Answer

A Cultural-Historical Construction of Safety Education Programs for Preschool Children: Findings from Seemore Safety, The Pilot Study by Susie O’Neill, Megan Urlichs, Marilyn Fleer, Joseph Agbenyega, and Joan Ozanne-Smith

Summary

The research problem being studies is the issue of pre-school children’s education of their safety as they go about their daily activities, whether in school or on the playground. Basically, preschool children are prone to placing themselves in unsafe situations by engaging in obviously harmful behaviours. The problem tackles the need to find solid solutions to enable preschool children develop a consciousness about their safety and apply the safety knowledge gained both at school and at home.

There were certain research questions identified to tackle this research problem. They include: How do preschool children perceive safety, safe and unsafe situations; do children gain safety awareness, knowledge and problem-solving skills from the SeeMore Safety program; and is the SeeMore Safety program effective in changing children’s safety perceptions and behaviours?

In terms of methodology, the pilot study combined both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The main reason for this was to ensure that the concept of safety is understood more comprehensively than if the study would only utilize one paradigm, either qualitative or quantitative (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2012).

Additionally, the study was located at the Geelong City Council. This follows that it was mainly the initiative of the Geelong City Council. The participants of the program were: 198 children who took part in both the pre-test and post-test procedures; 147 parents who filled out pre-intervention and post-intervention questionnaires; and seven teachers who participated in informal interviews. The purpose of the teachers and parents was to provide information concerning any notable changes in the risk-taking behaviours and safety knowledge of the children at school and at home respectively. All three categories of participants also took part in focus groups in which case the children were required to display their attitudes and knowledge concerning safety after taking part in the safety education program. The teachers and parents mainly informed on the children in the focus groups.

The findings were presented in the form of tables and graphs (Deiner, & Deiner, 2010). After a detailed analysis a detailed report was provided in the form of a discussion to highlight the findings and analysis of the research study.

Essentially, the findings indicated that preschool children actually benefited from safety education programs centred on cultural-historical theories irrespective of their ages. Evidence acquired suggests that these young children are indeed capable of retaining and applying the safety knowledge gained during the training program (O’Neill et al., 2013),

The authors mainly suggest that through such safety education programs preschool children are able to generate awareness about their need for safety which averts some of their risk-taking behaviours. In this way, they get to avoid less injuries and case less distress to themselves, their parents, and their teachers. These research findings also suggest that parents and teachers need to monitor the preschool children to determine whether the program had any positive effects on their behaviour or whether the effort was futile (Arthur, Beecher, Death, Dockett, & Farmer, 2015).

Critical Evaluation

In my opinion the sample is described adequately enough. Regardless, I would have wanted more information on theories other than cultural-historical in order to establish a spectrum of approaches towards the issue. The paper establishes from the beginning that while studies show that preschool children gain knowledge about their safety during these programs, there is the prevalent problem of retention of the knowledge which would further enable them to apply it in their daily routines. However, while this research provides a reasonable solution to the problem of retention, it is solely centred on the cultural-historical theory. A detailed research into other theories could be helpful as well.

Additionally, the writing provides an explicit description of the procedures and methods to be used to impart safety knowledge in children and prevent them from engaging in risky behaviours. However, the research could provide more information on a variety of equally successful tests conducted on the same to serve the purpose of creating a range of options for children who fail to successfully adopt this method. 

Alternatively, the ethical considerations relevant to this study relate to acquiring the permission of the teachers and parents before involving children in the study. Commonly, children should not be engaged in such programs without the consent of their parents and/or their teachers. Notably, this was handled effectively by ensuring that consent forms were signed by teachers and parents. Additionally, the authors went further to include some teachers and parents in the study which provided more assurance.

Moreover, the single most crippling limitation was the lack of a comparison group. I agree that this made it impossible to make sufficient conclusions on the basis of maturation development of the children. Basically, a large part of this research study is based on the concept of child development and its impact on the children’s capabilities to retain and apply knowledge acquired from safety programs. The lack of a comparison group, mainly in terms of age, makes it difficult to make any formidable conclusions with regards of the impact of child maturation development process.

Personally, this research supports my notion that young children are capable of avoiding risk-taking behaviours and develop a consciousness about their own safety. Conversely, it also supports my long-held belief that injury incurred by children on the playing field is not necessarily a negative thing; rather it forms a major part of growing up for these children. Through enduring their own injuries due to their lack of concern for their own safety, children are able to learn that it is important to avoid certain risky behaviours as they might lead to injuries as well.

Effectively, the findings of this research can be applied in my practice by engaging preschool children in a program designed to ensure their safety. The measures provided in the research will be deployed to aid in their retention of the knowledge acquired. Essentially, parents and teachers of preschool children can be engaged in the implementation process in order to reduce the number of incidences where children constantly place themselves in relatively unsafe situations.

