Early childhood education in China has a dynamic history of educational reform. The objective of this study was to examine kindergarten teachers' current perceptions of educational philosophies and practices. As a consequence of globalization, researchers also examined what teachers perceived their international colleagues should understand…

This international research project examined the value of utilizing an early childhood program assessment instrument as a tool for in-service professional development and self-reflection for kindergarten teachers in Parma, Italy. Teacher educators from universities in Italy and the USA conducted the study collaboratively. Goals of the study were…

"Starting Strong" (2001) and "Starting Strong II" (2006), the OECD Reports on early childhood education services in 20 countries, emphasized the need for governments to take steps to integrate early childhood education and care services: child care and kindergarten in particular. Integration has become a policy agenda that…

This study examined the relationship between special health care needs and social-emotional and learning competence in the early years, reporting on two waves of data from the Kindergarten Cohort of "Growing up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children" (LSAC). Six hundred and fifty children were identified through the…

Voucher systems are based on the theoretical assumption that giving parents a choice of schools subjects institutions to the mechanism of market forces, which, in turn, pushes them to reform their services. While the ability of parents to make sound educational choices on behalf of their children is questioned by opponents of school choice,…

Research on toddlers' mathematical knowledge is sparse. Studies on children's mathematical competencies before school age have mostly focused on older children. Few of the previous studies have included large groups of toddlers, few have been conducted in natural settings, and few have been directed at a broad field of mathematical knowledge. The…

Learning study has been used by many to develop exemplary teaching in school, and this approach has recently been adopted for use in kindergarten as well. When using such approaches in different settings than they were intended for, several challenges potentially arise. This article discusses the implementation of a learning study approach in a…

Traditionally, play has been viewed as the guiding pedagogical practice for kindergartens in most industrialised countries. Central to this approach has been a strong belief in free play. As governments are spending more money on early childhood education, many Western countries are demanding greater learning outcomes for preschool aged children.…

Discussion of learning in the kindergarten context is growing both in Norway and internationally. This article focuses on some central aspects of learning described by groups of children aged 4-6 years, in three Norwegian kindergartens. The research concerns children's descriptions of aspects of learning experienced in their everyday life in…

The aim of this article is to provide a review of research on the youngest children (0-3) in Norwegian kindergartens. The review deals with research from the last two decades. The article also discusses critical initiatives related to implications of the research findings, and points in conclusion to some challenges of the role of research in…

The purpose of this study was to assess 81 kindergarten teachers' pedagogical content knowledge of mathematics on six subcategory areas such as number sense, pattern, ordering, shapes, spatial sense, and comparison. The data showed participants possessed a higher level of pedagogical content knowledge of "number sense" (M = 89.12) compared to…

China launched a top-down curriculum reform in kindergartens in the 1980s. In order to examine the influence of this reform, this study compared the similarities and differences in curricular practices in kindergartens with different sponsoring bodies in Shanxi province. Altogether, 26 principals and 95 teachers in 50 classrooms from 26…

Educational authorities in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of China introduced an early childhood education voucher system in 2007 with two implicit goals: to turn profit kindergartens into non-profit ones and to curtail parental choice. This initiative has caused a great deal of controversy locally and internationally, so the…

This article examines how kindergarten-children are differentiated and segregated through vocal practices and processes. The analysis is based on empirical data, which originate from a long ethnographic fieldwork in Denmark. The author presents two different language tones: "a teaching tone and an exchange tone" and shows a pattern in the ways the…

All schools in Hong Kong were closed in April 2003 to prevent the spread of SARS. This paper considers the influence of the SARS epidemic on children's routines and behaviour when preschools re-opened, after a six-week closure. Observations were made in 20 kindergartens and principals of another 10 kindergartens completed questionnaires. The…