The importance of a Piagetian approach is recognized in South African early childhood educational practices and teacher training, but the reality of the implementation of teaching and learning in the domain of early years opposes his philosophy in many ways. Our Early Childhood Education policies strongly advocate a Piagetian approach such as the…

This study aimed to investigate the influence of Outdoor Education (OE) on different areas of development in 1-3-year-old children attending Italian nursery schools. The sample was composed of 160 children (1-3-year-old) divided into a first group (Traditional), with 76 children attending nursery schools with traditional educational activities;…

This study aimed to examine the unique and interactive contributions of the quality of mothers' and fathers' relationships with their toddlers to the prediction of children's subsequent executive functioning (EF). The sample included 46 low-risk middle-class families. The quality of mother-child and father-child interactions was assessed…

The purpose is to discuss two competing theories of learning in preschool based on preschool teachers' views of knowledge and learning. The focus is mathematical learning but the discussion is applicable to all early childhood learning contexts. Preschool teachers' views on children's learning and development is important for the pedagogy they use…

This paper aims to describe the quality of play as offered by early childhood educators working with four-year-olds within an educational childcare service. It also aims to identify the correlation between the quality of play support and a child's cognitive, language and socio-emotional development. Finally, it focuses on the factors associated…

Early childhood development (ECD) has gained substantial recognition in South Africa (SA) as a key issue to be addressed, but inequities and deficits remain evident, despite progressive policy and widespread effort by a range of role players in the non-governmental sector. ECD in SA requires far more attention if these are to be rectified, and…

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) tend to be less playful than their typically developing (TD) peers. Although playfulness is considered a personality characteristic, little is known about the stability of this trait in interactions with different caregivers. This study compared the playfulness of children with and without ASD in play…

This study examined whether or not preschool teachers attended to instances requiring inference-making in story books. Thirty-one preschool teachers were asked to read three fictional story books and to identify parts of the story that would be difficult for young children to interpret. Additionally, they were asked to construct questions that…

Examined links between theory-of-mind status among Singaporean and United Kingdom preschoolers and their social pretend play. Found that ratings by Singaporean and UK teachers yielded measures of facilitation, shared meaning, and thematic maintenance of interactive play. Rater nationality did not affect ranking patterns. Findings indicated a link…