Educators around the world are increasingly considering and seeking ways to challenge their role in the colonial project. Some have turned to embodied pedagogies as a way to encourage holistic, relationships-based learning in academies which traditionally prioritise cognitive, objective knowing. This review analyses 27 studies, published between…

Internationally, professionalization has become a key policy strategy targeting quality improvement in early childhood education and care (ECEC), utilizing top-down managerial strategies including implementation of quality standards and increased workforce qualifications. Set against this backdrop, this study explored educators' accounts of their…

This paper examines how early childhood teachers employed in kindergarten, understand and manage their changing roles regarding digital technologies. Nineteen participants were involved in the study. Symbolic interactionism provided the theoretical lens to investigate each early childhood teacher's lived experiences and grounded theory provided…

In some Western contexts, the pedagogical practices of teachers are to intentionally involve in play-based learning through sustained shared conversations to extend children's thinking (Meade, A., Williamson, J., Stuart, M., Smorti, S., Robinson, L., & Carroll-Lind, J. (2013). Adult-child sustained shared thinking: Who, how and when? Early…

Background: Early childhood teachers (ECTs) play a significant role in equipping children with oral language and emergent literacy skills ahead of school entry. They are well positioned to play a vital role in ensuring preschool children receive a high-quality preschool curriculum to prepare them for later literacy learning. Aims: The purpose of…

Australia lags behind other linguistic and culturally diverse countries in policy direction and approaches to early multilingual education, despite well-established research documenting the intellectual, linguistic, sociocultural, familial and economic benefits of multilingualism in the early years. This is evidenced by the absence of a national…

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Australia has long been associated with the concept of social justice, however, a clear understanding of what it looks like across diverse services and communities is not available. This article reports the process of inquiry, as well as the outcomes, of a small-scale study designed to uncover the…

With the decline in Australian school children's mathematics skills, the spotlight is shining on the quality of early childhood mathematics teaching and learning in the preschool years. Spatial thinking--which includes spatial orientation and spatial visualization--contributes to early mathematical thinking and children have the capacity to…

Grounded in Vygotsky's cultural-historical theory, this paper examines how often teachers are involved in children's imaginative play and discusses their beliefs about their role in supporting children's imaginative play. To investigate this problem, video (65 hours of digital observations) and interview data (two hours and 30 minutes) of 60…

This case study investigates two Chinese children's shared reading experiences in both home and preschool contexts. The parents and the educators were interviewed about their general attitudes and practices relating to shared reading for promoting the Chinese children's bilingual development. Detailed observations were undertaken to record the…

This mixed-methods study explored (1) family day care (FDC) educators' confidence and capability to support children's mental health, and (2) assessed their own mental health and wellbeing. Descriptive analysis of the survey (n = 144) highlighted that most participants were in the normal range for mental health and wellbeing; however, identifying…

Social and emotional learning (SEL) strengthens students' abilities to regulate their emotions, thoughts, and behaviours and to interact successfully with others. There are an array of important social and emotional skills (SES): goal-setting, working to one's potential, resilience, creativity, perseverance, problem solving, and caring about the…

This article considers the role of early childhood education within these uncertain times of human induced climate change. It draws from feminism and environmental humanities to experiment with different ways of becoming-with the world. By bringing together Donna Haraway's figure of the Modest Witness and Deborah Bird Rose's notion of witnessing,…

A strong emphasis has been placed on social-emotional learning (SEL) during the preschool years; however, there is a dearth of research into the drivers of program success in this setting. This study examined the effectiveness of a formal, teacher-led social-emotional learning program, COPE-Resilience, on the development of 4 to 5-year-old…

Increasing numbers of international students are enrolling in Australian universities in early childhood teaching degrees. For many of these students understanding the early childhood education pedagogies and approaches is a different way of viewing teaching and learning from their own cultural perspective. Many of these students struggle to…