Scent matters in the lives of humans (and other living creatures). However, thus far, it is largely unexplored in ethnographic work in education. Drawing on and adding to the literature on 'smellscapes' as a way of conceptualising space, this paper adds new insights into early childhood education and care (ECEC) by reporting on the differentials…

As children grow and develop, child care workers play a vital role in fostering learning and providing support in a safe and nurturing environment. High-quality child care jobs, where workers are valued and respected, benefit both workers and the children and families they serve. Unfortunately, the United States has historically undervalued the…

Few studies exist on the early care and education (ECE) of children who are deaf in low-to-middle-income countries, and none examine the roles of deaf adults in such provision. A research base is needed to inform contextually sensitive "deaf-infused" models of ECE in such contexts that build on indigenous deaf community experience,…

In many countries, play is the vehicle for teaching and learning, requiring early childhood teachers to recognize and assess children's demonstrations of knowledge and capabilities as they are displayed during play. In the context of science learning, assessing what children know already, referred to as "assessment for learning," equips…

This study focused on the social context dimension to elucidate how students of different disciplinary backgrounds--Department of Childcare and Department of Design--share their learning and knowledge in a cooperative course and to evaluate the effectiveness of the integrated course operation. Design-based learning through a project activity…

This paper reports the findings of a narrative review of international research literature about babies' and toddlers' engagement with the outdoor environment whilst attending ECEC (Early Childhood Education and Care) settings. Based on the in-depth review of 21 papers, it identifies four dominant themes in the literature: the outdoors as a space…

Lately, pedagogical coaches have been deployed in childcare as a form of continuous professional development (CPD) with the aim of improving the quality of childcare. While we have a clear understanding of what coaching should involve to be effective and how it improves the learning outcomes of young children, research has failed to capture the…

Defining quality in early learning and child care (ELCC) settings is complex. With an increased emphasis on universal ELCC systems to support greater access for families, research is needed to provide clarity on the concepts that contribute to high-quality programs. In this scoping review, 41 literature sources met our criteria (of a possible…

In this article, we intend to illustrate the notion, practice, and evaluation methods and results related to building an effective, efficient, and equitable early care and education (ECE) system. We point out the dominant approach, in practice and evaluation, of focusing on a single ECE program to improve ECE, propose a model of developing an ECE…

In this paper we examine the role of the Educational Leader in early childhood education and its day-to-day pedagogical leadership enactment. The aim of the study was to gain a deeper understanding of, and insight into, the role of the Educational Leader in an Australian setting. We use shadowing as a research methodology, along with observation,…

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…

The staff shortages in the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector in Germany are an important issue. They impact centres that are forced to close earlier, shut down entire groups or are unable to open at all due to the lack of pedagogical staff. However, the federal states have been making efforts to address this problem. This article…

The quality of the early environment children experience influences their human capital development. We investigate retention and compensation in the Early Care and Education workforce by merging datasets from three different government agencies in Texas. We employ non-structural methods to compare turnover and pay in Early Care and Education with…

Ninety percent of brain development takes place before the age of five, and while universally agreed to be pivotal in defining the trajectory of a child's life, access to high-quality Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) is often inaccessible for the world's most vulnerable populations. For the 2.5 million children living in East Africa's…

The present study investigated whether Japanese 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children exhibit a yes bias to questions from a physically present humanoid robot, Nao. The robot asked the children yes-no questions about familiar and unfamiliar objects. To both types of questions, the 3-year-old children exhibited a yes bias while the 5-year-old children…