This article demonstrates how implementing a rights-based research methodology can contribute to the theory and practice of climate change research and education with young children. The argument stems from a child rights-based participatory study that sought to explore young children's own perspectives of Nature under the education right, Article…

The concept of children's theories is central to the approach of the municipal infant-toddler centers and preschools of Reggio Emilia, Italy. The author investigates children's theories about Judaism. Methods include semi-structured interviews and pedagogical documentation from American Jewish early childhood centers. Analysis involves open coding…

The aim of this article was to explore whether and how special education documents incorporate efforts to hear young children. The study is based on an in-depth analysis of expert assessments and individual education plans (IEP) pertaining to 17 children enrolled in early education and care (ECEC) institutions in Norway. The documents are…

The governing document of the Swedish SAEC has shifted to become more focused on teaching and learning. The updated curriculum (SNAE, 2011) added new requirements of the educational programme through stating that activities should be 'based on the pupils' needs, interests and initiative' (SNAE, 2011, p. 23). The aim of this study is to explore how…

Since devolution, the Scottish Government has had powers for education and child family policy (The Scotland Act, 1998) which sit apart from England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This is the Scottish Government's great strength. This article begins by exposing the Scottish early learning and childcare context across the spectrum of policy,…

Play is considered an important aspect of Early Childhood Education and Care. However, the relationship between play and learning is often taken for granted both in research and praxis. In this article, we study our own research group's empirical work over a 40-year period, and how we have used the concepts of play and learning. We observed that…

This article carries out a systematic review of the scientific literature on child participation in the formal education system in Spain between 2010 and 2022. Recognising the importance of child participation in the context of the European Union, the theoretical principles of this study are in line with the perspective that child participation…

Although young children in Early childhood education (ECE) in Australia are often involved in learning in outdoor natural environments, research on their knowledge and attitudes towards plants is limited. Botanical literacies in young children involve developing knowledge and curiosity about plants, formulating questions about plants, and…

Using the concept of a trajectory, we trace one child's negotiation of his sense of belonging within his early childhood centre through analysing his participation in conflict and conflict-like interactions. Video data were gathered 2 days a week over a 6-month period from the start of his attendance at the centre. Sociolinguistic interactional…

Qualitative researchers can discard data that are unsaturated or unrelated to research questions, but what do we do when these data affect us, or 'haunt' us, 'long after collecting "it"' (Taylor 2013, 691)? In this paper, we draw upon Sara Ahmed to guide our engagement with 'discarded data': young children's gendered accounts of violence…

The article addresses children's perspectives of belonging in early childhood education settings in five European countries. Children's belonging is understood to be dynamic processes that are formed through multiple relations. Twenty children aged 4-8 with diverse backgrounds participated in the study: two boys and two girls from each country.…

Children begin forming ideas about race and difference at a very young age. In their review of field literature, Gaias et al. (2021) shared that "children's racial prejudice and awareness of racial categories has been found to emerge around age 3" (p. 273). ECE is an important time to address topics of difference and bias with young…

In this position paper we consider the significance of global climate activism by children and young people in the light of ongoing western adult-centric policies and educational practices that largely continue to exclude Indigenous perspectives. Reflecting on the implications of this hegemony in the face of the convergent crises of climate and…

From a child-centered perspective, this article explores the practices of children's self-organized play-communities in institutional everyday life in Danish early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings, based on a phenomenological non-participant-observational study with a duration of 16 months involving two kindergartens (Bernstorff,…

How children experience the major transition from pre-school to compulsory schooling influences their immediate and future success and wellbeing. This complex process of change and adaptation is impacted by school readiness policy drivers, which prioritise children's performance and achievement. Pedagogic and curriculum progression shifts from…