Parental beliefs about play and learning are part of the "belief-context" of early childhood development and can thus make a key difference for the child. Previous studies have focused on cross-cultural comparisons, and therefore have neglected intra-cultural variations. This study sampled 163 Chinese mothers with children aged two to…

Nursery is a preparation for kindergarten education. This paper deals with the gained competence of the nursery as they move up to the kindergarten program of the K-12 Curriculum in the Philippines. This study reveals that there are similarities and differences in the curriculum programs of nursery and kindergarten; that the nursery children…

Initially developed from policies implemented under British rule, the integrated programme for children with disabilities has not been widely publicised in the context of early childhood education in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). Local communities have responded differently to the integrated programme implemented in…

To ensure that all children in the Altgeld-Riverdale community are succeeding by third grade, BPI (Business and Professional People for the Public Interest) launched the Altgeld-Riverdale Early Learning Initiative in 2012. The goal of the initiative is to establish a community-based system that can support the developmental needs of the…

This study investigates the perceptions and attitudes of Korean early childhood teachers about education for sustainable development (ESD). A total of 301 Korean early childhood teachers participated in a survey which was purposefully developed for this research. The survey focused on three areas of interest: understanding of concepts about…

Research Findings: In this study, we investigated associations among social cognition skills (specifically, emotion knowledge and theory of mind), language abilities, and 3 varieties of prosocial behavior (helping, sharing, and comforting) in early childhood. The effects of age and gender were also taken into account. Participants were 149 Italian…

Accreditation is a widely accepted indicator of quality in early education and includes many of the components cited in broad conceptualizations of quality. The purpose of this study was to examine whether kindergarten readiness rates differed between Florida child care facilities that were and were not accredited by any relevant national…

While the importance of early childhood education is well documented, scant attention is afforded to the access to institutions for early childhood education. Uneven distribution of institutions for early childhood education in segregated metropolitan areas can cause inequality of educational opportunity. By using the Geographic Information System…

Early care and education (ECE) programs for children prior to kindergarten in California are provided through a mixed delivery system that includes licensed home- and center-based programs as well as school settings. The requirements, experience, and supports for educators vary widely across settings, depending more on funding sources and…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether kindergartens and childcare centres differ in terms of educational and caregiving components. More specifically, two aspects of the process quality of the early childhood education and care were examined regarding the "Activities" and the "Programme Structure." A multi-stage…

Background/Context: Families have been increasingly utilizing center-based care both during prekindergarten as well as before/after school during kindergarten (CBC-K), and the literature has addressed the relative effectiveness of attending the former on early schooling outcomes. However, missing in the field is an analysis of the efficacy of…

The Wheels Project took place from January to March, 2012 in a junior kindergarten/kindergarten classroom at the St. Nicholas location of Owl Child Care Services of Ontario in Waterloo. Owl Child Care Services, a nonprofit registered charity, operates seven centers in Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge, Ontario. Owl is one of the largest…

Children's bodies occupy a culturally contested space in the early childhood arena. In New Zealand, children's bodies have increasingly become the focus of regulation. The early childhood centre has become a site of constant surveillance, turning teachers into 'disciplinary individuals' who are internally controlled by their own behaviour. This…

Smooth transitions through the early years of education are recognised as pivotal to later personal and academic success. However, for children considered outside the mainstream, these transitions can provide extra challenge for them, their families and educators. This paper reveals the findings of two qualitative studies investigating early…

This occasional paper is the sixth in a series on the National Quality Framework (NQF). It examines trends in quality improvement from the perspective of services rated Working Towards National Quality Standard (NQS) under the 2012 NQS. In this paper, a service is considered to have improved its quality at reassessment where it: (1) receives a…