As a patriarchal and neoliberal construct, professionalism actively contorts the embodied care work of this femme profession into a predetermined frame, fragmenting, constricting, and harming educators' identities. In this paper, we briefly outline the ongoing project of professionalism both in the ECEC sector broadly and in the unique context of…

This article critically analyses the dynamic role of the Preschool Teachers' Union in Iceland, tracing its strategic moves within the educational and political spheres from inception to the present. The union's formative years were marked by a fight to become a fully fledged union and active participation in foundational negotiations that…

Unstructured outdoor play has been recognized for its beneficial impacts on children's healthy development; however, unfortunately, opportunities for children to engage in meaningful play are limited. Early learning and childcare centres can be essential settings for unstructured outdoor play, and educators can play a vital role in supporting…

Research has shown that effective leadership in early childhood education (ECE) can positively influence its quality. Yet, there is limited research on ECE leaders (ECLs), particularly teacher leaders. The goal of the current study was to examine how ECLs in Israel, with a dual role -- as kindergarten teachers and as teachers' leaders -- perceive…

Early childhood development (ECD), from birth to 6, occupies an ambivalent space within a system ranging from birth to 9. Professional Early Childhood Development Associations and Unions (ECDAUs) are important structures to elevate early learning issues in the context of building quality ECD systems. This article explores issues that ECDAUs…

The use of tablets by young children is increasing and more research is needed to understand how to evaluate and map the emergence of digital writing. To explore this, children (aged 2-5 years; N = 48) were asked to write on an iPad using a drawing app (1×10-minute session/week over 9 weeks). Traditional frameworks for early writing development…

In early childhood centres, decontextualised talk is often associated with literacy activities. In this study, however, we investigated toddler-educator conversations across various activities with a focus on those about topics that were not related to the immediate context. We examined the communicative purposes and linguistic features of these…

In 2019, the English government embarked upon revision to the statutory Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) document and to associated non-statutory guidance. At the time, concerns were raised that early childhood experts were insufficiently involved in drafting the document. Consequently, an Early Years Coalition of early childhood organisations…

Job crafting offers an exciting way to understand how people engineer their jobs to create more meaningful work. Work is meaningful if workers perceive their work as significant and serving an important purpose. To examine how four early childhood educators individually and collaboratively craft their work, the study reported here examines data…

Continuing professional development (CPD) is an essential aspect of early years (EY) workforce planning. In understanding how CPD is currently provided, we depend largely on surveys carried out by separate sector organisations with little synthesis of the data. In this paper, we scrutinise findings relating to CPD from nine surveys of EY managers…

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,…

Provision of early childhood education and care services for refugee families took on heightened challenges during COVID-19 restrictions. We undertook a small-scale study to explore how Australian educators worked with and cared for refugee families during the COVID-19 outbreak in an urban Australian setting. This paper emerges from a larger…

Following the increasing impacts on the value of Western play-based pedagogy, early childhood (EC) teachers in China face developmental challenges related to understanding and implementing play-based mathematical education. The purpose of this paper is to explore Chinese EC teachers' perspectives on play-based mathematics teaching. In this…

Inspired by the New Zealand Association for Research in Education (NZARE) Conference 2022, entitled 'The Mighty Triangle: The strength of the research-policy-practice triangle for addressing local, national, and global challenges' (https://www.nzare.org.nz/events/te-aonui-the-mighty-triangle/), this article examines some of the relational…

While evolving societal needs have created a demand for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) outcomes in early childhood, research indicates a deficit view on early childhood teachers' ability to teach STEM. Existing teaching models are primarily developed from school-based research, conflicting with the early childhood…