Readability and beyond - Health literacy and numeracy and COVID-19 communications in early childhood education: Are we communicating effectively?

OBJECTIVE: Analyse the linguistic and numerical complexity of COVID-19-related health information communicated from Australian national and state governments and health agencies to national and local early childhood education (ECE) settings. METHODS: Publicly available health information (n = 630) was collected from Australian national and state governments and health agencies, and ECE agencies and service providers. A purposive sample of documents (n = 33) from 2020 to 2021 was analysed inductively and deductively combining readability, health numeracy and linguistic analyses and focusing on the most frequent actionable health advice topics. RESULTS: COVID-19 health advice most frequently related to hygiene, distancing and exclusion. Readability scores in 79% (n = 23) of documents were above the recommended grade 6 reading level for the public. Advice was delivered using direct linguistic strategies (n = 288), indirect strategies (n = 73), and frequent mitigating hedges (n = 142). Most numerical concepts were relatively simple, but lacked elaborative features (e.g., analogies) and/or required subjective interpretation. CONCLUSION: COVID-19 health advice available to the ECE sector included linguistic and numerical information open to mis/interpretation making it difficult to understand and implement. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Combining readability scores with measures of linguistic and numerical complexity offers a more holistic approach to assessing accessibility of health advice and improving health literacy among its recipients.

Workplace Bullying in Early Childhood Education Settings: Prevalence and Protective Factors.

Workplace bullying in the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector is a pervasive and significant issue in Australia and globally. Workplace bullying can negatively impact early childhood professionals' mental health, contributing to staff turnover and attrition. Given the current, and predicted, future shortages of ECEC staff, it is critical that strategies be implemented to support staff well-being and maintain healthy and safe workplaces. The aims of this study were to examine the current prevalence of workplace bullying in the ECEC sector in Australia and to identify protective workplace factors associated with lower prevalence of workplace bullying. Using a convergent parallel mixed methods design, findings are drawn from qualitative and quantitative survey questions within a large study on ECEC educators' well-being conducted in Australia. Participants were 591 early childhood professionals working in ECEC a variety of ECEC settings. Findings indicated that 24.6% of respondents reported experiencing workplace bullying and that most bullying was perpetrated by co-workers. Some workplace factors were related to lower rates of bullying, including positive teamwork, better supervisor relations, lower work-related stressors and having greater influence on workplace decisions. Implications of the findings are discussed in relation to informing policy and practices to address workplace bullying in the ECEC sector by identifying aspects of the workplace that serve as protective factors.

L'intimidation au travail dans le secteur de l'éducation et de la garde des jeunes enfants (EAJE) est un problème omniprésent et important en Australie et dans le monde. L'intimidation au travail peut avoir un impact négatif sur la santé mentale des professionnels de la petite enfance, contribuant au roulement et à l'attrition du personnel. Compte tenu des pénuries actuelles et prévues de personnel d'EAJE, il est essentiel que des stratégies soient mises en oeuvre pour soutenir le bien-être du personnel et maintenir des lieux de travail sains et sûrs. Les objectifs de cette étude étaient d'examiner la prévalence actuelle de l'intimidation au travail dans le secteur de l'EAJE en Australie et d'identifier les facteurs de protection sur le lieu de travail associés à une prévalence plus faible de l'intimidation au travail. En utilisant une conception de méthodes mixtes parallèles convergentes, les résultats sont tirés de questions d'enquête qualitatives et quantitatives dans le cadre d'une vaste étude sur le bienêtre des éducateurs de l'EAJE menée en Australie. Les participants étaient 591 professionnels de la petite enfance travaillant dans divers contextes d'EAJE. Les résultats ont indiqué que 24,6 % des répondants ont déclaré avoir été victimes d'intimidation au travail et que la plupart des intimidations étaient perpétrées par des collègues. Certains facteurs liés au lieu de travail étaient liés à des taux plus faibles d'intimidation, notamment un travail d'équipe positif, de meilleures relations avec les superviseurs, des facteurs de stress liés au travail moins élevés et une plus grande influence sur les décisions en milieu de travail. Les implications des résultats sont discutées par rapport à la politique et aux pratiques d'information pour lutter contre l'intimidation au travail dans le secteur de l'EAJE en identifiant les aspects du lieu de travail qui servent de facteurs de protection.

