This paper provides a discourse analysis of 12 Swedish sexuality education texts intended for preschool practitioners and published between 1969 and 2021. Using Fairclough's framework, we identify three discourses about children's sexual play in relation to children's sexual agency in the texts: child sexuality as encouraged and entangled with…

Current conceptualizations of process quality in early childhood education highlight a variety of global classroom indicators that directly link to improved child outcomes. This conceptualization may need to be extended, however, to facilitate more meaningful change in children's development and readiness for kindergarten. To enhance our current…

Based on a complex dynamic system approach, this study examined the dynamic of interactions between adults (a teacher and teaching assistant) and two children with ASD. We observed two preschool classrooms, each containing one child with contrasting ASD characteristics. Child engagement and adult participation during welcome time activities were…

Language learning is an important developmental experience for young children during their preschool years, and book reading is an important context for promoting this growth. Book reading introduces children to a wider range of words than is evident in typical conversations and provides meaningful opportunities to practice using new words in…

This paper presents data from a multi-year ethnography of a rural preschool in the United States in which children engaged in substantial free and structured imaginative play. An unexpected parent death during the course of the data collection period was followed by a spate of death-related play and storytelling by the children, with varied adult…

This study investigated whether two educational strategies, providing material and active adult support during play, promote pretend play quality in a group of preschoolers. The sample consisted of 101 preschoolers (50% females; mean age at t1= 43.02 months, SD= 5.94) from 14 Swiss educational play groups. These were randomly allocated to the…

This study examined the relationships between adult language input and child language production in regard to the quantity and diversity of spoken language, as well as children's knowledge of basic concepts and vocabulary. The quantity and diversity of language provided by teachers and parents were related to children's language output and…

Drawing on data from a preschool-based ethnography that examined both teachers and children, this paper explores gendered elements of adult--child interactions in the preschool classroom. The author describes a methodological approach that acknowledges the provision of helpfulness as a common, everyday expectation that the children had of their…

Through observations and interviews and guided by Socio-cultural Theory, this article seeks to describe how dominant approaches to parenting shape child-caregiver interactions within childcare settings. The research question that guided this study is; how do commonly held cultural assumptions about gender, discipline and the purposes of early…

As societies become more aware of the importance of early socio-emotional skills for children's later success, teachers report that they are ill-equipped to support and enhance these skills within their 'traditional' teacher role. This paper turns to the contributions that Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky and his adherents have made to our…

Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) literature, including the reading behaviour of Deaf adults, suggests that Teachers of the deaf (TODs) read different amounts of text during read alouds to DHH prereaders based on the spoken and visual communication modes DHH prereaders use, such as: American Sign Language (ASL), only spoken English (speech),…

Forest School has become increasingly popular in the UK, although little is known about what actually happens in sessions and how these sessions are planned. Using observations of two sessions and semi-structured interviews with two adult leaders this article sets out to explore how the sessions are planned, alongside a young child (aged 2-4…

This exploratory study examined children's experiences with producing and comprehending external representations in a preschool classroom. Data collection and analyses focused on how artifacts, spaces, adult-guided routines, and social conventions shape young children's representational development. Participants included 4- and…

The hermeneutics of fairytales, understood as a new way to get their deep significances and therapeutic effects on children by the process of psychic conflicts awareness, represents a frequent topic in the current research, a real source of inspiration for those delivering literature for children or for those using fairytales for therapeutic…

In this research article, Haeny Yoon and Tran Nguyen Templeton explore the challenges of listening to children in both classrooms and research that purports to center young children. Through two stories from their respective studies, Yoon and Templeton highlight the complexities of following children's leads given the competing agendas situating…