This study examines five preschool teachers' narratives about using the outdoor environment as a pedagogical resource for children's play, learning and experiences in Swedish preschools. Participants were asked to reflect on both opportunities and challenges in outdoor play and learning. The present study responds to the need for further research…

This article focuses on the methodological experiences that emerged from a study investigating how teachers valued their daily encounters with children in early childhood education. Early childhood teachers often balance the demands of documentation with time spent with children, so have little time to reflect on their practice. Furthermore,…

Objective: As an increasing number of children are identified as insufficiently physically active, the school environment has been targeted for efforts to promote physical activity (PA) among inactive children. While research has highlighted teachers' role in promoting generic school-based daily PA, less is known about the early childhood…

This study explores practitioners' beliefs and experiences of education, socialisation and care and their impact on the introduction of a software application for quality work in early childhood education. Based on field notes, audio recordings and follow-up semi-structured interviews in four Swedish preschools, it explores how teachers' beliefs…

This article presents professionals' narratives about valuable encounters with young children in early childhood education (ECE) settings. The study aims to provide an in-depth perspective on how professionals talk about ethics in practice, and the values addressed in the narratives. Initially, professionals in Swedish ECE settings defined their…

The workforce in early childhood education and care (ECEC) is highly gender-segregated with a majority of women. Gender-sensitive professionalization is regarded a way to recruit more men, but there is a call for more empirical research into perspectives that combines bodily aspects of gender, professionalization and men`s career choices. Applying…

In this study, we investigate how professionals in early childhood education (ECE) reason about multilingualism. Empirical data are analyzed in terms of 'traditions of argumentation' which proposes that we cannot argue for something without, explicitly or implicitly, arguing against something else. The analyses use transcribed data from two focus…

This article explores children's use of digital popular culture as boundary objects, and the transmedial boundary work done in Swedish school-age educare (SAEC) centres. As children bring their experiences of digital media into everyday SAEC practices, they influence, and are influenced by, others around them, children as well as adults. Through…

In Europe, there are many different ways in which early childhood education and care professionals are trained. This article investigates how these different forms came into being. Comparing two small, prosperous European countries, Sweden and Switzerland, we analyse the developments in training regimes for early childhood professionals since the…

In recent years, play-based learning (PBL) has attracted attention, debate and controversy across different national contexts. There is no definitional consensus which may have undesirable consequences for enacting its potential in professional practice. The aim of our study was to synthesize international research on ECE practitioners' views on…

This article explores ninety-seven (n=97) Swedish Early Childhood (EC) preservice teachers' attitudes, concerns, and intentions to include children with disabilities in regular classrooms. A six-part self-reporting questionnaire was used to examine participants' attitudes, concerns, efficacy, and intentions toward inclusion. The results showed…

Swedish leisure time centres (LTCs) are included in the Swedish Education Act and are used by almost every pupil in the age range of 6--9 years. They are governed by national policy documents with a certain emphasis on social learning. This article aims to highlight the LTC staff's perspectives on their work of promoting social learning in the…

In Sweden and many other countries, the academisation of teacher education goes along with increased emphasis on a student thesis, in Sweden formally entitled the final degree project. This study deals with students' writing trajectories in Early Childhood Education and Care aimed at work in the preschool or the recreation centre. The study…

This report explores the different ways in which European Union (EU) Member States (MS) have attempted to ensure high-quality ECEC (Early Childhood Education and Care) for children and families in the era of COVID-19. The rationale for the report builds on the Conclusions of the European Council concerning the fight against COVID-19 in education…

The aim of the 2018 International Association for Development of the Information Society (IADIS) Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age (CELDA) conference was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There have been advances in both cognitive…