School readiness evaluations are becoming increasingly popular, and their implementation has become compulsory in an increasing number of kindergartens and schools in Hungary. In recent years, Diagnostic System for Evaluating Development (DIFER), developed by Nagy et al. has been used extensively for the diagnostic study of four- to eight-year-old…

The voluntary after-school setting is a significant part of the educational system in Sweden and includes about 80% of the children from 6- to 9-years-old. The national curriculum stipulates that the setting should not carry on teaching, but provide a stimulating and safe environment and offer activities that support the development of values,…

The aim of this study is to analyse resilience displayed by young children in dyadic task performance situations. Data were collected by videotaping children (aged six to seven years; N?=?40) during a geometrical task performance. Results describe ways in which children confronted the challenges during task performance, and the order in which the…

The present study aims to investigate Turkish kindergarten teachers' beliefs toward learning and teaching and their current instructional practices in kindergarten classrooms. To this end, teacher interviews and classroom observations were conducted with 28 kindergarten teachers. The interview results showed that teachers did not realize the…

When children move from preschool to primary school in Germany, this involves a transition between two distinct systems with regard to political responsibility. Following Rimm-Kaufman and Pianta's (2000) ecological and dynamic model of transition, the research project focuses on the perspectives of parents and professionals on the learning…

In South Africa, the development of the 2001 White Paper No. 5 on Early Childhood Development (ECD) has been an instrumental policy in the development of changes to assist in preparing children for formal schooling, along with a strong focus on early childhood education. However the extent to which these are being enacted is relatively unknown.…

This article reports on the first phase of a research project in which we looked for the voices of young children, aged 5 to 6, in school. What do children experience in school? What do they see as the meaning of school? What is their motivation? Children have the right to be listened to. The question is which settings, under which circumstances,…

There are an increasing number of international sociocultural studies exploring how variances of practice and environment impact upon childhoods. This article is intended to inform the process of selecting settings for comparative study by reflecting on two separate studies of groups which initially appear to be examples of similar services…

This study investigates the process of praxiological transformation developed in an early childhood education institution, in Portugal, within four activity rooms. It is a single case study using action research, context-based staff development and participatory childhood pedagogy as means to change educational practices. It undertakes thorough…

This paper reports the outcomes of a set of action research projects carried out by teacher researchers in 14 local education authorities in England, working collaboratively with university tutors, over a period of three years. The common aim of all the projects was to explore practical ways of nurturing the gifts and talents of children aged…

In this article we will discuss the outdoor environment for younger children with the help of two different concepts. The first concept, affordance, is well known in the discussion about outdoor environments. What the affordance in the outdoor environment is perceived as can differ between actors. How the affordance is used can be another source…

The research question addressed in this paper is: What specific elements in the outdoor environment draw children's attention? The new approach to Welsh early years education--the "Foundation Phase: Framework for children aged 3-7 years in Wales" (DCELLS 2008)--requires the inclusion of both teacher-led and child-initiated activities and…

Based on theory and research, social aspects like friendship and sense of relatedness are fundamental in the development of children's cultural identity and achievement of outcomes. It is argued that this is a motivational aspect often neglected in research studies focusing on students' motivation and learning. Theory and research on motivation…

Storytelling reflects children's pragmatic language ability, which develops rapidly in early childhood and is related to various characteristics of the child's environment. This study examines the effect of preschool, maternal education and quality of the home environment on children's storytelling skills. The sample included 229 Slovenian…

This paper examines the current use of interactive whiteboards in the teaching and learning of children aged three to seven years in Wales, UK. It considers both teachers' and children's reflections regarding the use of this "novel" technology. Observations in 30 classrooms with interactive whiteboards (IWB) and interviews with teachers and…