer networks, organisations, families and communities.
{"title":"The role of resilience processes in education and well-being outcomes for separated children in Uganda: Exploring street-connected children’s pathways through a resilience-based programme and beyond","authors":"Ruth Edmonds, Alfred Ochaya, Nicola Sansom","doi":"10.1177/20436106221082677","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20436106221082677","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores the role resilience processes play in education and well-being outcomes for street-connected children. It draws on research and practice undertaken as part of the Building with Bamboo Programme (BwB) on resilience. BwB investigated the forms a resilience-based approach might usefully take in practice, the effect this has on promoting resilience in children, and how this resilience leads to improved outcomes in their lives. Our article draws specifically on the experiences of street-connected children who were involved in such approaches as part of programmes at S.A.L.V.E. International, Uganda between 2016 and 2018. Drawing on individual street-connected children’s resilience pathways through BwB and beyond, the article unpacks the connections between resilience processes and improved educational and well-being outcomes. It outlines how programme activities were developed and nurtured through cycles of learning and innovation to continually evolve existing strength-based programme practice with street-connected children whilst extending this work into the wider systems around children including peer networks, organisations, families and communities.","PeriodicalId":37143,"journal":{"name":"Global Studies of Childhood","volume":"12 1","pages":"14 - 26"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44846608","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-01DOI: 10.1177/20436106211058897
J. Shaw
This paper explores perspectives on family reunification and emergent forms of separation among young migrants. These young people lived apart from and later reunited with their migrant parents who moved from the Philippines to Canada for work. I draw from 15 months of ethnographic, arts-based, and participatory research with ten participants living in Greater Vancouver. I demonstrate that while reunification literature and child rights discourse often focus on the process of a mother and child coming back together, this can obscure the relationships that young people form with others in the meantime. Cared for by grandmothers, aunts, or siblings, as well as becoming close to best friends, romantic partners, and confidantes, meant that the time these young people spent apart from mothers was utilized to cultivate vital connections to others. These connections were often quite painfully ruptured upon emigration, paradoxically turning “family reunification” into new separations. I explore how young people engaged in dual forms of relational work as they sought to foster a bond with their mothers while also maintaining—or grieving—connections with now-distanced loved ones in the Philippines. My findings, focused mainly on the emergent artistic and participatory methods, complicate family reunification discourse that stresses the importance of nuclear family bonds by calling into question who is family and who becomes family in a global economy that pulls such kindred apart. The young people I introduce speak creatively through poetry, story, and music to how familial separations are not resolved upon reunification but rather that reunification can give rise to new separations that navigated or even grieved in lesser-known ways.
{"title":"Beyond family: Separation and reunification for young people negotiating transnational relationships","authors":"J. Shaw","doi":"10.1177/20436106211058897","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20436106211058897","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores perspectives on family reunification and emergent forms of separation among young migrants. These young people lived apart from and later reunited with their migrant parents who moved from the Philippines to Canada for work. I draw from 15 months of ethnographic, arts-based, and participatory research with ten participants living in Greater Vancouver. I demonstrate that while reunification literature and child rights discourse often focus on the process of a mother and child coming back together, this can obscure the relationships that young people form with others in the meantime. Cared for by grandmothers, aunts, or siblings, as well as becoming close to best friends, romantic partners, and confidantes, meant that the time these young people spent apart from mothers was utilized to cultivate vital connections to others. These connections were often quite painfully ruptured upon emigration, paradoxically turning “family reunification” into new separations. I explore how young people engaged in dual forms of relational work as they sought to foster a bond with their mothers while also maintaining—or grieving—connections with now-distanced loved ones in the Philippines. My findings, focused mainly on the emergent artistic and participatory methods, complicate family reunification discourse that stresses the importance of nuclear family bonds by calling into question who is family and who becomes family in a global economy that pulls such kindred apart. The young people I introduce speak creatively through poetry, story, and music to how familial separations are not resolved upon reunification but rather that reunification can give rise to new separations that navigated or even grieved in lesser-known ways.","PeriodicalId":37143,"journal":{"name":"Global Studies of Childhood","volume":"12 1","pages":"83 - 94"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48603746","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-01DOI: 10.1177/20436106221085788
