Despite the many benefits of play, within primary school, play is often reduced to lunch breaks, particularly as children move to higher grades. Loose parts play affords children opportunities to develop imagination and 21st-century skills (collaboration, communication, creativity and critical thinking). As part of a larger project, two Year 4…

The researcher explored the impact of a student voice initiative (SVI), the Student Ambassador Council (SAC), on the social-emotional competencies (SECs) of middle school, 5th-8th grades students. Drawing upon the principles of youth empowerment, more specifically Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR), and social-emotional learning (SEL), the…

Lifelong learning (LLL) became a basis for education policies in the 21st century. The GLLI (Global Lifelong Learning Index) ranks countries based on their performance in LLL (Kim, 2016). The present paper aims to compare a successful country (Germany) with a mid-performing country (Hungary) in two ways: (1) by comparing the two countries'…

This article focuses on the beliefs of primary school children aged 7-11 years in England concerning the impact of adult-led after-school extended provision (EP) on their development of non-cognitive skills (NCS). In responses to a questionnaire survey and focus group interviews, children were more positive than parents, teachers and school…

A person-oriented approach examined the extent to which patterns of school readiness across social and cognitive domains in 944 typically-developing 54-month-old children forecast academic achievement, social-emotional development, risk taking, and executive functioning at age 15. Prior work identified six distinct profiles of school readiness at…

Research Findings: Adults' attitudes about attachment relationships are central to how they perceive and respond to children. However, little is known about how attachment styles are related to teachers' attitudes toward and interactions with infants and toddlers. From a survey of 207 students taking early childhood (EC) courses at 4 U.S.…

The objective of this research is twofold: first intending to assess the level at which students prioritize happiness; and second discerning how the experience of happiness affects the formation of their identity and their relationship with their environment, taking into account the values deduced from their perceptions, and understanding from…

A successful transition from kindergarten to 1st grade requires a positive combination of multiple dimensions of child competence. Using latent class analysis, we simultaneously examined the academic skills, work attitude, and social/behavioral competence of a large sample of Dutch kindergarten children to identify profiles of kindergarten…

Background: The social-ecological environment of undocumented children of migrant workers includes varying levels of risk factors. Growing up in these conditions compromises children's development on all levels. Many of these children are in need of psychotherapy, however, due to limited resources, only a few of them receive mental health aid.…

This study uses intraindividual variability and change methods to test theoretical accounts of self-concept and its change across time and context and to test the developmental implications of this variability. The 5-year longitudinal study of 541 youths in a rural Pennsylvania community from 3rd through 7th grade included twice-yearly assessments…

The transition from kindergarten to Grade 1 is marked by a sudden decrease in children's play time (Brostrom, 2005; Hartmann & Rollett, 1994). This study sought to examine 69 Montreal-area Grade 1 children's beliefs about out of school play, as well as their parents' (N = 56) perceptions of their play. Findings indicate that parents value play…

Research Findings: This study, undertaken in Nicosia, Cyprus, sought to evaluate some of the hypothesized developmental benefits of developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) by investigating how the pedagogical attitudes and practices of Greek/Cypriot parents (n = 142) and teachers (n = 16) relate to 4- to 7-year-olds' (n = 142) social-emotional…

Prior research has shown that parental social cognitions are associated with child outcomes such as aggression. The goal of this study was to examine mothers' cognitions about relational aggression, and to explore linkages between mothers' attributions and normative beliefs about aggression and children's competence with peers. Participants…

This article describes the "Discovery Time" programme, a largely child-directed developmental programme, and discusses it in relation to the sociocultural approach to learning. It considers the effects of the programme on the development of children's oral language and cooperative social skills in a Year 1 classroom. Survey information…

Assessed parents' beliefs about former Head Start children's abilities and values in academics, sports, and social skills during their kindergarten year. Found that there were ethnic differences in parents' beliefs about children's abilities and future prospects in different areas. Parents' beliefs related to children's attitudes toward school and…