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This article seeks to contribute to an early childhood specific conceptualisation of physics education. The article is a collaboration between a researcher in science education and two preschool teachers and revolves around the teachers’ work with 2–4 year old children. Grounded in a posthumanist understanding of the world, we focus on physics learning that emerge in children’s intra-actions with material. In our analysis, we first use ‘physics verbs’ to identify everyday intra-actions where physical phenomena act as ‘playmates’. For instance, the verbs climbing and clinging point at intra-actions where gravity and counterforce act as playmates. Next, we seek to identify signs of children’s physics learning within these intra-actions. Our findings suggest that emergent physics learning can be inferred from changing levels of trust in child-matter intra-actions. For example, children may move from distrustfully clinging onto a railing, towards trustingly pushing and pulling the railing to climb higher. The article provides pioneering conceptual support for researchers and teachers who seek to identify non-verbal signs of physics learning in the everyday life of early childhood settings.

This study investigated the concept, role and potential of intergenerational learning (IGL) as a pedagogical strategy in five Irish early childhood education (ECE) services, through exploring the perspectives on IGL of educators (5), children (70) and their parents (43). Informed by socio-cultural theories of learning and aligned to key principles of IGL, a qualitative methodological approach was adopted. Data was gathered using semi-structured interviews with educators, ‘draw and talk’ strategies with children and informal written feedback with parents. Key findings demonstrated that children’s happiness, socio-emotional competences and executive functions, all key elements of successful learning and living, were strongly supported through IGL, reinforcing its potential as a relational pedagogy (Papatheodorou, T., and J. Moyles. 2009. Learning Together in the Early Years: Exploring Relational Pedagogy. London: Routledge.). Additionally, IGL created rich opportunities for children’s participation and contribution as citizens in communities, underscoring the potential of IGL as a strong and transformative pedagogical strategy (Sánchez, M., J. Sáez, P. Díaz, and M. Campillo. 2018. “Intergenerational Education in Spanish Primary Schools: Making the Policy Case.” Journal of Intergenerational Relationships 16 (1-2): 166–183.) for Irish ECE services.

The workforce in early childhood education and care (ECEC) is highly gender-segregated with a majority of women. Gender-sensitive professionalization is regarded a way to recruit more men, but there is a call for more empirical research into perspectives that combines bodily aspects of gender, professionalization and men`s career choices. Applying the notion of embodied intersectionality, this article analyses narrative data from Nordic men with varying experience with formal ECEC education and work. It explores how embodied and intersectional experiences of ECEC work and professionalism emerge in the narratives and how embodied and intersectional experiences link to the men’s choices of entering, staying, or leaving ECEC. Such experiences appear in the narratives related to entry to and exit from formal ECEC education to parental cooperation and to professional play practices. The findings are discussed in relation to the professionalization of ECEC, professional exclusionary and inclusionary mechanisms and debates about ECEC professionalization. Men’s career choices in early childhood education and care–an embodied intersectionality perspective

Clinical relevance Physical activity is an essential part of childhood physical and mental development. Recent research identified visual problems associated with a sedentary lifestyle in children in Ireland. Background This study explored the association between visual function in children and their engagement with physical activities outside school. Methods Participants were 1,626 schoolchildren (728 aged 6–7 years, 898 old 12–13 years) in randomly selected schools in Ireland. Before data collection, parents/legal guardians of participants completed a standardised questionnaire reporting physical activity as no activity (mostly on screens), light activity (occasional walking/cycling), moderate activity (/week engaged in sports), or regular activity (>3hrs/week been involved in sports). Measurements included logMAR monocular visual acuities (with spectacles and pinhole), in the distance (3 m) and near (40 cm), stereoacuity (TNO stereo-test), cover test, and cycloplegic autorefraction (1% cyclopentolate). Results Controlling for confounders (socioeconomic disadvantage and non-White ethnicity), linear regression analysis revealed presenting distance visual acuity, near visual acuity, and stereoacuity were significantly better amongst participants who reported regular physical activity rather than moderate light or no activity in both 6–7-year-old and 12–13-year-old participants. Absence of clinically-significant refractive error (>−0.50D

