This study identified the number of natural environment picturebooks read by young children in Chinese and Korean picturebook libraries and analyzed their content from an ecocritical perspective. The findings indicate that, first, although the number of natural environment picturebooks read by children is higher in Korea than in China, in both…

As environmental education and sustainability education play a fundamental role in training citizens who are more aware of global change and more environmentally responsible, organic learning is a recommended alternative learning experience for young children. This article describes how one kindergarten class in South Korea applied organic…

Background: Teachers' professional commitment is essential for providing high-quality early care and education (ECE) to young children. Previous studies suggest that teachers' perceptions of low levels of personal stress and a satisfactory work environment are both likely to be associated with their greater commitment to work. Objective: The…

Policies for early childhood inclusion in South Korea have been enacted and implemented over 3 decades. However, early childhood educators' experiences and perceptions toward inclusion in early childhood education settings have been understudied. In this qualitative study, we interviewed 11 early childhood educators with inclusive teaching…

This paper explores the relationship between workforce competence, migration, and quality improvement in the Asia-Pacific through analysis of Early Childhood Education (ECE) policy texts from three East Asia Summit countries. Content (word level) analysis of salient policy texts was undertaken to address two questions: How are culture and…

Kindergarteners' creative dispositions are not only affected by their individual characteristics, but also by the organizational creative climate of their kindergartens. Using the Hierarchical Linear Models (HLM), this study examined a correlation between a 5-year-old child's variables (e.g. child's creativity and their perceptions of creative…

The purpose of the study was to explore how contents related to sustainable development were presented in Japanese, Korean, and Singaporean elementary mathematics textbooks. For this purpose, the contents in the textbooks were analyzed at both macro and micro levels through a mixed method research. The results showed that the…

The goal of this study was to examine the unique associations of aggression with peer status in a non-Western context. The moderating effects of peer community and teacher closeness at the classroom level and gender and grade at the individual level were considered. Participants were 1954 third to sixth grade students (M[subscript age] = 9.60…

Despite efforts to adopt inclusive education practices and foster cultural competence in classrooms across the globe, adequate training and shifts in teachers' mindsets frequently seem to lag behind. Studies continue to find that teachers in a variety of contexts hold negative views of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) families.…

The purposes of this study were to identify the qualities criteria of constructive play and the teacher's role to enhance the qualities of constructive play. The participants for this study were ninety-seven 5-year-old children (53 boys and 44 girls) attending one kindergarten located in S city, K province in South Korea. Ten research assistants…

Growing plants is a popular and easy method to facilitate preschoolers' scientific exploration and positive attitude toward the environment, as it creates an awareness that nature is a magical place to be explored. This study examines a year-long garden-based curriculum in South Korea, specifically a cotton project, and its effects on 4- to…

The present study investigated the structural relationships between Korean preschool teachers' work environments, self-efficacy, and children's peer play interactions; it also examined the mediating influence of teacher-child interactions on these relationships. This study performed SEM analysis on 1193 teachers' survey responses from the 2014…

The provision of childcare has been prioritized by the South Korean government as a primary means of decelerating the dropping fertility rate and boosting women's employment by reducing the childrearing burden. Drawing on a Bakhtinian perspective, this study examined how discourses on professionalism and the professional identities of the…

Educators in South Korea have been adapting textbooks and related activities to meet the increasing need for national-level curricula for teachers of special and general education for students with disabilities at the elementary school level. The underlying aim is to create inclusive educational environments. There are four steps in adapting…

Learn how exemplary countries are dealing with the challenges and joys of advancing the development of their youngest citizens. In this book, Sharon Lynn Kagan and her contributors systematically examine how six diverse countries go about envisioning, designing, and implementing their services to young children and their families. "The Early…