Lopa Bhattacharjee, S. Corcoran, Helen Underhill, Joanna Wakia, E. Walakira
settlements and and the of and the of of
的和解和
{"title":"Intersectional yet individual experiences: the importance of acknowledging, conceptualising and contextualising separated childhoods","authors":"Lopa Bhattacharjee, S. Corcoran, Helen Underhill, Joanna Wakia, E. Walakira","doi":"10.1177/20436106221085788","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20436106221085788","url":null,"abstract":"settlements and and the of and the of of","PeriodicalId":37143,"journal":{"name":"Global Studies of Childhood","volume":"12 1","pages":"3 - 13"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45658383","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-01DOI: 10.1177/20436106221077699
Kwabena Frimpong‐Manso, P. Agbadi, Antoine Deliege
There is limited evidence on family reintegration for children who have been in residential care within the African context. The goal of this study is to find out what factors impact reintegrated institutionalized children’s desire to remain with their biological parents or extended family. The dataset included records for 659 interviewed children and their guardians. However, the analyses were limited to 408 cases with complete data on the dependent and independent variables. Most of the children in the study (73%) preferred to remain with their relatives. The age of the child, length of time spent in residential care, and having a case file, were all factors linked to the children’s wish to stay with their family. Based on the findings of the study, social workers should do a full assessment and documentation to decide if reintegration is appropriate, prepare the child and family, and give follow-up assistance to ensure stable reintegration. Social workers must also link reunified families to long-term support such as enrollment on the Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty social protection program, and they should monitor placements to improve the stability of the reintegration.
{"title":"Factors associated with the family reintegration stability for children with a residential care experience in Ghana","authors":"Kwabena Frimpong‐Manso, P. Agbadi, Antoine Deliege","doi":"10.1177/20436106221077699","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20436106221077699","url":null,"abstract":"There is limited evidence on family reintegration for children who have been in residential care within the African context. The goal of this study is to find out what factors impact reintegrated institutionalized children’s desire to remain with their biological parents or extended family. The dataset included records for 659 interviewed children and their guardians. However, the analyses were limited to 408 cases with complete data on the dependent and independent variables. Most of the children in the study (73%) preferred to remain with their relatives. The age of the child, length of time spent in residential care, and having a case file, were all factors linked to the children’s wish to stay with their family. Based on the findings of the study, social workers should do a full assessment and documentation to decide if reintegration is appropriate, prepare the child and family, and give follow-up assistance to ensure stable reintegration. Social workers must also link reunified families to long-term support such as enrollment on the Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty social protection program, and they should monitor placements to improve the stability of the reintegration.","PeriodicalId":37143,"journal":{"name":"Global Studies of Childhood","volume":"12 1","pages":"56 - 69"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47162365","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-01DOI: 10.1177/20436106221075637
Marit Ursin, C. Langfeldt, I. Lysa
In this article, we draw on a case study where the Norwegian Child Welfare services placed an ethnic minority girl, Amara, into foster care. Her sensemaking around being moved into foster care is used as entry point to explore tensions between Amara, her family, and Child Welfare services. Amara’s responsibilities within the family conflict with the ideal childhood model in Norway. The case demonstrates a limited view on wellbeing and an ethnocentric understanding of what is in the best interest of the child among Norwegian social workers. We propose the use of ubuntu and African ethics in Child Welfare services to cater for more diverse understandings of childhood and upbringing. Furthermore, we approach children’s rights relationally to acknowledge how children’s lives and wellbeing are deeply entangled in interconnections and interdependencies.
