This paper reviews the literature concerning differences in the linguistic style of girls/boys in everyday interactions, and presents empirical data from a study with Greek school children. Two age groups were studied, 6.5 years (N=100) and 9.5 years (N=100), respectively. Everyday life situations were presented, asking children to express what…

Researchers have made convincing arguments for the benefits of a smooth transition to school. The passage through this significant social change may have a lasting influence on children's progress. For example, social, emotional and academic difficulties in the early years of schooling have been shown to persist through school and into…

In this article, some findings from a study of teachers introducing poetry-making to children in the early years (children two to eight years-old) are reported. Empirical examples are analysed in terms of the poetic aspects that come into play when trying to construct poems and the challenges this presents to the children. Finally, some…

In this article we analyse a didactical situation centred on the creation and use of a symbolic play environment in a class of pupils aged five and six years-old. The main source of data for this paper comes from an experimentation planned in relation to the following research question: does symbolic play in simulated contexts help pupils to…

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,…

This article promotes a psychosocial perspective that proposes that relational activities are an enriching factor in pupils' social learning. This study offers a model of intervention, using activities that promote peer-relations among preschoolers. The activities share several characteristics including: (a) being designed to be appropriate for…

This paper presents a case study of a young child, demonstrating evidence of a connection between "enveloping" objects and understanding presence and absence of a temporary and permanent nature. The starting point for the researcher was: an interest in identifying schemas or repeated patterns in order to understand cognitive development and; a…

In this paper I examine the Nordic model, i.e. a child-centred and holistic approach, in order to discuss Early Childhood Education (ECE) as a key policy instrument for fighting social inequality. Since 1999 it has been an important goal for the Danish government to ensure equal opportunities for all by starting with early intervention. This is…

Transition from home to kindergarten is the first and major ecological transition in children's educational lives in Hong Kong. In this transition, children cross a cultural boundary from home to kindergarten and start to learn about "school" as a place to learn and about themselves as "pupils" in kindergarten. The conceptual framework of this…

The article presents the findings of the comparative survey on attitudes (beliefs, preferences) of 222 Slovenian and 230 Finnish early childhood teachers (Turnsek 2005). They have completed the questionnaire on aspect of democratisation of early childhood education, which consisted of attitude (Likart) scales and questions of ranking the…

This paper explores the language experiences of preverbal infants in Australian childcare centres with the aim of examining cultural regulation within the childcare context. Language is defined as a social and communicative act that is related to the development of voluntary action (Vygotsky 1962; Lock 1980; Leontiev 1994). The study uses…

Recent developments in early childhood education in the UK and other parts of Europe have emphasised the importance of dialogue between adults and children. In the UK, the EPPE project paid particular attention to the role of extended child-centred conversations ("sustained shared thinking"--Sylva et al. 2003) as an important element or indicator…

Societal conditions impacting on parenting have radically changed during the past two decades. There is variation between and within societies depending on social, cultural, political and economic factors. Today, Early Childhood and Care (ECEC) services play an increasingly important role in supporting families with young children during birth to…

This study investigated the modes of representations generated by kindergarteners and first graders while solving standard and problematic problems in mathematics. Furthermore, it examined the influence of pupils' visual representations on the breach of the didactical contract rules in problem solving. The sample of the study consisted of 38…

This article focuses on why children involve teachers in their play and learning in early childhood education. The main question is: For what reasons might children invite teachers to take part in their play? The data consists of video-observations of children from eight preschools and one primary school. In the analysis we find five categories in…