The quality of early childhood experiences is crucial to a child's development and educational success. Yet few early childhood education and care services in the world today offer a consistently high level of educational quality. In particular, educational quality depends on the context's characteristics. The aim of this study was therefore to…

The purpose of this study was to (1) explore demands and resources among centre-based and Family, Friend and Neighbor (FFN) early childhood education (ECE) caregivers, and (2) investigate how these factors are associated with the quality of caregiver-child relationships. ECE caregivers (n = 257) completed a survey that assessed demands, resources,…

The early care and education (ECE) sector in New Hampshire (NH) is a complex ecosystem that must account for families' needs and resources, the capacity and availability of the workforce, and the costs of providing services. This ecosystem is also bolstered (and constrained) by local, state, and federal policy. This series of primers, titled the…

In this paper we explore datafication through a specific kind of evaluative practice in Swedish early childhood education and care (ECEC): the creation of quality reports by individual preschools. A theoretical framework is developed based on Dahler-Larsen's descriptions of three 'evaluation imaginaries' (the modern, reflexive modernity and audit…

Australian early childhood education and care [ECEC] has faced a series of change and reform since 2009, including the introduction and later revisions of key curriculum and qualify frameworks, increased qualifications, shifting theoretical knowledge and pedagogies, and challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, early childhood…

Physical classroom environments for young children and the quality of those environments have typically been studied by utilizing various rating scales. Research is limited on early childhood educators' perspectives and decision-making processes in striving to create optimal physical classroom environments during the school year. This qualitative…

State-funded preschool is already offered in mixed-delivery settings in most states, meaning that along with public schools, children are also served in settings such as child care centers, Head Start agencies, and private schools. However, just 39% of 4-year-olds and 14% of 3-year-olds were enrolled in publicly-funded programs, such as…

The expansion of early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs has generated increasing interest in establishing appropriate structural standards that can optimize child outcomes. To contribute to this discourse, this study aims to investigate the characteristics and influencing factors of classroom quality. Ninety-six classrooms (202…

The Build Back Better (BBB) Act's "Birth through Five Child Care and Early Learning Program," would provide access to child care for approximately 20 million children and free universal preschool for 6 million children. The bill's historic investments would also improve the quality of programs, increase pay for providers, and reduce…

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected children's care and education worldwide. This article reports on patterns of participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC) across Australia as influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic and national policies. Using ECEC data from Xplor -- a software platform used across Australian childcare…

It is beneficial to keep the information concerning quality of care offered to infants and toddlers current to maximize children's outcomes. This study analyzed the data collected from 2016 to 2018 in order to examine the current status of quality of care for infants/toddlers in licensed child-care centers in North Carolina and compared findings…

High-quality early childhood program options are in high demand not only because research has solidified the importance of early childhood experiences on human development but also because most households have all available adults participating in the labor force. Sustainability of the early care and education workforce is a common problem of…

This paper reports on findings from a small pilot study undertaken with early years practitioners in Scotland. The Scottish Government is currently implementing its key election promise of almost doubling the entitlement to publicly funded early learning and childcare (ELC) for all three and four-year old and eligible two-year old children. A key…

High-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) has a robust and long-term impact on the development of children's skills and abilities, including self-regulation. While the importance of early self-regulation is acknowledged in national curricular frameworks (Australian Early Years Learning Framework), little is known about practices…

This article focuses on different rationalities of governing children in the context of different ECEC facilities, how the rationalities potentially influence the ways children are cared for and educated, and how this is related to the reproduction of social inequalities. Inspired by Foucault's work on "government," it focuses on the…