{"title":"Relational rights and interdependent wellbeing: Exploring the experiences of an ethnic minority girl with the Norwegian Child Welfare service","authors":"Marit Ursin, C. Langfeldt, I. Lysa","doi":"10.1177/20436106221075637","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20436106221075637","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, we draw on a case study where the Norwegian Child Welfare services placed an ethnic minority girl, Amara, into foster care. Her sensemaking around being moved into foster care is used as entry point to explore tensions between Amara, her family, and Child Welfare services. Amara’s responsibilities within the family conflict with the ideal childhood model in Norway. The case demonstrates a limited view on wellbeing and an ethnocentric understanding of what is in the best interest of the child among Norwegian social workers. We propose the use of ubuntu and African ethics in Child Welfare services to cater for more diverse understandings of childhood and upbringing. Furthermore, we approach children’s rights relationally to acknowledge how children’s lives and wellbeing are deeply entangled in interconnections and interdependencies.","PeriodicalId":37143,"journal":{"name":"Global Studies of Childhood","volume":"12 1","pages":"27 - 39"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46780201","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-01DOI: 10.1177/20436106221082666
Vanessa Guillermo, Sully Santos de Ucles, K. Bunkers
A 2019 census of residential care facilities in Guatemala found 3863 children in residential care and that 97% of these children had at least one living relative. The census clearly indicates that children in the facilities are not orphans and the possibility of reunification, if appropriate processes and services are in place to support the child and parent/caregiver before, during, and after reunification, is possible. We (the authors) played a key role in designing a case management process to support the reunification of children from residential care back into families with the end goal being successful reintegration. A series of wellbeing domains were designed to help understand and measure what successful reintegration would include within the case management system. Informed by a case review of 36 Guatemalan children supported to reintegrate into families, and interviews with social workers and psychologists engaged in the process, this article explores the role of the “community connectedness” wellbeing domain. We explore how community connectedness or lack thereof, can contribute to child and parent/caregiver wellbeing and successful reintegration—the different types of community connectedness and who/what was involved in establishing and fostering these connections. With growing interest in reintegration efforts globally, efforts to better understand the unique role that community connectedness has in overall family wellbeing is well timed. Whilst the topic has been explored in post conflict settings with children and youth previously engaged in armed conflict, experiences of reintegration from residential care facilities in non-emergency contexts is limited, including in Spanish speaking contexts.
{"title":"The critical intersection between child reintegration and community connectedness: An experience from Guatemala","authors":"Vanessa Guillermo, Sully Santos de Ucles, K. Bunkers","doi":"10.1177/20436106221082666","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20436106221082666","url":null,"abstract":"A 2019 census of residential care facilities in Guatemala found 3863 children in residential care and that 97% of these children had at least one living relative. The census clearly indicates that children in the facilities are not orphans and the possibility of reunification, if appropriate processes and services are in place to support the child and parent/caregiver before, during, and after reunification, is possible. We (the authors) played a key role in designing a case management process to support the reunification of children from residential care back into families with the end goal being successful reintegration. A series of wellbeing domains were designed to help understand and measure what successful reintegration would include within the case management system. Informed by a case review of 36 Guatemalan children supported to reintegrate into families, and interviews with social workers and psychologists engaged in the process, this article explores the role of the “community connectedness” wellbeing domain. We explore how community connectedness or lack thereof, can contribute to child and parent/caregiver wellbeing and successful reintegration—the different types of community connectedness and who/what was involved in establishing and fostering these connections. With growing interest in reintegration efforts globally, efforts to better understand the unique role that community connectedness has in overall family wellbeing is well timed. Whilst the topic has been explored in post conflict settings with children and youth previously engaged in armed conflict, experiences of reintegration from residential care facilities in non-emergency contexts is limited, including in Spanish speaking contexts.","PeriodicalId":37143,"journal":{"name":"Global Studies of Childhood","volume":"293 3","pages":"70 - 82"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41290532","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-21DOI: 10.1177/20436106231179617
Mathias Urban, Elin Reikerås, G. M. Eidsvåg, J. Guevara, Janken Saebø, Carolina Semmoloni
This paper presents and discusses the findings of a collaborative investigation into Nordic approaches to evaluation and assessment in early childhood education and care. The project explored values and principles that underpin and guide evaluation in ECEC systems and practices in five Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The qualitative study combined documentary analysis with interviews with early childhood educators, academics and policy makers. The study was commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers in order to shed light on the values and principles that have guided the evaluation and assessment of the quality of early childhood education and care in the various Nordic countries, the ways in which evaluation and quality assessment has been developed in the Nordic countries and the parties responsible for carrying out the evaluation and assessment. Central to our exploration was whether a coherent Nordic approach exists and what characteristics distinguish it from other possible models of ECEC system evaluation. This question has gained relevance in global contexts of International Large-scale Standardised Assessments in ECEC, promoted most prominently the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Our findings confirm the existence of a Nordic approach, consisting of a shared and coherent understanding of the underpinning values, the purpose and the appropriate methodologies across several dimensions of comparison between countries as well as within countries. Shared values and principles include well-being, child-centredness, play, learning, professionalism and reducing inequalities. Shared purpose of evaluation is to provide relevant information to improve the quality of the ECEC system. In consequence, the focus is on evaluating settings and systems that enable children to thrive, rather than assessing individual children. Nonetheless, the Nordic model must be carefully interpreted in its specific contexts. Much responsibility is delegated to the municipality level, leading to local variations and influences. More generally, we found the Nordic approaches to evaluation and assessment in ECEC firmly situated in a Nordic model of governance that emphasises decentralisation and values local democracy. We discuss the implications of this for international comparative research in ECEC, for further research into the relationship between the central and the local in ECEC and for the possibility of an explicit Nordic contribution to informing the global ECEC policy debate.
