In England, early years education services and the children and who attend them are the subject of increasing scrutiny and assessment. While these assessments offer a number of benefits in terms of tracking child development and ensuring the efficient use of public monies, they also impose restrictions to practice, limits to understandings of…

This paper presents narratives from two parents about the exclusion of their disabled children within early childhood and primary school settings. Interpretations of particular "kinds of participation" that appear to be accepted as inclusive are explored. We argue that these interpretations have disabling effects on the children's…

Although policymakers generally appreciate the value of crafting policies that are responsive to teacher and principal voice, doing so in a systematic way is challenging. Educator voices in the room when policies are made are often those of teachers and principals closest to policymakers. In 2019, to broaden the range of educator voices available…

Early years education in England has undergone a number of radical changes in the last decade. More recently, a change in government after the 2010 UK general election has meant that early years practitioners have experienced a period of uncertainty and change in policy in line with the ambitions and philosophy of the new Conservative/Liberal…

In the millennium leading up to its days of glory and regional leadership under the iconic Angkor empire, and even in the centuries of dependence since, Cambodia has often benefited significantly from the influence of its patrons, starting with traders from India who sailed up the Mekong at the beginning of a magnificent water transport system…

The article reports on a study investigating influences on Australian politicians' decision making for early childhood education and care (ECEC) policy. The astronomical concept of dark matter is utilised as a metaphor for considering normalising, and therefore frequently difficult to detect and disrupt, influences implicated in politicians'…

In the present study the longitudinal relations between quantity of centre-based child care (in months) and teacher reports of internalising and externalising behaviour in the first and second grades were examined for 325 Slovenian children. The socio-political context of affordable, accessible and homogenously high-quality child care is quite…

Global concerns about what constitutes an appropriate curriculum and pedagogy for young children inevitably raises questions for teacher educators and the content of teacher education programmes. These concerns have been particularly visible in England following recent policy initiatives and the resultant "academic shovedown" and…

This article focuses on some of the issues that shape understandings of professional practice in the rapidly expanding context of children's centres in England. Drawing on data from an ESRC-funded project exploring practitioners' understandings of quality and success, the perspectives of 115 practitioners working in 11 Sure Start Children's…

In light of the contemporary discussions on the biased relationship between gender and mathematical teaching and learning in the Western world, can we, by means of a reconceptualised early childhood education, influence how young children construct their gendered subjectivities in relation to mathematics? This project has been carried out with the…

We analyse two foundational social problems regarding early childhood education. The first, in the late nineteenth century, is infant mortality, a social problem that constituted the historical legitimation for the first creches. The second, the prevention of school failure, is very topical today. By analysing these examples in their historicity,…

Politicians play a key role in determining policy content and outcomes for early childhood education and care (ECEC). As a result, the quality of formal ECEC provisions for children rests considerably on the policy decisions of politicians. Despite direct and indirect effects of politicians' policy decisions for the ECEC field, few studies explore…

Using concepts from the evaluation literature, this case study describes the instrumental, conceptual, and political influence of the Head Start National Reporting System (NRS) and on-going child assessments in a local Head Start program. This study found that a local program intentionally aimed to limit the influence of the NRS. The NRS validated…

This article problematises Bush & Saltarelli's call for a new and comprehensive peace building education which empowers children through demonstrating that alternatives to conflict exist, that they have choices and the capacity to change their own and their society's situation. It does so by exploring the various possibilities for empowerment…

The Step by Step Program was designed to introduce child-centered teaching strategies and parent and community involvement in early childhood education systems in countries of the former Soviet bloc, where rapid social, economic, and political transformations were taking place. This study assessed the program's capacity, reach, and sustainability.…