"Research Findings": The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand parents' perceptions of changes in early care and education (ECE) in the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea. Thirty-three parents of young children who attend three different types of ECE programs (i.e. kindergartens, childcare centers, and…

Researchers of early childhood educators' practice have noted the usefulness of applying various conceptual and methodological resources to create accounts of complexity. This article contributes to an under-researched area, providing evidence of multi-tasking and task rotation as aspects of the complexity of early childhood educators' practice.…

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a global health issue that affects significant proportions of women and girls. Despite research showing that children understand and perform stereotypical gender norms from as young as 3 years, addressing gender with young children is controversial. Programs that aim to teach gender fairness and respectful…

Despite widespread availability, accessibility and affordability of early years settings in the Maltese context, the quality of services within childcare and kindergarten has never been explored. This study presents the perspectives of 436 practitioners from 50 childcare or kindergarten settings who were invited to reflect upon their understanding…

Early childhood assessment in Australia is guided by Australia's Early Years Learning Framework and a 'storied' approach. This article argues that Australia's policy and practice discourses of assessment in early childhood education lack clarity. The article situates early childhood assessment practice within Australia's curriculum, policy and…

This study of South Korea's response to COVID-19 has three purposes. First, it uses document analysis to examine policies, strategies, and resources offered by the South Korean government and public organizations to support young children and families during the first 6 months of the pandemic. Next, it uses open-ended surveys with 30 directors of…

Parental pressure to include formalised school-type literacy lessons has been reported as a factor influencing the types of phonics instruction young children encounter in the prior-to-school years. Parents and early childhood teachers support effective phonics instruction through guided play-based learning in the prior-to-school years. Few…

The study presented in this article is part of a larger study called Progressive Feedback (blogs.helsinki.fi/orientate), which is an early childhood education and care (ECEC) research and development project. The aim of this article is to find out: (1) how children's tested creative thinking abilities, fluency, originality and imagination…

This article explores how complex globalization processes play out in early childhood education (ECE) in Denmark. The article builds on two concepts of globalization: First, we understand globalization as the ways in which transnational educational policy discourses characterized by neoliberal pedagogical values affect national and local policies.…

In this article, we discuss findings from a study of how 22 teachers in kindergartens and education and care centres in Aotearoa New Zealand spent their time at work. The teachers filled in time-use diaries, writing down details of what they did at different times over a whole working day. The diary entries were coded using a taxonomy developed by…

Purpose: The paper aims to explore the role and the involvement of local community within the context of Malaysian early childhood centers (nursery and kindergarten). Design/methodology/approach: The research used a mixed method with a questionnaire survey in the first phase and qualitative interviews in the second phase. Quantitative data were…

Early childhood care and education (ECCE) is commonly understood in Malaysia as providing care and education for young children from the age of newborn until about six years old, before they enter formal elementary education. Various curriculum and teaching approaches were developed to enhance children's learning experiences based on their needs,…

This study aims to enhance our knowledge of the associations between the quality of the language-learning environment in toddler childcare groups and children's vocabulary development from age 3 to age 5. Participants were 1,131 children (48% girls; age at T1 assessment: M = 35.5 months, SD = 2.7; age at T2 assessment: M = 60.3 months, SD = 1.4)…

This article presents findings from a study carried out with groups of children (N = 72; M = 57.2 months) in early childhood education and care (ECEC) institutions in Norway. Twelve teachers read two stories, once in a print book format and once in a picture book app, with groups of children. Children's and teachers' verbal engagement was coded…

This study evaluated a classroom implementation of augmented reality (AR) for improving subitizing skills of preschool students. Children explored the mathematical concept of subitizing by using an AR enhanced board game, called "Creature Counting." The AR markers, which were friendly creatures, triggered the augmented reality functions.…