Government guidelines are demanding greater educational outcomes and intentional teaching in Australian preschools. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a study of how children incorporate concepts into child-initiated play. A cohort of 18 children (aged 3.0-5.8, mean age of 4.8) were digitally observed over seven weeks…

The advancement of inclusive education policies worldwide has given greater weight to social justice practices in educational settings. However, inclusion in preschools has received less attention from researchers. This article examines a 4-year-old child's participation in a mainstream preschool in Australia from a cultural-historical…

A chorus of young voices sang along with a video clip of the YouTube version of "Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes" being played as the introduction for an art activity. A university student led the art lesson as part of a special topics course that provided art experiences for preschool-aged children enrolled in the therapeutic…

Technology is moving faster than teachers and children can keep up with. "Teaching in the Digital Age" guides teachers of preschool and kindergarten aged children toward integrating technology across the curriculum so it can have an authentic, meaningful, and developmentally appropriate impact on children's exploration and learning. Full…

High-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) is related to childrens' socioemotional and cognitive development, and the most important aspect regarding quality in ECEC is staff's interpersonal or interactive skills. Despite this, research on staff's interactive skills is currently sparse in Norway. This study uses the Caregiver…

The early years before compulsory schooling are crucial for children's identities, including their cultural identities. This article reports on a community-collaborative educational program that aimed to promote children's positive Samoan identities in a culturally safe environment. Data were collected through ethnographic methods, including…

Educational classroom talk is beneficial for children's learning and communicative development (Alexander 2018); however, current research has focused predominantly on classroom talk starting at the primary school level. This study explored types of educational classroom talk between teachers and children as early as in early childhood education…

This study explores "toddling style" in adult-child interaction. Toddling style was conceptualised by Gunvor Løkken in relation to toddlers' playful and social style in peer groups; however, adults' position was rarely explored. Therefore, this article aims to examine adults' emotional and playful support in creating, maintaining and…

Contemporary educational policies both at international and national levels acknowledge the educational rights of all children and their inclusion in mainstream educational practices. Like other children at risk, children with disabilities have opportunities to access mainstream education but their participation is not always realised in practice.…

In the current study, we investigate the implementation of a musical workshop in an early childhood education setting. The workshop is based on a shared space for musical creativity (the Active Musical Room) comprising six different musically relevant objects, which toddlers were free to explore and play with. Inspired by Delalande's…

This study investigated the practice of two early-childhood educators and their interactions with 24 children (mean age 5.2 years) in an inner-suburban Australian preschool setting. The study specifically examined the nature of how educators 'intentionally teach' concepts to young children in a child-centred programme. Six hours of educator-child…

There is increasing recognition of digital childhoods [Danby, S., Fleer, M., Davidson, C., & Hatzigianni, M. (Eds.). (2018). "Digital childhood." Amsterdam: Springer] and a corresponding body of research into young child's engagement with digital devices across a broad range of contexts [Marsh, J. A., Plowman, L., Yamada-Rice, D.,…

This article examines how an educator develops a drama pedagogy through the course of her dramatic interactions with three toddlers. A cultural-historical approach was used to explore the concepts of dramatic interactions and dimensions of drama pedagogy. Visual research methodology involved video observations and a reflective interview with the…

Playing is essential for the development of higher psychological functions. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that playing constitutes an essential step in children's socio-cognitive development by describing playtime as the indicator of the gradual overcoming of self-centred thinking, with a view to acquiring new social adjustment…

Teachers and caregivers organize children's everyday life in early childhood settings to support children's well-being, learning and development. Teachers' organizational decisions (e.g. daily schedule, arrangement of furnishings, activities, behavioural expectations) are influenced by a set of ideas, norms and values which they may or may not be…