This study examined the development of self-efficacy among third-grade girls in a low-achieving school setting. Self-efficacy is defined as an individual's belief in their capabilities to attain desired outcomes, as described by Schillinger et al. (2021). This belief plays a significant role in influencing academic performance, social…

Risky play is defined as thrilling and challenging forms of play that have the potential for physical injury and has been linked to developmental and health benefits for children in the early years. Currently, in Western contexts, children's opportunities for risky play is decreasing. Social factors such as practitioner and parental attitudes and…

While much research has examined the role of individual and systemic racial bias in driving racial discipline disparities, less work has considered the significance of curricular environments in school discipline patterns. In this paper, I report on an ethnographic study of three kindergarten classrooms. Adopting a critical sociocultural…

We investigate the importance of spatial, material, and organisational factors to gendered peer relations on the school football pitch. The study is part of an ethnographic research project exploring the relations between school bullying and the institutional context of schooling, focusing on the perspectives of teachers and pupils from preschool…

In spite of advances in recognising that girls and boys, and women and men, do not have to be bounded by traditional roles, gender stereotypes persist in education and beyond. Children and youth are affected by gender stereotypes from the early ages, with parental, school, teacher and peer factors influencing the way students internalise their…

The development of racial awareness begins in infancy, continues throughout early childhood, and can shape play behaviors. The present study is a case study in a US pre-kindergarten classroom. The study aimed to examine the ways in which ideas about race and gender manifested within doll play. Participants included two 4-year-old Black girls,…

The three-dimensional design of the Australian Curriculum includes the cross-curriculum priorities (CCPs), learning areas and general capabilities (GCs). Geography teachers are uniquely positioned to address the CCPs through the subject's disciplinary focus on interrelationships between physical features of the earth with individual, social and…

Grounded in the sociocultural perspective, this paper analyses current Croatian theory and practice on the transition to school and addresses the importance of fostering a play-based pedagogy and symbolic play in particular. Despite the contemporary theoretical background on early childhood and children's transition to school, the mainstream…

"Teaching with a Social, Emotional, and Cultural Lens" goes beyond existing social emotional learning programs to introduce a new framework for integrating the development of key skills needed for academic success into daily classroom practice. The framework spells out the competencies, processes, and strategies that effective P-12…

This article draws from a Teaching and Learning Research Initiative research project that aimed to explore how three early childhood centres support children to experience and learn about their local area, including its stories, geology, biodiversity, and cultural meanings. The project helps children envision socioecological futures. This article…

While translingual and translanguaging orientations have been posited as supportive for emergent bilingual children in schools, limited research explores how children in English-medium spaces enact translingual composing practices. Drawing on theorizations of translingual composing as an interactional process, this paper analyzes data from a…

Recently, the Canadian government has initiated a wide range of actions and gestures aimed at reconciling historical injustices including the state's relationship with Indigenous peoples and nations. Reforming K-12 education to adequately teach Canada's difficult past has been a key priority in this movement, leading to curriculum change across…

Theory is an important element of literacy research. Research designs are informed by theories that explain what literacy is, how it develops, and how it should be taught and evaluated. Sociocultural theories emphasize the socially situated nature of literacies engagement and practices, whereas cognitive theories emphasize the underlying skills…

This study describes teachers' perspectives on disruptive student behaviors in early childhood education classrooms in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Using an ecological model, this paper describes interviews with 26 teachers working in early childhood education. The findings show that home, school, and society do not play optimal roles in…

This article emerged through the author's involvement with the University of Victoria's Investigating Quality in Early Learning Environments project in British Columbia. During an eight-month internship, the author had the opportunity to collaborate with community facilitators in the province; participate in monthly learning-circle discussions…