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Research Interests: Psychology and Situated
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This chapter will extend on the theoretical perspective of the previous chapter and will explore the connection between perezhivanie and children’s development, in particular the development of social competence. The cultural context of... more
This chapter will extend on the theoretical perspective of the previous chapter and will explore the connection between perezhivanie and children’s development, in particular the development of social competence. The cultural context of social competence is critical to children’s successful engagement with their world and this is explored in the context of early childhood educational settings as pivotal to the development of personality. This is a cryptic concept for early childhood teachers, although the emphasis on social skills and development are often emphasised as the key plank of early year’s education.
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Schoolteacher and early childhood educator wellbeing is associated with their ability to provide high-quality educational experiences to students and children in their care. Given the importance of this topic, this systematic review... more
Schoolteacher and early childhood educator wellbeing is associated with their ability to provide high-quality educational experiences to students and children in their care. Given the importance of this topic, this systematic review sought to (1) identify available evidence-based wellbeing initiatives for educators and schoolteachers, (2) appraise the quality of evidence demonstrating the efficacy of these initiatives, and (3) summarise the characteristics of these initiatives. In total, 23 studies on 19 distinct initiatives were identified. Although most initiatives improved schoolteacher wellbeing, the quality of available evidence is modest, especially for early childhood educators. Existing teacher and educator wellbeing initiatives predominantly target individual and not systematic determinants of educator wellbeing, even though wellbeing of these groups is determined by a combination of personal and education setting influences. More research is needed to improve the evidence ...
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This thesis seeks to present the academic journey of how the concept of social and emotional development was re-theorised as social competence from a cultural-historical perspective. Emotional development in the field of early childhood... more
This thesis seeks to present the academic journey of how the concept of social and emotional development was re-theorised as social competence from a cultural-historical perspective. Emotional development in the field of early childhood education has traditionally been conceptualised as part of a suite of domains of child development – social-emotional, cognitive, language, and fine and gross motor. As such, emotional development has traditionally been studied independently of the other forms of development. Through exploring a range of impacts and contexts on children's emotional and personality development form trauma to cultural difference, the content of this staff thesis moves from the orientation of social and emotional development towards a cultural-historical conception of emotion regulation as a collective practice, where a new conception of social competence is theorised.
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Although abundant evidence demonstrates that play is the source of development for preschool-aged children in various cultures, few studies have investigated the role of adult-children collective p...
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Teachers have the ability to influence a child’s sense of belonging and peer relationships in the classroom which are important for a child’s social development. Currently, little is known about the ways in which they do this. Vygotsky’s... more
Teachers have the ability to influence a child’s sense of belonging and peer relationships in the classroom which are important for a child’s social development. Currently, little is known about the ways in which they do this. Vygotsky’s concept of the social situation of development and Hedegaard’s model for learning and development were used to discuss the conditions teachers created that promote peer relationships within the classroom. Digital video observations and interview of one grade 1 classroom teacher from the western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria were analysed using Hedegaard’s dialectical-interactive approach. This paper demonstrates how the societal demands on institutions influence the activity settings that students participate in and argues that teachers need to create conditions for peer interactions that satisfy societal needs as well as being meaningful for their students and their social situation of development.
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Abstract Despite the growing acceptance of inclusive education policy, effective inclusion of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in mainstream settings has not been ensured. Moreover, the research-to-practice gap in the field of... more
Abstract Despite the growing acceptance of inclusive education policy, effective inclusion of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in mainstream settings has not been ensured. Moreover, the research-to-practice gap in the field of autism spectrum disorder ( Bolte, 2019 ) is a wake-up call for researchers to rethink inclusion. Grounded in cultural-historical theory, this paper examines the inclusive practices of one child with ASD from the child's perspective. Toby (pseudonym) aged 3 years 5 months was observed in the naturalistic setting of a preschool over 8 weeks. A total of 8 h of digital video data were recorded to understand the practices that support or mitigate the process of both primary and secondary development of a child with ASD in a play-based setting. The dynamic relationship between the child's motive and the institutional demands of preschool (Hedegaard, 2019) were analysed in relation to the inclusive practices for Toby's development. The findings show how the child's persistent negotiations, the educators' understanding of the child's motive, and the practice setting created conditions that supported Toby's development and pushed against reported ‘secondary disability’ (Vygotsky, 1993). The findings suggest a different approach to children with ASD which has potential possibilities to support their inclusion in play-based settings.
