Many governments have launched the top-down early childhood curriculum (ECC) reforms to enhance the accountability of early childhood education and care (ECEC) services. The present discourse analysis of latest ECC policies across four diverse but representative countries -- Australia, China, New Zealand, and Singapore -- aims to examine the…

Background/purpose: Preschool education in Vietnam plays a critical role in fostering the development of children aged 3 months to 6 years. Enhancing teacher quality is essential to achieving educational goals, yet early childhood educators face significant challenges in professional skill development. This study examines the implementation of…

In recent years, many policies have been formulated and strongly promoted to improve the quality of early childhood education. In 2012, the Taiwanese government enacted a new national curriculum framework for early childhood education to enhance the quality of early childhood education programs. This new framework is key competence-oriented,…

Most American classrooms employ a teacher-text-centered model of instruction that is misaligned with the developmental science of how children naturally learn. This article reviews that science and the origins of the common instructional model, including three modifications intended to make it work better (grades, age-graded classrooms, and…

Very rarely is one considered ahead of his/her time. Janusz Korczak has been described by so many as being such a person. His criticism of the educational system in his time served as a motivational force for his innovative pedagogy. His beliefs, techniques and methods have been echoed by experts in special education as well as in gifted education…

Engel, S. [2011. "Children's Need to Know: Curiosity in Schools." "Harvard Educational Review" 81 (4): 625-645] stated that curiosity should be cultivated in our schools as it is intrinsic to children's development. However, this is often absent from classrooms. In this paper we aim to explore some of the factors that have led…

Education researchers, policy-makers and practitioners in the UK have debated the question of what, and how much, schools can do to mitigate the effects of parental background on educational outcomes over the last half a century. A range of programmes, strategies and interventions have been implemented, and continue to be implemented in an effort…

In order to reflect international reform movements in a system- and culture-comparative perspective, the following article investigates the early childhood education systems in Germany and in Hong Kong, with reference to the respective social and educational roots, pedagogical development lines, and basic educational approaches. In addition,…

Head Start is a federally funded program providing comprehensive social and early education services to children from low-income households and their families. Seeking to boost outcomes of Head Start students, in 1998 Congress amended Head Start's statement of purpose, specifying school readiness as the program's top priority. This mission change…

Ferguson, Missouri, has been characterized as an archetype of structural inequality and segregation. Several questions guide this investigation of Ferguson and its surrounding region. How did policies, practices, and folkways help to create the conditions in Ferguson and the broader metropolitan region? The regional segregation regime's history…

There is wide recognition that early childhood experiences are critical to a child's development and their subsequent life chances. However, little research has been undertaken into leadership in early years settings, which is so influential in this regard. This article summarizes research into the leadership of Sure Start Children's Centres,…

Since 2003, the Vietnamese government has prioritised curriculum reform efforts and commitment to improving the quality of the national curriculum. The Vietnamese early childhood education renovation has encountered considerable changes and challenges, particularly in the area of pedagogical approaches. Many early childhood teachers continue to…

This study compares the mission statements of a small sample of Christian elementary schools in the United States and the Netherlands. In the United States, Christian schools are private schools, while in the Netherlands Christian schools receive state funding, just like public schools. Content analysis of mission statements revealed similarities…

This study modeled teacher-student relationship trajectories throughout elementary school to predict gains in achievement in an ethnic-diverse sample of 657 academically at-risk students (mean age = 6.57 years, SD = 0.39). Teacher reports of warmth and conflict were collected in Grades 1-5. Achievement was tested in Grades 1 and 6. For conflict,…

Following political devolution in the late 1990s and the establishment of the governments for Wales and Scotland, the education systems of the four home countries of the UK have significantly diverged. Consequently, not only does that mean that education research in the UK has to be sensitive to such divergence, but that the divergence of policy…