The emotional side of the mind, which expresses itself through emotions, sentiments and moods, plays an important role in human existence because it conditions our own way of being in the world. On this premise, a qualitative research with children was undertaken in order to facilitate the expression of the emotions. The participants were children…

The current study was conducted with groups of first grade children (aged six years) in two primary schools in Reykjavik in an endeavour to ascertain how they recalled and reconstructed their playschool experiences. The children's playschool teachers were co-researchers participating in the data generation; they were, at the same time participants…

The first part of this article reports a project in which children were consulted about ways to improve transition to school. Children from 14 schools and prior-to-school settings collaborated with their peers and teachers to plan, implement and document transition to school. Children attending school reflected on their own experiences while…

The policies and administration of early education and support for social development constantly need re-defining, or re-inspiring, by taking into account the perspective of a young child. They must acknowledge the intuitive abilities and values, and growing initiatives that are present in the child from birth and that motivate learning. Innate…

The study proposes an analysis of the processes through which the material and symbolic features of the setting and the activities of the educators interact to determine the children's experience in an early educational centre. This analysis is of particular interest with regard to both educational practice and understanding developmental…

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…

Democracy is at the core of the beliefs, values and principles of Pedagogy-in-Participation, the pedagogical perspective of the Childhood Association which is based in Portugal. Thus, it is proposed that early childhood education centres should be organised for democracy to constitute, simultaneously, an end and a mean, i.e. to constitute a…

The aim of the Kangaroo research project was to enhance the well-being of children under three years of age in Finnish day-care centres. In this experimental intervention study adults were encouraged to take a more sensitive and active role especially during "free play." In six Kangaroo groups and five control groups adults (N = 28) and children…

This article addresses the accompaniment of early childhood professionals in the French Community of Belgium, during the implementation of new curricular frameworks for children under three years of age. It provides a critical analysis of the risks of standardisation arising from the development of quality tools, when such tools are not…

This research aims to develop instruments to assess language development in under-3s and the adult interventions that support it. After an extensive literature search, observations were conducted in 17 groups of children spread over two day-care centres. In total 42 children were observed during a 30-minute slot and 25 adults during a half day.…

According to the findings of several studies, parents' assessments of their toddler's language are valid and reliable evaluations of children's language competence, especially at early development stages. This study examined whether preschool teachers, who spend a relatively great deal of time with toddlers in various preschool activities and…

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of early educational quality on children's cortisol levels. It was hypothesised that the environmental stressors might load children's immature stress regulative systems thus affecting their diurnal cortisol levels. The study sample consisted of 146 preschool-aged children. Cortisol was measured…

This study investigated the ability of 23 kindergarten children to construct stories drawing upon genre conventions in order to differentiate simple narrative stories, a familiar and often-visited genre in the kindergarten literacy classroom, and humorous stories, familiar to the children's literacy experiences mostly outside official literacy…

There is a growing concern within the early childhood education sector to empower parents to support the education of young children. Research has shown the importance of home support in early childhood learning and development. Working within the context of a school improvement project, the researcher responded to parents' concerns towards…

Empirical literature acknowledges the importance and benefits of inclusive education. However, cautions have been noted in the literature with respect to providing children with disabilities with appropriate opportunities to learn new skills in inclusive settings. One approach that has been used in early childhood special education to provide…