This study aims to contribute knowledge about obstacles and opportunities for pedagogical continuity in science across early childhood education. We use activity theory to analyse individual interviews and group meetings with teachers from preschool (age 1–5), preschool class (age 6) and grade 1–3 (age 7–9) in three Swedish school units. The teachers’ descriptions of their science teaching indicate both obstacles and opportunities for pedagogical continuity. For example, all teachers want to establish an interest in, and foster a caring attitude to nature, a similarity that facilitates continuity. However, some crucial differences indicate obstacles. There is a shift concerning ownership; from following children’s initiatives in preschool in bodily and play based experiences towards an emphasis on pre-planned content, verbal knowledge and written documentation in grade 1–3. Our findings also suggest that teachers lack knowledge about each other's teaching and curricula. Hence, the conditions for pedagogical continuity largely rest upon what children share in the science class. We argue that there is need for an in-depth exchange of experiences, regarding content, teaching methods and frame factors, between teachers from different school forms.

Since a nationwide reform of pre-primary education in 2010, Ethiopia has experienced a massive expansion of pre-primary enrolment that increased ten-folds in six years. Our paper aims to assess the distribution of early literacy outcomes between children who attended preschool and those who did not and explore how that distribution has changed throughout the reform and by factors such as gender, location, and parental literacy. We find an overall increase in the achievement gaps associated with pre-primary participation between 2010 and 2016. There are also differential patterns in the learning gaps over the reform, with a particular disadvantage for rural students and a relative advantage for students with parents who are not literate. This study suggests that understanding a fuller picture of learning inequality is critical to designing policy to leave no one behind aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Anti-bias in early education is gaining importance, especially given the volatile social climate amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, Singapore preschools lack focus on anti-bias education despite be...

This paper describes the development of two nomination scales designed to measure parents’ and teachers’ perceptions of high academic potential among young children, and how the scores correlate with assessed high potential. Parents and teachers of 243 children (49% girls) taking part in the research project ‘Skoleklar’ responded to written surveys, and children were evaluated with specially designed assessments on tablet computers. Principal component analyses and confirmatory factor analyses revealed a seven-item solution for the teachers’ nomination scale and a four-item solution for the parents’ nominations scale that fitted the data well, and that correlated in the expected direction with assessed potential. The teacher scale had stronger correlations with assessed potential than the parent scale. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

This study aims to cement the link between systems thinking (ST) and education for sustainability by presenting an example of systems education for young children. A systems education guidebook foc...

In this study, we tested the effect of emotion-supported dialogic reading on word learning, story comprehension, and emotion recognition skills of 3–4 years old children. We conducted a within-subj...

Prior research has shown that touch has an important role in preschools. However, less is known about early childhood educators’ views on touch in their work. Hence, we ask what different views of ...

In recent decades, a global consensus has emerged that acknowledges that Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) requires systemic, cross-sectoral approaches. In this context, integrated early ch...

This paper reports on a praxeological investigation concerned with what conditions facilitate (or not) compassion in the daily life of one Pre-School community in England. With increasing concern f...

Early childhood education and care (ECE) type (e.g., center-based care, home-based care, informal care) and quantity (i.e., time spent in ECE) have been linked to observed behavioral challenges in ...

Currently, 3% of the early year's education workforce is male, a figure that has remained stubbornly resistant to change over the last four decades. Research has shown that support is key to increasing the number of male employees in this sector. In recent years, there has been an increase in the demand for male-only support activities, such as men-only training courses, or support groups. Whilst these methods are popular in order to establish gender-diverse workforces, an inherent danger is that single-sex support can exacerbate binary thinking and entrench gender differences. This paper explores the role of single-sex support in gender diversifying the early year's workforce and asks when, and for whom, such spaces may be effective or valuable. The discussion is based on data collected during the GenderEYE project, which aimed to look at strategies for, and understandings about, the recruitment and support of male early childhood education professionals.

