Introduction
The following is an article summary and critique that focuses on the methodology and methods used in two articles namely: Alvestad, M., Duncan, J., & Berge, A. (2009). New Zealand ECE teachers talk about Te whÄriki. New Zealand Journal of Teachers’ Work, 6(1), 3-19, and Ebbeck, M., & Yim, H. Y. B. (2009). Rethinking attachment: Fostering positive relationships between infants, toddlers and their primary caregivers. Early Child Development and Care, 179(7), 899-909. The former is a qualitative research while the latter is a quantitative study but incorporated certain elements of qualitative analysis.
Summary
Marjory Ebbeck and Hoi Yin Bonnie Yim’s article examines the current theoretical underpinning, and body of study surrounding the bond between infants and their caregivers. In the face of a world whose economy is constantly burgeoning, most women have ceased being housewives, and just like the men, have assumed various positions in the international labor market. As such, for instance, in Australia, more than 300,000 children not older than 5 years old have been taken to day child care facilities where, on average, they spend up to 12, 500 hours for about five years. Intending to comprehend the importance of nurturing secure and meaningful relationships between the children and their caregivers, the duo embarked on a semi-structured interview study while incorporating views from both child-care professional and parents. Correspondingly, the research question; How can positive relationships and attachments be fostered between, infants, toddlers and primary caregivers in the child care system? Shaped the objectives and the entire study.
The research tested hypothesis on how the child care system works to provide meaningful interactions with the children. When an infant gets into the primary care system, they are assigned a different teacher. The teacher becomes the in-center expert of the child and is responsible for consistently caring for them the best way to allow them to learn in all experiences. A bond is developed between a child and its caregiver over time. Each caregiver is assigned a group of kids and another teacher to work alongside. The teacher functions as an assistant of the primary caregiver learn the routine of the children and take care of them when the main caregiver is unavailable. An uninterrupted and constant interaction between the infant and the caregiver is required to create a good relationship. The quality connection in the early years of a child sets a good foundation for their development intellectually, emotionally, socially, morally and facial expression. The child’s brain is strengthened by such interactions hence a stable relationship which breaks ground for the implementation of skills such as communication, cooperation, and conflict resolution skills. The individual objectives of this study included finding the mechanism of fostering positive relations between children and their caregivers through: assessing how often parents use the child care system, analyzing why parents opt for child care system to informal child care system, and breaking down the system that allows achieving a meaningful relationship with the children. From the data and results, the study found out that a large number of the respondents favored the use of a primary caregiver framework.