Events
Victorian Early Childhood Research Consortium (VECRC)
Aim:
The main aim of this group is to provide an on-going space where higher degree students and academics researching in the early childhood field can come together and share their research journeys in a relaxed, supportive environment with the purpose of building research capacity
When:
Tuesday 20 July, 2021
10.00am to 12.00pm
Where:
Zoom meeting
Agenda:
- Welcome & Apologies
- Conferences
- Journals
- Publications
- News
- Professional Conversations
Professional Conversations
Family School Partnerships within an Era of Reform
A practice theory perspective informs this study’s critical examination of family engagement in children’s learning within a diverse community, which occurred through collaborative action research undertaken with four participating primary school teachers. The study found that the teachers’ self-described family engagement strategies initially stemmed from a parent involvement discourse that situated school as the central learning platform, with family and community contexts seen as peripheral. Consequently, families not visibly demonstrating expected behaviours were assumed to be disengaged from their children’s learning. This presentation will provide an overview of this PhD research, highlighting how deficit discourses were (re)framed through student and family counter-narratives.
Dr Gill Baxter has collaborated with teachers and school leaders over the past 11 years, to critically examine ways in which primary schools can adapt school structures and practice to enhance families’ engagement in their children’s learning. Gill recently completed her PhD which highlighted opportunities for teachers to (re)frame family engagement as cultural work, within a context of culturally responsive practice. Gill has also undertaken a separate study which examined school leaders’ efforts to support teachers use of social media for family engagement in children’s learning.
For further information/registration please contact Professor Andrea Nolan – [email protected]
Background to the VECRC
Under Deakin Professor of Early Childhood Education Andrea Nolan’s leadership, the Victorian Early Childhood Research Consortium (VECRC) was established in 2010. This group focuses on building research capacity and facilitates networking and stimulating collaborations between researchers and key stakeholders. The main aim of this group is to provide an on-going space where researchers and those interested in research in early childhood can come together and share their research findings in a relaxed, supportive environment. Membership of the group has grown substantially and currently sits at 83 cross-disciplinary researchers from a number of Victorian universities as well as representatives of key stakeholder organisations. The Agenda for each meeting begins with an update of current happenings in research, conferences, publications etc., followed by a guest presenter to provoke reflection and discussion. Topics from the past three years are listed below:
