This paper discusses the individual, family, household and area level characteristics associated with preschool attendance for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians (aged three to five years who are not at school). Controlling for these factors explains all of the difference between Indigenous and non-Indigenous attendance rates for…

Analysis of questionnaire responses from 71 preschool teachers found that the more satisfied teachers were with the level of support and training they received regarding inclusion of children with disabilities, the more positive were their attitudes toward the inclusion concept. Self-perceptions of competency were also related to positive…

The authors conducted a national survey of Head Start preschool teachers to assess their views and practices related to emerging literacy. Results indicated that Head Start teachers use a variety of strategies to promote emerging literacy, with a major focus on book knowledge/appreciation and print awareness skills. The teachers indicated that…

This paper focuses on what teachers need to know to develop self-regulation in young children and what is and what is not successful in promoting it. Self-regulation is a deep, internal mechanism that underlies mindful, intentional, and thoughtful behaviors of children. Self-regulated children can delay gratification and suppress their impulses…

This study examined the relationship between free-play choices and fine-motor skill in 4-year-old children attending Head Start. Children with poor fine-motor skill were matched for age and gender with children in the same classroom that exhibited good fine-motor skill. Each pair was observed during free-play sessions to examine the degree of…

This article focuses on pedagogical encounters as an important dimension of learning in early childhood education. The discussion is based on an investigation (Johansson, 2003a) into the quality aspects of learning in Swedish preschool amongst toddlers. In the investigation, three main themes were found, which were significant with respect to the…

Twenty-six Head Start preschool classrooms participated in a yearlong intervention designed to link the Head Start Child Outcomes Framework with authentic assessment practices. Teachers in intervention and pilot classrooms implemented an assessment approach that incorporated the use of a curriculum-based assessment tool, the development of…

The aim of this study is to introduce a goal programming based on a holistic approach for the evaluation of "early childhood development support project", which was applied in some cities in Turkey. Like in many other areas, statistical methods are widely used in research on pre-school education. According to the literature, very few…

A team of researchers used a collaborative assessment protocol to compare the self-reported teaching beliefs of a convenience sample of preschool teachers (N = 57) to their documentable practices (i.e., practices that could be observed, recorded, and categorized using a deductive strategy). Data were examined from survey instruments, detailed…

To date, few studies of state-funded pre-kindergarten have fully addressed questions about the association between teachers' education, major, and credentials with classroom quality or children's academic gains. The current paper uses data from the National Center for Early Development and Learning's (NCEDL) Multi-State Study of Pre-Kindergarten,…

This study examined young children's spontaneous participation during classroom book reading in response to different types of books. Twenty kindergarten teachers read four books--two fiction (familiar/unfamiliar story format) and two information books (expository/narrative text). The majority of children's spontaneous participation was related to…

Early childhood care and education services in New Zealand have experienced major policy reforms since 1984. Life history interviews were carried out over a two-year period to obtain insight into the impact of the major reforms on the lives of eight kindergarten teachers. This article looks at the teachers' own perceptions of the changes and how…

This book was originally written to raise awareness, and to celebrate the work, of the qualified nursery teacher. The intention was to offer a detailed discussion of her responsibilities and achievements, and to dispel the myth "that anyone can work with the little ones." Anyone who has ever worked as a nursery teacher will know that,…

This study analyses how pre-school children who differ in terms of maternal education respond to and interpret the images and written text in the same two picture books, one informational "The Sleepy Book" (Zolotow and Bobri, 1960) and one narrative "The Baby Who Wouldn't Go to Bed" (Cooper, 1996). Twelve children were recorded in their homes…

How did early childhood education become "risky" for children and teachers? This paper takes a series of booklets written in the 1990s as a case study of the entry of official anxiety about sexual abuse in early childhood centres in New Zealand. I argue that these documents provided a basis for policy development which reflects risk…