Many preschool teachers recognize the importance of play for children's development and learning and emphasize play in their classrooms. This paper explores how they remember their own childhood play and how they perceive children's play today. Twenty Swedish preschool teachers were interviewed regarding their views of play. Two characteristic…

What role do infant and toddler teachers play in transmitting their culture? Symbolic and cultural mediation approaches suggest children learn how to be members of their culture through social interactions and that this process begins at least by 9 months of age if not from birth. In previous cross-cultural studies of early childhood programs,…

The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in externalizing and internalizing problem behaviours in 6-year-olds with a focus on sex differences. Teachers rated problem behaviours at the beginning and at the end of the school year, 8 months apart, in 370 children (197 boys and 173 girls) attending 22 school preparatory classrooms.…

Part of a larger investigation of day care climate and children's social and emotional behavior in Sweden, this study interviewed 99 staff members at 12 day care centers about their work experiences and opinions of their work. Interviews focused on the system by which decisions are made, variation of working tasks, the meaningfulness of work, the…

Four dimensions of pedagogical quality focusing on children's opportunities for learning and development in preschool are suggested. This article explores how they are constituted and how they can be used for evaluation to discern pedagogical quality as a whole and part of a whole and to understand how quality is experienced and valued from…

In this study we have tried to come close to, and at the same time problematize, what participation in educational practice might be. The overall aim is to study how a toddler's participation can be understood in two kinds of educational activities, where the degree of teacher control differs. The data in this study are video observations of…

Art education has traditionally played an important role in the Swedish preschool. The subject includes a variety of activities, and different aims have been stressed from both aesthetic and pedagogical points of view. This study sought to describe and analyze how preschool teachers work with children in art activities. The investigation used a…

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…

This article examines a group of New Zealand preschool teachers' perspectives on their early childhood curriculum--"Te Whariki: He Whariki Maatauranga mo ngaa Mokopuna o Aotearoa" (Ministry of Education, 1996). In this discussion we focus on the teachers' understandings of the meaning, value and focus of this curriculum document. This is…

This paper, presented in three parts, examines the role of the early childhood professional in Europe. Part 1 of the paper examines how various European countries broadly conceptualize the early childhood professional role. Four broad categories are described: (1) early childhood pedagogue; (2) preschool specialist; (3) teacher; and (4) social…

Discusses preschool staff training, focusing on Europe generally and Sweden in particular. Examines roles of staff members and relative importance of care and education. Argues that training can have both positive and negative effects. Explores whether training programs should be broad or specific, concluding that they should have a wide…

In the European context the continuing training of early childhood educators in terms of information and communications technology (ICT) remains limited and is in need of development. The KINDERET project has been funded through the European Commission's "Leonardo da Vinci" programme aimed to identify and understand the theoretical and…

All day care personnel (about 900) in a Swedish commune answered a questionnaire concerning attitudes toward child rearing. The questionnaire consisted of 10 short descriptions of daily day care situations representing a child rearing dilemma which could be solved in different ways. Respondents indicated their views of typical and preferred ways…

Current research on students' experiences in encounters with their classmates in school is explored by using the narrative of a 25-year-old nursery school teacher in Sweden about her own experiences as a quiet and well-behaved student. Her story illustrates some of the built-in conflicts of the comprehensive school. (SLD)

Educational process reflection (EPR) is a professional development model aimed at supporting preschool teachers reflecting on and changing their practice. A particular focus is on interaction between practitioners and children, and between the children themselves. In this article, I first describe the theoretical frameworks that helped shape EPR,…