Mothers’ Beliefs about Risk and Risk-Taking in Children’s Outdoor Play by Helen Little

Summary

The broad area of research is outdoor play for children, particularly within the Australian context. Essentially, the research problem is that there is an increasingly progressive observable culture whereby mothers are implacably restricting their children’s activities in terms of outdoor play and controlling their every move. The problematic repercussion of this is that children are gradually being stripped of their control when it comes to the outdoor fun activities they would desire to engage in and consequently being denied their opportunity to satisfy their curiosity and develop naturally through exposure to vast childhood experiences (Penn, 2014).

The identifiable research questions for this study include: how do parents support their young children’s risk awareness and inspire them to challenge themselves while concurrently averting extreme risk-taking behaviours and simultaneously protecting the children from environmental hazards; how do adults perceive risk with relativity to children’s activities and independent play?

In addressing the research questions, only a single method was adopted. For data collection, qualitative research methods were used and in particular semi-structured interviews. Notably, the study was located in Sydney, Australia. In terms of participants, parents of children between the ages of four and five years residing in Sydney and attending six specified early childhood centres were selected. The study was very specific with regards to participants. Only parent who met the age criteria were recruited and particularly those who returned their consent forms. In total they comprised roughly 45% of the eligible parents (Little, 2015). Additionally, the early childhood centres used for recruitment were selected strategically to create diversity on the bases of socio-economic status and housing density.

The presentation of the findings was done with reference to the primary questions asked of the parents during the interviews. The findings were analysed qualitatively through consistent comparisons in order to denote emerging themes in relation to the responses. The findings are highlighted in terms of codes whereby particular parents’ (P) contributions are identified by a code from all the centres (CI-C6). Tables were also used whereby such factors were imperative: demographic information, child age, child gender, number of siblings, mother’s educational level, mother’s age range, and mother’s birth country (Little, 2015)

The findings indicated that most mothers recognized the significant role that outdoor play had in their children’s growth. Regardless, they were conflicted about whether to allow their children to enjoy the full benefits of outdoor play and risk-taking or to restrict their activities and be assured of their safety. For several parents, they perceive that it is more important for the child to be safe even at the expense of some childhood opportunities.

According to the author, outdoor play is highly imperative to the development of children and performs an irreplaceable role. Therefore parents must find a way to curb their fears as they end up controlling some major aspects of their children’s lives. The author puts forward that even young children aged 5 years require their independence so as to enable them to satisfy some childhood needs like risk-taking and curiosity and outdoor play with other children.

In my opinion, the sample is described adequately enough. Essentially, detailed information is provided on such factors as demographic information, child age, child gender, number of siblings, mother’s educational level, mother’s age range, and mother’s birth country. Additional information for this section which I consider to be imperative is the status of the father. In essence, it is imperative to determine whether the children come from single-parent families or not as I perceive that this is a major contribution factor towards the mother’s magnitude of protection over the child. In effect, single mother often tend to be exceedingly protective of their children.

The description of procedures and methods is clear enough. The author is keen to provide even the smallest details concerning the research. However, personally I would want a clearer statement of the research questions. The paper mainly provides that the reader comes up with the research questions based on the factors being investigated. Regardless, it is always important for research questions to be clearly stated.

The ethical considerations in this context relate to the selection process. In a research study such as this it is imperative that the researcher does not appear or portray any form of bias in favour of or against certain individuals (Kennedy, & Early Childhood Australia. 2010). This research was extremely specific with regards to the participants selected. However, the author handled the ethical issue commendably well. Fundamentally, she selected her participants from six different schools which were carefully chosen to reflect a balance on the basis of socio-economic conditions and housing density.

There are no identifiable limitations provided by the author. However, based on my own analysis I perceive that finding the process of acquiring such personal information from the participating mothers must have been a challenge. In the contemporary society people are often unwilling to give such detailed information about themselves for any reason as attributed to the culture of suspicion. This research study demanded a lot of personal information from random stranger which must have been difficult. For example, people and especially women are often hesitant about giving information on their actual ages or educational level for fear of being judged too harshly (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2012).

This research reinforces my long-held belief that outdoor play is fundamental for the wholesome growth and development of children. I have always perceived that children need to be allowed to have the full childhood experience by playing outdoors with other children and making some decisions independently, whether risky or not. Additionally, I am challenged by the notion that it is possible to provide a completely safe environment where children can still have the same privileges or exploiting their opportunities. In my opinion, the creation of a perfectly safe environment is also another form of control on the parent’s part.

The findings of this research can be applied in my practice whereby some of the environmental risk factors can be eliminated in order to allow the children to have considerably more freedom than they currently possess.

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