In this course, you will learn how to use research to improve practice in early childhood education and care settings. You will investigate the steps in the research process based on a focused problem of practice in your context and examine what high-quality research and current policy say about it by undertaking a relevant literature review. You will learn what practitioner inquiry looks like in early childhood settings, including how to frame an inquiry question, locate and critique evidence, and interpret setting-relevant information to inform improvement. 

While this course has an emphasis on applied research within early childhood settings, you will also be supported to consider your own professional learning by identifying issues in learning context and develop approaches to addressing those issues. As part of this, you will read and interpret data across a specific early childhood setting and use this information to effect change in this setting via the development of an inquiry project. You will explore effective strategies to lead the development of a whole setting approach to your identified problem of practice and how this translates to you and your peers professional learning. 

Through literature analysis and the development of a research proposal, you will learn how to translate evidence into improved pedagogical and organisational practice. This course supports your development as a critically reflective early childhood teacher capable of engaging with and contributing to research-informed practice. 

This is a core course in the Master of Teaching Practice (Early Childhood) program.