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This paper discusses ethical and methodological aspects of research among multilingual children regarding the inclusion of their voices. The starting point of this paper is a field of tension concerning multilingual children’s participation in research. On the one hand, children have the right to protection, while on the other, they have the right to be heard and should be studied by virtue of being children. The empirical data for our paper were generated through two qualitative ethnographic research projects undertaken in one Norwegian kindergarten. Throughout our fieldwork, we had various encounters with children, teachers, and parents who negotiated and contested the kindergarten’s and our own discourses on multilingualism and specifically categorizations of who is or is not regarded as multilingual. Based on the dialogic concept of voice, discussions on children’s perspectives as an analytical construct, and the positioning of children in research, we explore the ways in which our positionality as ethnographic researchers provides opportunities to include children’s voices. Furthermore, we discuss the challenges the researcher might encounter when establishing legitimate positions between the three groups—children, teachers, and parents—and the aspects of power involved.

In this paper, we explore emergent communicative practices in a situation where a group of newly arrived children start attending early childhood education and care (ECEC) in a new country. The data are collected in a unique multilingual ECEC setting, organised temporarily for Ukrainian children that had arrived in Norway. Previous research on newly arrived children in ECEC settings in the Nordic context focuses mostly on how one or a few children are integrated into majority-language-speaking groups of children. Our study, however, provides an opportunity to explore communication practices that arise when a group of children share a language with some of the practitioners working with them, but not others. In this paper, we present an analysis of several narratives from practice, where we discuss how children and practitioners use their semiotic resources to accomplish their goals in communicative acts. The narratives show how the ECEC practitioners support children in their communicative efforts and bridge linguistic resources between languages. Inspired by the theory of bridging and bonding social capital (Putnam, 2000), we give a definition to acts of bridging and show that these acts of bridging can be performed by both children and practitioners with different language competences.

Evidence-based interventions can develop social and emotional competencies and foster social relationships during early childhood. In this paper, we explored the efficacy, implementation fidelity, and social validity of two systemic, preventive social-emotional learning interventions in Finnish early childhood education and care (ECEC)—ProVaka and Papilio—after their initial nine weeks of implementation. ProVaka is an application of Positive Behavior Intervention and Support that provides general guidelines for the development of social-emotional skills. Alongside general guidelines, the Papilio intervention also utilizes ready-made lesson plans and play-based measures. In this study, 80 ECEC classes from 39 ECEC centers participated in a cluster-randomized controlled trial. We measured educators’ feedback, children’s behavior, social validity, and implementation fidelity. The results indicate effects particularly on educator-reported child behavior and educators’ feedback on certain observed areas when the systemic interventions were implemented with sufficient fidelity. Further, both interventions seem well suitable for Finnish ECEC context.

This paper explores how multilingualism is conceptualised in teacher education policy texts and discuss the ideological and implementational spaces for multilingual pedagogy in teacher education. The main focus is Norwegian early childhood teacher education curricula, and the qualitative oriented content analysis of teacher education curricula documents follows three steps. The first step provides an overview of how the content in Norwegian early childhood teacher education is regulated compared to Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. The second step takes a historical perspective, examining how the conceptualisations of multilingualism in Norwegian ECTE have changed from 1971–2018. The third step involves a close reading of local course plans from 12 different Norwegian higher education institutions. Findings show how curriculum content in Norwegian early childhood teacher education related to multilingualism is far more regulated than in the other Nordic countries. The historical analysis reveals how the ideological and implementational spaces have changed over the years by defining multilingualism differently, and how the current national guidelines open the ideological and implementation spaces for multilingualism. Furthermore, the analysis of the 12 local teacher education programs illustrates how these open spaces are implemented in different ways, either in narrowing further the spaces or broadening the spaces. The discussion revolves around how these spaces require different kinds of competencies for both practitioners and teacher educators.

This paper examines spontaneous conversations about word meaning in a bilingual preschool in Sweden. This qualitative empirical study is grounded in an ethnomethodological theoretical framework and contributes to research on multilingualism by using a sociocultural lens to examine mundane linguistic experiences of very young children who learn to speak in more than one language. The data comprise video-recordings of naturally occurring interactions among teachers and children in a Swedish-English preschool with a one teacher-one language policy. The data were collected during ethnographic fieldwork in an urban area in Sweden. Approached with multimodal interactional analysis, the data draw attention to teachers’ everyday didactics, including their professional strategies for initiating spontaneous vocabulary work and orchestrating multiparty engagement in the collaborative discovery of meaning, and children’s participation. The analysis discusses strategies for providing word definitions and demonstrates mundane institutional contexts outside of the classroom setting where such interactions were possible. Both teachers and children engaged in vocabulary exploration by using words in a situated, locally meaningful way. The study highlights that the teachers followed the preschool’s language policy and embodied monolingual identities, while orienting to children as multilingual learners and supporting their language development.

