In South Africa, many children with extensive support needs--including children who require AAC--are accommodated in care centers rather than the public schooling system. Caregivers employed at these centers need training in order to support children's communication using augmentative and alternative methods. A total of 29 center-based caregivers…

Background: Safety practices play a vital role in childcare business, as childcare entails managing children's daily life routines and preventing them from any harm. Aim: This study aims to explore the perspectives and awareness of childcare centres regarding the importance of childcare safety practices, babysitters' traits and safety performance…

Coaching is a common approach to professional development and support for quality in early care and education (ECE) settings. Coaching is an especially important part of professional development because it can be tailored to meet teachers' and family child care (FCC) providers' needs and can positively affect instructional practices, the quality…

In line with international trends in early childhood care and education (ECCE) recognising the importance of early learning, the Department of Basic Education in South Africa has pledged to professionalise the sector, increase access and improve quality. From a systemic point of view, professionalisation of the sector will require collaboration on…

This paper explored the challenges to the infant care profession in Hong Kong crèches, with an aim to contribute to the existing early childhood care literature for reference and comparison elsewhere. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 55 childcare workers and 12 supervisors, followed by interviews with some selected participants to examine…

Recent studies suggest that mind-mindedness is an important element of caregiver-child interactions in family and childcare context. This study investigated caregivers' mind-mindedness in a nationally representative Dutch sample and its relation with structural quality factors (i.e., group size, caregivers' education and work experience, group…

Research Findings: This study examines the frequency of reasoning talk used by 56 educators during their naturally occurring play interactions with infants in their early childhood education and care (ECEC) centers. Using Hasan's semantic framework, reasons were coded as social (based on social rules) or logical (based on rules of nature). The…

Licensed child care providers, and the early care and education settings in which they operate, are uniquely situated to influence children's healthy eating and physical activity through practices, attitudes, and supportive physical and social environments. However, preliminary research indicates that child-, family-, and provider-level…

Research Findings: This qualitative study explored the process through which a small group of preservice early childhood teachers engaged in primary caregiving as a framework for learning about early care and education with infants during an infant practicum course at a university-affiliated early childhood center in the United States. Based on…

This exploratory study examined the strengths and weaknesses in the quality of early childhood care and learning at selected community-based childcare centers (CBCCs) in Malawi, and aimed to understand underlying challenges and opportunities that may be addressed to improve quality and ultimately children's outcomes. Classroom environments and…

This study is a secondary analysis of a statewide sample of licensed family child care providers in the Tennessee Child Care Evaluation and Report Card Program ("N"?=?1,145) that describes the general quality of family child care programs in the state and examines the relationships between provider education and global quality. Study…

Swedish leisure-time centres were formerly part of Swedish social and family policies but were transferred to an educational context in the 1990s. This transfer was accentuated by both the Education Act of 2010 and the new teacher training established in 2011, which also included education particularly directed for leisure-time centres. The…

This brief examines how provider training and education are related to parent- and provider-reported indicators of quality in home-based and center-based care for toddlers using data from a nationally representative sample of low-income children. The research addressed three research questions: What are the demographic characteristics that…

While there has been extensive research exploring quality in childcare programs for children older than three years, less attention has been directed to the nature of infants' experiences in centre-based childcare programs. In this study, six childcare workers and six centre directors located in centre-based childcare programs in metropolitan…

In this article, interviews with eight managers and questionnaires from 75 practitioners are analysed to explore their perceptions of the role of pacifiers (or dummies) within the nursery. Managers and practitioners source their knowledge from the media, family/friends, and short professional speech and language courses; however, their perceptions…