The current research is an exploratory, qualitative study of Saudi parents’ perspectives on the use of touch screen tablets (i.e. iPads) to enhance learning outcomes for children with learning disa...

Although extensive research illustrates the numerous benefits associated with attending a high-quality early childhood education program, preschool-age Black boys are not equitable beneficiaries of...

Many current environmental problems occur on a planetary scale and their interrelationships are becoming increasingly complex. In order to solve these environmental problems, citizens must be aware...

Can early childhood education (ECE) support the societal language development of children from linguistically diverse backgrounds? This study examined how existing variation in classroom interactio...

The ten studies reported in this volume were conducted by researchers in diverse countries: three from Turkey, two from the U.K., and one each from Denmark, Norway, South Korea, Spain, and the Unit...

This article emerges from a stream of scholarship demonstrating the inadequacy of broad arguments favouring ‘neutrality’ as an alternative to ‘directive normative instruction’ in the early childhoo...

This paper describes how training school and clinical psychology graduate students in early childhood mental health consultation (ECMHC) has the potential to fill gaps in the ECMHC workforce, enhan...

The Counter Terrorism and Security Act (CTSA) in 2015 placed responsibilities for national security on Higher Education (HE) in England with implications for lecturers’ roles and responsibilities as they engage with students. The principal aim of this inquiry was to develop an understanding of lecturers’ pedagogy in the context of students’ academic study of Prevent in the fields of primary education and early childhood education (ECE). Panopticism was adopted as a theoretical lens to reveal the means by which the policy and structures of counter-terrorism reach into the university classroom. Subsequently, practitioner inquiry was applied as a method to examine the assumptions that underlie pedagogical decisions made by lecturers in this context. Findings from this small-scale inquiry indicate that lecturers held complex assumptions relating to both the aims of the CTSA and students’ agency as learners. Such assumptions informed the way lecturers modified pedagogy in their attempts to create spaces for students to construct critical knowledges of the implications of counter-terrorism policy. Within the literature on the implications of CTSA for pedagogy in HE, this article highlights the value of practitioner inquiry as a critical tool for research into teaching and learning in this context.

Early Childhood Education encompasses sophisticated, yet misunderstood practice. A misguided perception often portrays early childhood as a sector which is primarily focused on care in overly simplistic terms, often overshadowing the place of education and learning. It is this misconception that leads to key challenges in policymaking and enacting high-quality provision. You only need to look to the recent agenda to change staff to student ratios in baby rooms in England (Gaunt 2021), to realise that those outwith practice and the field, fail to perceive the complexity and intricacy associated with educating our youngest citizens. Those within the field know all too well, the multidimensional focus which is required to support young children's learning and development. The different 'selves' emulated by key Early Childhood staff are endless and Rose and Rogers (2012) articulate that at very least practitioners must assume the position of critical reflector, carer, communicator, facilitator, observer, assessor and creator. The varied roles required by staff go some way to articulating the vastly diverse content and contexts within which children learn in the first years of life. It positions Early Childhood Education as something far greater than the narrow focus on care, assumed by so many. The focus also moves far beyond specific curricular agendas or pedagogies. Instead, Early Childhood must be known for its attention to holistic development, supporting the whole child, their families and their communities.

The article presents the results of a large-scale Polish project aimed at examining the quality of early childhood education and care using the SACERS research tool. Although the SACERS scale consi...

This study examines whether My Math Academy, a digital game-based learning environment that provides personalized content and adaptive embedded assessments, can improve math knowledge of Transition...

Educating in and for diversity poses one of the greatest challenges in contemporary education that aims to be respectful of cultural diversity. This paper presents results of qualitative research t...

There is increasing pressure on Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings to align their practices and values to that of schools, with the notion that a quality education in ECEC consists ...

Although the benefits of early STEAM education are understood, science is seldom found in early childhood education. When included, it is often implemented with pedagogies that forget the play aspe...