Practitioners in Norwegian kindergartens are responsible for actively promoting and developing multilingual children’s language skills (Directorate for Education and Training, 2017). Children’s multilingual language skills develop through participation and engagement. The aim of this paper is to explore how the semiotic landscape encourages interaction and dialogue among children. Semiotic landscapes are public spaces with visible inscriptions made through deliberate human intervention and meaning making (Jaworski & Thurlow, 2010). Utilizing walking interviews as a method, we explored multilingual children’s perspectives on their semiotic environment. Analyzing the interviews through the concept of agency (Duran, 2015), we found dialogues marked by engagement on different levels. We discuss the difference between predictability and unpredictability in semiotic resources and found that the latter leads to stronger engagement and longer dialogues than instructional materials with high level of predictability.

A child's early movement and active play experiences influence their attitudes towards physical activity throughout their childhood and into adulthood (Blair, 1992). Yet, it has been suggested that early childhood educators (ECEs) may not recognize the importance of, or give enough attention to, movement skills and physical development opportunities for young children (Clark, 2014; Whitehead, 2010). The education, or lack thereof, that ECEs receive could be an important factor. International comparisons of overall ECE preparation and training have demonstrated that some countries' ECEs are more highly educated than others (Howells and Sääkslahti, 2019). Using a case study approach, this paper conducts an analysis and comparison of three countries to examine the value and role of physical activity/movement education for ECEs to enable them to support physical literacy development in early childhood educational settings. In addition, lessons learned from creating such educational opportunities in the context of their various locations (Manitoba in Canada, Kent in England, and Escambia County, FL in U.S.A.) are discussed. A purposeful sample was used as these countries have relatively low levels of educational requirements for ECEs, yet children start attending early years’ education from the earliest life points (Howells & Sääkslahti, 2019).

Lifelong movement and physical activity (PA) patterns develop during early childhood. Therefore, educators (teachers and practitioners) in early childhood education and care (ECEC) should provide opportunities to support children’s play, PA, and movement development. The World Health Organization (2019) offers new recommendations for PA, for children under five years. The guidelines do not specify the ways ECEC staff can support PA through play. Therefore, this paper investigates, how physical play (PP) is enacted globally. An international policy and practice analysis of twelve countries, (Australia [Victoria], Belgium [Flanders], Canada [Alberta], China, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, UK [England] and USA) was completed by analyzing the ECEC curricula and their implementation in different cultural contexts. A content analysis was undertaken by AIESEP Early Years SIG experts revealing that PP was not clearly defined. When defined, it was described as PA, and important for children’s holistic development. The majority of curricula did not state the length/time for PP. Three main strategies for implementing PP were found: a) pedagogical framework; b) active learning methods; and c) motor development. This international analysis highlights the global need for better ECEC staff support in acknowledging and implementing PP to aid children’s overall development, PA and wellbeing.

This study examined ECE student teachers' metaphors about the teacher, children, and ECEC centre at the beginning of the study in 1992, 2008, 2013, and 2017. Similarities and differences were also explored. The theoretical overview of metaphors and metaphor studies formed the basis for the study. 122 voluntary students participated in the study. Data were collected using metaphors and open-ended questions and analysed using content analysis. Students emphasized the teacher as a mother and leader of a child group. Children were highlighted as seedlings and friends. ECEC centre was stressed as a children's playground and home. The study found that students placed very little emphasis on learning and cognitive challenges and ignored negative views. Differences were also found. The students of 1992 and 2008 emphasized the teacher as the leader of the child group and as the children's friend. Children were also highlighted as a herd of wild foals and monkeys. ECEC centre was emphasized as a summer camp. The students of 2013 and 2017 emphasized the teacher as a lighthouse and a mainstay of flowers. Children were highlighted as flowers, blank paper, play dough, bringers of joy, and as their own children. Metaphors offer educators a tool that helps students analyse their views and experiences about themselves, children, and ECEC centre. Educators can help students explore positive and negative metaphors, generate new metaphors, and thus develop professionally.

Previous studies have reviewed positive correlations between the formal education levels of educators in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) centres and the quality of interactions, but the findings have not been consistent (Early et al., 2007; Manning et al., 2017). Moreover, informal learning processes seem to be important too (Pianta et al., 2016). The present paper addresses this and explores how education levels of ECEC staff, years of service, and the frequency of team meetings relate to the quality of interactions in Austrian centre-based settings for children under 3 years. The interaction quality was measured among early childhood educators and assistants (N = 116) using the Graz Scale of Interaction Quality for Children between 0 and 3 years (GrazIAS 0-3) (Walter-Laager, Flöter et al., 2019). The results of multiple regression models indicate that the frequency of team meetings strongly positively correlates with both the subscales of interaction quality, 'ensure relationships and wellbeing' and 'support learning'. Further, the level of education of the ECEC staff and their years of service positively correlate with the subscale 'support learning' with low-to-medium effect sizes. The findings also suggest that team meetings might be important for increasing the quality of interactions at ECEC centres.