{"title":"Nordic approaches to evaluation and assessment in early childhood education and care","authors":"Mathias Urban, Elin Reikerås, G. M. Eidsvåg, J. Guevara, Janken Saebø, Carolina Semmoloni","doi":"10.1177/20436106231179617","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20436106231179617","url":null,"abstract":"This paper presents and discusses the findings of a collaborative investigation into Nordic approaches to evaluation and assessment in early childhood education and care. The project explored values and principles that underpin and guide evaluation in ECEC systems and practices in five Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The qualitative study combined documentary analysis with interviews with early childhood educators, academics and policy makers. The study was commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers in order to shed light on the values and principles that have guided the evaluation and assessment of the quality of early childhood education and care in the various Nordic countries, the ways in which evaluation and quality assessment has been developed in the Nordic countries and the parties responsible for carrying out the evaluation and assessment. Central to our exploration was whether a coherent Nordic approach exists and what characteristics distinguish it from other possible models of ECEC system evaluation. This question has gained relevance in global contexts of International Large-scale Standardised Assessments in ECEC, promoted most prominently the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Our findings confirm the existence of a Nordic approach, consisting of a shared and coherent understanding of the underpinning values, the purpose and the appropriate methodologies across several dimensions of comparison between countries as well as within countries. Shared values and principles include well-being, child-centredness, play, learning, professionalism and reducing inequalities. Shared purpose of evaluation is to provide relevant information to improve the quality of the ECEC system. In consequence, the focus is on evaluating settings and systems that enable children to thrive, rather than assessing individual children. Nonetheless, the Nordic model must be carefully interpreted in its specific contexts. Much responsibility is delegated to the municipality level, leading to local variations and influences. More generally, we found the Nordic approaches to evaluation and assessment in ECEC firmly situated in a Nordic model of governance that emphasises decentralisation and values local democracy. We discuss the implications of this for international comparative research in ECEC, for further research into the relationship between the central and the local in ECEC and for the possibility of an explicit Nordic contribution to informing the global ECEC policy debate.","PeriodicalId":37143,"journal":{"name":"Global Studies of Childhood","volume":"13 1","pages":"200 - 216"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47552823","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-11-18DOI: 10.1177/20436106211055779
P. Ames, Laura León
The impact of digital technologies in children’ lives is a widely addressed topic in the recent literature on childhood in the global north. However, much less is known about the ways in which children in the global south interact in digital worlds. This themed edition of Global Studies of Childhood focuses on childhoods and digital technologies in a particular region of the global South: South America. Several issues make South America an interesting terrain to study the digital practices of children here. For example, the adoption of one to one technology policies in many of schools in South American countries in the last decade have meant that access by children to digital devices has increased. More importantly, the idea was advanced that children need technology thrive in their education and to learn new skills in order to fully participate in a networked society. This idea, in the context of neoliberal policies promoting consumption, alongside the lower costs of smart phones and other digital devices has resulted in millions of families investing in technology for their children, and this has established a relationship with technology from a very early age. Into these fast changing scenarios, scholarly production in South America has become increasingly focused on the study of children and their interaction with digital technologies in a variety of topics: from education to identity, from leisure to socialization, from a rights based approaches to information and participation, to concerns about the risks and potential harm of using digital technologies on a daily basis. Different perspectives and resources are being deployed to help us to understand the role of digital technologies in children’s lives, from digital ethnographies to classic surveys of use, from interviews to video and policy analysis. Each offer different insights to assist us to better understand children’ experiences as well as the social and technological landscapes they inhabit. This themed issue explores the variety of practices enacted by children, the contrasting viewpoints of adults and children regarding such practices, issues of risk and protection as well as the challenges that policy and digital education face to empower children to be critical users of technology as well as the steps necessary that we need to ensure are in place for them to get there. The studies presented here explore children’s relationship with digital technologies in different South
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