In this paper we present a working manifesto that emerged from our projects with pedagogists – a new professional figure in the Canadian early childhood education context. Drawing on feminist schol...

This paper uses a framing derived from refugee and child rights conventions to analyse the positioning of young refugee children and their families in Aotearoa New Zealand’s resettlement policies, ...

The purpose of this literature review is to identify patterns and discuss key perspectives from empirical studies published during the last decade that explore how young children (birth to six years old) and teachers together engage with digital technologies in early childhood education and care institutions. An inductive thematic analysis results in five key perspectives: 1) digital play is real play; 2) disconnected contexts; 3) teachers’ knowledge and beliefs; 4) learning with and from technology; and 5) children as creators. The findings demonstrate the importance of defining digital technology in a broad way. Further, several of the articles highlight teachers’ reflections and judgements regarding how they can implement and embed digital technology into their pedagogical practice. Based on the findings, I suggest that a more explicit focus on digital technology be embedded into pedagogical practice in national ECEC curricula, as well as in national guidelines for EC teacher education.

The objective of this work was to take a close look at the profile of the digital competence of pre-service early childhood and primary school teachers. To this end, 200 students from Education deg...

The aim of this study was to determine the validity and reliability of the Movement Environment Rating Scale (MOVERS), using data from 13 early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. Test-re...

The establishment of educational policies both nationally and internationally has led to an increased awareness of inclusion for children with special educational needs. In Ireland, the development...

There has been a re-politicisation of the professional identity of English Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) teachers following revisions to the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum. Thi...

This is an accepted manuscript version of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Sport, Education and Society on 15 Aug 2021, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/13573322.2021.1966409

This article examines different rationalities for parental involvement in their children’s early childhood education and care (ECEC). Starting from Foucault’s governmentality and the context of the...

The present study investigated the role of music education in early childhood education and care (ECEC) in relation to the daily activities of children ages one to three, i.e. toddlers (N = 918) in...

There is a growing consensus in early childhood education and care (ECEC) that intentional teaching is pivotal for deep level learning, especially when teaching scientific concepts. However, intent...

In the development of early childhood education and care (ECEC) policy, it is important to understand parents’ decision-making in terms of both preferences and pragmatic constraints. Traditional da...

This study uses data from semi-structured interviews conducted with 44 early childhood education (ECE) staff and examines how knowledge dissemination processes operate in ECE centers, including how...

Teachers play a crucial role in promoting motor development in early childhood. A series of focus-group discussions was conducted with kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong to co-design movement activ...

This qualitative study sought to understand whether there were difference in how early childhood education (ECE) teachers who stayed in or left their jobs interpreted their job demands and resource...

This article presents an exploratory study of educational quality in Bulgarian kindergartens at a time the educational system undergoes significant transformations in aligning with the principles s...

Researchers have provided many arguments for why drawing may contribute to science learning. However, little is known about how teachers in early childhood education (ECE) make use of drawing for science learning purposes. This article examines how teachers’ views and framing of drawing activities influence the science learning opportunities afforded to children in the activities. We use activity theory to analyse teacher interviews and observation data from ten science classrooms (children aged 3–8 years) where drawing activities occurred. The interviews reveal that few of the teachers relate drawing to science learning specifically. Rather, they portray drawing as a component of variation in teaching and learning in general. Looking at what happens in the classrooms, we conclude that drawing has a relatively weak position as means of communicating and learning science. Instead, the teaching emphasis is on writing or on ‘making a product’. However, there are examples where teachers explicitly use drawing for science learning purposes. These teachers are the same few who, in interviews, relate drawing to science learning specifically. Based on these findings, we encourage school teachers, teacher educators, and researchers to identify, and overcome,obstacles to realising the pedagogical potentials of drawing in ECE science classrooms.

Much research is concerned with the contribution of middle-level management in the education system. Yet, little research has been devoted to investigating supervisors’ considerations in outlining ...

The aim is to contribute knowledge about educators' beliefs about children's belonging in early childhood education. The study applies parts of Nira Yuval Davis's theory about the politics of belon ...