Consensus About Program Quality: An Australian Study in Early Childhood Special Education

Abstract

Participatory action research (PAR) methodology has been used for many years across diverse fields to resolve real-world community issues and improve social practice. This book illustrates the use of PAR to facilitate communication, collaboration, and consensus about program quality among Australian early childhood intervention (ECI) stakeholders in various service contexts. A compact list of program quality indicators was generated across a 5-year period by staff from a large governmental ECI service in Queensland (Stage 1), validated by staff and parents throughout that service (Stage 2), and generalised across the nation (Stage 3). This participatory line of inquiry led to the development of unique research procedures and yielded fresh insights into the relevance of practice.