Executive function (EF) skills play a crucial role in young children's academic and social-emotional development. Given that factors associated with poverty can compromise the development of EF skills, it is vital to continue to examine what factors help predict and support EF skills in children from at-risk backgrounds. Using a sample of Head…

There is a growing expectation that schools have a good understanding of attachment theory and its implications in practice, in order to meet the needs of Looked After Children, and other vulnerable learners. Derbyshire County Council's Attachment Aware Schools programme, now in its fifth year, is meeting this need by providing a substantial…

Many military families are experiencing the effects of deployment in an effort to support the mission of the US Armed Forces. The purpose of this descriptive, qualitative study was to provide a description of how families living in the Southeastern United States who have experienced military deployment perceive parental deployment influences their…

This article argues for a turn in early years policy towards more serious attention to the emotional dimensions of nursery organisation and practice. The article describes three developing bodies of research on emotion in nursery, each taking a different theoretical perspective. The central argument of the article is that these three bodies of…

This cluster-randomized pre-post comparison study examined the effects of using Sesame Workshop's Little Children, Big Challenges: General Resilience (LCBC) digital media toolkit in preschool classrooms over a 12-week period. Participants included 157 preschool teachers and 766 preschool children from 159 preschool classrooms in 38 Head Start…

Background: We investigated attachment behaviours of children with Down syndrome (DS) toward their preschool teacher and examined whether children's emotional expressivity predicted the incidence of attachment behaviours. We hypothesised that children with DS will show a low level of secure attachment to their teacher and that emotional competence…

Teaching is a complex process which includes multiple aspects; similarly learning to teach requires a system of multiple components interacting to support pre-service teachers to become effective teachers. One aspect of teaching which has implications for teacher development is the practicum student-supervising teacher relationship. The current…

A randomized controlled trial was used to examine the impact of an attachment-based, teacher-child, dyadic intervention (Banking Time) to improve children's externalizing behavior. Participants included 183 teachers and 470 preschool children (3-4 years of age). Classrooms were randomly assigned to Banking Time, child time, or business as usual…

Social-emotional competencies have been established as important predictors in children's mental health, school readiness and academic success. Age and developmentally appropriate screening for preschool children is important for early detection of developmental delays and early intervention. The purpose of this study is to measure preschool…

The aim of this research was to determine the relationship between attachment dimensions and Attitude towards Teaching Profession (love, harmony and value) of preschool pre-service teachers. The research data were collected using the Experiences in Close Relationships Questionnaire--Revised and Attitude Scale of Teaching Profession. In the study…

This paper presents the first analysis of the life course outcomes through late midlife (around age 55) for the participants of the iconic Perry Preschool Project, an experimental high-quality preschool program for disadvantaged African-American children in the 1960s. We discuss the design of the experiment, compromises in and adjustments to the…

In this commentary, Ahnert addresses the Beckh and Becker-Stoll's (2016) paper that characterized positive teacher-child relationships through high levels of closeness and low levels of conflict. Once teacher-child relationships are positively established, the children benefit the most in developmental domains which are considered typically weak…

This research aims to investigate the contributions of Turkish pre-school children's levels of positive/ conflicting relationships with their mothers and close/conflicting relationships with their teachers in predicting their adjustment to school. The sample of the study consists of 190 six-year-old children attending public pre-schools in Adana…

Shy children are less likely to interact with peers and teachers, ask questions, and participate in classroom activities. Children low in attention and inhibitory control also perform worse academically. Although research indicates children's relationships with teachers may be protective for children at risk for academic difficulties, less is…

We discuss oral history interviews with academics who laid the foundation of research and pedagogies in daycare for under three-year-olds in Europe and North and South America since the 1970s. Their work is clearly embedded in the social-political context of their country: the left-wing programmes for disadvantaged families in the U.S.A.;…