Over the recent years there has been a shift in the field of early childhood research to involving young children in the research process. A vast body of literature [Evans, P., & Fuller, M. (1996). Hello. Who am I speaking to? Communicating with pre-school children in educational research settings. "Early Years," 17(1), 17-20; Clark,…

Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) policies and practices are local, historically and socially context-specific constructions. In addition to local ideals and policies, discursive practices concerning ECEC are influenced by universal ideals that are described and assigned by the member states of the United Nations Convention on the Rights…

Young children's active participation is high on the UK's political, research and policy agendas; at least in rhetoric. However, critiques have emerged regarding the extent to which this rhetoric has been translated into practice and whether participatory rights are linked to the implementation of other human rights. Drawing on an ethnographic…

This article offers a chronological account and critical appraisal of changes to early childhood education and care (ECEC) services in England over the past 20 years. It describes the policy initiatives, educational interventions and research programmes introduced by successive governments that have effected significant changes to ECEC since 1990.…

This article presents the key findings and discussion from a research project and subsequent report: "Involving young children in decision making: An exploration of practitioners' views". This research explored early childhood practitioners'--childcare workers, kindergarten, pre-primary and grade 1-2 teachers--views on decision making…