The National Quality Standards (NQS) as part of the Australian National Quality Framework were developed in 2011 and included several references to the organisation of small and large groups within early childhood settings (ACECQA 2013). The NQS act in tandem with the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) (DEEWR 2009) and are the basis by which…

This research is a longitudinal, ethnographic study that focuses on mealtimes with one boy from 9 to 78 months of age in a day-care center in Japan. It looks at routine interactions between a child, his nursery teachers, and the environment, which is a shared and mutually available communicative space between participants in collaboration. The aim…

Many efforts have been made around the globe to advocate for and encourage environmental sustainability education (ESE). As many as 15 fields can serve as "currents" on the greater field of environmental education, including environmental education and education for sustainability. We acknowledge that each is a separate and distinct…

This article reports a study on an encounter between preschoolers and contemporary photography. The article has two aims: first, it elucidates preschoolers' meaning-making when viewing photographs, and second, it investigates the possible benefits of using contemporary photography as a forum for prompting children's aesthetic agency in early…

Children spend a considerable amount of time in preschools and child care centers. As a result, these settings may have an influence on their diet, weight, and food security, and are potentially important contexts for interventions to address nutritional health. The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is one such intervention. No national…

This article is crafted through three scenes, through which the author tries to imagine quality as something that is third space, semiotic, plasticity, eternal, and simultaneously something solid and obviously good here and now, through a Spinozian/Deluzian/Braitottian joy/you/me. The author rhizomatically tries to lay everything out on a plane of…

In this intervention study, we investigated the effects of physical activities that were integrated into a geography task on preschool children's learning performance and enjoyment. Eight childcare centers with 87 four-to-five-year-old children were randomly assigned across an integrated physical activity condition, an unintegrated physical…

Research Findings: In the past 20 years, obesity rates among U.S. children have skyrocketed. In fact, 15.4% of 2- to 4-year-olds in North Carolina, where this study takes place, are obese, making it the 5th worst obesity rate in the nation. Research indicates that young children in preschool settings largely engage in sedentary activities,…

Background: Previous studies underscore the need to improve caregiver-child interactions in early child care centers. Objective: In this study we used a randomized controlled trial to examine whether a 5-week video feedback training can improve six key interactive skills of caregivers in early child care centers: Sensitive responsiveness, respect…

School districts altered instructional delivery from solely in-person to a combined virtual/in-person model in the 2020-2021 school year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Houston Independent School District (HISD) offered in-person and virtual instruction to early learners at school-based programs (SBP), early childhood centers (ECC), and…

Second Substitute Senate Bill 5903 (2019) directed the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) to contract with an organization providing coaching services to early achievers program participants, i.e., Child Care Aware of Washington (CCA WA), to provide statewide Infant-Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMH-C) to Early…

Transitions from one classroom to the next as children reach a certain age or achieve certain milestones seem inevitable; however, this taken-for-granted practice in early childhood centers has not been looked at closely in research. This article considers what happens when we look more in depth at these day-to-day experiences of teachers and…

Partnerships are dynamic, negotiated spaces encompassing community organizations and interprofessionals. Partnerships support young children and families as they transition from home to school. Interprofessionals create a culture for learning and accessible resources. Early childhood centers, public health and libraries develop collaborative…

Learning a new language and culture may be particularly difficult for families in the United States supported by migrant workers, who typically work long hours and live a mobile lifestyle. The purpose of this phenomenological study is to describe the interaction patterns (i.e. use of the Spanish and English languages) among native-Spanish-speaking…

This article is based on a study that examines the Head Start goal of school readiness in the context of inner city communities that reflect the socio-cultural-economic environment of a more neoliberal and globalized world. The research was conducted as a qualitative and naturalistic inquiry and data collection included document review, in-depth…