Plan and enact a range of actions or actions included: Educators’ strategies to help answer the questions observing children in different types of that have been raised. learning experiences and documenting Actions are focused on finding evidence what happened (outdoors) about the question or focus for the videoing experiences same age and – research. mixed age groups (indoors). The Action Plan was over a period of two weeks. Evaluate and review the evidence (data) Educators used planning times and meetings to make sense of and analyse the evidence that has been collected in order to make they had documented. sense of it for the next stage of decision making. Educators shared initial findings with families and older children for their feedback. Plan further or re-plan actions based on Educators identified that younger children benefited from being with older children, what the evidence from both the literature and your own research has especially in language development. shown. Older children seemed to benefit socially Plans may need to be monitored to make when they played with younger children, as sure that they are working and revised if they were caring and supportive of the younger children. they are not working to improve practice and outcomes for children and families. The practice evidence combined with the research evidence suggested that if the centre does change to narrower age groupings they should provide mixed-age groups for specific purposes across the day/week. Action research approaches: a word of caution Actions taken as part of the approach could reinforce poor practices if critical inquiry or reflection is not fully understood and practised. Sometimes it is difficult to critically evaluate or examine practices for us, so why change or without becoming defensive: ‘It works it?’ resorting to a always do it this default position: ‘We way’. Action research approaches may challenge professionals who will require new skills and knowledge in order to confidently participate in the process. Developing and sustaining quality is a complex matter that cannot be simplified into a checklist or achieved without effort and commitment. Action research approaches are helpful for ensuring that quality is understood as responsibility and something that can everyone’s only be achieved through planning responses based on continuous critical inquiry.
Plan and enact a range of actions or strategies to help answer the questions that have been raised. Actions are focused on finding evidence about the question or focus for the research. Educators’ actions included: observing children in different types of learning experiences and documenting what happened (outdoors) videoing experiences – same age and mixed age groups (indoors). The Action Plan was over a period of two weeks. Evaluate and review the evidence (data) that has been collected in order to make sense of it for the next stage of decision making. Educators used planning times and meetings to make sense of and analyse the evidence they had documented. Educators shared initial findings with families and older children for their feedback. Plan further or re-plan actions based on what the evidence from both the literature and your own research has shown. Plans may need to be monitored to make sure that they are working and revised if they are not working to improve practice and outcomes for children and families. Educators identified that younger children benefited from being with older children, especially in language development. Older children seemed to benefit socially when they played with younger children, as they were caring and supportive of the younger children. The practice evidence combined with the research evidence suggested that if the centre does change to narrower age groupings they should provide mixed-age groups for specific purposes across the day/week. Action research approaches: a word of caution Actions taken as part of the approach could reinforce poor practices if critical inquiry or reflection is not fully understood and practised. Sometimes it is difficult to critically evaluate or examine practices without becoming defensive: ‘It works for us, so why change it?’ or resorting to a default position: ‘We always do it this way’. Action research approaches may challenge professionals who will require new skills and knowledge in order to confidently participate in the process. Developing and sustaining quality is a complex matter that cannot be simplified into a checklist or achieved without effort and commitment. Action research approaches are helpful for ensuring that quality is understood as everyone’s responsibility and something that can only be achieved through planning responses based on continuous critical inquiry.