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…

Based on the occurrence of modernization and globalization in Chinese society over the last few decades, the content of 145 stories, published in the most popular Chinese children's story magazine from the 1980s to the present, were examined for the representation of cultural values. The presence of Chinese, Western and social-moral values in…

Despite well-articulated social inclusionist and anti-bias agendas in early childhood, the needs of young gifted children in prior-to-school settings appear to have been neglected. The purpose of this paper is to examine the tensions and contradictions that seem to exist between educators working in the fields of early childhood education and…

Building on the premise that societal sustainability depends on mental and behavioural sustainability, this paper provides a framework within which the complex challenges of sustainable early childhood education in the majority world is discussed. The work contends that entrepreneurial mindsets priming is a viable component of early childhood…

Since the end of the 1980:s when OECD published the Brundtland report, in which the concept of sustainable development as a critical global issue was introduced, the role of education for global survival has been frequently discussed and explored, by politicians as well as researchers. In school curricula and educational practice, efforts have…

The following recommendations for "Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)" in Early Childhood Education were the product of an extended international collaboration that was supported by a number of bodies including the Centre for Environment and Sustainability in Gothenburg, the Swedish Ministry of Education and Research, the Swedish National…

This paper makes the case that Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) offers the field of early childhood a valuable base upon which to begin addressing some substantial contemporary concerns. In the paper, we outline key recent developments in the field of early childhood, particularly those related to globalization and the spread of…

Climate change and sustainability are issues of global significance. While other education sectors have implemented education for sustainability for many years, the early childhood sector has been slow to take up this challenge. This position paper poses the question: Why has this sector been so slow to engage with sustainability? Explanations are…

This paper argues that Chinese value of "He" (13158_2009_BF03168877_f1.jpg) or Harmony can contribute to understanding sustainable development as the concept encompasses the relationships between human and nature (ecological sustainability), and between human and human (social and economic sustainability). This interconnectedness with the "other"…

Ideas of sustainable development, globalization and global citizenship raise questions about justice, rights, responsibility and caring for human beings and the world. Interest in the role of education for sustainable development has increased during the last decades, however little attention has been directed to early education. Even if the moral…

The focus of this article is on ten 5-year-old children and their teacher visiting a "Way of the water" exhibition (a large scale model showing the flow of water from the mountains to the sea) at a science centre and a later follow up discussion at a circle-time back at pre-school. The aims of the study were to analyse, describe and discuss (a)…

This ethnographic case study follows the trajectory of one child's learning disposition, reciprocity, and its relationship to the "learning architecture" of her early childhood and primary school learning environments, over eighteen months. Learning dispositions are coping strategies or habits of mind, and tendencies to respond to and select from…

Preschool teachers share their environment with young children on a daily basis and interventions promoting social competence are generally carried out in the preschool setting. The aim was to find out if and how preschool teachers' definitions of social competence are related to factors in the preschool environment like: a) the number of children…

The present study examined the moral development of Lebanese 1st graders. Interviews with sixty-three Lebanese children (28 girls and 35 boys, ages 6-7.5) were analysed for the study. The children (25 Christian and 38 Muslim) were interviewed about moral dilemmas children of this age might encounter in their daily life. The data revealed that…