International reports on early childhood education and care tend to attach increasing importance to workforce profiles. Yet a study of 15 European countries reveals that large numbers of (assistant) staff remain invisible in most international reports. As part of the CoRe project (Competence Requirements in Early Childhood Education and Care) we…

The close connection between the quality of provision for young children and professionalisation of the field has long been supported by international research. That the two are inseparable aspects of one picture is beginning to become accepted at European policy level, as evident in recent high level EU policy documents. This article explores the…

We analyse both academic literature and practice reports to discover the main causes for unequal accessibility of high quality early childhood care and education (ECEC). In order to understand and to remedy this inequality we need to consider the interplay between elements of governance, of the management of services and elements on the level of…

The present study illustrates that social support in ECEC settings can take place across several socio-economical and cultural borders. The presence of children as brokers of relations plays a fundamental role in the creation of social networks, in the processes of parenting support and community building. "Free confrontations" between…

We provide a historical (genealogical) study of the changes in discourses on adult education since the famous UNESCO conference in Montreal, to present day texts of the European Union on lifelong learning. We also analyse how these changing global discourses on lifelong learning have travelled--through the hegemony of English language--to local…

Praxeological research is a necessary contribution to the research field in early childhood education and care, which is currently dominated by an evidence-based paradigm that tends to consider the measurement of predefined outcomes as the most valid form of research. We analyse the history of the evidence-based paradigm in the field of medicine…

In a small-scale study we analyse the narratives of three recently-arrived immigrant mothers with young children, making use of child care. Drawing on post-foundational theories and third-wave feminism, the analysis of these narratives enables us to look at how issues of diversity, democracy and citizenship are shaped in micro-events of daily…

New developments and challenges regarding early childhood education (ECE) policy and practice in Norway and in the Flemish and French communities in Belgium are presented in this issue. There are clear differences between the countries when comparing systems they have chosen for ECE. In Belgium, supervision and responsibilities for education,…

The articles draws on history-of-the-present research on Belgian childcare, on experiences within the European DECET network (Diversity in Early Childhood Education and Training) and on post-structuralist theory. A historical hindsight is helpful to understand how different discourses on diversity and equity in early childhood education have been…