This study examined the relationship between attention problems and expressive language and academic readiness skills in preschool-aged children from middle-class families. Forty-three children (44% female) were assessed individually for expressive language skills and knowledge of basic academic concepts (e.g. colours, letters and numbers). The…

Family literacy studies have shown that the role of parental storybook reading has an impact on children's success in school-based literacy instruction. Storybook reading is when adults read an appropriate text to their children. This review describes studies in which parents and children engage in storybook reading. It specifically reports…

The study investigated how Taiwanese mothers with different socioeconomic statuses (SES) co-constructed personal experience with their children in narrative conversations. Forty dyads recruited in Taiwan participated in the study, half from middle-class families and half from the working-class. Narrative conversations in Mandarin Chinese were…

Transgenerational effects of alcohol on mothers' and children's intellectual functioning has been examined in 22 families from very deprived environments. Their psychosocial outcomes and IQ level were evaluated in a follow-up study on average seven years after they left the support group of a day-care centre for young children; school data were…

This study employed mother-child playgroups as a context for examining mothers' supervision of child-peer interactions and children's adaptation to a new peer-group setting. Six playgroups, consisting of quartets of mothers and their 24- to 54-month-old children (n = 23), were observed in ten 90-minute sessions. All mothers attended the first two…

The current study extends a recent workforce development programme evaluation and examines the relationship between ongoing success in the three-year programme and participants' educational attainment, professional activities and several employment factors. Three hundred and twenty-seven teaching staff and 92 directors from 99 child care centres…

The objective of this study was to examine the effects of variations in presentation of play materials on social behaviour of 18- to 30-month-old children. The study group included 102 children attending infant and toddler classes in 14 public childcare centres in Israel. Play materials were presented to the children either in a suggestive manner…

Eating behaviours begin to develop during early childhood, but relatively little is known about preschoolers' nutrition knowledge. The current study examined age and gender differences in this knowledge using two tasks: food group classification and the creation of unhealthy, healthy and preferred meals. Sixty-nine three- to six-year-old children…

It is clear that teacher qualifications significantly affect the quality of teaching beliefs and education provided to young children and that higher qualifications in preschool teachers have both short- and long-term positive effects on their students. This study was built on pre-existing literature and new data to analyse the current…

This study investigated how and when teachers used music in preschool classrooms throughout the day. Direct classroom observations were conducted to determine preschool teachers' use of music in four Head Start classrooms and one private preschool classroom for a total of 24 hours of observation in each classroom. Music was observed to be used 6.5…

Preschool-aged children are aware of differences in the race and abilities of the people around them. Given this awareness it is important to promote children's acceptance of diversity in the preschool period. The goals of this study were to assess the extent to which child care centres provide diversity instruction through classroom activities,…

In this study, 12 physicians and 12 care-givers were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. We explored physicians' experiences when they revealed a diagnosis. We also tried to understand which family members the physician was thinking of, with whom they identified themselves, and their first choice of the person to whom they prefer to…

This study investigated the relationship between home and kindergarten with regard to helping children with reading in Jordan. Interviews with parents of four- to five-year-old kindergarten students (n = 40) and their teachers (n = 20) were conducted. Results indicated that, although there was cooperation between parents and teachers, the role of…

Children's interest in exploration is the hallmark of their curiosity. As people who are significant in organising children's environment, how teachers and parents respond to children's exploratory behaviours may promote or hinder the child's desire for further investigation. With reference to Kurt Lewin's concept of "total situation", various…

The purpose of this study was to investigate, analyse and describe preschool staff's concepts of children's participation in everyday preschool life, as well as preschool staff's experiences and concepts of what characterises the children who participate. Furthermore, it addresses the conditions that preschool staff consider as crucial in…