Research findings: This study explored the latent structure of socioemotional competence among Chinese kindergarten children in Hong Kong, China, developing and validating a culturally relevant, teacher-reported measure, the Chinese Inventory of Children's Socioemotional Competence (CICSEC). Cross-sectional questionnaire data were collected on two…

Numerous studies have examined influential factors on teacher-child relational conflict; however, only a limited number of studies have presented in-depth portrayals of teachers' conflict with children living in poverty at the preschool level. The purpose of this paper is to explore teacher, child, and contextual characteristics that influence…

Educational research confirms that early childhood education can impact positively on the lives, well-being, safety, growth, development and academic performance of young children in the birth to 4 years age group. In South Africa (SA), Early Childhood Development (ECD) has been recognised and identified as a critical nodal point for the country's…

Low academic achievements are predicted by early disadvantages. Because achievement gaps typically escalate with age, early efforts to prevent future academic disadvantages are called for. The current study examines whether exposure to structured pre-academic activities in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) play a compensatory role for the…

It is generally accepted that warm and meaningful parent-child interactions during children's earliest years of life play an important part in supporting young children's cognitive, language, and social-emotional development. In addition, connections between children's home and any out-of-home early childhood experiences are viewed as important to…

The idea that language skills support school readiness, predicting later self-regulation and academic success, is widely accepted. Although vocabulary is often emphasized in the developmental literature, the ability to use language appropriately in the classroom, or "social communication skills," may also be critical. This paper examined…

A decade ago, EdTrust-West created the Black Minds Matter campaign to serve as a rallying point for engagement, discussion, and action to dismantle structural racism in California's schools and colleges. Now the Black Minds Matter 2025 report highlights how the state has failed to dedicate adequate leadership and resources to provide the…

The current study specified the extent to which hot and cool aspects of executive functioning predicted academic and social-emotional indicators of school readiness. It was unique in focusing on positive aspects of social-emotional readiness, rather than problem behaviors. One hundred four 3-5-year-old children completed tasks measuring executive…

This article compares developmental kindergartens of the past to current academic kindergartens through the voices of kindergarten teachers who taught in both types. Data were obtained from interviews of ten public school kindergarten teachers from California with experience in kindergarten ranging 18-34 years (M = 24). Teachers indicated that…

This study investigates kindergarten children's mathematics learning with a focus on the role of teachers' mathematics education and readiness beliefs, and home learning environment. Using structural equation modeling to estimate the individual differences in early mathematics learning, data from 5,845 kindergarteners was evaluated. Findings show…

Young children enter kindergarten with varying levels of readiness and abilities to learn. One factor that contributes to lower levels of school readiness is poverty. One timely, cost-effective, and feasible strategy to boost school readiness, regardless of exposure to high-quality preschool is to leverage the summer months prior to kindergarten…

The current study reports the results of a randomized controlled trial examining the impact of the Getting Ready parent engagement intervention on young children's social-emotional competencies and the quality of the student-teacher and parent-teacher relationships. Participants were 267 preschool-aged children and their parents, as well as 97…

In this article the author highlights the problems that have arisen from a fragmented and incoherent development of early years provision. These problems are compounded when early years education is cast in terms of ensuring children are "school ready", by which it is meant ready to be developed as human capital in a world driven by…

This study explored how physical punishment (PP) and other parenting approaches may predict school readiness outcomes. By using the Canada-wide representative data, 5,513 children were followed over a 2-year period. Caregivers reported on their use of PP and other parenting approaches (i.e., literacy and learning activities and other disciplinary…

This study adopts an intergenerational approach to explore whether mothers' school experiences influence academic readiness through parenting beliefs and parenting quality. Forty-five mothers were categorised as either having a desired or feared school-related identity based on their narratives about past school experiences and the ways they…