Aṭfālunā Journal of Islamic Early Childhood Education

Challenges encountered in maintaining mobile early childhood care and education centres: Practitioners’ perspectives

Christian S Ugwuanyi, Chinedu C Okeke — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0700

This research aims to examine the challenges faced by practitioners who maintain mobile Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) centers. Using a qualitative approach, ten practitioners from one organization that provides mobile ECCE in the Free State Province participated in this study. A semi-structured interview guide was used for data for this study. ATLAS.ti software was used to analyze qualitative data. The findings showed that the language barrier is one of the greatest challenges presented by mobile ECCE programs. Further, psychosocial challenges, such as the abuse of alcohol by parents and poverty as well as rain and wind, dust and cold are also challenges to practitioners. Therefore, these findings have strong policy implications for the need for ECCE policy frameworks to mitigate language barriers and psychosocial challenges in mobile ECCE centers by knowing the different home languages of the children.

Bullying in gifted and talented children: A systematic review

Sri Febriana, Syafrimen Syafril, Cahniyo Wijaya Kuswanto — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0700

The objective of this study was to carry out a systematic review of the research works that have analyzed bullying in gifted and talented children. The search was conducted in psychology and education databases (Scopus), considering works from the past 14 years (2009-2022). The research method used is the systematic literature review (SLR) method; the data is analyzed qualitatively, referring to the Milles and Huberman model, which includes data reduction, data presentation, and data validation. The search string in this study is "bullying," AND "gifted," OR "talented," OR "children." The articles that have been selected are then mapped and codified with Nvivo 12 Pro. The results showed that gifted and talented children in early childhood institutions are more likely to be victims of bullying by their peers due to their unique characteristics and superior cognitive functions. Bullying behavior commonly experienced by gifted children takes the form of insults referring to their intelligence, comments about their appearance, or academic qualifications. Therefore, teachers play an essential role in creating a positive environment, rewarding high academic achievement, and conducting early identification. This study highlights the educational stakeholders' need to provide training or specific actions to the managers of early childhood institutions related to the prevention of bullying in gifted and talented children.

Enhancing early childhood creativity through loose-parts media based on STEAM learning

Ayu Citra Dewi, Alif Laini, Sri Intan Wahyuni, Mega Cahya Dwi Lestari — Sun, 30 Jun 2024 23:08:07 +0700

This article examines classroom action research in which researchers and classroom teachers collaborate to understand and improve the benefits of loose-part media to increase children's creativity and the subsequent impact of loose-part media based on STEAM learning. Focusing on early childhood education, this research was carried out in collaboration with teachers provided 21 pupils 5–6-year-old at Mutiara Kasih Kindergarten in Padang City. The research procedures carried out included a combination of observation, discussion and reflection on practice in 3 cycles. Loose-part media based on STEAM learning is considered to have increased children's creativity, as shown by pre-cycle data of 6.9%. Cycle I was carried out with a creativity percentage of 15.4%, increasing to 47.1% after cycle II, and increasing to 80.42% after cycle III. This research recommends that the use of loose-parts and utilizing the surrounding environment based on STEAM learning can be implemented in kindergarten institutions.

The urgency of sexual education in early childhood: A portrait of children's curiosity towards their authority

Uswatun Nisa — Sun, 30 Jun 2024 23:59:36 +0700

This study aims to explore the urgency of sexual education in early childhood that arises from children's curiosity about their authority. The informants in this qualitative research are five teachers and five parents from 5 different early childhood education units in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, Indonesia. The data were purposively selected based on the criteria of parents with girls or boys aged 5-6 years, heterogeneous background cluster, and integrated Islamic preschool. Data analysis using Miles and Huberman includes the process of data reduction, display, and verification with Jean Piaget's cognitive development theory and its relevance to Sigmund Freud's psychosexual. The results showed that sexual education for early childhood is urgent because children have a high curiosity about their authority. Children are formed from various stages in their psychosexual process, which corresponds to the level of their thinking ability. The sexual knowledge will determine the direction of the child's personality and behavior in the future. Parents and teachers can establish partnerships to create a basic sexual education program for children while developing socialization skills, independence, self-confidence, and positive self-concept and fostering children's religious and moral values. Although this study is still limited to a small scale, it can be an initial illustration for other regions in designing sexual education programs for children, and further program evaluation can be carried out.

Preschool teachers’ perceptions of STEAM-based learning in Banda Aceh

Mon, 01 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0700

The purpose of this study was to identify early childhood teachers' perceptions of STEAM-based learning. This qualitative research will be analyzed descriptively, and semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions will be conducted with four early childhood education (ECE) teachers in Banda Aceh. The findings show that ECE teachers' perceptions of STEAM-based learning techniques have a high potential to be implemented in Banda Aceh City ECEs, as the respondents have used aspects of STEAM in their learning. Teachers' lack of knowledge of STEAM-based learning approaches and procurement of materials and funds to fulfil STEAM learning needs are barriers to integrating STEAM in ECE institutions in Banda Aceh. More STEAM socialization and STEAM learning implementation training is needed for ECE teachers in Aceh in general.

The role of single parents in developing children’s self-awareness; A case study in the Islamic region, Aceh

Muthmainnah Muthmainnah, Lina Amelia, Rahma Safira, Muhammad Faisal — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0700

This study aims to analyze the steps single parents take in fostering the self-awareness of 5-year-old children and describe their attitudes. This qualitative research used a case study approach that involved two single parents and two children aged five years as research subjects. Based on interviews and observations, single parents foster children's self-awareness through several steps: recognizing one's own emotions and the emotions of others, managing one's emotions, motivating oneself, being a role model, and building social relationships. As a result, children's self-awareness manifests in self-confidence, independence in choosing activities, emotional control, understanding of rules, discipline, persistence, and pride in their work. The development of self-awareness in 5-year-old children is closely related to the steps implemented by single parents, with being a role model being the most effective method in fostering children's self-awareness.