Participation has been discussed as a multi-layered concept with varied outlooks on children's lived experiences. Children's participation occupies a complicated terrain in that whose participation counts and how it manifests itself within complex adult-child relations are enduring questions in the early childhood field. This qualitative study…

This study explores Ohio Early Childhood and Care (ECEC) workers' perspectives about different prioritization for COVID-19 vaccine distribution between Ohio educators employed in ECEC and prek-12 settings. Days after Ohio's shutdown, ECEC programs began reopening for children of essential workers, and by June 2020 all ECEC programs could reopen…

Early childhood home visiting programs are well positioned to improve equity and reduce health disparities for families headed by caregivers with intellectual disabilities and other learning differences. Early identification of learning differences through screening may help home visiting staff tailor services and thus improve family engagement…

Infants, toddlers, and two-year-olds with disabilities or developmental delays often participate in center-based childcare. Just like other care and education settings, childcare for very young children should provide high-quality inclusion. To date, minimal research has been conducted on practitioner perspectives about inclusion in childcare for…

In this study, we reconstruct the types of work performed by early childhood education and care (ECEC) professionals working with children up to three years of age from an interactional perspective. The theoretical framework of the investigation is social organization of work defined by Strauss and colleagues in regard to medical sector. Analysis…

Family engagement in childcare is important to ensure the optimal growth, development, and safety of children. Previous research has explored family engagement practices, but limited research is available on the application of theory to explain the uptake of family engagement principles. The purpose of this study was to explore the use and…

COVID-19 poses serious challenges to the health and safety of childcare providers, and these challenges were particularly acute in early 2022 during the first Omicron wave when vaccines were not available for children. Childcare providers work in environments where the recommended methods to minimize COVID-19 infection were often not possible to…

This doctoral research addressed the dearth of research focussed on childminding in Ireland, despite its significant role in national childcare provision. One overarching aim was to explore childminders' pedagogy. The research was conducted within the theoretical framework of Ecocultural Theory (ECT) against the backdrop of Irish Early Childhood…

Background: Quality early childhood education (ECE) sets the foundation for children's healthy development. Families make choices regarding the ECE options available to them, and families who desire smaller, more personal, flexible, and less expensive options, often select family child care (FCC) providers over center-based care. In addition,…

This study examined the leadership approach to child health and wellbeing within the early-years sector; it drew upon the evidence from thirty-two practitioners and ten nursery managers. Practitioners evidenced the challenges in recognising the signs and symptoms of low wellbeing and in monitoring progress. A constructivist paradigm enabled…

This research focussed on documenting the praxis and paedagogy of paid, professional childminding (family childcare/day care) in Ireland. It explored professionalism and professionalisation among childminders in the context of the evolving understanding of professionalism in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) nationally and internationally.…

Professional development for sustainability in early childhood care and education (ECCE) has been perceived by experts as education that supports the workforce to acquire the right skills, attitudes, and knowledge that resonate through their practices to the benefit of the sector. Professional development for sustainability is aimed at providing…

In flexibly scheduled early childhood education and care (ECEC), the timing of care depends on parents' non-standard working hours. Multiple individual schedules and care times in a child group may cause irregularity in a child's daily structures, and a child may miss a standard hour's activities that are led by teachers with a pedagogical…

Although home-based child care is a widely-used form of non-parental child care, relatively little is known about the home-based provider workforce and their beliefs and practices related to children and families. This study validates a previously identified typology of listed home-based child care providers (Hooper and Hallam, Early Child Res Q…

The early childhood development (ECD) sector in low- and middle-income countries continues to be under-valued and under-funded. Birth to 3 is further marginalised in this constrained informal sector. The feminised workforce experiences economic and social injustices in an under-developed human resource system. The aim of this article is to engage…