Designed to spark an interchange of ideas, this book presents early childhood education as a nuanced, shifting, and complex field. Readers will bear witness to several decades of the lived experiences of influential leaders engaged in conversation about seven major topics: systems of early care and education, diversity and children's rights,…

This study aims to explore the effect of music education on the acquisition of social values by preschool children. In this study, a quasi-experimental pattern model with the pretest-posttest control group is employed. The Preschool Social Values Scale is used for collecting the data. The participants of this study are 26 preschool children (the…

This report offers insight into a reflective and critical practitioner's role in carefully planning an environment that reflects young children's need for independence. Education as an agent of liberation is the key to the child obtaining that freedom and achieving independence. It is argued that liberation can only be achieved when an effective…

This paper presents and discusses the findings of a collaborative investigation into Nordic approaches to evaluation and assessment in early childhood education and care. The project explored values and principles that underpin and guide evaluation in ECEC systems and practices in five Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and…

The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of gender-based bullying in a kindergarten. Such places are often depicted as innocent spaces, and hence, teachers often overlook the fact that bullying could also take place. This paper is based on an ethnographic study, conducted in a kindergarten in Indonesia. Twenty-eight children and four…

For systematic implementation of value education in educational institutions, the national programme "Values Development in Estonian Society 2009-2013" (Ministry of Education and Research 2009) was prepared in Estonia. However, it was launched only in 2010, and the authors intended to ascertain the values of the heads of preschool child…

This article presents some findings of a small-scale research study carried out in 1 kindergarten in Hong Kong. The study looked at the problems associated with the transition of families from one culture (mainland China) to a new culture (Hong Kong), concentrating on the children's development of a sense of belonging in Hong Kong. Specific issues…

This study discusses how children make use of the content in play to get a superior status position in their peer-culture and looks at some implications for values education. Observations of children age three to six years were made during their free playtime in pre-school, and both field notes and videotape recording were used for data…