In March 2020, when public health stay home orders began in order to halt the spread of COVID-19, child care as an industry was drastically and abruptly impacted. This public health emergency highlighted the weaknesses in the child care system in the United States. This study investigated the changes in operations cost, child enrollment and…

In Flanders, we are searching to implement inclusion in our educational systems, knowing that we have a strong focus on segregation and specialisation. Parents are often missing in the debate, while they are confronted with experiences of exclusion and discrimination. Our aim was to hear the parents' voices on high-quality childcare for children…

Onsite, individualized support for early care and education providers has emerged as an effective strategy for supporting quality improvement. We explored how Technical Assistants (TAs) working with family child care (FCC) educators in a voluntary Quality Rating and Improvement System perceive FCC quality and the challenges they face in supporting…

There is increasing pressure on Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings to align their practices and values to that of schools, with the notion that a quality education in ECEC consists of providing care whilst also ensuring strong learning outcomes. This paper employs the constructs of structural and process quality to theorise the…

In 2019, more than 5 million providers cared for one or more children either in their own home or in a child's home. Home-based child care (HBCC) providers are a varied group that includes listed providers and unlisted providers who do and do not receive payment. HBCC is especially prevalent in communities of color, communities with high…

Due to their pivotal role in developing quality teachers, student teacher placements have been considered a cornerstone of initial teacher education (ITE). International preservice teachers in Australia must simultaneously make sense of the local culture, adjust to new pedagogical practices at university, and negotiate the complex regulatory and…

The District of Columbia Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund provides large and sustainable wage supplements for early childhood educators working in child care. Synthesizing qualitative evidence from 11 key informants, including DC early childhood education leaders, advocates, and implementation partners; 39 parents and legal guardians of…

New Hampshire families have not been exempt from the disruptions and challenges associated with an enduring pandemic, including disruptions to their children's care and education arrangements, pressure on household budgets due to rising inflation, and challenges of meeting children's emergent social, emotional, and physical needs amid persistent…

This article in the "Economic Insights" series examines participation in early learning and child care for young children in Canada. Child care is an important economic contributor for families since provision of non-parental child care is a necessity for some parents to engage in the labour market or to study. In addition, child care…

Research Findings: Driven by the universal two-child policy, the childcare services in China have stepped into a new era after 3-decade of neglect. This national study investigated the accessibility, quality, and administration of childcare services for children under age 3, by establishing a triangulation of survey, interview, and classroom…

Background: Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) learners have unique needs, and specific pedagogies, therefore, need to be employed to support the acquisition of their essential skills. A great deal of research has been conducted on the use of music-based pedagogies to teach mathematics, life skills, civics and literacy at various levels of…

The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of early childhood development (ECD) centre staff in providing care and learning support to children living in a high-risk, low socioeconomic community. We interviewed 14 staff from an ECD centre. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically. We derived four…

Millions of children in the United States live in rural areas and often start school with fewer school readiness skills than counterparts in urban areas. Access to high-quality child care could be a mechanism to improve school readiness; however, it is unclear what, if anything, distinguishes child care in rural and urban areas. Focusing…

For New Jersey parents, the high cost of child care, coupled with the lack of available space for babies in licensed facilities, has made a challenging task even more difficult. Findings from a recent study by Advocates for Children of New Jersey (ACNJ) revealed that there is a severe shortage of infant-toddler child care, especially in low-income…

FNS Research Corner provides a continuing series to summarize recently completed and current research conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) in the area of Child Nutrition Programs (CNPs). Summaries of recently completed research projects and in-progress research are provided in this article.