Supporting culturally and linguistically diverse children with speech, language and communication needs: Overarching principles, individual approaches.

Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are working with an increasing number of families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds as the world's population continues to become more internationally mobile. The heterogeneity of these diverse populations makes it impossible to identify and document a one size fits all strategy for working with culturally and linguistically diverse families. This paper explores approaches to practice by SLPs identified as specialising in multilingual and multicultural practice in culturally and linguistically diverse contexts from around the world. Data were obtained from ethnographic observation of 14 sites in 5 countries on 4 continents. The sites included hospital settings, university clinics, school-based settings, private practices and Indigenous community-based services. There were 652 individual artefacts collected from the sites which included interview transcripts, photographs, videos, narrative reflections, informal and formal field notes. The data were analysed using Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (Engeström, 1987). From the analysis six overarching Principles of Culturally Competent Practice (PCCP) were identified. These were: (1) identification of culturally appropriate and mutually motivating therapy goals, (2) knowledge of languages and culture, (3) use of culturally appropriate resources, (4) consideration of the cultural, social and political context, (5) consultation with families and communities, and (6) collaboration between professionals. These overarching principles align with the six position statements developed by the International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children's Speech (2012) which aim to enhance the cultural competence of speech pathologists and their practice. The international examples provided in the current study demonstrate the individualised ways that these overarching principles are enacted in a range of different organisational, social, cultural and political contexts. Tensions experienced in enacting the principles are also discussed. This paper emphasises the potential for individual SLPs to enhance their practice by adopting these overarching principles to support the individual children and families in diverse contexts around the world.

Reconceptualizing practice with multilingual children with speech sound disorders: people, practicalities and policy.

BACKGROUND: The speech and language therapy profession is required to provide services to increasingly multilingual caseloads. Much international research has focused on the challenges of speech and language therapists' (SLTs) practice with multilingual children. AIMS: To draw on the experience and knowledge of experts in the field to: (1) identify aspirations for practice, (2) propose recommendations for working effectively with multilingual children with speech sound disorders, and (3) reconceptualize understandings of and approaches to practice. METHODS & PROCEDURES: Fourteen members of the International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children's Speech met in Cork, Ireland, to discuss SLTs' practice with multilingual children with speech sound disorders. Panel members had worked in 18 countries and spoke nine languages. Transcripts of the 6-h discussion were analysed using Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) as a heuristic framework to make visible the reality and complexities of SLTs' practice with multilingual children. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: Aspirations and recommendations for reconceptualizing approaches to practice with multilingual children with speech sound disorders included: (1) increased training for working with multilingual children, their families, and interpreters, (2) increased training for transcribing speech in many languages, (3) increased time and resources for SLTs working with multilingual children and (4) use of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF-CY). CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: The reality and complexities of practice identified in this paper highlight that it is not possible to formulate and implement one 'gold standard' method of assessment and intervention for all multilingual children with speech sound disorders. It is possible, however, to underpin practice with a framework that ensures comprehensive assessment, accurate diagnosis and effective intervention. This paper proposes that by working towards the aspirations of the Expert Panel, SLTs can be empowered to facilitate appropriate services for multilingual children regardless of the context in which they live and the languages they speak.

Tales from the frontline: the experiences of early childhood practitioners working with an 'embedded' research team.

In late 2006, SDN Children's Services, an Australian not-for-profit provider of services for children, families and communities, engaged a research team that was 'embedded' within the organisation for 1 year. This action represented a significant investment of resources, such as staff time and organisational funds, and demonstrates SDN's strong commitment to research and evaluation as a means of supporting organisational learning and development. This paper highlights the innovative nature of the approach by positioning the role of the embedded researcher within the current theoretical and socio-political context. It also provides evidence of the success of the approach by reporting on the findings of a study that investigated staff's experiences of being involved in this type of collaborative investigation of their work. I argue that the employment of an embedded researcher can have positive benefits both for the organisation and the practitioners--but who the researchers are really matters.