Infant programmes in Australian childcare centres: are there gaps in pre-service training of childcare staff?

This paper discusses the potential of the childcare centre as a child-rearing niche and is based on data collection and research carried out in childcare centres. The everyday experiences of infants were recorded on video over a period of eighteen months. These experiences were coded using a number of communicative language categories as well as by examining caregiver use of routines and provision of cultural artefacts. A detailed description of the infants in the particular developmental niche emerged. Extending this examination of everyday life for infants in a childcare centre, the paper explores the potential of the childcare centre as a context that supports the child's growth and development. A focus of analysis was the type of interactions the children experience with caregivers. Earlier studies revealed that incidences of joint attention, valued in the development literature, were minimal. This raises two questions. Do childcare staff who work with infants need special training in pre-verbal communication? Does the group care arrangement contain alternative forms of stimulation that make one-on-one interactions with adults less important? These two questions are explored using aspects of attachment and sociocultural theory to frame the discussion.