Quality teacher-child interaction is considered one of the primary mechanisms through which educational experience fosters the development of children's competencies. Teachers' self-efficacy and beliefs about developmentally appropriate practices influence the quality of classroom interaction. However, the findings are mixed, and more research…

During the summer of 2016, the first author, along with an undergraduate student, observed an early childhood education program for 3- to 6-year-old children at Bright School, Muhanga, Rwanda. For two weeks, they documented the curriculum development, curricular and cultural adaptations of developmentally appropriate practices, social and…

Different approaches to implementing 'learning through play' exist in many countries due to different understandings of the concept of play. In Indonesia, teachers implement play in a structured way following certain play developmental stages, where the focus is on children's academic outcomes, rather than the development of concepts as part of…

The purpose of the study on which this article rests is to supplement ECERS-3 observations of the learning environment (n = 31) for 3-5-year-old children attending preschool activities in Favrskov Municipality, Denmark. The paper gives an in-depth analysis of characteristic features of high-quality preschool activities within the areas of…

Due to an increasing number of children under the age of three attending early childhood education and care (ECEC), there is an increasing need for high-quality care settings. In addition to primary caregivers, ECEC teachers are important socializers of children's emotional development and may become children's attachment figures. Early preventive…

Overcoming challenges to quality early education in developing nations, TEACH Rwanda, one high-performing education system, offers a model of childhood learning through sensitive teacher dispositions, child-centred play, and culturally relevant materials. This manuscript provides a unique window into the practices of a quality early childhood…

This cross-national study involved 56 toddler classrooms in Poland and the Netherlands. A cluster analysis was conducted to identify classroom profiles based on observed quality and these were compared regarding structural (group size and children-to-teacher ratio) and curriculum (e.g. pre-academics and pretend play) characteristics. In total, 224…

Despite increased interest in children's risk-taking in play, little is known of this aspect considering children under three years. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the concept of scaffolding to potentially describe patterns in staff-child interaction in 1-3-year-olds' risky play. Empirical data were taken from an exploratory study,…

Through an examination of the reflective comments of 42 pre-service Early Childhood Education Teachers (PS-ECETs), this study describes how an infancy course within an Early Childhood Education program used four different ways of organizing learning to unravel details of infant pedagogy, focusing on the role of the teacher. It is vital to theorize…

Debates on how best to educate young children have been raging over the last 100 years--more often fuelled by ideological preferences rather than empirical evidence. To some extent this is hardly surprising given the difficulty of examining pupil progress in a systematic and comparative way. However, the introduction of a new child-centred…

Practitioners in play-based learning contexts face the challenge of developing developmentally appropriate practices while meeting rigorous academic curriculum standards. To date, play and academic learning have been predominantly conceptualized from an adult perspective. Considering that children are key agents in classroom play contexts, it is…

The first years of life lay the foundations for a child's future development and learning. Many countries have increased their financial support for provision of early childhood education and care (ECEC) over the past years. More recently, the focus of debate has been shifting from expanding access to affordable ECEC to enhancing its quality. A…

Mainstream education forces an adult-centric agenda onto young children which is developmentally inappropriate and educationally unnecessary. Parents can nourish their children's love of learning by challenging current educational practices and by letting their children play and experience nature. The 3 R's should be replaced with the 3…

Describes an activity in the "Scuola Neruda" in Reggio Emilia, Italy in which 5-year-olds create a school play area for 4-year-olds that will remain as a contribution of their class, focusing on how this gift is a gesture of reciprocity, and therefore truly creative. Recounts a child's selection of a location for her sculpture to…

Examines how the forms used by teachers to document planning and assess children's progress affect three child care center teachers' practice and expectations for young children. Narratives are constructed using qualitative methods to show how requirements for documentation may lead teachers to override goals of developmentally appropriate…