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Not just babysitting : case studies of caregiver interactions with infants in Singapore childcare centres
Author
Lim, Cynthia Ai Ming
Supervisor
Lim, Sirene May Yin
Yang, Chien Hui
Abstract
The first few years of a child’s life sets the foundation of who he/she will become and the type of care infants receive have a big impact on their cognitive and socio-emotional development. The importance of quality care in promoting positive child development outcomes has been documented extensively in research. Research has also shown that infants need quality interactions with their caregivers in order to thrive since mere custodial care akin to babysitting is not sufficient. This study investigates the nature of interactions provided by nine educarers in Singapore infant care centres through the use of observations in six case studies. It is exploratory in nature and presents a multi-dimensional approach to describing and evaluating the quality of interactions in the observed infant rooms through the use of the Child Caregiver Interaction Rating Scale, evidential field notes and running records. The theoretical framework that guides the interactions that were observed and compared between the case sites is derived from a cross section of developmental theories from Vygotsky, Rogoff and Bowlby. An interpretivist paradigm intermingled with a socio-cultural perspective is adopted to analyse the data. This study found that the focal educarers provided a diverse range of interactions, with some educarers conceptualising their role as custodial in nature. Some possible factors influencing the educarers’ interactions included education, class size and ratio, philosophy of care and culture. Implications of the findings are discussed and recommendations on policy, practice and research to raise the standards of quality interactions are suggested. This research study is conducted at a time where the number of infants receiving centre-care has increased at a rapid rate in Singapore and quality issues in early childhood are being emphasised by the Singapore government. It is therefore a timely study to help fill a gap in the little available knowledge in Singapore relating to the field of infant/toddler educare.
Date Issued
2012
Call Number
HQ778.7.S55 Lim
Date Submitted
2012