This study aimed to investigate the effect of curriculum-generated play instruction on the mathematics teaching efficacy of early childhood education pre-service teachers. The study used a one group pre-test/post-test experimental research design, supported by a qualitative approach. The participants of the study consisted of 35 pre-service…

This article analyses how the sustainability culture has evolved in the early childhood education setting within the Spanish education system with official documents and the sustainability training received by teachers who intervene in this stage of education since these teachers' degrees have been adapted to the European Higher Education…

Research on professional identity places various emphasis on the influence of internal or external components (Beijaard, Meijer and Verloop 2004; McGillivray 2008; Osgood 2010), which can create tension between the normative and subjective view of what it means to be a particular type of professional. This small scale research sought to uncover…

In this article, a comparative approach is applied to two programmes of study for the education of early childhood pedagogues. One of the terms of our comparison is the University of Bremen's Bachelor of Arts degree in "subject related educational sciences," while the other is the programme offered by Aristotle University of Thessaloniki's…

The practicum is an integral component of teacher education courses, but culturally and linguistically diverse pre-service teachers can face particular struggles in meeting assessment requirements on the practicum in early childhood settings. This paper reports from a small, exploratory study of early childhood practicum handbooks from four…

Set mainly in a UK context between 2003-2007, this article presents selected findings from a doctoral study, Companionable Learning: The Development of Resilient Well-being from Birth to Three; and from a series of subsequent studies carried out in English settings. Two questions have been explored: firstly, what are the interdependent components…

This article discusses the different ways in which students and preschool teachers at two Swedish universities interpret the concept of professionalism. Data for this article are drawn from a study conducted in two different urban areas of Sweden which explored the following four questions: (1) What does the concept of professionalism imply for…

Robust leadership is increasingly recognised as a critical element of healthy professions, yet some research suggests that early childhood practitioners do not readily identify with the concept of leadership. This article explores some dimensions of leadership in early childhood and how it is understood and practised in Australian early childhood…

The role of a practicum supervisor of early childhood students has received limited research attention in discussions of professional practice in this field. This article discusses four phases in the author's personal journey towards professionalism in this role. The phases reflect an ongoing research-practice cycle: Phase 1 involved a research…

This article is one of a series of articles to evaluate the National Professional Qualification in Integrated Centre Leadership (NPQICL) during a national rollout in 2005 in England. It explores the experiences of the tutors who delivered the programme. The informants were eight academic tutors who teach in seven universities and four tutors who…

This article draws on two small-scale pieces of research that investigated the views of twenty-five final year students in the BA Early Childhood Studies programme at a Scottish university, and the views of ten recent graduates about early years job titles and perceptions of professionalism. Pen-and-paper questionnaires were used in both studies,…

In many European heritage early childhood education communities cultural-historical theory has become increasingly influential for informing practice. Yet one of the major challenges facing the field has been the slow mobilisation of new theory into practice. This paper reports on a study of 40 early childhood pre-service students as they moved…

This article draws on research with the student cohort in one of the early childhood teacher education programmes at the University of Western Sydney, Australia. It explores students' perceptions of a flexible and blended pedagogy, or "heutagogy" which combines online work with face-to-face lectures and tutorials. Research into teaching and…

The overall intention of this project is to establish a learning community consisting of student teachers, their supervisors in day care institutions and the university teachers in preschool teacher education. In this article we focus on the Educational Forums established to develop a local base of common knowledge in the field of early childhood…

A key policy response to continuing concerns about levels of poverty and social exclusion in the United Kingdom has been the promotion of integrated children's services, involving professionals from education, social work, health and other fields working together on an inter-agency basis. This small-scale qualitative research project, using an…