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POSTDEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVES IN early childhood education and care increasingly reference alternative ways of understanding learning, growth and development in early learning. Drawing on these ideas, this paper examines research... more
POSTDEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVES IN early childhood education and care increasingly reference alternative ways of understanding learning, growth and development in early learning. Drawing on these ideas, this paper examines research findings which focused on early childhood teachers' understandings of multiage grouping. The findings suggested that teachers used predominantly developmental approaches to describing their experiences of multiage grouping, and proposed that the use of postdevelopmental perspectives in multiage grouping research has the potential to realise new ways of understanding learning and development as both concepts and practices within the multiage classroom.
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This paper presents a picture of the current theoretical positions and methods used to assess children’s development. A maturational understanding of development is seen to be predominately used to inform the assessment tools which track... more
This paper presents a picture of the current theoretical positions and methods used to assess children’s development. A maturational understanding of development is seen to be predominately used to inform the assessment tools which track how children develop across the 0—5 age group. This paper proposes that with the movement towards a cultural-historical understanding of development, a tool following from this standpoint should be developed. It is envisaged that a new assessment tool will be developed from this analysis. A theoretical rationale is given to support why the Zone of Proximal Development can be used to identify the indicators of children’s actual and potential levels of development, moving away from age/level based testing. Developing an assessment tool aligned to the principles of the ZPD can offer alternative method to assess children’s development in a theoretically robust way, providing empirical evidence to rethink the methodologies of child development assessments.
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There is a consensusthat the crises children encounter during the transition period might impact negatively on children’s learning and development. However, from cultural-historical perspective, qu...
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This study investigated the practice of two early-childhood educators and their interactions with 24 children (mean age 5.2 years) in an inner-suburban Australian preschool setting. The study specifically examined the nature of how... more
This study investigated the practice of two early-childhood educators and their interactions with 24 children (mean age 5.2 years) in an inner-suburban Australian preschool setting. The study specifically examined the nature of how educators ‘intentionally teach’ concepts to young children in a child-centred programme. Six hours of educator–child digital video observations and three hours of educator interviews were gathered and analysed using Kravtsova’s (2009) concept of ‘subject positioning’. The findings suggest that it was challenging to teach intentionally in a child-centred programme based on children’s interests. This research is the first phase of a larger study. It is argued that the tensions between educators’ beliefs about child learning and their role in relation to fostering children’s conceptual development in child-centred programmes could make it difficult for educators to implement intentional teaching as presented in the Australian Early Years Learning Framework (...
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Increasingly, graduates across a range of professions are required to possess the ability to critically evaluate information, solve problems and participate in collaborative group work. Problem Based Learning (PBL) is a pedagogical... more
Increasingly, graduates across a range of professions are required to possess the ability to critically evaluate information, solve problems and participate in collaborative group work. Problem Based Learning (PBL) is a pedagogical approach to learning that emphasises student centred engagement with real problems or situations, involving learners in active decision making processes and in using theory to inform practice. This
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This paper presents a picture of the current theoretical positions and methods used to assess children's development. A maturational understanding of development is seen to be predominately used to inform the assessment tools which track... more
This paper presents a picture of the current theoretical positions and methods used to assess children's development. A maturational understanding of development is seen to be predominately used to inform the assessment tools which track how children develop across the 0—5 age group. This paper proposes that with the movement towards a cultural-historical understanding of development, a tool following from this standpoint should be developed. It is envisaged that a new assessment tool will be developed from this analysis. A theoretical rationale is given to support why the Zone of Proximal Development can be used to identify the indicators of children's actual and potential levels of development, moving away from age/level based testing. Developing an assessment tool aligned to the principles of the ZPD can offer alternative method to assess children's development in a theoretically robust way, providing empirical evidence to rethink the methodologies of child development assessments. For citation: Minson V., Hammer M., Veresov N. Rethinking assessments: creating a new tool using the zone of proximal development within a cultural-historical framework. Кul'turno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya = Cultural-historical psychology,