This paper makes a case for developing a theory of quality ecologies in early childhood education and care, and presents our initial thoughts around how that might be done, including how it might create a space for further thinking, research and discussion. First, the politicised, positivist nature of dominant contemporary interpretations of…

In this paper I draw on my work as a pedagogista to discuss the pedagogical promise of critique, estrangement, and what I call speculative envisioning. I argue that these concepts are themselves modes of engagement, practice, and thinking that are pedagogical and that they can help educators engage with the nondeterministic work of creating…

Public pressure on evaluation has influenced educational projects and national evaluation systems for many decades. This article extends the ongoing discussions in the field, offering a problematising exploration of evaluation as an educational policy phenomenon, thinking with the notion of rhythm in the analysis. Approaching educational…

This article aims to problematize knowledge production as merely an academic researcher endeavour by investigating how research can invite preschool-aged children to activate knowledge "in situ." Informed by Isabelle Stengers' theoretical framework, we developed the research methodology of Research prACTivisms through three propositions:…

The Tennessee State Department of Education (TDOE) was one of 21 states to be awarded a Preschool Development Birth-5 (PDG-5) federal planning grant in the Spring of 2023. This grant provided funding to support research on the current early child care & education (ECCE) system, conduct stakeholder engagement and experimentation to determine a…

Young children's self-regulation (SR) skills are linked to many important outcomes across the lifespan and school stakeholders widely agree that these skills should be prioritized in schools. Despite broad agreement about the importance of these skills, the diverse field of SR research is rife with a lack of clarity in both conceptual definitions…

This article systematically reviews empirical studies involving scientific literacy published in peer-reviewed journals, focusing on the construction of scientific literacy in formal education worldwide, the suggested ways of adopting scientific literacy in the early years, and the current practices and future possibilities for scientific literacy…

To develop a deeper understanding of who Child Care and Early Education (CCEE) educators are--and what influences impact the entry, retention, turnover, and advancement (that is, the workforce dynamics) in this industry--the Building and Sustaining the Child Care and Early Education Workforce (BASE) research team identified and documented existing…

This piece is a collective exploration by seven doctoral researchers in Child Studies, who discuss notions of listening to children and young people in a Swedish context. We approach different aspects of listening in research and in practices such as education, psychiatry, and social work. The discussions in this collective writing are an…

Computational thinking is a relatively new field for teachers and educational researchers, where new pedagogical approaches emerge to teach various aspects of computational thinking that covers various thinking abilities and techniques for solving problems. Computational thinking concept received great attention from researchers and instructors…

Educators and instructional designers have used the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework to guide their design of inclusive instruction for students with and without disabilities. Despite UDL having entered its 4th decade of development and research, there have been ongoing critiques of UDL for lacking clarity in definition, challenges…

This paper aims to contribute to the advancement of methodological practice for phenomenographic research by introducing the notion of a "lens of awareness," as a device that can enable researchers to zoom into the detail of the research process (the parts of the whole) and out again to the related context of a phenomenographic study…

Research in early childhood settings requires careful consideration of the impact on all children in the setting, whether participants or non-participants, and evolving ethical approaches in response to children's needs. However, flexible approaches and, 'in the moment', ethical adaptations are not routinely reported as part of early childhood…

Regression discontinuity (RD) designs have gained significant popularity as a quasi-experimental device for evaluating education programs and policies. In this paper, we present a comprehensive review of RD designs, focusing on the continuity-based framework, the most widely adopted RD framework. We first review the fundamental aspects of RD…

This is the methodology appendix for the report, "The Conversion of Enrollment Slots from Head Start to Early Head Start (HS2EHS) Case Studies." It includes the following sections: (1) Sample; (2) Recruitment; (3) Data Collection; and (4) Analysis.