In this research, feminist post-structuralism and queer theory were used to examine Australian early childhood educators' views on children's gender identity development, and the content on gender in the Australian Government's Early Years Learning Framework. The methodology and study design were based upon qualitative phenomenological research…

This research explores young Indigenous children's multimodal meaning-making to carry out social intentions in dramatic and construction/materials play settings. The participants are two teachers and 21 children from two Northern Canadian Indigenous communities. Underpinned by social semiotic theory, the research involves inductive analyses of six…

Children's literature helps young people make sense of gender. However, while books offer children the imaginative ability to create their own worlds, normative gender can manifest in characters and stories. The study described in this article draws upon "disruptive" storytimes with 114 preschool children, interviews with 20 parents and…

In rapidly globalizing systems of schooling around the world, economic considerations have led to a push to impose neoliberal reforms in the field of education. Under this influence early childhood education and teacher education in Asia have increasingly become positioned as regulated markets governed by neoliberal policies, leading to peak…

The aim of this study is to explore how cultural factors interact with preschool teachers' shaping of activities with science content, and also how Activity Theory (AT) as a theoretical framework can be useful for examining interrelations within preschool systems. Qualitative data was collected from three preschools in the form of guided group…

Teachers, one of the basic vital human resources of the education system, play an important role in comprehensive restructuring actions carried out in education, as well as in developing schools, increasing the quality of education, and forming an effective school culture and climate. Therefore, determining the variables that affect the…

In this empirical study we analyse how children (aged four- to six-years-old) through communicative engagement with their teachers around their own drawings are supported in developing representational insight, that is, going from indicative sign-making to symbolic understanding. Theoretically, the analysis is informed by a sociocultural…

In the midst of the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic, the virtual home visit became a key strategy among China's multiple approaches to ensure children's continuity of learning, sustain teacher-parent-child relationships, and promote home-preschool collaboration. In this study, using a small stories research narrative paradigm to analyze documented…

Background: We describe the development of sustainability via active garden education (SAGE), an early care and education (ECE) garden-based curriculum developed from a 5-year community partnership to link national health policy guidelines with ECE accreditation standards. Methods: National health guidelines and ECE accreditation standards were…

We explore early childhood teachers' lived experiences learning and teaching mathematics with young children, adding finer-grained context and detail to broader research descriptions. We interviewed ten early childhood teachers in a university laboratory school about their mathematics training, classroom mathematics curriculum, who controls their…

?The past decade has seen an increase in research documenting the benefi?ts of children learning through play. However, the amount of play in American kindergarten classes remains on a steady decline. ?This article compares the ?findings from a netnographic study of seventy-eight kindergarten teachers' message board discussions about play in…

Digital technologies are increasingly accepted as a viable aspect of early childhood curriculum. However, teacher uptake of digital technologies in early childhood education and their use with young children in play-based approaches to learning have not been strong. Traditional approaches to the problem of teacher uptake of digital technologies in…

This paper explores whether teachers' habits and assumptions about their practice can be enhanced by continued professional development through nurturing self-awareness of lived experiences. Within the paper a practical understanding of critical reflection as a process is explored and particular attention is given to Moon's assertion that one…

This article is about spiritual development for early childhood Jewish education. Findings from a research study defines the spiritual development of young children as an integration of deep connections, basic dispositions (strengthened from experiences of wonderment, awe, joy, inner peace), and complex dispositions (displayed through acts of…

This article examines whiteness at the intersection of immigration and early childhood education as it was made visible during interviews with 50 preschool teachers in five US cities as part of the Children Crossing Borders (CCB) study. Findings show whiteness acting not only as a construct of privilege but also as an idea that manifests itself in…