Australia lags behind other linguistic and culturally diverse countries in policy direction and approaches to early multilingual education, despite well-established research documenting the intellectual, linguistic, sociocultural, familial and economic benefits of multilingualism in the early years. This is evidenced by the absence of a national…

Women who attain more education tend to have children with more educational opportunities, a transmission of educational advantages across generations that is embedded in the larger structures of families' societies. Investigating such country-level variation with a life-course model, this study estimated associations of mothers' educational…

In this article I examine how teachers in a rural school in Australia produce social justice through their everyday teaching practices. Drawing on data from a qualitative study using focus groups and semi-structured interviews, I focus on teachers' enactments of social justice pedagogies amidst social class divisions in the community. I draw on…

While the benefits of early childhood education and care (ECEC) services to better learning are now widely acknowledged, a widespread and accessible provision for these services also helps support gender equality in the workforce. In particular, the availability, intensity, reliability and affordability of ECEC play an important role in engaging…

There have been many attempts to reform mathematics teaching in Australia to encourage teachers to use more cognitively demanding tasks that focus on problem solving and reasoning. However, there is limited specific advice for teachers on how best to do this. This paper reports on one set of survey items that examines 52 teachers' responses to…

Commonly, planning for children involves comparing what they know against a curriculum or learning framework which identifies what they should know. Early childhood educators are then expected to create learning opportunities to help fill the gap between these two extremes. In this paper I argue that such an approach does not honour the…

The present paper addresses children's participation through pedagogical structuring in an early childcare programme in Australia. Research shows inequality in participatory opportunities depending on skills in the spoken (majority) language. Against this background, the focus in the present study is on participatory opportunities for toddlers…

Early childhood education has long been connected with objectives related to social justice. Australian early childhood education and care (ECEC) has its roots in philanthropic and educational reform movements prevalent at the turn of the twentieth century. More recently, with the introduction of the National Early Childhood Reform Agenda, early…

Changes to social and environmental contexts impact on children's opportunities for and the nature of outdoor play in many ways. A number of studies over the past decade have noted a trend towards over-protective parenting practices that restrict children's activities and limit children's independent mobility and engagement with their…

Recent Australian government initiatives in the early childhood education and care sector are placing demands for an increase in the number of degree qualified early childhood teachers. Many universities are now offering courses with dual qualifications as a way to provide alternate career opportunities for pre-service teachers; however it cannot…

Australia's Early Years Learning Framework and leading international researchers argue for more intentional and purposeful teaching of science in the early years. This case study of exemplary practice illustrates intentional teaching of science materials which opened-up learning opportunities in literacy and number. Student-led hands-on…

In this study, engineers and educators worked together to adapt and apply the ecological footprint (EF) methodology to an early learning centre in Brisbane, Australia. Results were analysed to determine how environmental impact can be reduced at the study site and more generally across early childhood settings. It was found that food, transport…

Improving cognitive skills of young children has been suggested as a possible strategy for equalising opportunities across racial groups. Using data on four and five year olds in the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Children, we focus on two cognitive tests: the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, and the "Who Am I?" test. We estimate the…

In the context of contemporary Australian society, the education system is still failing to increase educational outcomes among the majority of Australian Aboriginal (1) learners. This educational dilemma has persisted despite the regular introduction of systemic initiatives and funding aimed at addressing Australian Aboriginal learners' low…

This paper considers some of the current knowledge about our understanding of and provision for early childhood internationally. It looks at its relative importance, offers a short overview of research and terminology, outlines a global perspective (the big picture) and provides a brief summary of the current South Australian policy and position.…