In this article, the authors address some of the scientific challenges associated with using observation as a research method. The authors ask how researchers contextualise and understand observation in terms of its theoretical underpinnings and how it is conducted. Using a vignette in the kindergarten context, the authors explore how observation…

There are increasing demands for teachers to continue to improve the quality of education. This focus is evident in the Early Childhood Education and Care sector in Australia where the professionalisation agenda is tied to teacher professional learning. While the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (AITSL) has strengthened expectations…

In this paper, we present an argument for Practitioner Inquiry (PI). We briefly introduce PI, and we indicate how PI recasts the professional and political role of the Early Years Practitioner (practitioner). At the core of this article is the work of the early childhood pioneer, Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852). Froebel provided principles to…

Diffracting a research project in a UK primary school, this paper concerns feminist materialist orientations to odd-ness as a relational, distributed, and affective form of "thinking-feeling". It suggests that attuning to affect as it moves through a context resistant to disruption, involves becoming "bad researchers"; bad for…

This article explores how pedagogical documentation, as the refusal of method, can be aligned with post qualitative inquiry, opening up possibilities for refuting dogmas and methods in early childhood pedagogy, theory, practice, and research. It delineates understandings of pedagogical documentation in the educational project of Reggio Emilia, and…

This study presents a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of early childhood education and development research in Malaysia, focusing on articles published in Scopus. Publications included in this study consisted of journal articles, books and book chapters, and conference papers, all of which sampled children between four to seven years old. The…

This paper reports on a design oriented study conducted in close collaboration between two researchers and three preschool teachers. Within this study, a play-based interview script was designed in accordance with theoretically driven principles. Based on this script, the preschool teachers conducted interviews with children from three preschools…

Drawing on public writing from a pedagogical inquiry research project collaboration between three early childhood educators, a pedagogist-researcher, and preschool-aged children, this article debates how pedagogical inquiry research becomes "hard work." Against the backdrop of mainstream early childhood education in the lands currently…

This article (a) explores the experience of an early childhood teacher researcher as she intentionally uses interactive read-alouds to promote social justice and to encourage critical consciousness in her preschool classroom and (b) offers guidance for educators to embark on their own social justice journey. Over the course of a 2-year study, the…

Childhood research is increasingly being conducted from different disciplines, and research methods for showing the child's world are also increasing and evolving. This article examines the challenges and opportunities of childhood research in an early childhood education and care (ECEC) environment from an ethnographic approach. The purpose of…

This study is a researcher-practitioner action inquiry which was used to explore children's sensory experiences with a focus on the sense of smell (olfaction). We critically considered the early childhood theories that positioned children's sensory learning within equitable, socially just early childhood approaches and connected them to an action…

Research that uses innovative approaches to elicit the views of young children has grown hugely over the last 20 years. Against a backdrop of a greater acceptance of children's rights and sociological approaches to understanding children and childhood, with their combined emphasis on the competences and capacities of children, it is now accepted…

Since the advent of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), concerns have been raised regarding tokenistic engagement with children's participation rights as well as ethical considerations that must be addressed in research with children. This article explores how one particular ethical dilemma regarding representation…

Realist research is increasingly used to evaluate complex interventions. However, it can be challenging to codify and implement, with few examples to guide the process. This article describes how a team of social care leaders, practitioners and researchers developed initial program theories for the Trauma Consultancy Service (TraCS) in early…

We analyse a training proposal in the Degree in Early Childhood Education at the University of Cantabria (Spain), which consists of the elaboration of a critical and collaboratively created dictionary of concepts identified as important by the participating students. Through enquiry projects in which they adopt the role of researchers, they…