The COVID-19 pandemic posed major challenges for the lives of children in terms of school closures, loss of routine, reduced social contact, bereavement and trauma. The pandemic also gave rise to a focus on play as a fundamental support for children's wellbeing. This study examined early childhood teachers' reported practices of using play upon…

In unprecedented times, the global community is calling for greater knowledge and engagement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to support the decision making and practices of the general community. COVID-19 has highlighted this pressing need and inviting a 'new normal'. But STEM is not the core business of early childhood.…

An international contemporary challenge for early childhood teachers is to integrate digital media in preschool. Research indicates that teachers have concerns regarding the use of digital media in preschool, especially in relation to play. In this study, we explore how an early childhood education and care (ECEC) work team takes on this challenge…

In studies of classroom discourse in early childhood education and care (ECEC), a dominance of the communicative pattern of initiation, response, follow-up (IRF) is shown, and a need of knowledge about extensive dialogue for meaning making is argued. In the present study, communication between children and teacher(s) in play is consider as a form…

The use of standardized assessment tools for the evaluation of quality in early childhood education and care (ECEC) is on the rise, yet a greater understanding of the applicability of these tools across contexts is still needed. This study investigates the factor structure of two assessment tools, the Classroom Assessment Scoring System Pre-K…

Young children encounter a diverse range of written and multimodal texts in their play and everyday lives. Prior to formal education, children may not be considered 'readers' or 'writers' in the conventional sense, yet nonetheless, they engage creatively and agentively in everyday literacies. However, little is known about the motives and…

Young children use, engage with, and experience digital technologies in their home and early childhood settings, yet their presence and use can be fraught with tensions and uncertainties. This paper reports on an Australian study focusing on how early childhood teachers perceive and manage parental concerns about their child's digital technology…

Being part of a peer group and feeling a sense of belonging increases the well-being of children in early childhood education and care (ECEC). Still, children face exclusion and rejection by peers. This study examined children's peer exclusion experiences in pre-primary school settings, investigating children's voices and perspectives through…

Contextual approaches to high quality Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) seek to capture the complexity of children's lives, developing pedagogical approaches that are responsive to children's needs and interests. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic provided a complex layer to the question of what constitutes quality ECEC. A mixed methods…

Research that uses innovative approaches to elicit the views of young children has grown hugely over the last 20 years. Against a backdrop of a greater acceptance of children's rights and sociological approaches to understanding children and childhood, with their combined emphasis on the competences and capacities of children, it is now accepted…

This case study explores how an emergent bilingual preschooler used transmodal practices to engage with objects and compose narratives in sociodramatic play. Video recordings and field notes were collected in a dual language preschool classroom in the United States to examine the actional, verbal, and visual modes used by the focal child during…

In 1998, Sturrock and Else introduced the Play Cycle which has been integrated into both playwork theory and practice. An online survey with 157 responses found that playworkers' understanding Play Cycle varied to how they were first introduced to the theory. In addition, understandings of the six elements of the Play Cycle were significantly…

Within the education academic arena, there is almost no established research on the alternative Waldorf (or Steiner) education movement in the US or UK. This primary research investigates Rudolf Steiner's philosophy of early childhood Waldorf education, and its child-centered and inclusive core. Ten kindergarten teachers in the US and UK educating…

As school authorities strive toward inclusive models of education for children with neurodevelopmental delay and disability (NDD), many kindergarten curricula have mandated pedagogy centered on learning through play. Children with NDD tend to experience greater social isolation and lower rates of social play engagement compared to typically…

Intergenerational playgroups purposively bring older people, young children and their caregivers together to engage in play and develop reciprocal relationships. Intergenerational research focuses on the benefits for participants, with much less known about how these programmes sustain. This paper discusses and explores programme sustainability…