The ontological turn in the humanities and social sciences has prompted some scholars of education to shift their focus of inquiry away from questions of epistemology (i.e., knowledge) to metaphysical matters related to being and the nature of existence. In this paper, I turn to ontology and make an argument for integrating and explicitly teaching…

Italian makerspace is based on the principles of the Reggio Emilia approach founded by Loris Malaguzzi, in which the environment plays a critical role in children's development. Malaguzzi believed that the makerspace is the third teacher (joining family and classroom teachers), and children express themselves through a "hundred…

This report focuses on the structure of mainstream education in European countries from preprimary to tertiary level for the 2017/18 school and academic year. Forty-three education systems are included covering 38 countries participating in the EU's Erasmus+ programme (28 Member States, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Switzerland, the former…

This article discusses a teacher educator's reflections on her participation in an international study group and visits to the infant-toddler and pre-schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy, as inspiration for early childhood teacher education in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The following five themes are reflected on, for teacher education in the context of Abu Dhabi:…

Young children explore their world through manipulatives, playing with "technology" that may or may not be digital. To this end, I offer an exploration into how the existing framework of the New Media Literacies (NMLs) paradigm set forth by Henry Jenkins (2006) in "Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education…

Early childhood education and school readiness is essential to preparing children to succeed in an increasingly competitive global economy. Compared to other countries, however, the United States lags far behind on preschool, trailing a number of other countries in enrollment, investment, and quality. In February 2013, however, President Barack…

According to the findings of a recent European study on competence requirement for the early childhood education and care workforce, competent systems that succeed in achieving high levels of professionalism are embedded in coherent public policies that build on consultation with key stakeholders, particularly at local level. In order to flourish,…

This article involved a series of investigations influenced by the Reggio Emilia approach to early education as well as ideas of Paulo Freire. Within a Reggio-influenced classroom, teacher professional development is seen as essential, whereas for Paulo Freire, both teacher and the student are learners. These 2 ideas were brought together in a…

This survey of 25 day care centers in 5 regions of Italy was designed to determine the characteristics of competent centers and the effects of differing local regulations on the quality of care provided. The Infant and Toddler Environment Rating Scale (ITERS) and a questionnaire were utilized to assess the quality of the day care centers in the…