The primary aim of this study was to investigate pedagogical mechanisms that promote student understanding of diversity and intersectionality in national and global childhood experiences in order to foster openness, acceptance of diversity, and civic engagement. In this mixed-methods study, participants included 127 undergraduate students in a…

The author, a psychology instructor at an American university, describes the internationalization of his course in Human Growth and Development. The author argues that human development cannot be easily summarized by nature (i.e., biological and evolutionary predisposition) or nurture (i.e., learning through environment and experience).…

The Reggio Emilia approach is identified as a resource and inspiration in the field of early childhood education. The term 'Reggio Inspired' refers to all Reggio Emilia approach-based practices outside of Reggio Emilia, Italy. This paper presents a comprehensive study of Reggio Inspired empirical research. Results from an integrative review of the…

Since 2002, university students from the United States have had the opportunity to enroll in practicum experiences in Denmark while studying abroad. The dilemmas raised by the American students in practicum in Denmark provide a unique window through which to view pedagogical practices from different cultural perspectives. The students are able to…

Claiming to rely on "science," many well-intentioned "experts" offer advice on how to "close the gap"--word gap, language gap, achievement gap--between disadvantaged and advantaged children. Based on both research and personal experience, this advice promises magic solutions to apparently complex and intractable…

This qualitative study presents examples of information about and analysis of stories of children and the early childhood teacher education students working with them. The data from the stories problematize the neocolonial roots of our conceptions of children and families, particularly institutional systems, pedagogies, assessments, and daily life…

Students on the Early Childhood Studies degree programme at the University of East London were asked to reflect on their childhood memories and how these have shaped their understandings of early childhood and practices with young children. Students' rich and varied accounts reflect the diversity of largely non-traditional students from countries…

Rogoff (2003) argues that "Human development is a cultural process….People develop as participants in cultural communities" (p. 3). Children develop within families, and different cultures reflect differences in how they structure activity for this development. For example, middle class North American families generally would not permit…

This paper and the four commissioned works on which it is based are guided by the important question: How can we start valuing practices and outcomes of teaching and learning that are difficult to reduce to numbers? As the process of developing indicators for the Post-2015 education targets unfolds, some of the targets are at risk of being dropped…

The purpose of this paper is to review recent developments related to the development of indicators of educational progress in the context of the Post 2015 deliberations to generate a new international architecture for educational investment through to 2030. There have been a plethora of suggestions and several parallel consultation processes…

This report reviews the conceptual debates and existing data sources that relate to three ambiguous and controversial targets included in the post-2015 education framework: Relevant Learning Outcomes; Knowledge, Skills, Values, and Attitudes (for education for global citizenship and sustainable development); and Teachers and Safe, Inclusive, and…

This volume contains papers submitted to the 11th Annual International Conference of the Bulgarian Comparative Education Society (BCES), held in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, 14-17 May 2013, and papers submitted to the 1st International Distance Partner Conference, organized by the International Research Centre "Scientific Cooperation,"…

If early childhood systems are to be effective at the population level then they must be able to provide family-centered care to all the racial, ethnic and cultural groups that they serve. Despite major policy driven and technological advances in healthcare, health disparities across different races and ethnicities persist. For example, the infant…