The effective implementation of positive behaviour intervention and support (PBIS) requires both organisational and professional change. This means that the whole community including all educators and children commit to shared principles, practices, and structures to create a safe and supportive social climate. In this article, we investigate the…

This study uses frame of boundary work to explore university teacher educators' discourses of the early childhood teacher education practicum and to identify the complexities of their positions(s) in these discourses. Data were obtained through focus group interviews with university teacher educators (N = 16) from two Finnish universities and…

Early childhood forms the fundamental basis for developing various social-emotional skills and represents a unique opportunity to lay the foundation for healthy development. Insensitive learning environments in early childhood may lead to social-emotional difficulties, increasing the risk of developing severe behavioral problems. However,…

The aim of this article is to contribute to the under-researched topic of racism in Finnish early childhood education and care (ECEC) by posing three questions: What kind of racism do ECEC teachers recognize in ECEC? How are teachers committed to opposing racism in their work? What kind of obstacles to committing to antiracism are recognized in…

Expectations regarding team leadership in early childhood education (ECE) have grown in recent decades, both in Finland and elsewhere in the world. This change can be seen through the increased research knowledge regarding the importance of pedagogical leadership as a key factor in the quality of ECE and the emphasis on pedagogy in basic ECE…

Work climate affects the quality of early childhood education and care activities. The aim was to explore how the staff describe demands and resources in their jobs, and whether different profiles could be distinguished among those with turnover intentions and those without. The research was based on the Job Demands-Resources model [Bakker, A. B.,…

We explore time and temporality within the work life context of Finnish early childhood education and care professionals. Temporality is a key element of education, since development and learning are always a matter of time and change. Furthermore, interpretations of time play a complex role in the work practices of educational institutions.…

This study explores how early childhood education and basic education teachers develop and develop innovations within the decentralised educational system of Finland. The comprehensive dataset of 20 field interviews provides a range of insights into teachers' goals, principles, inspirations and experiences when working with a variety of…

When classroom observations are increasingly used for accountability and evaluation purposes, a deeper understanding of the psychometric properties of such measurement tools is needed. The present study took a unique approach to examine the psychometric properties of a commonly used classroom observation measure by testing the reliability of…

Previous research has shown that the importance of education for sustainability is acknowledged in Finnish early childhood education and care but not systematically put into practice. At present, curricula require considering social, cultural, economic and ecological sustainability in all activities. In this research, discourse analysis was used…

This study explores young children's possibilities for influence in situations of child--educator disagreement in Finnish early childhood education and care (ECEC). Data were gathered from observations conducted in four ECEC groups of under three year-olds. A total of 112 child--educator disagreements were analysed qualitatively using reflexive…

This study aimed to explore the relationships between Finnish early childhood pre-service teachers' (N = 274; aged 20-49; 92% female) self-reported physical activity (PA) and perceptions of their own enjoyment of schooltime physical education (PE), self-evaluation of the content of their current PE studies, perceived importance of PE, and…

Today, digital games are considered important tools for learning, but using them in early childhood education and care (ECEC) has raised the question of educators' roles when children play an educational digital game. The aim of this study was to explore how ECEC educators differed in their attitudes and perceptions toward and ways of supporting…

This study aimed to examine how Finnish early childhood education (ECE) teachers use planning, assessment and development (PAD) hours across different areas of the national ECE curriculum. The PAD of pedagogy carried out by ECE teachers is an important quality factor in ECE. In Finland, the working hours reserved for planning, assessment and…

Early reciprocal language experiences are crucial for children's language development. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) has the potential to facilitate language development. However, knowledge on ECEC educators' actions in implementing early language facilitation is scarce. This study surveyed educators' declared practices of early…